Midsummer

Little recce to a lovely Fenland river in search of big rudd. No a/c in the camper, so when the electric windows wouldn't move it was rather a hot journey, as it was 28 degrees outside ! Oh well, the old van has it's idiosyncrasies. 

Parked up in a big field by the river, only one other person there, magic.

Before I got my gear ready, S demanded a G and T ( slice of lime, lemon and loads of ice ). Good job she did too, because it was bloody lovely and a real tonic ( ho ho ho ).

In the evening I made my way to the water, the further I walked the more overgrown it was. No signs of early season anglers from the bank, but I saw a couple of blokes in a boat after the rudd.

As usual, plenty of rudd hitting the crusts I was chucking in, but the trick is to find the bigger fish. I saw a couple of bigger swirls a bit further upstream and battered down the stingers and goosegrass to reach the bank.

First few casts resulted in rudd of half a pound or so, then I hooked some bigger. A cracking fish of just over a pound and a half I guess. Next cast another a bit smaller. That'll do.

I stuck at it until dusk, but activity surprisingly died down. I did, however, spot some discoloured water and saw several bream or tench roll. Before I left, I chucked in a bit of bait in preparation for the morning.

Up at the crack of dawn, I was greeted with the sight of a barn owl quartering the misty meadows. Always a thrill.

I poked my head over the vegetation and immediately saw signs of feeding fish. I dropped a large bit of flake, compressed ultra hard to resist the attack of small rudd on the way down, with an AA a few inches from the hook.

A few minutes later the peacock quill slid away and a good sized fish took line off the clutch as it sped towards the far bank.

Sped is not a word you associate with bream, but this one thought it was a tench. Nice fish at well over 6lb.

Not surprisingly, this commotion killed the swim, so I tried another baited area. Same result, a chunky bream. Then another.

After those three fish it was back on the rudd. Nothing huge but several nice fish around the pound mark.

A nice start. I'm going back next week for a proper go.

Recharging The Batteries

This is not a moan, but it's a bit shite at the moment. The fishing, that is.

I really can't complain, because the weather has been dry and gloriously sunny ( although often very cold ) for probably a couple of months and I've been out in it most of the time.

The never ending northerly wind has ruined two months of mullet fishing and I'm also blaming it for my total failure to catch even one tench on the TBS. So, at the moment I'm having a ( very short ) break from fishing and getting ready for the new season, which is three days away.

Plans have been made for a recce trip to the Fens this weekend, followed by a session on the river Yare next Wednesday and then four or five days back on the Fens, in search of some big rudd and anything else that comes along.

Me and Bully have also pencilled in a few days on the Trent in July too. Can't wait for that.

Lots of other stuff including a Dutch or French trip in September. The ferry is booked, I just need to decide which way to point the camper.

Last Sunday there was an Earth Festival in the town and for the first time this year it really felt like a proper summer's day.

Loads of people milling about, food stalls, all types of stands selling various stuff, music ( no dreaded "singer-songwriter" with acoustic guitar thank feck ).

Highlight was the Manningtree drummers. About eight blokes dressed in rainbow colours banging the shit out of various drums in a random, haphazard fashion. Utterly tuneless and quite mesmerising.

Two pints of Mosaic pale ale drank outside, followed by a fantastic Italian meal finished the day off perfectly.

Old Blighty can be magnificent sometimes.

Modern Life Is Rubbish

Or is it ?

Down to Wiltshire in the van, just us in a big field by the canal, lovely.

I had some nice hybrids, 1-2lb which fought like mad and some other bits, but I didn't really suss it out.

Was interesting fishing though, with just about enough success to keep me keen.

 
That's the van in the distance, nice spot eh ?

Had a walk along the chalk downlands, taking in Silbury Hill and the Avebury stones. Apparantly the largest Neolithic stone circle in the world.

Both Silbury Hill and Avebury are strange, mystical places, or they would be if the National Trust hadn't sanitised and "protected" them.

Fecking interpretation boards, ropes marking off areas, silly souvenir shops and all the rest. Does everything have to be micro managed ?

Yes, it's difficult and needs preservation, but all that fussiness takes away from the magic of it. For me anyway.

I did manage to get a few pictures where I carefully avoided getting cars or the hoardes in the frame, have a look.

There's about forty million too many people in the country and we need a cull. Twenty to thirty million would makes things so much better.

The cull shall include, but not be limited to....

Bigots of any kind

Man Utd, West Ham and Everton fans

Water company bosses ( while we're at it, all utility bosses )

People in shops who call me "fella"

Kirsty Allsop

The bloke down the road who has car reg SAT 666 and dresses in black and who grunts when I give him a cheery " Good Morning". I suppose you should expect this from The Prince of Darkness.

Anyway, on the way back I got caught in five hours of motorway traffic and was rather grumpy about it. Maybe Blur were right.

The Campaign - On Hold

A month in to the campaign to catch some ( or "a" ) tench from TBS.

To say its been slow is an understatement.

Number of tench caught - 0

Number of tench seen rolling - 3 ( possibly )

Other fish caught - Bream ( lots )

Number of tench I've heard of being caught - A few. All to (very) long stay carpers. I haven't got the patience or inclination for long sessions. A long session for me is over five or six hours.

Here's some pretty pictures instead of fish

I'm off to the Kennet and Avon canal later for a week. May well catch a few tench there to get my eye in ( total bollocks of course ).

When I come back it'll be a week or so until the river season opens, so the tench campaign may be left for a while. Who knows ?

I've got some big Fens rudd on the radar and some local mullet fishing to do, if the cold northerly wind ever stops, so lots of choice.

Success !

Not the fabled tench, but after Cooky Boy had a netful of bream yesterday, my plans were compromised.

Do I stick it out for tench with the likelihood of a blank or do I put a feeder rod out fifty yards with a good chance of of few bites ?

I took the easy option and went for the bream. Arrived early, very little activity, so I fired some groundbait out, half of which broke up on launch. Pathetic.

I continued to dick about for another hour before sorting myself out in to some kind of reasonably competent fishing. Three hours later nothing.

I changed my hookbait from pellet to worm and the tip started to bounce. It bounced and off every cast without pulling round properly for half an hour or so, so I shortened the trace to about four inches and pulled the back stop tight to the feeder. That'll fix 'em. 

It did. Next cast a proper bite and a self hooked bream about 6lb the result.

That seemed to do the trick and most casts resulted in either the feeder being attacked and the associated liners or a hooked fish.

It was a lovely day in the sun and I ended up with thirteen bream, most 5-6lb with the best maybe 7lb ish. Bit of action for a change.

They'd pretty much all spawned out and were a bit less chunky than a few weeks ago, but welcome nonetheless. 

Now let's catch some tench.

Back In The Groove

Back in the groove ? Yes, but I'm not exactly caning them. I'm soaking in the atmosphere and vibe of TBS at the moment, it gets in yer blood.

Bream have been spawning over the past few days, the temperature is rising but no tench have been caught. By me at least.

I've moved swims. The bay I had fished seemed lifeless, so I'm a mile and a half away, up the shallow end. I've seen fish here close in, not well enough to say they're definitely tench, but they may have been.

The loft was raided and I found a classic 1980s 11 foot Tricast, 1.75lb TC, built by my mate Lobby. SICs, minimalist look, bloody lovely.

The other rod is a Fox Floater, 12 foot, very soft action, dating back to about the very early 2000s.

I bought the bobbins for about a quid in Czech Republic in 2003 ( the Czechs call them "policemen" ). Groovy eh ?

The alarms are cheapo unbranded made in China, £13.00 for three, delivered. Unbelievable. Had them five years and still working. Don't worry, the fish don't know that they're not Delkims.

I'm not a tight arse, I just couldn't turn down an offer like that.

I'm sitting on the bank now. Lost a biggish perch earlier, a few signs of activity but fishless.

What do you do ? Keep moving, trying to find them, or have confidence in the swim and that the bait will draw fish in and hold them ? I'm thinking give the swim and bait time.

I'll probably change my mind as per normal.

Down The Road

TBS is just down the road from me, ten or fifteen minutes depending on what bit I'm fishing. It's not an easy place to fish, so there's never many people there and as its three hundred and fifty acres there's plenty of space.

It's a great place for wildlife. Yesterday I had a nightingale and a cettis warbler singing right behind me and there's deer, loads of grass snakes and all sorts.

I had a couple of evening sessions this week and had a few nice bream. No tench yet.

The sit and wait thing is not really me but it makes a change.

I've got to get myself more organised, the tackle bag and rig wallets and in a ridiculous mess and I piss about losing and looking for things like an old fart. Which I'm obviously not.

I suppose that's an excuse to buy some more gear anyway.

Yesterday I had a few hours in the evening and a big storm came through. The temperature dropped like a stone, maybe six or eight degrees in a few minutes.

I managed to avoid most of the rain and nabbed one on the last cast before sloping off in the encroaching darkness.