Heatwave

Well, a mini heatwave at least. Four days of baking temperatures up to almost thirty degrees in the east of England.

I'm sure one of the red tops will have posted a photo of a packed Brighton beach with "Phew, what a scorcher !" as the headline. Happens every year.

Brits basking ( its always basking, same as anyone drinking or partying are always "revellers"), the Mercury hitting 30C, Met Office warnings, all the clichés coming out. Standby for warnings of  swimming in "rip tides"and Margate being hotter than Madrid.

I spent almost the entire day laying outside the van on the reclining chair, listening to podcasts and audio books. How civilised. I thought I'd wait for the temperature to drop a bit before getting on the river.

Speci Boy was joining me for his first session targeting rudd, so I was hoping for plenty of action and activity.

First swim the floating bread was attacked by hoardes of mostly small fish,  with SB getting off the mark with a nicely conditioned fish of half a pound or so. 

Walking along the raised flood bank, the evening sun giving the wheat fields a beautiful golden glow and the willows starting to cast long shadows over that flat calm river it truly was a perfect evening. 

Well, almost perfect. The mozzies were on the rampage again and I was once again glad of the head net. Looking a plonker is a small price to pay for keeping the bastards at bay.

We found a group of fish that were intermittently feeding, although it was proving difficult to catch one of the better ones, until SB's rod hooped over as he pulled into something bigger. Hustled through the lillies it was soon in the net.

Not a massive fish, but a real beauty and at 1lb 13.5 oz a PB for SB. Job done.

We kept moving and searching and in "The Tree Swim" we saw a extremely large fish bow waving towards the the floating bread.  I so wish we'd have caught it as it was bloody massive. Another time maybe.

I looked up and saw a barn owl quartering the opposite bank not twenty yards away, that unmistakable ghostly vision slowly working its way along the reeds into the distance. We'd seen a kingfisher earlier so a good night on the birds too ( go on, guffaw, pretend it's 1985 ).

We packed up deep into dusk, the starlite glowing, the evening close, warm and silent, the end of a gorgeous day in June.

Summer Here - Official

At last. With a hot, sunny forecast I jumped in the camper and headed into the Fens for some more rudd fishing.

Now, as its been horrible weather since October I'm loathe to complain, but 28 degrees C ? Blimey.

Instead of doing he sensible thing and waiting until it cooled down in the evening I had to have a quick go in the afternoon. I was sweating buckets, contending with flies and covered in stinging nettles, but first cast resulted in a corker of 2lb 3oz. Fanfeckingtastic.

Great start, but things petered out and after a big veggie curry I was back in the evening.

The less said the better. Bream, swans and swarms of ravenous mozzies. It was not pleasant. 

Next morning I was out on recce along the river on the bike. Covered a fair few miles and found some nice spots. Always worth getting out for a scout about along little lanes and backwaters.

Prepped for the evening session I donned a mozzie mask. It isn't my usual expression, honest. I feel obliged to gurn for the camera.

I tried for a tench on the bottom rod, but was breamed out, hefty fish of 5-7lb, but annoying after the first five or six.

Firing bits of bread in and watching for bigger rudd I pulled in to a good fish and hustled it to the net through the lillies. An old warrior of 2lb 6oz.

I had the England Euro bore fest, match number three, against the mighty Slovenia on the radio at very low level while I fished. Its the way to do it, less painful than having to watch.

Later on I hooked a very big fish that came to the surface and then surged away before the hook pulled. Bastard ! 

I thought I'd show you the hideous carbuncle of a float I was using, with a starlite so I could actually see the bites with my Mr Magoo eyes.

It works though. Takes three swan shot and casts well.

They continued feeding until well into dusk with several rudd of 1.5 to just under 2lb ending up in the net.

Plenty of fish but if only I'd have landed that big one. Maybe next time. 

As I write this, I've just got in from another bike ride in the morning sun, having bagged up on PYO strawberries and golden raspberries and a crusty French stick. Coffee is on and I'm just about to pig out.

It ain't just about the fishing

Summer is here. It's light until gone ten, the Euros are on and the Tour De France starts this weekend.

Ave it.

Deep In The Fens

"As a fisherman, you belong to no one"

Dexter Petley.

I was a grumpy sod over the weekend.  We were due to have weekend trip in the camper to a site right in the river, but the forecast was shite so I cancelled.

Sunday I saw that the early part of the week was going to be dry and sunny. Hmm.

What to do ? Sack off work for Monday and Tuesday that's what.

I was the only one at the campsite, total quiet apart from the birds calling, perfect. Kettle on, get the tackle sorted and I'm raring to go.

The river was slightly coloured and flowing harder than normal.  Hardly surprising after all the rain. 

The fishing was quite hard, nowhere near the amount of surface activity that you'd expect, but there were fish to be had with a bit of effort.

I kept mobile and eventually got two cracking rudd over two pounds, with the best at 2lb 6oz, plus a clonking great bream.

They were hard earned fish, lots of walking, stingers, mozzies, flies and worst of all a big hurd of bullocks, which spent most of the evening staring at me and edging as close as they dared. 

The next morning I had a lay in. This is unheard of when I'm in the camper and there's fishing to be had, but Bully was joining me and I decided on a lazy start to the day. Sitting in the sun, radio on, drinking coffee, a very pleasant way to start the day.

We tried a different stretch and had some decent fish. I had an absolutely pristine rudd just over 2lb, several other nice ones and Bully had bream, some nice rudd and lost a tench at the net.

We leant a few things and although they weren't feeding hard, we still had some cracking fish, so a decent start to the season. 

I'm coming back for a longer trip next week, all being well.