The Grand Slam

In Florida and the tropics The Grand Slam is a bonefish, permit and tarpon on the same session. 

In north Essex/Suffolk, it's a fly caught mullet, bass and a sea trout. Well, it is as far as I'm concerned. 

Bully wanted a mullet on the fly, although he started bass fishing, whilst I had a wander, looking for fish. It didn't take long, I found a couple of dozen mullet patrolling the shoreline a foot or two out.

I whistled to him and beckoned him over.  He gingerly made his way across the mud and cast the fly in the right spot. After what seemed an age he had a take, struck and lost a fish. Shit happens.

I set up further long. There were a few fish about, but not many. However, from my slightly elevated position I could see exactly where they were swimming. Several fish passed over the flies without interest, then out of the blue, the indicator was pulled off the mud ( I was ultra close in ) and across the water.

I struck and pulled into a nice mullet that plodded about a bit, but came in fairly easily. A good start.

We moved to different mark, further upriver, Bully on the fly and me after a bass on the lures. A surface stick bait to be precise.

Second cast I was in. A cracking fish of 3.5lb or so.

The tide continued to push in and we were forced off the mudflats, just making it, across two creeks which were filling up quickly.

As the flow increased, the water coloured up. A change from a surface lure to a tiny shallow diver resulted in a savage take under the rod tip.

An absolutely beautiful sea trout of about 3lb. 

We moved a short distance and watched as a couple of sea trout repeatedly hit bait fish in the three to four inch range. We tried for ages, changing lures and retrieves, but failed to hook one.

I did have another nice bass on the little sub surface plug though. It hit the lure with such ferocity I was sure it was another sea trout, but not so.

A brilliant session.

On The Munch

Isn't that what the carpies say when the fish are feeding ? Well,they are.

Yesterday was cool and windy. I drove over the bridge and pulled over, "just for a look".

Ahh, I'll just give it twenty minutes I thought, as I grabbed the lure rod, already made up, from the van.

Four top water hits and every one missed.

On went a small, slow sinking plug. First cast, WHACK, a bass was on.

Another bass of a similar size followed quickly.

Today I had another go. Mullet were feeding in the mud pit. I toppled over and broke my fall by flinging out an arm and went up to my elbow in mud. Oh well, that's part and parcel of mullet fishing here.

I was due to meet Waaaak a bit further down river, so jumped in the van and moved to the next mark. The tide was already pushing in and after having two half decent bass on a small surface lure I went on the hunt for a mullet.

I found a group that looked like they were feeding and put the fly in the right place. A minute or two later the indicator slid away and a fish was on. It thrashed around a bit as I hustled it in, I couldn't hang around as the tide had begun to flood a couple of small creeks and I was in danger of being cut off.

Waaaak arrived and we tried for a bass. We failed, but had two hits on the surface lure and saw a sea trout strike twice, so an interesting session.

Plenty of fish about at the moment,  it's a great time of year.

Sticky Business

After a few days work it was time to get the fly rod out for a go for the mullet. I'd no idea what to expect, as I'd not tried for five or six weeks and these fish change their habits regularly. 

As soon as I got to the water I noticed a few fish feeding. Creeping up to them, I stopped ten yards from the edge, any closer and I'd probably spook them.

The cast was spot on, just a foot out in inches of water. Within a minute or so I had a take and as I struck the fish thrashed on the surface and beached itself. A bit unsatisfactory !

I went to walk through the mud to unhook it but found myself stuck ! Properly stuck. A few minutes of wriggling and I was free. As was the fish, it had got itself back in the water and shed the hook. Just needed the circus clown music.

I did have some bass on surface lures, mostly smallish but one decent one.

Back again this early this morning. Curiously quiet, but after moving a few minutes down river I nabbed an absolutely mint fish on a sub surface plug. Sorry, "crankbait".

I've a feeling there's going to be some good fishing on the mullet and bass this autumn locally. Fingers crossed. 

End of the Summer

Back home after four and a half weeks, another great trip with a few ups and downs.

Three van tyres replaced ( long story ), six hundred quid please. 

Stuck down a lane in Denmark, wedged in between two big tree branches. Ended up with a burning clutch and a smoke filled van. 

1300 miles

One rod broken, two quiver tips snapped.

Fished the rivers/canals Ijssel, Waal, Princess Magriet, Leeuwarden city canal, Niewe Graffe of Holland, the river Susa in Denmark, the Baltic in two places in southern Denmark.

Caught a perch from a canal side restaurant whilst waiting for our food. I didn't know whether to feel proud or ashamed when others diners stared.

Some clonking perch in the Baltic, plus a couple of small sea trout. A few goby species too.

5lb plus ide from three different rivers, topped with one of 5lb 13oz from the Susa. An absolute monster.

Ten roach over two pounds and one of 3lb 4.5oz.

Lots of bluenose to 2lb 13oz.  And bream.

Two asp to 8lb.

One asp/ide hybrid, interesting fish.

Lure fished for over a week ( very short sessions ) without having a single sizeable fish until I got those asp. 

Some cracking free park ups in Denmark and plenty of harbourside Camperplatz.

Three hundred plus miles on the bikes. Might not seem much, but S only leant how to ride a bike a few years ago. Enjoyed the cycling as much as the fishing. Well, almost.

Some lovely seafood on the island of Falster in Denmark. 

Incredible bird life. Saw a pair of white tailed sea eagles in Naestved, Denmark, another WTSE on the Waal, along with a pair of peregrines, an osprey,  loads of storks, herons, greater and cattle egrets, absolutely fantastic. 

A beaver too.

Back home now, waiting for the tides to be right for local bass and mullet.

A great trip once again, I'm missing it already. 

Autumn fishing coming up, plenty to look forward too.

Land of the Giants

One thing was clear. I'd hit the river at exactly the right time. It was time to make hay, so next morning,  as usual, I was out at dawn.

I'd decided to try a different spot, just to see if the roach were spread about, or just shoaled up in one place.

After just over an hour, all I'd had was three bluenose. No sign of roach.

Hmm. Shall I move ? Yes, I decided to move to where I'd been catching the previous day.

I was traveling light, so it only took a minute to pack up.

I was just about to wind in when the tip flickered. A bite ? Yes, the line when slack and I wound into a slabby, breamy weight. I cranked it in quickly and was going to hand land it, to save getting gallons of snot on the net, when I caught a glimpse of silver and red. A huge roach !

I immediately went to pieces. It felt like all the oomph went out of me. Don't come off. Don't come off. Don't come off, I kept saying.

It eventually went in to the net. I'd never seen anything like it. I thought it would go over three pounds and it did, 3lb 4.5oz to be precise.

What a creature. Scale and fin perfect after a life of evading predators, huge floods and all manner of threats.

After reluctantly slipping it back, I just sat there, stunned. Three pounds ? Three pounds ? Three fecking pounds !

During the time we were there I had ten roach over two pounds and that three pounder.

They were big "twos" too, with only two under 2lb 6oz.

The biggest four went 11lb 10oz. 

Unbelievable. 

To demonstrate just how important timing is on this river on the last day the river rose and went clear ( surprisingly). I had a morning and evening session and didn't have a bite.

You need a bit of luck to succeed.

The Most Infuriating Fish in the World

No, its not, as everyone will tell you, mullet.

It's asp.

A few years ago when I was feeder fishing on the Ijssel, I kept seeing fish being attacked in exactly the same spot all evening. I eventually packed up and took the spinning rod down to where the commotion had been taking place and hooked two in ten minutes. Easy.

A mate who lives in France then told me asp in his river were near on uncatchable. Really, I said, I thought they were easy. Oh dear, talk about tempting fate.

I caught several last year, but they were by no means easy. This trip, on many ocassions I've had fish all round me, crashing in to bait fish with fury, again and again. Some are very big fish indeed, but I must have cast thousands of times without even a sniff. On the Ijssel I never saw anyone else catch one either. 

The most intense activity is often either side of dawn. When you see it you think you can't fail. Or at least you do at the beginning.

I was speaking to a bloke from Belgium who is sponsored by Westin, obviously a decent angler. We got talking. Asp ? Oh, he said, totally unpredictable. He said he rarely goes out specifically to catch them because if they not interested you have no chance.

He takes along asp lures and if they're "on", then he'll make the most of it.

I'd spent ages this trip trying to catch one, but within an hour of arriving at our place on the Waal I got one. A small one of a couple of pounds, but a start.

A few days later I noticed prey fish being hit in the ultra shallow, weedy bay and returned later in the evening with the spinning rod, loaded with a small surface lure.

It was calm, sunny evening, although they'd been no surface activity.

Out of the blue a huge eruption of water fifteen yards out. The cast was accurate and the lure was hit almost immediately. All hell was let loose in the shallow water as the fish crashed through the weedbeds. 

As usual, it was a brief but furious fight.

A real clonker of an asp around the 8lb mark. Wow.

I moved a bit further along and on the first cast a fish gave chase to the lure, chomping and crashing and eventually hammered the lure as it launched itself out the water. God, I wish we had these fish in the UK.

Really pleased to catch  a couple after struggling to catch anything on the lures for a while.

A lovely evening. 

The Mighty Waal ( again )

The Ijssel was a bit of a disappointment. The river had dropped four or five feet since we'd last seen it a couple of weeks ago.

Plenty of fish but nothing really exciting.  I failed on the barbel and the asp. The asp deserve a separate post, they are the most infuriating fish in the world.

So, on to the Waal to meet up with some Dutch friends. The lady at the campsite told me that all the locals were saying it was fishing crap.

Luckily she was referring to the old boys fishing for zander and eels for the pot.

We parked the van up, right by the river, put the kettle on and then I grabbed my gear for a couple of hours on the feeder.

An hour in the bay, where I'd caught those big roach before, proved fruitless.

I moved on to the main river. First chuck an ide of 4lb 13oz, second cast Roach 1lb 15oz,  third cast Roach 2lb 7oz.  Now, that's a good start in my book.

I retired to the camper, poured a beer and sat outside in the gloaming, listening to the crickets and the huge cargo ships rumbling on down the river.

I'm a thirteen year year old boy in a sixty one year old man's body, so I couldn't sleep that night, thinking of all the huge roach that were one cast away.

Sunrise was still half hour away as I baited up and filled the feeder. First chuck I waited less than a minute before the tip straightened and I was in to to something unseen in the murkey depths. In the half light,  as the fish surfaced I wasn't sure what it was, but as I lead it over the net there was no doubt. 

A huge roach of 2lb 14oz. 

After that it got silly. More massive roach of 2lb 3oz, 2lb 6oz  and 2lb 13oz, ide of 5lb 2oz and 5lb 1 oz, plus two big fours and lots of bluenose and bream.

The following day was similar. Three big roach of 2lb 8oz,  2lb 6oz and 2lb 2oz, lots of bluenose topped by a corker of 2lb 13oz and a couple of big ide.

They main issue was finding where the fish were. Most of the time they were in the main flow, where a 60 gram feeder with legs would just about hold. The occasional fish came in the slack water in the bay, but not many.

Simple self hooking feeder ring, short 10-12 inch trace, size 10 Guru Feeder hook ( brilliant ) usually with push stop. Everything on sweetcorn, seed and corn in the feeder.

I thought it couldn't get any better...

but it did.