The Poach Pit

Seven years on I returned to the Poach Pit, even more overgrown and neglected now. 

The small swim is tucked out of the way from prying eyes. Mostly.

The Pit is still being worked and the diggers and trucks pass in front of you, but they're maybe two or three hundred yards away.

It's probably six to eight foot deep, two to three rod lengths out, possibly the deepest part on the whole water, but was only "chosen" because it's the only accessible spot.

Two swims were baited, one hard against the margins to my right and another ten yards out on the left. I fished them on rotation and used a single rod so that one swim was always rested.

Scanning the water there was a group of maybe ten fish in front of me, but I was shocked at how small they were, maybe 4-8lb. 

I needn't have worried, the first fish I caught was an "almost leather" of just over 17lb, with just a single scale on the root of the tail. It was followed by a beautiful common of maybe 12lb.

Two days later I was back, fishing from about 09.00 to 14.00. After an hour the rod bent round and an extremely angry leather carp led me a merry dance until hitting the net. Another just over 17lb and a stunning fish.

Bites were steady and I ended up with six fish, three 10-15lb, one of 17lb+, an incredible mirror/koi of 18lb+ and a common/koi of 19lb 12oz.

The fights from the largest two fish were savage, the mirror running maybe thirty of forty yards before erupting on the surface and then attempting to tail walk.

The condition and colours on all these fish were amazing. The mouths are unmarked, the fish have undoubtedly never been caught before and there's not many places in Old Blighty that you can say that about these days.

In between catching those carp I watched a marsh harrier quartering the nearby marshes, saw a pair of kestrels, a buzzard, watched the kingfisher fly back and forth and listened to  cettis warblers and chiffchaffs calling in the undergrowth a few yards away.

The lost world, just out of the way of the hustle, bustle and bullshit of modern life.

So lucky to have a place like this

I'll be back down there at the end of the week hopefully. 

 

Scheming

This week I've been prepping for mullet, the baited spinners and floats were dug out, traces tied on the vice and I even went through the fly gear and ended up giving one old rod away and immediately ordering two more.

I know, I know.

A few days ago I had a walk around a working pit where I fished seven or eight years ago. It still looks lovely and I started thinking about the carp that were landed and lost.

They were most certainly previously uncaught and fought like demons, they were absolutely savage.

Me and Lord Pualous of Clacton were both broken several times on 15lb line as well as having hooks bent. It seems mad but it happened. 

It was massively overgrown and there was only one swim where you could fish. Unfortunately even that one is now underneath a huge canopy of brambles and birch.

I had a look on the opposite bank. It was almost totally inaccessible. Almost....

I found a bit of bank that was slightly sunken and flat for a couple of yards. Hmm.

Couple of days later I returned with power  secateurs and gave the swim a light trim, just enough of a gap to fit a rod in. Two at a squeeze.

Oh and I deposited five or six kilos of seed and maize in the swim.

 

It's a bit of a mission to actually reach the pitch, a fifteen minute walk, a climb over barbed wire and finally a hundred yards through dense birch trees. But the swim is now prepped and baited, so I'll be having a go very soon.

I'll also be looking for the mullet regularly and if and when I see them, I'll be after them within minutes, as the gear is assembled and stored in the van.

Can't wait to get fishing.

The End....And The Beginning

Last day of the season. Where to go ?

I didn't fancy a long drive so decided to stay local and fish The Forbidden. 

Started piking about 11.00. Bored by 14.00 and fishless. That is all.

Back at the van the ever so boring pike gear was dumped and the float rod came out, but not before a feast was prepared.

Six sausages, three rashers of bacon, two eggs and even chips, courtesy of a bloke parked up next to me. It was filthy food and thoroughly enjoyed.

The wind dropped and the sun came out and for a while it was quite warm. Well, warmish, I still had all my winter gear on.

Loose feeding maggots every cast, I waited. Hoping, though not expecting an early bite. The first bite came half hour late, at 17.00 and after that I had enough action to keep me interested. 

Mostly decent dace, all spawned out and a bit "soft" ( well, you would be wouldn't you ? ).

They were cracking fish though, with one going 9.5 oz, a double pre spawn for sure.

Sorry about the hideous latex gloves.

The Forbidden is a most undacey ( yes, that's a real word ) bit of water, deep and slow, lacking in any pacey areas.

In fact, for much of the year it's static. But who knows the ways of fish ? Next season I'll have a proper go for them in January/February. 

I've fished an enormous amount this winter. We've been lucky in that there's been very little flooding compared to the last few years, which has meant that fishing has been possible for the majority of the time.

The winter rudd fishing on the Gt Ouse has been incredible, both in numbers and quality.  Not only rudd, but big perch and silver bream, decent roach, zander and pike.

I didn't do as much chubbing as usual, a few trips locally, a couple to the Lark, but that was it.

Loads of trotting though, on both the upper and lower Stour, a bit on the Blackwater and Little Ouse too. Fantastic dace fishing, with roach, chub and brown trout thrown in too.

So, goodbye to 2024/25 season and full steam ahead to a spring and summer of mullet, tench, crucians, big roach, asp and sea trout.

Oh, and a big bream too

I read something this morning and the bloke said " Money can't buy you happiness, but you can go fishing and that's the same thing "

Touché. 

On The Float

When I was breaming in the pre baited swim yesterday I had several rattly bites that most certainly weren't bream, so I headed back to the swim the next day armed with a float rod and a pint of maggots.

The river had almost zero flow and was clear with the merest hint of colour.

A peacock quill with a chunky tip was selected so I could sink the line and fish slightly  overdepth with three no 8s anchoring the bait in position.

When a fish took the bait, the float either went straight under or, more often, lifted as the anchor shots were moved.

First half hour was slow but as light levels faded bites increased and from then on it was a bite a cast. 

Mostly good quality dace, plenty of roach, a gudgeon and a rogue chub. A good one too.

Of course, I had to have another go at it, so went the next day. Almost identical results, more good dace, another nice chub and lots of roach.

Two really good sessions on a section of river where I've seen no more than a couple of anglers in the last three years.

Where to next ?

Busy

Doing "stuff". Fishing related stuff. And fishing of course. Full week of work on the horizon.

After the season ends of course.

Pre baiting with seed and corn on Saturday in the bream swim ( secretly hoping for a rare carp...or even rarer tench ).

Started on a new ( for me ) book, "A Glorious Waste of Time" by Jim Gibbinson. Unmistakably him. No nonsense, logical and just a touch of teacher. Good though.

Cleaned the van out at the weekend.  Couple of days away and it was like a skip, stuff everywhere.  Bit of velcro here and there and some bungies and it's looking tidy. Or tidier.

That's the " before" photo in case you didn't know.

Blanked on the upper river on Sunday evening.  Wasn't feeling it.

TCG had two chub though, with the biggest at 5lb 5oz. Kept telling me it was because I should have used cheese paste, not bread. He's the Billy Graham of cheese paste, a proper evangelist, preaching the good news to the uncoverted.

I stuck to bread.

I woke up the next day undecided what to do. The forecast told me it was to be the last mild day, so I made the trip to Cambridgeshire to fish with Waaaak and caught some nice, but not huge rudd. Loads of fish with several over a pound to maybe a pound and a half.

Lots of hybrids too, some roach x rudd, bream x roach and one that looked like a rudd or roach x silver bream.  Is that even possible?

The weatherman told me it was going to be 14 degrees C and sunny in Ely. I almost put my shorts on.

In reality it was about 8 deg, cloudy and with a horrible north easterly pushing upstream. I got cold and left early.

As I drove back the car thermometer rose until I parked up at the local river with it at 14 deg.

Quick go in the pre baited swim then.

A nice dace, a chub and last cast on dark a clonking bream.

I normally avoid bream if possible but these ones from The Forbidden are in pristine condition and most certainly uncaught. In the three or four seasons I've fished this section I've only ever seen a couple of anglers.

A few days of the season left, then it's all change. Summer species, fishing in T shirts and shorts and plenty of time away in the camper

That's as close to a plan I've got so far.

Ups and Downs

Ultra mild weather, end of the season, they'll be feeding like mad won't they? Well....

Two day trip to the Fens with Bully and Waaaaak. Thursday I say all day staring at a totally motionless quiver tip. I'm impatient at the best of times but this was super dull and by the end of the day my enthusiasm was rock bottom.

Friday morning we'd arranged to fish in the town. Yes, its busy with walkers, boaters, tourists and the dreaded lure anglers, but it's a very pleasant place to spend a day a day fishing and chatting to your mates.

I was up at dawn, keen to get stuck into a few fish and started on a big deepish bend where bites came immediately. 

Decent roach and silver bream initially, but the rod whooped round as something bigger grabbed the sweetcorn. 

A clonking rudd in pristine condition, quickly followed by another. They went 2lb 7oz and 2lb 3oz on the scales. That'll do nicely.

Waaaak turned up after his long drive from East Norfolk, ramshackle and disorganised as usual ( it's OK, the more like each other the more abuse we dish out ). His indecipherable muttering was even worse than normal and after dozens of " What!? " And " Speak up !" from me Wak explained that his speech clarity was poor because " I can't be bothered to open my mouth properly ". Funny ol' buh eh ?

His casting was atrocious, the feeder not hitting the same mark all day, but as usual he caught plenty, including a decent silver bream and "personal best" rudd.

The cameraman made a cracking job of the photo as you can see.

Stove on for tea, followed by Norfolk's finest sausages covered in ( HP or or unbranded Sir? Your choice ) brown sauce in a soft white bap, devoured in glorious spring sunshine. How civilised. 

Food was delivered to Bully, fishing a hundred yards downstream, outside the "hot" area and struggling a bit. "How do you expect me to eat all that ?" he said. Five minutes later it was gone. I knew he couldn't resist.

The fishing died off a bit in the afternoon, but we were still catching on and off. We weighed the biggest silver bream, cracking fish of 1lb 1oz and Waaaak had another of probably 12 or 13oz. Real beauties.

A lovely day and as we often say, "Shining Times" ( copyright Chris Binyon RIP ).

The next trip can't come soon enough. Happy days.

The Clock Is Ticking

The beginning of the week was a real downer, with the oldies having health issues, poor old things. This meant that time has been taken up with helping them out and other family  stuff.

At the end of last week me and TCG headed to another Suffolk river in search of chub. TCG knew exactly where he was going and marched off with five pints of maggots to the hot chub hole.

I fancied a swim with a big snag under my own bank, with a lovely steady flow. I've never chub fished this river but was ultra confident of a bite....it looked perfect. 

A single swan shot on a fixed link with a big lobworm was flicked close to the snag and less than a minute later the tip pulled round and I was in to a decent fish. It was typical  crash, bang, wallop snag swim stuff.

I managed to net the fish, along with several reeds and a rotton bit of wood. It was industrial but effective. 

4lb 13oz  and in lovely condition. 

Unfortunately, it turned out to be the only fish of the session.  TCG also found it tough, feeding non stop for several hours, with just a solitary dace to show for his efforts.

Oh well, you never can tell.

I've not been fishing for a week and with the time ticking down to the end of the season, it's time to get out on the bank and enjoy the last two weeks.

As we speak, the river is up and coloured, but by the weekend it should be fining down and with no rain forecast I'm planning to fill my boots next week.

I went out worming last week on the first mild evening for ages and had a massive haul of chunky lobs. My back can put up with no more than an hour of wum hunting and in that time I had over two hundred. All big'uns too.

I've honestly never seen anything like it, they were everywhere. Now I've got to make them count with some big perch and chub.

I've also got fresh maggots in the fridge for a bit of dace fishing, plenty of dead maggots and liquidised bread in the freezer and some cracking dendras and red worms in the compost heap, so I'm prepped and ready to go.

Last night the mighty Liverpool won again and with Arsenal drawing at Forest I reckon it's in the bag. Poor old Ipswich look a cert for the drop though, couldn't even beat that shower at Old Trafford.

Enough ramblings, I'm off to pack the van with fishing gear.

Making Hay....

We headed to the upper reaches of the local river. It was painfully low and clear.

In many places just a few inches deep, with the very occasional deeper pool, harbouring gudgeon, perch and a few dace and roach. Nothing of the quality we've had in better conditions though.

The highlight was when two kids on the way home from school saw us catch fish, and then sprinted off, only to return a few minutes later with their tackle and set up a few yards downstream.

One of them was lure fishing and immediately got snagged up. I showed him how to pull for a break , wrapping the braid around sizeable branch and slowly tightening the line. Under pressure, the lure catapulted out the snag, landing at the kids feet.

"Thank you, Sir" he said. I checked the date, just to confirm it wasn't 1895 and I wasn't a character in a Dickens novel.

Nope, 2025, just a polite little chap. Good lad.

As the light started to fade, we jumped in the van and went a bit further downstream, to a short stretch also suffering from low water levels. Not through lack of rain, because of a broken sluice.

A handful of maggots chucked in at the head of the glide, two maggots on a 16 hook and the float gently swung out into the ( hopefully) kill zone.

It travelled a couple of feet and disappeared, as a cracking roach flashed silver in the flow. 

For next hour and a bit I had a bite almost every cast, mostly roach, a few dace and three clonking perch. Brilliant fishing.

TCG wandered downstream to some ultra shallow water in search of dace and was rewarded with a couple of real crackers and unfortunately lost two others, both very good fish.

It's still really cold, with daytime temperatures not exceeding three or four degrees and that combined with the fact that I've still got a poxy cold means I've been a bit of a grumpy git.

I was therefore well pleased when the forecast promised ( yes, I'm holding them to it )  double figure temperatures by the middle of next week. The bstards better be right.

Plans have been made, oh yes.

Roll on spring.

Icy Success

A break in the damp, dank weather was forecast, with a bit of sun too, despite very low temperatures. 

Me and The Chubmeister General headed to a little river on the edge of a town in pursuit of roach ( him ) and dace ( me ).

Actually, TCG wanted to get some underwater camera shots of the roach and with the river being pretty clear it seemed a good opportunity.

Leaning over what remained of the bankside vegetation, we peered into the shallow water and sure enough saw the roach. All sizes with a few well over a pound.

I left TGC to his camera work, donned the chest waders and made my way upstream with the little eight footer.

The water here is probably eighteen inches deep maximum, the main flow pushes through very quickly and there is an inviting crease where slacker water gathers.

With it being so cold I thought the crease might produce but no, first run down in the fast water and the float shot under, and a dace, darting and twisting, was bought to hand.

The next hour or two resulted in a bite most casts, with the best couple pushing double figures. Real clonkers for round here.

The water was up to my thighs and I was getting colder by the minute, but I kept saying "one last cast" and by the time I climbed out I was frozen.

TCG failed to get his roach shots, the fish drifted off as the camera gear was lowered into their territory. 

On hearing about my success he eased himself into the river and walked upstream in search of dace. Unfortunately, he immediately discovered a large hole in his waders and aborted the mission with one leg full of freezing water.

I went back to the car for another coat, which helped a bit, but not much. A few roach and dace followed from a another swim, but it was time to get on the road with the heater turned up to max.

Another enjoyable day.

Searching

Today I had a proper poke about on a three smallish rivers, looking for dace.

The first one looked great, plenty of flow,  lovely colour and almost too many good looking glides.

What it didn't have was much cover and that, combined with it being in quiet countryside meant it was ideal territory for the dreaded cormorants.  I marked it down as a "maybe".

The second was a very shallow, snaggy stream on the edge of a town. The deeper areas were rare and obvious.  I was sure it would be good for a few fish.  After an hour or so I had nothing except endless minnows, so I sacked it off and headed a few miles north to a narrow, pacy bit of river I knew held fish.

I rigged up an ultra light eight foot rod, due to the overhanging branches that make it difficult for conventional float rods.

Sure enough I started catching decent dace straight away, with the occasional roach and chub for good measure.

Oh yes, several wild brown trout too, they never fail to wreck the swim by thrashing about relentlessly. 

In the last swim, a pacy glide on a bend I had a succession of fish when the rod bent round just a bit further and a chunky dace twisted in the current.  Too big to swing in, I netted it and it went 10 oz on the scales. An absolutely lovely fish.

Still a small fish, but a big dace for round here.

On the way back home I dropped in to the bream swim on the Stour for an hour and quickly had one just shy of 6lb.

I was surprised to see the fish was starting to show spawning tubercles. In February !

I didn't hang around after that, it had been a good day and food was calling, so I grabbed the gear and slid back and forth on the muddy banks back to the car.

A Place I Know

Name that band ?

I only know of this place because of The Chubmeister General's generosity.  It's one of his back end of the season dace hotshots, where the fish gather on the gravels before spawning. 

It's a small stream and you have to hit it right, a bit of colour, flow, ideally with the river falling. Yesterday it was spot on and I knew I'd catch well.

First run down at the junction swim and the float buried. A good dace.

More, dace, chublets, some small perch and lots of lovely gudgeon followed until it was time to move downstream. 

Beautiful eh ?

There's really no point in me giving you a blow by blow account, as every swim gave up clonking dace. I even changed to a lighter float with several droppers, a bit more refined than normal my bulk and a single tell tale shot.

I know every old school angler will say it, but it's true nevertheless, trotting on a winter river is unbeatable. With a fixed spool though, life is too short to wind in with a centre pin. I can hear the gasps of shock from the purists already. 

I fished about half a dozen swims and while some were better than others, all produced.

To add to the pleasure, there was no wind which made float control easy. No other anglers either.

This place is so good visits need to be rationed to one or two a season. Treats wear off if they're too frequent. And of course, it's not "my" venue.

I'll wait until March until I return.