A couple of weeks back we went over to Norwich as a family plus Amos to do some shopping for the Penzance competition. We never do such things and it's the first time we’ve been into a Go Outdoors but the main thrust of this was that I walked in and bumped into my cousin Kate who I'd not seen in many years. We promised to meet up and I'd suggested coming to ours, chilling on the beach and having a barbie which we both rather fancied and promptly forgot about. As you do.
I remembered on Thursday though, a few weeks down the line and sent a text...no can do was the gist as they were camping in north Norfolk but we were welcome to drive up for a barbie there, my brother was going as well. No need to ask twice and of course no summer barbie is complete in my family (apart from the one we had for lunch) without fresh-caught bass. This formed the basis of my plan. Now, I'd not been out much as it was the holidays as I had a daughter to amuse. This of course took the form of some fishing, the best being our one hour salt and fresh combo which saw her first bass and roach...amongst the theme-parking, shopping, sweet eating, swimming and assorted dad stuff. This hour culminated in something I found remarkable in that I've never witnessed it before in my life. As we walked back across the lock bridge at Oulton Broad I spotted large eels on the surface feeding on whatever washed through. I'd never caught them this size and I was fascinated. I watched for ten minutes, seeing bass of 3lb or so also coming to the surface to feed on fry. So engrossed was I that I only thought to get some video right at the end and that wasn't anywhere near as good as what I'd watched. They lifted the lock gates soon after too so that put the end to that. Anyway, I let Paul know because I knew he'd love to witness it and we discussed a bass session.
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG6zvWp4cvY[/video]
Anyway, Friday saw me free for a couple of hours and so I headed out for a quick troll up the harbour wall which resulted in a blank in the dirty water. I really wanted to go hounding but I had to be elsewhere just before high water so the session would be short and unproductive if doing that. A survey boat running close-by on a reciprocal heading on the way back being the most exciting part of the session but a pleasant paddle all the same. Paul wasn't free until the Saturday anyway so we made our plans for 7am...
Yarmouth. Pleasure Beach. that was the plan - southerly wind and ebb tide would give clarity and smooth water. Hit the outfall and outer harbour wall. I don't fish here often as it doesn't throw much up, they're never all that large and it's half an hour each way but I needed to get some sausages from a place nearby anyway, two barbies with one stone and all that. Great news, the bollards have been 'edited'. This meant I could drive down to the bottom of the ramp, removing 2/3 of my portage. Nice! We dropped the yaks and I parked.
Straight out and down to the outfall. Paul was still faffing about as I did my first pass with the tide. Nothing? Really? Oh. Nice and calm and clear and bassy...I turned and headed back. Paul was almost up to me, just a few hundred yards away when the rod pulled down. Nice!
he was amazed! I wasn't. All that amazed me was that I couldn't find a second. This place doesn't hold many but I'd only been a couple of times this year so I thought a brace would come up. We gave it a few passes and a few casts at the corners then headed all the way up the outer harbour, trying to decide whether it was a bomb or a bottle near the end and then headed back. As I returned to the outfall I left Paul well behind faffing about. Seem's he'd snagged something:
He cleared it though! We had a few passes and then headed in to the landing.
Funny thing, the bass were the same length yet mine was plump and full-bellied while Paul's was slimmer...0.975 and 0.75g bled, a 25% difference (both around 42cm). Anyway, that was the barbie sorted and we headed off.
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