A Mixed Bag

Monday I had a go on the lower river, which was flowing slowly with a bit of colour for a change.

It was a dark, dank day, but with no wind it made controlling the float easy. I caught chub to 2lb, nice dace, small roach and some big bleak.

Not a bite a chuck, but enough action to keep me interested. First what I'd call winter session, really enjoyed trotting for the first time in a long while.

Today I went piking with BB. I bumped in to The Pike Guru in the car park, asked him where he was going to fish which turned out to be where I was heading. By the time I'd unloaded he was on his way and was waiting for nobody. Sprightly old bugger.

TPG is a nice, quietly spoken old bloke i.e older than me, but is also a hungry bastard and knew exactly where he was heading. "I'm going to the right of the tree" he said. Ah, I guess that means I'm going to the left then ?

Within an hour TPG had three fish while my drop offs remained motionless.

BB arrived, set up and then I had a call from TPG. He'd got " a decent one ".

He had. 20lb 8oz and as fat as a pig, unlike many fish at the moment. An absolute beauty.

What a clonking fish. Then the rain started and continued all morning. Good old BBC had told me it was going to be dry and sunny. Fecking useless.

TPG in action

I had to leave a bit early but the scores as I left were...

BB - 2 runs, 1 fish

TPG - 9 runs, 7 fish. One 20, a 14, an 11 and other 7-9lb.

Me - Feck all

How did that happen ? No idea, must try harder. I'm going again on Friday and am not leaving until I catch a few.

Social Piking

I met up with Bully Boy for a bit of social piking on the big still water the other day. Great conditions, mild, breezy and sunshine on and off all morning.

We walked through the chestnut wood to the desired spot, only to see a bloke already set up. How dare he ?

Never mind, its 350 acres, plenty of space. Five minutes after arriving at the swim I had both rods out and a coffee on the go.

Bully finally sat down after an hour and a quarter of messing about, tieing and re tieing traces, adjusting and moving his rod rests, tweaking his chair so it was in exactly the right spot and generally poncing about. We all fish in different ways eh ?

However, ten minutes after settling down he was away with a fish that had taken his mackerel. A nicely conditioned fish of around ten pounds, a nice start. 

He had another run a while later and briefly had the fish on before it shed the hooks. After that it was totally dead. Strange.

We spent the time chewing the fat on a full range of topics including religion, America and some of the cretins that reside there ( yes, Trump was mentioned ), the long black nothingness before your birth and after your death, elderly parents, kids and lots of more light hearted stuff. And black humour of course. 

We agreed that after we croak it, there would be eternal nothingness, so we both used this as an excuse to search the web for new reels to enjoy while we still could.  Quick, buy some more stuff, the end is nigh.

A most splendid day.

Laying Low

My old mate Goozgog always says to me that he hates " the long drag up to Christmas ". What a ray of sunshine he is.

But I know what he means. Dark really early in the evening. Well, dark in the smegging afternoon now and getting darker by the day. Not good for the spirit. Makes me feel lethargic and less sociable ( no smart arse comments thank you ) than usual.

Here's a few totally unrelated old pics for no reason. The one below is the first twenty plus carp I caught from the Suffolk Stour. 22lb 12oz. 

As we enter the new year I feel more positive. Yes, it'll be cold, we'll have spent our money and the world will be a mess, but the evenings starting pulling out and there are plans to be made. There's hope.

Next pic. Forget the roach, look at the hair cut, proper flat top. And brown hair. Ah, those were the days.

As I write this it's a grey, wet November Sunday   ( cue Morrisey ). Can't be arsed to fish. Waiting for a good flood so I can start the river chub and pike fishing, with some trotting chucked in too.

First Ebro catfish, 2 metres 15 cm, estimated 140lb. Dragged the boat two hundred yards down stream. We had a little concrete anchor that wasn't quite man enough.

Planning to pike fish on the "big stillwater" on Tuesday with Bully Boy, a nice leisurely session hopefully. I'm confident of a few fish too.

Every Cloud...

Getting a bit concerned about the lack of work, but on the plus side yesterday I could go out and do what I do best. Loafing.

I say loafing, it was foraging in the morning and after rain overnight there were field mushrooms everywhere. After the box was filled it was into the woods for chestnuts. Again, absolutely loads of them.

Just had to go from tree to tree trying to sort out the better ones. Which means bigger. Do they taste any different ? No, but whether its bait digging, blackberrying, fishing, mushrooming or whatever you're always after the big one aren't you ?

As you can see I got a few damsons too.

After a monstrous lunch of streaky crispy bacon, eggs, baked beans, toasted sough dough bread and some of those mushrooms I went off looking for mullet.

For the first time this season I had a run in with the RSPB man. This time he was polite, I was polite. Last time he was an arrogant prick and I got very, very angry. And I felt a bit of a twat afterwards.  Thought you were meant to mellow as you got older ?

Anyway, I packed up and left and went to another mark which has access through a wood owned by....yes the RSPB. Feck me if a warden in a 4WD didn't pull over and say "You can't fish in the estuary".

Now this somewhat sweeping and factually incorrect statement did, I admit, "boil my piss" and though we had a civil exchange I left determined neither of these people would not ruin my day.

I found a lovely quiet spot, sat down and watched for any surface activity. It was a bit windy for my liking but the occasional fish was showing so I was in with a chance.

Within an hour it had calmed down and the surface had the faintest ripple and more fish were present. One or two bits of bread were nudged and taken which had the effect of turning me in to an over excited incompetent wreck. No, it doesn't take much.

Although they were feeding I couldn't get a take and I was concerned I might have missed my chance. However, after the tide turned they became even more active and for a period of maybe twenty minutes they were taking the bread well.

I missed a really good bite which dragged the float under quickly, a few seconds later I recast only for a fish to take the bait immediately. I made contact with it, whereupon it leaped clear of the water twice before throwing the hook. Bastard !

I thought that might have scared them off, but no, they were still there. Next cast a fish nosed the bread, which then started to sink before being taken. This time the fish stayed on and a very welcome autumn mullet hit the beach ( hit the beach, hit the net, whatever, there's only so many ways to describe it ). Just under 5lb. That'll do nicely.

I was well chuffed. I packed up with the sun setting, the mullet still crashing and swirling in the now ultra shallow water and a huge flock of brent geese wheeling overhead.

What a great day.

Old Mates

Sh(anus) was over from Canada, visiting family for a while, so a trip piking with Waaaak was arranged to the usual "big stillwater".

I say piking, it involves casting out, sitting down, chatting, eating sausages, drinking tea and winding in every two hours to re cast.

When me and Shane arrived Waaaak was setting up and as always they amused me with their greeting, or lack of it.

Haven't seen an old school buddy for years ? Man hug ? Handshake ? Nah, just carry on tackling up and mutter "Alright ?"

Makes you proud to be British.

First cast the rod tapped and the visitor got "first dibs" and landed a welcome, very lean autumn pike.

The next five hours passed off with no further action but the sun shone, old stories were re told and the terrifying £25 on the bank day ticket was avoided.

On the walk back the ageing, overloaded Waaak provided us with more entertainment struggling and sweating up the steep bankside full of tree roots and obstacles. Simple pleasures eh ?

A splendid day.

Last Chance Saloon

Mid October and still plenty of mullet about. Haven't had the hunger to catch them though, but Bazza was down at the sluice and I popped down to see him. 

He'd been down fishing for four hours with lots of fish showing but no takes. He sat down for a smoke."Let me have a go" I said. "Help yourself" replied Bazza.

First cast we spotted a thin lip mullet following the spinner..."Take it ! Take it ! Take it !"

Literally inches from the bank the mullet grabbed the spinner but was so close to dry land that with a thrash of the tail managed to beach itself on the mud ! Oh well, they all count.

The look from Bazza said it all.

We then went off down river in search of thick lips. Conditions were far from ideal, a strong SW wind colouring the water and menacing autumnal clouds on the horizon.

A few fish were showing though. I got comfortable, stretched out and went to sleep.

Bazza was watching and chucking bits of bread in, the occasional fish showing but not feeding.

The ebb started and I found a couple of fish that were taking one of two bits of crust. Out of nowhere the float shot under, I struck and inexplicably missed what turned out to be my only chance. 

Ah well, an interesting session anyway that probably finishes a good summer mulleting.

In The mind of a Loafer

Cash pile in need of replenishment. Offer of work grape picking. Ooh yes, outside in the sun, etc. Fun for, oooh about half an hour then a bit boring. And knackering.

Never mind, needs must. I'll do five days, a full week. Monday and Tuesday, yeah not bad. Warm. Sunny. Decent company. Wednesday a longer day, by lunch time Ive had enough but made it through to 16.00. What a trooper.

" You OK for tomorrow ?"

" Erh, no sorry I've got some stuff to do "

Yeah, like going pike fishing. Priorities you see.

I started about eight ish, a bit late really, but first cast around the yellow buoy and I was away with a jack around 5lb. A nice start.

Cooky, BB and B were all bream fishing along the same stretch, but apart from a few skimmers and micro perch it was strangely quiet. BB entertained everyone by casting the top section of his broken and splintered rod about forty yards in to the ressie. Good show.

I sat lazing in the sun drinking coffee and chatting and out of the corner of my eye spotted the orange drop off fall to the ground.

I wound in to the fish and felt a satisfying thud as the pike charged off at a rate of knots and continued to do so on and off for several minutes. Most un pike like.

It was rather lean but was probably ten or eleven pounds and a nice way to start the pike season.

With that I packed up and went for a recce along the river. Tomorrow I will go to work again. Honest.