Hunting for Sticklebacks...13/03/08

Following the school run my wife dropped me off in Beccles for a few hours fishing in the wind before tomorrow, the last day of the coarse fishing season. I was armed with some size 22 hooks and was hoping to catch – of all things – a Stickleback. Set up, I launched and headed into the main basin of the quay to try my luck having been informed that there were some here last week.



Five minutes went by and then my first bite occurred – a swift rattle. It felt small…could it be?



Alas, no. It was a Ruffe. No more fish were forthcoming so after about an hour I moved further up to try a different spot. I got a few missed bites before striking into a Common Bream of about half a pound, followed by another shortly after.



Next up came a double shot of small Roach



After an hour of this, with only a few fish in I decided to go and get a bit more action in the usual spot and untied myself from the quayside for the short paddle. Tying up again, I soon had a good knock and brought in the first Dace of the day



This was soon followed by a PB Gudgeon



Soon after I had to laugh when, after a terrific battle, I landed my smallest ever Roach



I decided to see if the decent Chub were back in the usual spot. I tied up on the opposite bank to where I normally fish as I wanted to put a pike rod out in a specific point where there were no pike at all today. After a while came the first hard shake and into the boat came the first decent Chub, around a pound.



This was the order of the next couple of hours with occasional bites most of which resulted in fish-on.



Departure time drawing near I waited to get my last fish and sure enough I reeled in my feeder and there it was…another Chub.



And so I ended the day with 20 fish of 6 species - 1 Ruffe, 2 Common Bream, 2 Dace, 3 Gudgeon, 6 Roach and 6 Chub. A slow day and I missed the target species but I had some nice fish and a lot of fun. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Last paddle on the broad this season...09/03/08

Before you start reading, I blanked. Just so you know.

Well today panned out totally differently to expected. For one thing it was neither wet nor windy. In fact, it was mild and sunny and so I decided to head for the car boot sail with my daughters: target species, size 22 hooks (have been informed of a stickleback mark!) and two plastic swords. We did better than that and came away with two plastic (cockable) pirate pistols at 20p (my 3 year old told ‘mummy’ they were Sex Pistols!), a mouth organ at 5p, two packets of size 22 hooks-to-nylon at £1, some breakaways at 60p each and a bunch of videos at 20p each. Best of all though were a couple of books – one on pike fishing and one on perch fishing both published in the 1970’s. I looked them up on www.abebooks.com and found them at £12 and £6 respectively. Not bad for a quid…so I’d had a pretty good catch on the fishing gear then.

Back home I milled around and when my wife mentioned taking the kids swimming at the holiday village where I held the Eastern Meet I suggested taking the P15 to do some photography for college on the broad. No argument there and of course I may as well take a couple of rods and troll some lures seeing as how I’d be on the water anyway…nearly ballsed it up by taking a tumble on the stairs though and have a sore arse and back still, 9 hours later. Still, the paddle would do me good...

So I launched around 2:30 and diligently spent 20 minutes getting some pics done before sticking the rods out and completing the circuit of the broad.

Nada.

It seemed that no-one was getting a thing. But it was pleasant enough weather and it’s likely to be the last time on the broad this season so I enjoyed the paddle. It was also good for the old paddle fitness as recently I’ve spent little time paddling and lots of time at anchor. On my travels I saw some wildlife and retrieved a lure for a guy on the bank. A circuit completed I headed back up again and started thinking back. You know, the broad is familiar now – I kind of paddle along and remember having one here…one there…and so on. Up past the reeds behind the houseboats I went.



Here was where I’d hooked a biggy that dropped off. The Great Crested Grebe (I think) in the frame wasn’t doing any better it seemed.



I headed up the dyke this time



At times the water was like a mill pond, so still.



I was rather taken by the reflections of the sky too.



The peace and quiet gave plenty of time to just think about and remember things and the Eastern Meet back in October kept recurring: here was ‘Darnsarfs Dyke’ where Paul had sat at anchor



Down the bottom was ‘The Lozz Hole’ where Laurie had tried for a while



Coming out was the ‘Bucketboy Bend’ where I first met Pete in the flesh and tried his Big Game just around the corner.



It’s also where I met Guinea but his spot, ‘Guinea’s Wharf’ is further down on the broad itself and I didn’t head back that way. Coming back in the light was superb and the water and reflections it carried were just too good not to record.





My wife phoned. They were out of the pool and would be at the slipway in ten minutes. I was twenty minutes away and knew I’d beat them so I slowed down and finally paddled towards the area forever to be known as ‘Starvin Suicide’.



Flo arrived and I loaded up seconds before a heavy hail shower started up – I got the first few on my bald head and they hurt – and we headed on home. No fish but an opportunity to paddle and reflect on how much I’d enjoyed the broad since I first started yakking. To think I had no intention of anything fishing or kayaking related today at all…

Gudgeon Fest! Beccles...06/03/08

After such a slow day yesterday I figured that today – windier and warmer – might bring the fish back on the feed and I was especially hopeful for the pike. I had already got a load of groundbait mixed up from the last session and added some more breadcrumb and a bit of flour to help bind it better. So, armed with the match rods and a pike rod I launched once more after the school run and paddled out to my usual spot.




It took 5 minutes before my first bite – another thumping great one – and I brought in the first fish of the day – a lip-hooked Gudgeon. This was followed ten minutes or so late with a second.



It took a while before the next bite and leaving it to develop I was rewarded with the first double shot of the day, bringing in another Gudgeon and a reasonably sized Roach – perfectly sized for livebaiting with and so it went on the hook. I had decided to give the circle hooks another chance and I cast the pike rod and settled back to wait for more action.



I’d like to say that action was constant and fast but the opposite was true. It was slow and it appears that the Bream, Roach, Chub and Dace shoals that have been providing such good sport for the past few weeks have now moved elsewhere. I continued to pull in Gudgeon here and there with an occasional juvenile Chub here and there.



I decided after a couple of hours to make a move and I decided to do so after one last fish. I was glad I waited as this came with a beautiful little Ruffe, a rare capture and only my second of the year. When it came out it had a deep yellow/gold sheen which had gone by the time I took the photograph. I remembered to spread the dorsal spines and it’s clear to see the family relationship with the Perch – another favourite of mine.



I moved to try and pick up some of the larger Chub from my other usual haunt. Paddling downstream with a keepnet (the first time I’ve used one in the yak and the first time I’ve used one in maybe twenty years) was hard work – the amount of drag was actually more than paddling with my anchor out here (where it works as a mud-weight rather than a true anchor) but I got where I wanted to go soon enough and set up, cast, and sat back and waited.



After an hour or more of waiting with not a single bite I decided enough was enough and headed back to the boatyard area. Fishing had by now died right off and bites were very few and far between. When they came and I struck in time they were more of the same – a real Gudgeon party was going down! I was not the only angler struggling – only one pike came out that I heard of and very few other species. There were a few dory’s out (one of which ran, faster than allowed, straight over my pike line, snagged it and took a load of braid with it but fortunately I got it free and retried line, trace and bait. Tossers. Luckily it didn't result in an overrun...) and plenty of poles along the bank but no-one was doing much at all so I guess I did well when I finally packed up after my last fish – number 21, another Gudgeon!



Total for the day was 16 Gudgeon (my most of the species in a day) 2 Roach, 2 Chub and 1 Ruffe. Total weight if I’d been in a match would have probably been half a pound or less!



Slow, but fun – and with 8 days left of the season I’m glad I was able to get out.

A vvery slow morning at Beccles...05/03/08

I had to take some photographs for college today and – surprise surprise – they involved being on the yak. So, I cancelled the morning session to do my snapping and made plans to be present for the afternoon session at 2m (knowing full well that I would only be required to be present for 20 minutes in the afternoon anyway, such is the nature of ‘self-directed’ learning on an art course). Of course being on the kayak without tackle is okay but I find it is so much better balanced with rods as I’m sure you’ll agree. Especially at anchor. So I took a little something along to amuse myself and launched from the slipway at Beccles Quay with the remains of snow and hail on the grass.



The cruiser is still moored where I usually tie up so I anchored off on the opposite side of my ‘hot-spot’. The current was not running very fast at all and the wind was a bit all-over so it wasn’t ideal conditions for fishing in this manner. It was cold too, and there were hardly any anglers around (and those that I spoke to hadn’t had a thing).



Five minutes or less and I got a thumping great bite!



It’s funny that – Gudgeon are tiny wee beasties but they don’t half take a bait forcefully. If only they got bigger they’d be a handful. Too small for livebaiting with I popped him back thinking things were going to be hectic. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Ten or so minutes later I managed to land another and a while later I got a dace – again quite small.



I put him on anyway and crossed my fingers even though I’d heard that the pike were not coming out right now.

This done, and with little happening, I headed down to the iron bridge to try for some decent Chub. I cast the lines in and waited.

And waited

And finally got a knock that developed into a half-pounder:



A beautiful fish Chub, and a good fighter - I’m really starting to get fond of these. I felt guilty rigging it for pike bait (swapping the other mini one) but hoped that it would at least not be in vain.

I had nothing more in the next hour there so moved around a bit. The anchor business was annoying me as I just couldn’t keep the lines tight and the necessary bend in the rod tips to detect bites properly.



I fished for a while longer and caught another baby Chub and some more Gudgeon before it was time to head home. Of course you always have to have that last cast and I was on 8 fish but wanted to go home on ten. One rod was out of action with a tangled up trace (been experimenting with a new type I came up with, needs work) so it was unlikely. But I had a couple of hard bites and some wriggles and finished a slow day on a high with a lovely little brace of Gudgeon! Lovely.



I loaded up and set off to college (pics were fine, got what I wanted. In five minutes) via my parents where I did as any dutiful son would do under similar circumstances – drank coffee and had a bite to eat. Cheers mum! 1 Dace, 2 Chub and 7 Gudgeon, and 9 days left of the season. Let’s see what tomorrow brings…..

Chub Delight. Beccles...28/02/08

This morning, my fourteenth launch of the year, started off differently to intended. I had an extra half an hour of fishing time and considered driving an extra hour each way to Norwich to try and tempt one of the Barbel that swim around in the Wensum. I’d seen good carp at Norwich too and there seems to be a few Brown Trout to be had as well – three species that I have yet to have from a river in the UK. However, with heavy traffic following the school run I decided that I might as well just stick to the Waveney at Beccles for the remainder of the season and have a crack at some of the big Chub in my newly-found spot for them.

I had rigged my two match rods the same as before with the 4lb line, swimfeeder and double hook rigs and also had one of my spinning rods along with me, this time fitted with one of my old Shimano Crestfire baitcaster multipliers. These are nice reels but not having a clicker fitted they tend to not get used very often.

I launched around 9:30 from the slipway at the end of the quay and ran the gauntlet of a full bank of pole-anglers with a couple of carp bivvys/chairs/rodpods and some pikers scattered amongst them. I was most perturbed to find my usual spot for tiddlers occupied by a d**ned great cruiser and although finding a space to tie off my position was crap and casting was a problem – so was laying my pike baits in a decent position. I decided to give it a go for a while anyway so that I could at least pick up a livebait.



As usual I started to get bites almost immediately. I wish fishing had been like this as a kid! First into the boat was a small Dace which was duly rigged onto a single 4/0 circle hook, through the lips to tempt the Esox.



I am experimenting with a suitable alternative to the traditional pair of treble hooks as apart from restricting the movement of the bait I feel that with the high chance of deep-hooking pike when using a small bait I’d rather not have to risk damaging the pike by having to struggle with the forceps to remove them. Using a solitary barbless treble lost me a fish a fortnight ago, last week I lost five on standard single hooks and so the currently trendy circle hooks (almost guaranteed to hook your fish in the corner of the mouth) looked promising and I duly bought ten to try. From what I can gather these allow you to leave the fish a decent length of time in which to swallow the bait and then, when winding down, they set themselves and are used for longlines because of these properties. Out it went.

Next bite was a beautiful but tiny Gudgeon. Having taken 3 red maggots on a size 16 unhooking was simplicity itself and back he went. Such a pretty little fish and an indicator of good water quality I believe.



Anyway, I had my bait, the position was rubbish and I had just cast onto a cruiser so I decided that the time was right to head for my Chub spot. It’s only a two-minute paddle so I wandered down, tied up and cast the lines out.



The feeders had a slight difference in composition of groundbait this time. I’d not had much spare bread this week so had added some flour and porridge oats as well as the normal use of maggots. The pike line was running down by the pilings as I like to aim for the margins with these as they provide shelter for the tiddlers and features for the predators.

Bang!



A lovely solid knock and I struck into the first Chub of the day. You know when you have one of these on as they do have the strength and willpower to make a run for it! It took a bit of line before I finally had him alongside and lifted him out. It went about a pound I guess and was a decent fish. Back it went, and was soon followed by another of similar size. I know I’m usually not after the bigger fish but I fancied exploring this mark more hence I put up with the longer wait for bites and the knowledge that the fish would not be so numerous today.



My pike float went down.

I lifted the rod and started bringing it in. It was a good scrap and I was amazed to see that it was only a small jack of a couple of pounds in weight – being used to the pike on the Broad the river fish always impress me with their relative power. This two-pounder scrapped like a broad fish twice the size.



The Dace had moved up the line onto the side of the pikes jaw so I was confident that the circle hook had done as promised and hooked it firmly in the scissors. Had it hell! It was lodged down its throat! Great, fell for the hype, didn’t I! Next I’ll take up sitting in tents for a week waiting for swimming pigs to hook themselves on unnatural multi-coloured balls of protein. I didn’t much mind however as not only did I have the bait back – and alive – I was able to extract the hook with the minimum of fuss and get the fish back in the water in short order. A fat little fella, it had a few fry or small fish (about an inch long) down its throat already.



More Chub followed, including the first PB Chub of the day (they keep getting bigger!)



The pike float went silly again and the disappeared once more. I began bringing it in and for 30 seconds or so I felt the pike on the end of it. Then it was gone. 1-1 on the circle hooks!

The tide turned and things went quiet. I decided to go and catch some fresh bait over by the boat yard again and then reeled in a small Chub that would be ideally sized. Out he went and I went off to the boatyard for a spot of action. First in was the first Rudd of the season, a midget.



Some small Dace, Roach and Gudgeon followed and after half an hour I set off to try the other side of the bridge, midstream and fishing blind.



Waste of time. One bite which I missed. I went back to my Chub hole and caught the second PB Chub, around a couple of pounds, slightly bigger than the first PB Chub but not enough difference to get the camera out for – I just had a good look at its gold-tinged scales and thickset body. And then I found a pike route.

Down went the float, wait, reel in - Fish On!

Thirty seconds later – Fish Off!

1-2 on the circles.

Ten minutes later:

Down went the float, wait, reel in - Fish On!

Thirty seconds later – Fish Off!

1-3 on the circles.

Ten minutes later:

Down went the float, wait, reel in - Fish On!

Thirty seconds later – Fish Off!

1-4 on the circles, and this time I’d lost my baitfish. Muttering ‘Oh my word’ I up-anchored and headed back to the boatyard for some more bait. I had a Gudgeon first and then caught the sixth species of the day – a juvenile Common Bream which I should really have snapped before sticking trebles into it (I changed over while I was waiting for bites)



Back I went to my new-found pike route and fished for a further half an hour. I snagged up and lost all but my swim feeder on the one match rod and had already tangled and cut off (into the yak) my other match rod so I was only fishing the pike rod. Nothing happened, making the Bream the last of my sixteen fish for the day – 6 Chub, 2 Roach, 3 Gudgeon, 2 Dace, 1 Pike, 1 Rudd and 1 Common Bream. I paddled back to the quay, loaded up and set off for the school run. Two weeks left before the close season…

Getting Extreme! Lowestoft...25/02/08

Monday is a free day for me at the moment but I’m without a car that day so it’s sea or nothing. Last week, with the fog, meant nothing so today just had to be sea. Unfortunately I can’t get fresh lug on a Monday and don’t like keeping it to go rubbish from the weekend so I was relying on some frozen/thawed/froze/thawed/frozen/thawed black lug and some squid of the same ilk so wasn’t really expecting to do a lot today – just get out, have a crack at it and top up on sunlight and fresh air.

Having phoned the coastguard, 9am saw me on the beach with a pretty flat sea and light wind. I had checked the forecasts for weather, wind and surf beforehand and had taken the sail as I was intending to head south with the tide (HW 12:01) and come back with wind and tide using sail power for the trip home. Beautiful sunny day it was, and not too cold. I was using my spinning rods as my normal sea rods have got cracked and damaged rings now so are avoiding the tip for some planned re-entry drills with rods out when it’s warmer and I have some companions in case of need. Might as well use knackered rods for that eh?



I paddled out about a mile and arrived in 20ft or so of water between two sandbanks. There was a fair chop over them so I paddled against the tide through the northern one and anchored up, fishing towards it in the hope something would be around. Something was.



Enough weed for one hell of a cake! After an hour of this I decided on a move and so headed slightly inshore off the CEFAS building at Pakefield – in the hope some of my friends there would look out of the window and get the hump at being stuck inside! I doubt they’d have seen me though as I was still probably ¾ mile out but these thoughts amuse me. I should have phoned really… anyway, I put some baits down, two hook flapper on one and two hook flapper and flowing legered pennel on the other. And waited.



It took a while and then I got a lovely knock. Reeling up it felt quite feisty and sure enough a plump codling of around the 3lb mark came up, gave me a grin, and dropped off. Dinner most definitely not served!



I had my old Shimano TR100G’s on as well, these are cracking reels but are starting to feel a bit rough now after a decade or more of use. They could probably do with a good service and some replacement parts but frankly they can be replaced cheaper. They still work alright so I guess they’ll do for choppy bottom fishing where they take a hammering. They responded alright to the next knock, but nothing was hooked so down the bait went again.

15 minutes later another knock and this time I brought up a fish – a small codling, undersized but with the hook well down in its gut.



Using forceps I tried to get it out but proceeded to snap the shank of the hook. It wasn’t going to survive so I cut it up for bait. A pity as although I don’t mind knocking fish on the head I don’t like to do it when it’s not necessary.



The wind had picked up by now and I was in 2-3ft+ swells, anchored from the rear and with wind over tide. The waves were coming from my rear quarter / beam and I occasionally got some water into the cockpit but not much. I had a few more knocks but failed to connect with anything else and around 12:30, with slack tide making tight lines difficult to keep) I broke down the rods and used the rod pod for it’s intended purpose (for once), hauled up my anchor (knitting the line into a cardigan) and got everything stowed for the sail in. It was getting a bit uncomfortable now (although not worryingly so) and with use of rudder and paddle I got in position for the off before strapping the paddle down and ‘hoisting the mainsail’.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

#

Apologies for the tilted horizon, but 7MPH+ in a 3ft swell with a yak that is not responding to the rudder only allows a quick snap! You can see from the bow wave an idea of what was happening. I went downwind and off both sides, into the beach, out to sea and parallel all for good measure and had a blast. At one point though I thought I was going to spill – I was running along the face of a wave and a gust tipped me up, filling the starboard side of the cockpit to the brim and making me lift a leg and lean the other way to stay in, which I did. Suggested mod for the Trident from this being a 5th scupper hole as per the Elite purely for the transducer so I can drain the water (the thru-hull doesn’t allow draining very well). Having recovered, I carried on



I headed back out to sea to go around the Claremont Pier and then turned in again and ran along and up to my launch point, coming into the sand on the sail, the rudder working again in water that was a bit calmer than I had sailed through. It was a blast! The cleats worked well and really took the strain off my hands – 2.2 square metre sail and 15-20mph winds with higher gusts being quite a powerful force. I kept my hands on them still so that I could adjust as needed and if I went over I could yank them out of the cleats to collapse the sail to save being towed to Ijmuiden!



Once back onshore, without lunch, I took one last snap and trundled home. I had a great time - I’d managed not to blank and had 4 hours on the sea, although it’s the first time I’ve come in earlier than planned.