Sound and Vision

Time for a bit of culture. Well, my kind of culture.

Hear This.

Slaves - "Sockets"

Watch This

BBC Storyville,  "Cartel Land". An extraordinary documentary, about the effects of the drug trade on ordinary Mexican people. Watch it on iplayer, it is brilliant.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06q7csp/storyville-20152016-9-cartel-land

And This

"The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson". Another Julian Temple film. Me and the boy saw it at a small venue in Colchester a month or two ago and it's being shown in full next week on BBC. Dont miss it. Fantastic.

I See A Darkness

The barbarians are not only at the gates, they've kicked them in. Time for concerted action.

Mid November. Just when fishing should be at it's best, the codling have disappeared.  Well, probably chasing herring in the upper layers, where we can't catch them. On the other hand, I did manage to get a couple of stone of herring, fresh off one of the Mersea boats, so that's the roker and pike bait sorted.

Me and Lord Conc did go "dragging" the other day though. This consists of casting out a 6 oz lead and huge treble hook, attached to 100lb braid and pulling in all the gear fisherman have been losing.
Satisfying in a childish way, reminds me of looking for lost gear as a kid. Makes you look like a bit of a pikey, admittedly.

We got a load of leads that Conc is currently sorting out. I fully expect to be given all the crappy ones.
I had a run today through the woods and along the marsh, covered in mud and thoroughly drenched, the smell of the decaying vegetation lingering in my nostrils as I raced the darkness home.
I stopped by the wood and watched a stoat chase a screaming rabbit round and round, no more than a couple of yards from me. The screaming attracted three magpies, which waited until the victim had stopped struggling and moved in to squabble with the stoat for the fruit of his labour. "Red in tooth and claw" indeed.

Jonah

"A person who carries a jinx, one who will bring bad luck to any enterprise". Otherwise known as TT.

This is a pike

It took over a year to organise, a day piking with Mak Baines and one of Upwell's finest, TT. TT turned up rattled after a horrific three hour drive... the less said the better.
We picked our favourite stillwater, reliable and scenic. We had high hopes. I told TT we hadn't blanked for three years.
We blanked. Nothing else to say about the fishing.

Approximately 33.3% more guff than usual was spouted. Soapboxes were mounted and bete noires ( I don't know how to get the thing above the "e") raged against.
For your information, subjects included.....

Clarkson ( yes, again )
Radio 4, good things e.g Desert Island Discs
Radio 4, bad things e.g Everyone speaks with the same posh accent
The decline of the north east
Lesbians ( I don't think TT likes some of them )
Martin Amis - He's rubbish
The Pike Police
The Fens
Bands we've seen - Between the three of us, practically every decent band since 1967
Corby and Cammy
Russia - What a crap country ( this is fast becoming my hobby horse )

Highlight of the day for me, without doubt, was TT's "Tales of a Street fightin' Man". Your secret is safe with us John.

Another pike

Autumn Leaves

The Grange, Alresford

Some proper autumn weather about. Can't say I like the dark, early nights, but it's a beautiful time of year.

Along the old railway track on the Colne

In the words of local legend Martin Newell.....

In Autumn Attic

Autumn came to Wivenhoe and slowly
Turned to ash the opal of the sky
Lovers took the last train out of Clacton
Drunken insects zig zagged home to die

Dutiful, the widow of the summer
Drifted through the apple scented halls
This year's girl-most-likely-to was hanging
Rusty leaves on musty redbrick walls

Westerlies, the stagehand of the season
Moved to shift the scenery away
Ruffled up the river down to Rowhedge
Drew the evening in to close the day

Somewhere through the trees, a train to London
Sparked the overheads and slid from sight
Deeper in the woods a dog was barking
Someone on the station said goodnight

Huddled in the pub, the early drinkers
Turned to see the windows spanked by rain
Not to hear the calling of the curlew
Nor the ghosts of children in the lane

I walked past the Grayson Perry at Wrabness the other day. Certainly an interesting building, don't know whether I "like" it, but worth a look. To my untrained eyes it looks like Hansel and Gretels's house.

Crappy tides this week, but in a week or so I'll be back on the beach and there's a piking session with Wak and TT too. Happy days.

Making Hay.....

Three really enjoyable sessions this week,  each producing similar results. Sunday and Wednesday, I was joined by Butler, always good company and a total noddy to boot.
On Sunday evening I had three skate, two codling to 4lb plus, doggies and a few whiting, whilst Butler had a small skate and loads of whiting. That'll do nicely.

Wednesday was a beautiful bright moonlit night, an absolutely great night to be out. I started off with a clonking codling, followed up by a mini roker, a big pout, doggies and eight or nine keeper whiting. Butler filled his boots ( and his fish bucket ), with two nice codling, lots of decent whiting, a small roker, doggies and a pan sized dab. Good work son. We fished until 1 in the morning, begrudgingly packing up as the tide started to ebb.
Friday evening, a 2 am high tide and this time I was joined by The Whittler. Again it was lovely evening, the gusty wind of the last two days having died off. Whittler drew first blood with a nice codling, followed by a brace of big doggies. From then on it was lots of decent whiting, loads of dogs and a nice codling for me. It was very mild, with a glowing moon, another fantastic night to be out. We packed up in the dead of night with a bucket load of fish and started the long walk along the shingle back to the car. A great night to be a alive.

One of Those Days

I stopped off to grab a sandwich, parked up and went to the bakers. Back at my car a woman comes up to me, "You've reversed into my car" ! I looked round and sure enough my rear bumber and her front bumper were touching. I told her I I wasn't aware of having touched her car. She was not exactly raging, but was very rude and bolshy. I should have said it was just as likely she drove into the back of me, but was so taken aback I was on the back foot.
Anyway, no real damage done, so I got on my way for a bit of roach fishing.
I catapulted some maggots out as loose feed. Or I would have, if the elastic hadn't broken and twatted me in the face.
Neve mind, I had a spare. I catapulted more maggots out and, feck me, the same thing happened.
Don't worry, two elastics broken, but I had another spare. I fitted the new elastic on and, yes, it happened again. Unbelievable.
I sat down and thought, forget the fishing for a minute, let's have a cup of tea. I turned the gas burner on, lit it, only to see it orange flames pour out, threatening to burn the brolly to the ground. After messing about trying to get it going, I decided there was only one thing to do.
Pack up and go home.

Fill Yer Boots, Part 36

Lord Conc of Weeley was sulking. He'd missed out on some "proper" fishing. Whilst fishing a match on Sunday, receiving texts from me as I caught codling and he sat there catching a couple of small whiting.
He said he was off to the local beach for a couple of hours this evening, "just to use up a bit of bait". I was tempted to join him, but with tides getting smaller and the wind having completely dropped off I thought we might struggle. At the last minute I jumped in the car and less than half hour later was set up and fishing,
Conc quickly landed a nice codling, things were looking good.

Conc was banging the bait out a long, long way. So bloody far that it always makes me grin like a gumby, as I see the lead land way out in the distance. I hoped they weren't outside of my range, but a few minutes later I had a gentle drop back on the tip and I was into my first of the evening, Lovely.

It then went a bit mad, with bites most casts, no small whiting, pouting or any other pests, just codling. Good ones too. Seven for me, all 3lb plus, up to 5lb 10 oz. Conc had five to just under 5lb, plus a 2lb+ bass on the last cast, somehow hooked on someone elses broken off gear ! Jammy git.

We only fished three hours of the ebb, what a great session.