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 !
