While the Cat’s Away Day 10…14/08/2011

My daughter’s birthday. The forecast was great; we went fishing.

I’ll quantify this. She’s in France for a few more days and I still have some days of freedom so with forecasts messing up a planned smut comp, later being completely wrong and being perfect, I made other plans. These other plans involved Noidea, who is up for anything and Stinkyweim who is still in shock from last week. Not forgetting Westie who lives near to our intended venue.

These plans – to the words ‘You’re mental’ – involved me arranging to pick Paul and Si up around 03:30. Now that is excessive even for me. It was necessary though as we had to get from Lowestoft to Cley with three yaks and get on the water at dawn, find the wreck at peak time of light and tide and try to get some bass before they went quiet. Now, had I not picked up Si’s yak over a glass of wine and a couple of hours chatting the night before I may have got to bed before half ten but II didn’t and I didn’t. It was bloody hard but I was pleased to see Si in a similar state; only Paul was chirpy as we drove north the hour and a half to Cley.



We unloaded and tackled up. It was lighter than the photo above but the sun was yet to appear; it waited for us to be ready.



We were all struck by how clear the water was here, our target of mackerel should be a doddle.



So, having been here only once before and thinking for some reason it was low tide and the wreck would be visible we set off and missed it by, quite literally, a mile. We paddled back and I stopped by the beach and asked for directions ;D Ten minutes later and I was over the wreckage…I knew this as I could see the shadows and my rod was bucking in the holder ;D Game on! A schoolie came to the side of the yak before I dropped it. The tide was pretty swift so I paddled back again and then found the wreck as the rod bucked again with a 2-3lb’er (crap photo for size) on my KP ;D



It was unreal, I could SEE the fish below, swimming around. I saw a shoal of schoolies, I saw a load on the surface, I could see the bottom twenty feet below!

It was a bloody beautiful morning!



I managed one more bass, a schoolie that went back and then things went quiet with the arrival of Tim. So, after two anchors joined the structure we headed out half a mile or so to the 40ft mark for the mackerel.





Tim was soon into a fish – a bass in open water! Si followed, his first yak fish ;D

1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish alive goes the song and yes, before I could get in position he counted to ten and let it go again. Why did he let it go? He didn’t have a choice – it made the decision for him ;D



The odd mackerel was coming up, one here, one there and then I got one – this was what I’d come for!



Then Si had his first Mackie



Paul too (our very own John Wilson! Every fish is fantastic and beautiful; he’s a joy to fish with) and then I got hungry. Tim tried it but wasn’t keen.



So I finished it myself ;D Breakfast dealt with!



We carried on drifting and then we decided to head in for a coffee at Weybourne, dumping our laden yaks and walking into the village. Such a bunch of degenerates!



Our bellies sated we decided to seal launch down the shingle and get serious again, only Si getting all the way into the water – and off like a rocket through the waves:



With Tim in the lead we went looking for the wreck here.



It took some finding but bugger me if I didn’t get something! The current was too strong for the Dexter to take the feathers straight down (I like them vertical so I can work them properly, whipping them up and down just off the bottom) so I added a 3oz weight to the top eye of the Dexter. I figured something may take the feathers – I had no idea the Dexter would still work like that…but work it did:



My first lure-caught codling! Around 3lb it went down the hatch, I’ve missed eating these! QWuite a pull on a spinning rod too (I only took them today)

Bang, another drift, another codling ;D

And another. 3 of them all in. I changed the feathers over to my KP but that was it for the codling on my rods though Tim managed one as well; it was only snags, anemones and little blobs of arse that came up now.



The water was lovely and clear here as well:





We tried for some mackies again but nothing was happening so we headed back towards Cley. I trolled my feathers in the vain hope of finding mackerel. And find them I did:





Fantastic, mission accomplished!

The Cley wreck was visible now and we milled around looking rather than fishing.







Look top and centre and you can see a fish:



Tim got bored – we were in nine feet of water and so he headed out for mackies again. Soon he called over on the VHF and I headed out, catching them in ones and twos. Si joined us and had some as well and Paul, once he’d re-rigged, came and got a bunch too ;D We all came in on a final burst of fish. It was without doubt my most enjoyable Anglian session in a long, long time and we all had tea:







My total for the day was two bass, 3 codling and a dozen mackerel. I was over the moon. Nine hours on the water and all of it fun with a top bunch. Oh for another chance of a day like that, it was about perfect.

While the Cat’s Away Day 9…13/08/2011

This should have been day 10 but with electrical problems and sitting on the roadside it ended up day 9 as I didn’t get home until 10pm having got up at 5.

Worth waiting for? It was drizzling. It was Saturday though and the window of the week, sole night, had passed. I was going anyway.

I dragged the yak down the cliff at Gorleston and headed for the wreck once more.



I flung Shads and Dexters for an hour or so. It was murky, it was damp and it was shit. I went home.

I tried to go out again in the afternoon, or intended to. I went to get some crab from the rocks for a smut session. I had to sling some stuff in the van. I picked it all up but not my keys. Luckily mum wasn’t busy and drove over with a spare set. Time was against me now so I abandoned it, picked some crabs and went to pick up Si’s yak ready for the morning.

While The Cat’s Away Day 7…06/08/11

The plan was to go first thing with Stinkyweim and Noidea off south beach, Lowestoft and so my alarm woke me up. Then I heard the rain. Then I saw the rain. Then I saw the text from Noidea – he was going to bed having gone bream fishing straight after the smut session the night before. It made no difference as I wasn’t going out in the rain, no way was I getting wet. An abort without leaving the house. Instead I set to work in the kitchen.

The rain stopped later on and once finishing my jobs I texted the other two – Stinkyweim was now busy and Noidea was stuck at a train station. Lowestoft was ignored and in a race to catch the last of the tide I headed back to Hopton, telling Paul he could whip the Prowler off my roof when he arrived. I loaded up and set out into a sea more lumpy than it appeared. It was a legs-over-the-side day. I baited up an 8/0 pennel with whole squid (the pennel used as I didn’t like my presentation yesterday) and a size 1 wishbone again on the other rod. Both went down and I waited an interminable 5 minutes for the first bite, missed of course.

Five more minutes and it was game on!







Great! Ten minutes and my second decent starry smut off Norfolk – about 5lb and male. I was chuffed and this bode well for the afternoon – my other rod rattling away as I dealt with the fish after a good hard scrap in a couple of knots tide.

There was a good couple of foot swell coming through from the south, same direction as the wind and the ebb was heading down from the north. It was quite exciting and I was soon joined by a curious (large) father and son on a Malibu 2XL who struggled out against the tide to see what I was up to. I judged a book by its cover and was pleasantly wrong – both had buoyancy aids and the father carried a VHF; it looked like they had flares too. We had a chat and then off they went again.

The bites were very few and far between and nothing connected. Soon I spotted Noidea on the beach and then heading out to join me. He dropped anchor after a chat and then we waited for the tide to turn as it was starting to die off a little. It was still lumpy though and I struggled to land this brittle star on whole squid:



That beat yesterday’s whelk ;D Next up was another starry, a pup with big aspirations.



Nothing was happening though and after a while I looked over at Paul, the sea now building, running 3-4ft at times.



Eventually I got bored and asked him if he was happy to head in. he was and came over to me as I up-anchored



He’s still raising seas the bloody Jonah ;D

Back to the beach where the swell was completely missing us and we failed to surf in, disappointed to say the least. The front hatch came off my Scupper and I pulled her into the water to rinse the insides which were starting to ming a tad now, what with weeks of accumulated fish slime from my catches going straight into the hull. I got it ¾ full and tried to paddle it; the arse sunk and I was in the water. It took the pair of us a lot of effort to haul the yak out onto the beach and then raise it to drain. Then back up the ramp and off. Slow, very different to last night, but what an excellent tussle again!

While the Cat’s Away Day 5…05.08.2011

Two days without launching, due to a trip up north and an appointment. Uptide had the ideas of a return to Sea Palling then Spark mentioned he was going too. I was up for that – flat water, clear water hopefully and bass. I left straight from work.

By 530 I was pulling the Scupper over the sand mountain and down to the beach – what a difference a few days makes! There was some slight chop but I was able to get as close to the rocks as I needed. Sadly the water was down a bit far so my lures kept bumping and occasionally snagging as I trolled up the reefs. I bumped into Uptide on his way down to Waxham and then finally met up with Spark after about six reefs – the only fish I’d seen was a flatty as I launched until he had a sandeel on a lure.



Handshakes, a chat, a look at what he had between his legs and then we paddled in so he could give me a split cane rod for my Scarborough! Good man, cheers mate, expect an olde worlde report sometime ;D

Then Phil turned up, I’d not seen him in months so stopped for another chat after relaunching. The sea was flat now too, the wind had died. My lighter wasn’t working so I was pleased to see another smoker…though his lighter appeared not to be onboard. Ah well. Then Uptide reached us and, as the thunder started I headed back down to Waxham with a change of lures – J13 in Firetiger and Sliver in redhead. There was more water now but no more fish. Then the rain started. Then the rain REALLY started. Then I regretted the Sidewinder and T-Shirt combination. I hate the rain.







Then the lightning started, that and the thunder being a bit damned close. As Phil had pointed out the huge great metal poles at either end of the reef were more likely to take a hit than us but it was still less than comfortable. Then, finally, the rod started to bang away and I grabbed it, my blank saved by a schoolie that went back being in the region of 25-30cm (I didn’t bother to measure).



I was now at the bottom reef and decided to circle it. There was a large bull seal hanging at the edge of it and I decided that I was too close as he’d decided I was too close and was sticking his flippers up in a rude gesture. Then he decided to dive and swim towards me. So now I have thunder, lightning, a monsoon and a pissed off bull seal in my vicinity plus the coastguard roaring around the beach in a pick-up. I took the hint and paddled in.



Then helped push the coastguard pick-up out of the dune ;D

Yep, it was a fun evening. It ended with a powercut that saw all traffic lights extinguished from Great Yarmouth to Lowestoft, no power for the lights or cooker and I couldn’t see the food in the fridge either. Oh well, what the hell, at least my laptop was charged, I could at least surf the net. Had the wireless router not been powered from the mains ;D Early night, expect more vermin running around my road in May.

While the Cat’s Away Day 5…05.08.2011

Two days without launching, due to a trip up north and an appointment. Uptide had the ideas of a return to Sea Palling then Spark mentioned he was going too. I was up for that – flat water, clear water hopefully and bass. I left straight from work.

By 530 I was pulling the Scupper over the sand mountain and down to the beach – what a difference a few days makes! There was some slight chop but I was able to get as close to the rocks as I needed. Sadly the water was down a bit far so my lures kept bumping and occasionally snagging as I trolled up the reefs. I bumped into Uptide on his way down to Waxham and then finally met up with Spark after about six reefs – the only fish I’d seen was a flatty as I launched until he had a sandeel on a lure.



Handshakes, a chat, a look at what he had between his legs and then we paddled in so he could give me a split cane rod for my Scarborough! Good man, cheers mate, expect an olde worlde report sometime ;D

Then Phil turned up, I’d not seen him in months so stopped for another chat after relaunching. The sea was flat now too, the wind had died. My lighter wasn’t working so I was pleased to see another smoker…though his lighter appeared not to be onboard. Ah well. Then Uptide reached us and, as the thunder started I headed back down to Waxham with a change of lures – J13 in Firetiger and Sliver in redhead. There was more water now but no more fish. Then the rain started. Then the rain REALLY started. Then I regretted the Sidewinder and T-Shirt combination. I hate the rain.







Then the lightning started, that and the thunder being a bit damned close. As Phil had pointed out the huge great metal poles at either end of the reef were more likely to take a hit than us but it was still less than comfortable. Then, finally, the rod started to bang away and I grabbed it, my blank saved by a schoolie that went back being in the region of 25-30cm (I didn’t bother to measure).



I was now at the bottom reef and decided to circle it. There was a large bull seal hanging at the edge of it and I decided that I was too close as he’d decided I was too close and was sticking his flippers up in a rude gesture. Then he decided to dive and swim towards me. So now I have thunder, lightning, a monsoon and a pissed off bull seal in my vicinity plus the coastguard roaring around the beach in a pick-up. I took the hint and paddled in.



Then helped push the coastguard pick-up out of the dune ;D

Yep, it was a fun evening. It ended with a powercut that saw all traffic lights extinguished from Great Yarmouth to Lowestoft, no power for the lights or cooker and I couldn’t see the food in the fridge either. Oh well, what the hell, at least my laptop was charged, I could at least surf the net. Had the wireless router not been powered from the mains ;D Early night, expect more vermin running around my road in May.

While the Cat’s Away Day 6...05/08/11

Well I couldn’t get away from work fast enough and left on time. Fridays I knock off at 15:30 so with half an hour to get home that’d have me grabbing my gear by 16:00 (I had reels in the sink and was using my wife’s car to bring my Necky home as it’s needed for Monday). That then gave me an hour to eat, change, get the gear sorted and get over to Noidea’s to pick him up at 17:00 to meet the others at Hopton for 17:30…trouble was raising Noidea was like raising the dead as his phone was off so I left at 16:30 and pitched up, much to his surprise. He’d forgotten about the loose plan and was going barbelling. No he wasn’t ;D ten minutes later and we were out of the door 5 minutes earlier than planned. If I could kidnap girls as easily I’d not bother fishing.

We pulled up at Beach Road and carried the first kayak down to the beach. Then Stinkyweim arrived, target being to try anchoring. Then Steve turned up with a mate from work, Richard, and the five of us got ourselves sorted and made our way down to the beach.



A quick paddle out to the sabellaria beds that we always fish and it was anchors away. Steve and Richard were a hundred or so yards behind the three of us and we set to fishing. I had one rod with a single 6/0 Viking tied to 20lb mono baited with unwashed squid – hooked through the eyes then into half of the body – and a second rod with a size 1 wishbone in case of sole, these baited with half a frozen black lugworm and a small ring of squid.



I wasn’t far from Paul who was on my Prowler 15 as his Big Game and my Scupper are a sod to stick on the van together whereas these two can be left all week. At first he wasn’t feeling too steady but as he got used to the different ride and relaxed into it he was fine.



Then what we came for:



Like all good readers of Razzle I was after smut and this was number one, a pup. I wanted it’s parent but this was a start and mission half accomplished. Loads of small bites followed, mostly on the large bait and then, as I was lifting and bouncing my lead and started to wind it closer a fish connected: dab



In the background I heard Steve shout and looked around to see a decent smut come aboard. More small bites followed for me on both rods, with some more smut pups and then species 3, my old friend Mr Whiting ;D



I rebaited and cast the wishbone straight over my other line. Bollocks. I decided to unleash and swap the rods over to the other sides. Job done I re-attached the large rod and then the small rod…at which point the large one thumped and was in my hand without me seeing it – feel and instinct and it was fish on ;D

Quite a pull, nice curve and then, as it got under me, just a solid weight. Oh well, pump up the jam ;D It was then I noticed my other line around this one and then, as Lady Smut broke surface, caught sight of the yak and I she went mental. It was like my missus on Day 28 as she flew off the handle.







Okay, now, I need to unleash the other rod, undo the crossover and wind in the slack before I can sort her out so, smut rod under armpit and butted into nutsack I start flipping the other one over and under then get it tight, place it back in the holder and leash it up. Then it’s time to swim her over my foot and flip her aboard.



Calm down bitch, we ain’t married! I grab hold of a solid piece of writhing muscle and she farts. So unladylike. I’m always amazed at the brute force under the skin of these. Beautifully hooked in the gob I whipped the hook out. 6lb or so of lovely, fresh, Hopton smoothie…my first decent one from here largely thanks to Norfolkboy who spread the word they were in – cheers fella, that’s a pint to you.



I was tempted to go now, my target achieved, but there were others to please too and Paul then got his first fish of the night – not easy on 6/0 hooks. A good (PB) whiting:



Some more small bits followed and then Paul’s rod developed a bend. Quite a good bend. Really bent it was. He was into a smut now too!



It gave him the run around and with him over the moon I let some warp out and came closer to get the pictures:





That’ll teach him to consider barbelling ;D He was over the moon.

Some more small stuff came to us but as slack water arrived along with the light fading away we decided to come in after a brilliant night. Paul has two fish, both PB’s, Steve is back on the water, Si (who it turns out I knew at school over 20 years ago) is comfortable anchoring and up for more of the same, Richard is converted from boats to kayaks, subject to confirmation (he’s married) and me? Well, I’ve wanted a good local smut for a while and finally achieved it; that’s what it’s all about.