Bagging-up at Beccles...09/02/08

Sometimes fortune smiles on the unlucky. Yesterday my luck was out inasmuch as I left my breadcrumb and maggots in the conservatory and had to fish with a handful of generously donated maggots. Fortune came with a phone call last night from my mum to say they’d had some lambs born yesterday if I wanted to bring the girls over, and that the cousins were going to be there all afternoon. Hearing my tale of woe about maggots that would go unused she very kindly gave up and agreed to have the girls for the day and so following bacon and eggs I loaded the car up and headed inland, depositing the girls rather hastily.

Yep, the rollers are the business. I unloaded onto the slipway and went and parked the car. I was on the water within 15 minutes of depositing the girls and five minutes later I was back where I finished off yesterday.



I put 3 maggots on each of the two size 16’s on my trace – either side of the feeder – and filled said feeder with wet crumb and maggot mix. Out went the first rod, the second following shortly after. I basked in the sunshine in a mild 10 degrees.


For a couple of minutes…at which point the tip jerked and I brought in the first fish of the day – a common bream.



Already things were looking promising. It was around 10:30.



Not too big so I fitted him to a livebait trace and cast him upstream to trot down past me.

Next little rattle brought the first Roach of the session



Fin-perfect, these silver fish have bright red fins and a lovely metallic blue sheen on their backs at the moment in this water.



I decided to wind in and re-cast my bream and suddenly felt it go heavy…

This wasn’t a bream…

The first pike run of the day developed but alas the combination of flattened barbs and a large mouthful (the bream was larger than I normally bait with) meant that I was left with a mauled bream and no pike – not even a tantalising glimpse! The damage was not enough to kill the bream but was pretty severe:



A few puncture wounds and that gash at the bottom left was 5mm+ deep and a good inch long. I figured the fish was dead so swapped it for a (smaller roach) which conveniently came aboard and was promptly cast back out.

I then proceeded to alternate between bream



And roach



For the rest of the day!

One new species for the year also came aboard – my old favourite and perhaps the prettiest fish in UK freshwater; Perca Fluviatalis – the Perch.



The spike s on those fins hurt so it’s worth paying attention to them. It’s great watching them chasing spinners with the fins up like mini-sailfish – they really are a beautiful and exciting fish to watch in action – a great predator and common. Sadly they don’t take to fishtanks well as quite honestly in my eye they are way nicer to watch than most tropicals.

I cast the roach off at some point and noticing some movement in the semi-expired bream I popped him on again. Bugger me if he didn’t get taken again! This was an even heavier fish and was on for a good minute before once again I brought in a chomped bream – this time with gashes in the head as well as the flanks. From then on I stuck to smaller livebaits although I failed to get another run all day.

I was still getting plenty of bites and fish and then something happened that I have never had in the UK, sea or river, a double shot! Up came a roach



And I noticed another roach on the bottom hook. (Pic above is of the bottom one).



After a while the bites slackened off so I moved off elsewhere:



I had a beautiful bite here, very powerful, and was left without a hook. I snapped another hook on a snag and only had one other nibble so went back again, trying my luck first in the quay itself. Bored within five minutes there and with the sun in my eyes I went back to my usual patch.

Boing!! Said Zebedee as once again the bites were coming.



I was running out of time and had to go pick up the girls so did the last cast business and went home on another roach.



As I paddled in past the moored cruisers that run up and down all summer I had some time to bask in the pleasure of such a super day’s fishing.



Apart from possibly the summer tournament when I stopped counting this must have been my best day’s fishing – number-wise – ever in the UK. I bagged up. Final tally for the day was three species – one first for the year –a total of 13 Bream, 17 Roach and 1 Perch! Just goes to show what a difference groundbaiting makes. The two lost pike didn’t really matter although I now only have 5 weeks to get my first yak-caught 20lb’er so the pressure is on…..a la semaine prochaine, as my wife would say…

(i'm really enjoying this tiddler-bashing species-hunt I'm on!)

Very Slow But Very Good. Waveney...08/02/08

Right, I’m back in business. My new motorised kayak trolley has arrived and has been fitted with my new Thule bars/locks/roller



I had no idea they did rollers until I was looking around for the best deal. I figured it was worth getting in the hope it was useful as frankly the Trident, rigged, is quite heavy at this time of year (not paddling as often or as far) and thus more of a struggle to load up. I was surprised that they are actually lower than the bars themselves but they actually work really well – I can slide the yak right up and then lower or lift it and slide it down with no real effort, comparatively. Recommended. I also got the longer bars so I could get both yaks on side by side. This meant that I then had to swear – followed by a friend milling longer slots into the underside in order to get them attached to the feet and the feet attached to the roofrails. I then swore again and went out to buy some drawn steel bar in a square shape so I could use it as a key to tighten them. Got there in the end though.



So anyway, I got the car loaded up with almost everything I needed (see later) and the yak on the roof. One minor niggle is that it’s hard work to make a tight grip on the bars as they are now – the old ones had pipe lagging on and this created a more secure surface – it could bed down into the foam and didn’t slip. I need to get something to replace that but without looking like some gaffer-taped pipe lagging as frankly £140 of bars etc shouldn’t be scruffed up like that. In the end I got it steady and safe and took my daughter to school. I then set course for the River Waveney at Beccles, a good spot for silvers – and being encouraged by having heard of good pike coming out over the last week or two.

It was 9:30 before I was in the water. Ten minutes before a chap had helped me get the yak off the roof (not necessary with the rollers but he was a friendly chap). He gave me some local gen as he is fishing here every week and he also had been doing well on the large pike. Lovely bloke – even more so when he gave me some maggots after I discovered that my maggots along with my groundbait (I’d put them together at home) were not in the car. Thank you mate, you saved me a lot of hassle. So, armed with two set-up feeder rods (I left them like that) with 4lb line and size 16 hooks and two spinning rods with 50lb braid and small pike floats I paddled out to my first mark.

And blanked.

So I went to my regular haunt and sat there.


For a while.

An age in fact.

Then I missed a couple of bites.

But all things come to those who wait



I hauled in a Dace – first of the year and a PB of all things. It was small but usually they are smaller!



Now, I’m not a great fan of live-baiting from an ethical standpoint but needs must and it is a proven method of getting the pike on the end of the hook. A friend pointed out today – and he isn’t an angler – that if a pike is feeding it’s going to take a live fish from that bit of water anyway. Anyway, that’s by the by and Mr Dace was promptly attached to a livebait rig and swung into the river.

A knock on the match rod



In came my first Roach of the year…I was doing well on the species here even if fishing was slow.



I unhooked it, put it on the other pike rod and swung it into the water. That’s when my other float stopped floating.

I started pulling it up. She started pulling it down. We both pulled for a while. It took a while for me to pull more than her and soon she broke surface.

WOW!



She was a beauty.

My biggest Yak pike to date.

I chinned her aboard after a bit of fannying about and set about getting the trace out with my forceps. Typical river pike she had taken the Dace down in one gulp and the hooks were down deep (it wasn’t a big bait as you can see) so took a little while and I was in a hurry to get them out and return her so didn’t take a picture or weigh here at this point – that could come later if I got a move on. But I did get a move on and when all was ready to get a pic and her weight…

You guessed it. She jumped out of my lap and into the water!

She was thick, she was toned, she was plump and she was full of spawn. I was after a twenty but don’t think she was near. But she certainly wasn’t a ten. With spawn I’d estimate her as being in the region of 15lb and certainly don’t think I’m over estimating. It was a lovely mid double and one hell of a nice fish. Corker!

I’d wound the roach in during the fight and popped it back down again. I’d retrieved the dace from the throat of the pike and had that in the footwell but decided that two bait rods out for pike was tempting fate so just dropped the roach down and cast out a match rod.

Straight away my roach got gobbled up and I was into a firm fish. I had it on for a minute or so and then it let go. Up came my roach, a bit battered but still alive and went back in. I’d dropped the fish and it didn’t come back.

Nothing did for a while actually. I missed a shy bite or two, moved position and failed to connect to a beautiful bite, went back. As both my baits were now dead I wasn’t confident of another pike. A virtually dead bream around half a pound came floating by and I tried that but no joy on that either. So I just carried on with two match rods.

Finally after missing a few more bites I got:

Species 4 for the day



A beautiful river chub of a round 8 inches.

Of course the temptation was irresistible and five minutes later the little orange thing in the centre foreground went under…and stayed under.



Don’t you just love it when they do this?



That’s the first time I’ve got one in mid air and that’s actually a fluke – I was just trying to get a pic of it in the water. Like this:



Or this:



Or maybe even one like this:



Who you looking at pal?

Now, normally I don’t bring them into the yak (used to last season but got some practice) but that’s because I fish with lures and they’re usually hooked in the scissors. However, with baits they tend not to be and so I stick an unhooking mat between my legs, chin the pike and get the forceps down its throat to remove the hooks. Duly done she went back in. Another thick, heavy and solid river fish she went about 7-8lb and was half the size of the first one.



Of course as far as I was concerned that was a good note on which to depart and so I took baits off hooks, hooks out of water, hauled up my anchor and headed in. a slow day but a great success – a Yak PB and two new species for the year (one of which was a PB). The chap who’d given me some maggots I was also cheered to hear had had a decent day – 3 pike, the biggest going to a shade over 21lbs. Now, what ever shall I do about those ready-mixed groundbait and maggots in the tub – they won’t keep…..

Lowestoft Codling Hunt...28/01/08

It’s impossible to have an early start on a Monday and so Essexbuoy was dragged inside upon arrival, given a cuppa and hung around while I packed everyone off to nursery, school and college. We then had a leisurely fry up to save me the hassle of making sarnies before kitting up and heading for the beach.

What a morning! Calm sea, no wind, bright sunshine, blue skies and a nice spring-like temperature. Couldn’t be better…



Made me feel quite snap-happy it did!



Set up, we launched for the paddle out to the Stanford buoy, more or less straight out and a decent mark. A couple of hundred yards out and the sound of throbbing acme from inside the harbour, soon followed by those lovely chaps in the orange boat



I imagine they wanted to do some practicing as they opened up in front of us and gave us a bit of white water to play in – which passed cleanly under the Trident and cleanly over the Elite!!



The current in the bay is pretty mild and we had an easy few hundred metres before getting further out into the tide. High tide was in 3 ½ hours so we were in the thick of it then. Steve was looking rather photogenic and so I snapped a couple of trophy shots



I think about halfway to the buoy he’d made up his mind to get a rudder sometime as I was going more or less straight while he was having to correct regularly and therefore losing a bit of speed – although to be fair as leader you do set the pace. We were in the full flow by now and quite a way out



On arrival a bit further south than the intended buoy (actually the next one along, South Holm) we dropped anchor and tried to fish. I dunno, it didn’t matter where I positioned the anchor warp, the lines were moving around, the leads were bouncing a bit and the yak was turning here and there. I guess current and wind were at odds with each other. And what a current!



At least I was holding bottom at just under 30 feet of water. Full fathom five. Steve had drifted quite a way down and so I headed down to stay with him, nothing doing where I was in the preceding time and hard work detecting a bite if it came. Good reception out here.



And he’s got a phone on it too – tables turned!



We drifted down a bit more, past Pakefield and the Newcombe buoy and eventually after a couple more pulling anchors managed to ‘get a grip’ off Kessingland just short of the East Barnard buoy. That’s the last one for a long way! I actually had in mind recently to fish a Y-shaped hole the other side of it that drops down to 22 metres but because another boat was there and we’d finally managed to hold bottom I decided that I’d stay where we were in 36 feet.

So we sat there.

For a while.

The current had eased off.

So we sat.

And waited.

Until finally I had a tap on double squid on a 4/0 pennel. I grabbed the rod, finger on the line and waited for it to develop.

Tap tap.

Okay, he’s still there. I don’t want to bring it up too early.

Tap tap.

Okay, up you come…



All I can see is squid.



It felt good against the current and from that depth.



And it was alright, sizeable and with a full belly



Beauty, first saltwater species for the year, a nice east coast codling of a round a couple of pounds. Now it was Steve’s turn.

Not that he was in a burry mind. So we waited.

And waited.

For about an hour, when



Winding it in, he was rewarded with a 4lb+ Lowestoft codling, the best I’ve seen off here from a yak to date. It was pleasing to know that we’d both avoided a blank especially as the bites were very, very rare.



About an hour later I decided it was time I had another and no sooner had I said this then the rod went down again. I picked it up, let it develop, then reeled in. I could feel the fish on for about ¼ of the way up and then

Nothing.

It’d taken the head off the squid without getting hooked and so my second bite of the day failed to bring me a fish.

Slack tide came and Steve drifted closer



And away again



And after another half an hour of slack, moving lines we decided to head back towards the earlier buoys. The fog had rolled in over the coastline by now and we up anchored and secured stuff down for the paddle back to the Newcombe buoy.

Wherever the hell that was. We were now getting fogged in.

It appeared briefly and we made a beeline for it, quite a paddle and I saw my old mate the harbour porpoise again, just a couple of glimpses 100 yards away, which made me all excited in case I got to see him close up again but alas he didn’t stay around and we carried on for the buoy, anchoring up just short of it to have one last try in 40ft of water.



As an idea, we were maybe 300 metres at most from it



Even the gulls were sitting it out



Then Steve was in



It was big. It wasn’t a snag as it was moving, slightly, but was very heavy. I tried to keep an eye on things but I appeared to be moving around a bit. I checked my warp and it seemed to be at a funny angle. I put two and two together and gave it a tug. Then another. Steve appeared happy that at least he was getting a fight from what must be a fish after all. Then he twigged that I was tugging my warp and watching his rod tip bend! I hauled in and unhooked him but ended up a bit further out when the anchor held again. I’d had enough now, the fog was no worse but wasn’t going to improve and it was now 3pm so we decided to head in as I’d told the coastguard we’d be in around 4. We could actually see bugger all and I turned on the GPS for a quick double check on position and direction (low voltage warning had come up earlier so I was using it sparingly, I suspect wet leads had drained the battery somewhat quicker than usual). We headed in on the compass, going off course on occasion when nattering (look over your left shoulder when you paddle and you will veer left. Try it.) And the fog started to improve slightly with distance, enough that I could see my way home after a while. Glad I fitted that compass, wish I’d brought my spare battery as an emergency reserve. We were never in ‘danger’ or anything, and with 2 mobiles, VHF and flares plus spare anchors each we were well provided for if we had to call anyone, but had it been a week ago then it would have just been the mobiles and anchors so now I know that it was money definitely well spent.

Halfway back we swapped paddles, me using the Simply Magic while Steve had a go with the Enchantment Carbon. Immediate difference – not so much in the pulling power from my seat but in the length of the paddle – mine is long, Steve’s was short and took a few minutes to get used to. The blade difference was noticeable too, as a tourer the Enchantment likes wide strokes where I could dig vertically with the Magic and move just as well although I would imagine I’d find it harder work over distance and the additional weight started to tell after a while. We went a bit north of where we wanted to be ideally and had to come in the last quarter of a mile against the current. It was starting to get boring now as we were chatting and thus paddling gently making little headway. We got cracking instead and headed in.

#

Coming past the groyne where we were going to beach, over the stern of Steve's yak I saw a seal - the closest I’ve ever seen one here! At least I think it was a seal, maybe a porpoise as it was very dark, but it disappeared and I didn’t spot it again. I thought of phoning my wife to come and have a look with the kids but it wasn’t actually necessary as it turned out…





I was rather chuffed as it’s only the second time they’ve been there when I’ve come back in (last time was the October meet when the sight of 5 yaks coming in together was apparently really good!). The girls were happy too as they were able to see our fish as well as the landing (very undramatic, very slight swell). My mum was also with them and being used to seeing my auntie’s boatloads of tuna etc was rather under impressed with my codling! Yeah mum, I don’t have twin 150hp outboards and a tropical reef to fish…still, time to load up and go back for coffee.



With fish pics first of course



That one deserved a closer pic



Now, who mentioned relief zips? We felt like Dorado after that day out!





And no matter how hard I tried my codling just wouldn’t grow…



Back we went, coffee, children, noise, smoked codling, smoked cod roe and deep-fried battered codling with chips and then it was time for Steve to head back down to Essex. Thanks for coming up mate, I’ll see you down your neck of the woods soon!