Passport To Freedom

One , maybe two short trips in the camper before the year is finished I reckon.

Had it eight years now and done roughly 60,000 km. Second time I ever drove it we went down through France, over the Pyrenees and into northern Spain

Apart from forcing an oncoming lorry into a roadside hedge, due to me not being used to the LHD and driving in the middle of the road, it was plain sailing.

Oh, and going the wrong way round a one way system in Antwerp and when I pulled over, being jeered at and abused ( deservedly ) by drinkers at a local bar.

It's now twenty seven years old and still in reasonable nick, considering its primarily a fishing van. I can't even begin to count how many rivers, lakes and sea marks I've fished in the van.

Isle of Skye, north Wales and the Llyn Peninsula, Wiltshire, Dorset, Devon, the midlands canals, the Wye, Trent, The Fens, north Norfolk, all over France, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Spain and all in an old van that cost not a lot at all ( yes, shite grammar )

The best thing is keeping all your gear and tackle packed in it permanently, so you can go at the drop of a hat. No bed and breakfast, hotel or Air BnB required.

Had a couple of minor issues. Overheating problem in the arse end of Norway, which meant we were stranded for a few days.

We had water and were parked up on a fjord, so had fresh fish and whatever canned food we had in the van every night. Happy days.

To make things a bit more interesting, on the drive back I became conscious of a vibrating sound, as we hit the hideous roadworks around Hamburg and despite driving at 30 mph along tiny lanes for a day, we suffered a tyre blow out two hours from the port. Oh well, "all part of the adventure".

I've had loads of great trips very close to home too, any excuse to get in the old bus

I'm not really one for "things" or possessions, but the Hymer is the best thing I ever bought. As the year comes to an end I'm making loose plans for 2025 and you won't be surprised to learn that it's all about where we're going in the van.

Right, I need to go, I'm off to The Fens for a couple of days, toodle pip. 

A Fenland River

I couldn't decide where to fish, but the camper was loaded with tackle, food and drink, so I set off in the general direction of the Fens and ended up on a nice bit of river on the edge of town.

The cheap but indestructible fibre glass bait snatching pole was set up in seconds, a few maggots were flicked a few yards out and within fifteen minutes I'd got a bucket full of bleak, roach and perch.

I was hoping for big perch, but expecting small zander and maybe a jack or two. Two Dyson rigs were cast out and the trusty poly ball drop offs clipped up.

Within half hour or so the unmistakable click of the indicator hitting the rear bank stick had me jumping off the chair and watching the line peel off the spool.

The light rod hooped over as a small zander came to the surface before being quickly netted. A nice start.

The next couple of hours resulted in more than fifteen runs, with many missed and six zander to 6lb and two pike being netted. It made a nice change having so much action.

There was a young lad of maybe twelve or thirteen fishing upstream from me. He'd not had a thing, but with darkness encroaching his indicator sounded and he sprang into action and eventually netted a nice pike of 8lb or so. He was chuffed and it was great to see his excitement after waiting patiently for several hours.

All my runs came before 16.00, with dusk and the first hour of darkness a total blank.

I stayed in the camper overnight, right by the river and I was back on the bank at dawn with great expectations. Loads of baitfish were topping, but it wasn't until it was fully light that I got my first take.

It then went mad for an hour or so, with small zander and pike hitting the baits, before going dead, which was my cue to go and make breakfast.

Back on the bank with a full stomach, I dicked around with the pole for the rest of the day, happy as a pig in shite. I had intermittent runs on the livebaits throughout the afternoon until, again, it went dead at dusk.

More pike today, with six or seven between 4-6lb plus small zander and a reasonable perch

On the pole lots of nice roach and perch, a few hybrids, a silver bream and four lovely ruffe.

Nice couple of days with plenty of action.

Pioneering and Punts

I say pioneering but I'm obviously exaggerating, I'm not exploring the Yukon or anything like that.

I fished a previously quiet bit of the tidal Trent recently, which, thanks to Facebook reports is now much busier, with long stay carp anglers fishing for barbel, bivvied up for days. Two rods, ten ounce leads, buzzers, boilies, bangers and units.

I got talking to a really knowledgeable angler, who told me of a stretch further downstream, massively more tidal, more coloured, very deep and most importantly seldom fished.

I followed his directions and got deeper and deeper into a landscape that reminded me of the Fens. Scattered farm buildings, big fields and tiny unmade lanes. The track became narrower and narrower and I reached the end of the road where a handful of big, slightly ramshackle houses stood next to a wide, powerful river.

It was absolutely silent, even the farmyard was quiet. No voices, no vehicle noise, just the sound of a lone crow in the distance. It was a bit strange.

There were only two places with access to the river and whilst it was muddy and slippery, it was well fishable.

There was probably twelve to fifteen feet of water ten yards out with an extremely fast flow everywhere apart from the margins. It looked great, but I fished all day without a touch, making regular trips to the van for tea and the new favourite ham, cheese and onion toasties.

As it got dark a wet mist descended, leaving the trees dripping. Totally moonless, it turned pitch black very quickly. 

It was a little creepy. The van was parked right next to the river, in normal circumstances an ideal place to stay, but I felt a bit uncomfortable and drove off to another more familiar park up.

It was definitely a place I'll be fishing again though, you don't get many places that quiet and practically untouched in Old Blighty these days.

Locally, I've been fishing several small lakes for perch. Perch that may or not be present to decent sizes, so a punt. A punt that is so far not paying off, but you've got to try because one day you could hit gold.

It's very exciting fishing places that are for the most part ignored, because you really could catch anything. Or nothing of course.

No pictures of big perch, but here's one of a very small pond.

At the moment I'm struggling to catch much of note and haven't really got my teeth in to anything. 

I really need to pull my finger out.