Weather +7c Light s/w winds Forecast rain 3pm onwards
Venue River Yare Surlingham Bend & Outfall
With a much milder than expected start to the day we load the boat at about half Six and get the whips out to collect some live baits. Something is not quite right as 25 minutes later, neither of us has had a single bite ! There are small fish "Topping" in the marina but for some reason, not feeding. Finally after about 40 mins Neil catches a small roach and we start to get bites. Ive switched to a worm hook bait to try for some perch. I also start to get bites but the Perch are TOO BIG for baits at up to a pound and a half, good fishing in its own right.
Too Big For Bait ?
Eventually we have enough baits and set off for Surlingham. Apart from Two anglers on Bramerton Common there are few people about and even less boats. We moor up close to the reeds just about 200 yards upstream from the Surlingham Ferry and both put out one dead and one live bait out. Although it looks perfect, we don't get any signs at all. We stick it out for Two hours, the only sign of any life was when an Otter swam past the boat, underwater, leaving the tell tale trail of bubbles behind. It surfaces about 50 yards to our left before climbing out and disappearing. That makes our mind up to move to our normal back up area, the outfall.
SURLINGHAM BEND
Once we are settled in there at 11:30am the lunch goes on together with a fresh brew. Again we both fish one dead and another live on our rods. Neil has only just finished eating when his float slides off, The braid pulls tight and he winds down and sets the hooks. Nothing ! As is normal when this happens, he positions another bait straight back in the same spot. My live bait then goes and i wait a few seconds longer before hitting it. The fish gives two sharp kicks and it too is off. I leave the bait out where it was dropped and its taken straight away, this time its hooked and landed ok. A 4lb jack the culprit.
Neil changes his live bait rig to a "Roving" set up to explore more of the river. As the bait is trotted through in several different areas he gets a nice positive take and run. This fish gives a good account of itself and is netted first time and boated. It goes 12lb 8oz on the scales and is Neils new PB.
Neils 12lb 8oz PB
We fish on until around half One when it starts getting very "Grey" up above. The rain comes a little earlier than forecast and we decide to pack up and head back before we get a real soaking. As i reel in my live bait rod, there is a small fish already hooked. I easily bring it to the side of the boat and manage to unhook it in the water and release it straight back (about 5lbs).
It was a shame Surlingham did not produce but its another area we will re visit in the future.
Weather Gusting wind first thing, dying out by 8am
Overcast but +7c
Venue River Wensum & Yare
With Dean out again today, a city centre start moving back towards the mooring later on is the plan. The boat is loaded by 7am and we set off upstream towards the city in blustery winds. As predicted the wind soon dies out and we moor up near the Turning basin and set up about 8am. I set up one live and one dead bait rod, while Dean chooses Two live baits. Despite moving the baits around and even having a look on a lure rod, no takes were forthcoming. We do our usual move downstream to the Football ground bank but still cant get a bite on anything.
I cook the Bacon rolls and once eaten, we head back to the "outfall" area on the Yare.
We are soon moved and set up in the new swim, Twenty minutes later Dean gets a run on a Roach live bait but misses it, coming back with no bait. He does not wait long for another chance and this time a hard fighting 8lb 13oz fish is boated. I finally get in on the action an hour later when my dead "Bluey" is picked up from very close to the boat. Another decent scrap has a 10lb 9oz long thin fish in the net. Im quite surprised it goes 10lb 9oz as its so thin. Deans 8lb 13oz fish with a nice fat belly looked like it should have weighed more.
As 2:30pm arrives we pack away the rods and head back to the mooring. Just as we are unloading the gear into the car, the wind starts picking up again and the rain starts quite heavily. I cant believe we got away with the weather all day again.
Weather Strong winds gusting 35 - 45mph Dry +6c
Fishing 8am - 12:30pm
With the wind already blowing quite hard and gusting even more, we decide to try a land based session today instead of the boat. A venue we have looked at before is the mill pool at Horstead near Coltishall and so we load up the car and head off about 7ish. The drive only takes half an hour but when we get there its in semi flood and pushing through very hard. I set up a lure rod while Neil trys for a live bait with a float rod.
Thirty minutes later the only thing we have caught is debris, loose weed and leaves ! Our next move is further down stream on the Bure to Belaugh staithe.
This place always looks very "Fishy" with its slow moving S bend and far bank cover. We try the same methods again but apart from being much less weed bound, no signs of anything, Live bait included.
By now the wind seems to be dying out a bit and as we are only half an hour from the boat we decide to at least try fishing on the mooring for an hour.
As we park up at the boat the wind has all but gone completely. we set up just 2 bait rods and a small whip for live baits. After just 10 mins we have 6 baits and put a rod out in the boat channel to see what happens. It takes only Five minutes before its taken and a small but lively Jack of 4lbs is boated and released. The time is just after 11am so we then move out onto the river just outside the marina to try there. Two more rods are rigged up and we have 4 baits in the water. Neil gets a take quite soon and another small jack shakes itself off right at the side of the boat. He re baits and very soon is in again, this time boating another 3lb Jack. Again he re baits and places it in the same spot.
With no more takes in the next 45 minutes, we pack up earlier than planned but both happy we at least caught one each on a difficult day. Im also due into work early that night so we call it a day at 12:30pm
I wonder if we would have had any interest if we had been able to get some fresh baits at the other two places. They will be tried again on a better day.
FOUR AND A HALF HOURS AND JUST TWO SMALL JACKS !
