Tuesday 13th March 2012

I finally find time to finish the seasons blog over a month after the season has ended.


Weather  +7c to 13c later. Sunny Spells with the chance of a shower


Its myself and son Dean today on the last trip of the current season. As the river had not improved much from the weekend we decided to have a full English breakfast to kick start the day. We arrived at the boat and are soon loaded and on our way into the city. We had briefly tried for some live baits in the boat yard but never had a bite. We had plenty of dead's so that was not a problem.
We decided to fish just the one area today and concentrate all our efforts there. The ferry boat swim was our choice and we was soon in position with Two rods each covering the normal areas of the swim. 
Despite the river looking much better than of late, we could not tempt a run between us. Three hours soon passed and the writing was on the wall. The tide had been fairly low when we started this morning and it was still dropping off fairly quickly. With prospects getting harder by the minute we eventually decided to head back towards the outfall swim near the boat yard but as we approached the mooring spot, i notice the river level is so low we would struggle for clearance on the engine. 
A last hour in the boat yard was our only option now and we soon had one rod each, Dean fishing a dead Smelt while i opted for a live Perch. 
Within 2 minutes my Perch was taken and a 5lb jack saved a blank.
We struggled on and while i started off loading some of the gear Dean fished on. Just as i was about to call it a day, Deans smelt was picked up. As the line tightened up, he pulled out on the strike. He re cast the bait straight back into the same spot and it was only a couple of minutes before it was off again. This time the strike was met with nothing ! Again he tidied up the bait, re cast so i gave him another Ten minutes fishing time. At 1:45pm away it went again and this time he was connected. After a very careful fight we slipped the net under a lovely 7lb 11oz and Dean had saved his blank too.




Not a brilliant end to the season with the last Two outings being very hard indeed. Overall though the season has been a good one for us Three.
We have had Sixty Pike between us, almost 20 each too. I have increased my PB with my first "20". Dean in his first season had moved up to a PB of 17lb 4oz and Neil a PB of 15lb 8oz. At one point Dean had caught 16 Pike with 8 being doubles, not a bad strike rate.


David  20 fish  Best 20-4  5 Doubles


Dean  18 fish   Best 17-8  8 Doubles


Neil    22 fish  Best  15-8  6 Doubles


Total weight  488lbs 3oz


With all the Pike tackle put away until October, I'm now starting to fish a few matches with my club Sextons AC. Most of them are on commercial fisheries until the season re starts in June. Once the new season starts we start on the rivers until October when we start all over again...
Roll on October !!!!

Sunday 11th March 2012

Final Sunday of the Season


Weather +5c to 13c  Bright and Sunny 


With the river still running fairly "Dirty" after last weeks rain, we set off extra early to make sure we get our chosen swim on what is normally a busy last weekend of the current season. Myself and brother Neil are loaded and on our way by 5:20am. Its still fairly dark but the morning daybreak can be seen creeping up in the East as we head West into Norwich city center. By 5;45am its starting to get light and Thirty minutes later we are ready to cast out Two rods each at The Playhouse swim that was so productive last time we fished it. Neil positions a dead Smelt just on the edge of the flow and a live bait mid river. I do the same but towards the front of the boat. I also set up a light bomb rod to top up our live baits as we had struggled to catch many in the heavily coloured   water. Within seconds the rod hoops over and im into a fairly decent fish. I play it fairly gingerly on a light hook length and soon slip the net under a nice skimmer Bream of almost 2lbs. Just as i return the fish Neil has a take on the dead Smelt. This results in a 6lb Jack in the boat only 15 minutes after we started. I eventually catch a few Perch and small Roach for the live bait bucket and at 8:10am Neil has another lively 7lb fish on a live Perch. One of the live baits i caught earlier was a small Ruffe and Neil try`s this on his next cast. 
No sooner the float has cocked, its sliding away. It catches Neil a bit by surprise and its no surprise the run is missed. 
This proves to be a false start as we then struggle to tempt any more bites despite trying various bait changes.

Sun bathing at the Law Courts

After another blank Two hours we decide to have a move down stream towards the Law courts. We try our normal spots without any interest so have our Bacon rolls in the now warm sunshine. There are many more anglers about on the various bank side swims throughout the city but nobody seems to be catching much. Just as we are about to move to the Riverside road section, a EA officer arrives on the bank to check our licences ! With no way of him getting to us we end up having to shout our licence numbers out so he can check them... The 
last time we saw anyone checking licences was, The first weekend of the season !!!

Even the EA officers were drawing a blank

We move further down stream and by now are bathing in full sunshine with most of our morning clothes now lying all over the boat. The bars and cafes along the river are all full of people enjoying the early spring sunshine, not ideal for Pike fishing tho.
We try for another hour but have to admit to defeat and end up cruising back down the river like a pair of holiday makers.