Feeling positive about Dilham Fishery

I have been to Dilham Fishery a few times before and I haven't always been that positive about fishing there. I would like to redress this because, actually, I think it definitely has its merits. I have been a couple of times recently; once on the 12th April when it was overcast and quite cold and then again on the 16th April when things had warmed up a bit. The good things I can say about this lake is that it is nicely laid out, it still only costs £5 for the day if you are using one rod (it is definitely the cheapest day ticket in the area) and on a cold day they have a very nice clean and warm toilet facilities with hot running water where you can unfreeze your hands! Fishing wise the species you can catch is quite diverse and it is not like some places where it is like fishing in a barrel and you end up pulling one carp out after another. You have to work at it.

Both times when I was there recently I ended up fishing the second peg from the toilet block. There are plenty of places by that spot where carp might hide out - in the reeds to the right of you, in the reeds on the far bank to the left and under the lily pads opposite. I concentrated on the margins to the right and fed sweetcorn regularly into the shallows. Float fishing a piece of corn near the bottom I caught a few small carp that first day, the most unusual of which was this fantailed carp:-

I think this is a crucian but it might be some sort of hybrid. Anyway note how all the fins are very enlongated. This fish is about 37cm or 14.6 inches.

On my return on the 16th April I didn't catch any carp but I did catch this nice roach (although it may be a roach/rudd hybrid) at about 2.45pm:-

This fish is about 25cm in length or 9.7 inches. This image shows the margins of where I was fishing:-

Towards the end of the day, at 4.22pm, my swim feeding efforts were rewarded with this 32cm or 12.7 inch bream:-

and about an hour later this 20.4cm or 8inch tench:-

All text and pictures copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2019.

A cold but successful day at Martham Pits

I have fished Martham Pits on a couple of occasions before but I have not written any blogs about my visits. Last Friday (the 5th April) I decided to go there on the basis that the weather looked fine but, although there was hazy sunshine all day, there was an awful cold wind that had me well and truly chilled by the end of it.

Martham Pits is run by the Martham and District Angling Club and day tickets can be purchased from the Co-op (88 Repps Road, NR29 4QZ) in Martham for £7. There are four pits labelled A, B, C and D. Some parts of the pits are only open to members and sometimes pits are closed for matches. You can use two rods.

When I arrived I decided to have a go at fishing pit B because this was the last one that I fished successfully. I always stick to float fishing and I had a variety of baits with me but it quickly became apparent that I was getting nowhere. Hardly a nibble. The club has also cut the vegetation back considerably around all the ponds so it did feel very exposed. However, I wasn't put off and about lunchtime I decided to have a wander round and chat to one of the other fishermen who was on a different pit. It seems that I wasn't the only one struggling and the guy I spoke to very kindly suggested I try pit A near the bridge. As he said this was where someone had won a fishing competition in the last week or so. He suggested using sweetcorn (which I had been trying anyway) and 'keep feeding it in'.

So I moved across to pit A and this was the view from my new peg. I began feeding in bits of corn and unlike B, I began to get a few nibbles very quickly. I always fish near the bottom and check the depth using a plumb weight. Soon I was catching a few roach and after a while one or two skimmers. The bites remained very tentative all the rest of the day and nothing like a firm carp bite.I eventually landed my first of three good bream at 2.35pm:-

This fish weighed 2lb and is about 38cm or 15.2 inches long. Ten minutes later I caught this lovely 4lb fish:-

This has the classic look of a mature bream with its humped back and bronze colouration. This fish is about 50cm or 19.5 inches in length. I reckon this is a personal best for me. Later on I had another fish of 3lb but I didn't photograph it.

I came back to the pits on the 9th April and fished A pit again. It was still quite cold and windy but there was more sunshine, so it didn't feel so bad. I had another couple of bream of 2 and 2.5lb on that occasion. Still no carp.

Al text and images copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2019.

Fun day at Barford Lakes

So, it is the end of the season on the rivers and broads but my attention has returned to inland waters and carp fishing (plus whatever else happens to be in the pond or lake at the time). On Friday (the 29th March) it promised to be a nice sunny day and I had intended to go to Stanninghall lakes near Crostwick but when I got there it was closed as it is under new management. Having been thinking I ought to go somewhere new anyway I quickly got out my phone and started searching for other lakes to the west and south of where I was. The mistake I made was not checking first that they were members only or not and so I ended up at Layfields Lakes at Great Witchingham. So then I had to search again and opted for Barford Lakes off the Watton Road.

Barford have eight lakes, two of which, the Pleasure and Top Lakes, are available to day ticket holders all year round. A day ticket is a slightly more expensive £8 for adults but there is a tackle shop on site and you can use two rods. After talking to a guy fishing on the Pleasure Lake I opted to try the Top Lake.

A funny thing happened to me as I was setting up. In my youth I would have been severely embarrassed but nowadays I can laugh it off. I had set up my seat and was about to tie a hook sitting down but as my bum hit the seat the rear legs gave way and I went right over onto my back with my legs ending up in the air! It wasn't easy extricating myself from this position either. The guy next to me asked if I was alright but we had a chuckle. I think I just hadn't locked the back legs of my seat into position.

It was a fine sunny, and mostly warm, day but two things were niggling me until I eventually moved. One was the slightly cold nagging wind and the other was the sun dazzling me as I had recently lost my sunglasses. I had arrived about 11am and during the rest of the morning until early afternoon things were a bit slow. I had chosen a corner of the lake where I could see a few carp surfacing, so I knew where to put my bait. I had sweetcorn with me and the first carp I caught was a crucian. Then I was trying a bit of bread crust float fished on a shallow depth in the corner and I had the first of several common carp. They were a good size. I could see another guy fishing on the right-hand bank from me catching some larger carp float fishing deeper into the lake.

Later in the afternoon I had had enough of the dazzling sun and moved to the bank on my right:-

This was the view from this new peg. The peg that I was at before is in front of the red car. I had some more commons from this location on sweet corn and this nice condition fish weighed 4lb:-

The orange disgorger gives you a sense of scale. It is 13.8cm long making this fish 48cm or 18.9 inches. Annoyingly two of the fish I caught that day were foul hooked and this really gets me down. I am going to try harder at avoiding this as much as possible.

Just to say that another guy a few pegs to the left of where I sat originally had a carp of over 13lb. I guessed it was a big fish as I could see the tail hanging over the edge of the landing net!

All text and pictures copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2019.

A couple of personal bests this season

The problem with blogs is keeping them up to date and I seem to be falling behind with this one. It has been nearly a year again since I last recorded anything and my entries seem to becoming sparser and sparser. Not that I haven't been fishing! This season has been a good one for me as I had a personal best carp of 12.5lb at Park Farm Lakes, Hockering:

This was on the 22nd July 2018 - a hot day that started out as a family fishing trip to the lakes. For most of the day I had been with my brother and his two young boys and a friend of the eldest. We didn't really catch much all day and certainly found it hard to catch any carp. I think the boys were finding it hard to sit still and concentrate! My poor brother was run ragged! Later on they all left and I carried on on my own. I think I had a decent 3lb+ bream before this common fell to a krill carp bait float fished near some water lillies. I only had 5lb line on my reel and so the fish took 20 minutes to land!

More recently I have been fishing for pike again with my mate Tony. We have been oscillating between Wroxham (fishing between the road and rail bridges) and Neatishead Staithe. I have had success at both locations (5 pike in all) and yesterday (the 11th February) was the best when I hooked this personal best pike at Neatishead:

This was a 12.5lb fish and was caught towards the end of the day at 5.10pm. Tony had caught an 8 pounder before I arrived at about 2pm.

All text and pictures copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2019.

Good finish to the season

It has been a while since I have caught a pike (the last time was over a year ago in January 2017) and, as the end of the season approached, I was determined to see if I could get one. Before that, though, I had been continuing to catch some reasonable bream at Neatishead Staithe. This one I had on the 6th March

which is 9.5 inches in length. Then on the 11th March, this nice fish fell to a worm:-

This one I bothered to weigh and it came in at 1lb 4oz for a 13.5inch fish. I reckon this must be a hybrid as it lacks the depth of a proper bream. Notice that it has been damaged at some point just behind the anal fin. From the shape of it, it looks like a bite of a cormorant.

I have been enjoying my time at the staithe and often meet up with people who have become my friends over the last couple of years. This is especially true of Tony and Eddy who come down on a regular basis, usually in search of pike. It was Tony who kindly gave me worms to fish with and to cultivate at home.

On the day before the last day of the season, the 13th March, Tony and I went to Gaye's Staithe in search of pike. Gaye's staithe is further along the Irstead Road from Neatishead and has a bit more open water. I had heard from other fishermen that there were pike to be had there.

We arrived about 2pm and it was a nice sunny afternoon. We were float fishing for pike using live bait that we were able to catch from the margins of the dykes. I had a couple of early runs on some pike but nothing connected. Then about 4pm, things began to happen. I caught this one at 4.10pm which we reckoned was about 7lb:-

Tony then caught a jack which he said wasn't worth looking at and it went promptly back in the water! Then two hours later, just as it was getting dark, I caught a 9 pounder (which we weighed) and this is a personal best. I didn't feel too bad for Tony as I know only a few days before he had caught a 10lb fish and he has numerous others up to 22lb this season. Well done to him!

All text and pictures copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2018.

Cold and wet

It was raining most of the day today, a sort of cold persistent drizzle. When it had virtually stopped, I headed out for a couple of hours down to Neatishead staithe but it still felt cold and damp, what they would describe as 'dreich' in Scotland. I thought I would give the end of the staithe a go this time, nearest the car park. It is a bit shallower there, a place where the smaller fish tend congregate.

Float fishing with a size 16 hook and a double red maggot (the same maggots that I have had for several weeks - they have been keeping well in the cold shed) I was getting regular bites and pulling out small roach, one after the another. I was down here on the 7th Feb and caught this nice bream at about 4.30pm:-

This fish is 12 inches in length and is probably a pound in weight or maybe more. I also had this 8 inch roach on the same day:-

I also think that the staithe is a hotspot for Ruffe, as we are always catching them. This was a nice specimen:-

It looks sad with those big eyes. They have quite a pretty bluish iridescence. I also came down here on the 15th February and caught this slightly smaller bream:-

What a pleasant day that was, with plenty of warmish sunshine, a real harbinger of spring. This fish was just 8.5 inches, but a nice fish to catch.

Back to today, I didn't really catch much else to speak of. However, there was a couple that were pike fishing at the mouth of the staithe and after much effort did pull out a 16.5 pounder. What a thickset fish this was!

All text and pictures copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2018.

Neatsihead Staithe January 2018

I haven't put anything up here for 8 months and I thought it was high time that I did. I went down to Neatishead Staithe yesterday on a pretty cold (4 or 5C) but sunny January afternoon. I sat at the end of the channel on the right-hand side, near to where it joins Limekiln dyke. The last time I was down here (before Christmas) I had some success at catching a few perch up to about a pound at this location. Thinking that this would be a good spot again, I set to float fishing near the bottom with a pair of red maggots on a size 16 hook. Often, you get the idea pretty much straight away if it is going to be any good and yesterday wasn't one of those days. I started in the middle of Limekiln dyke without the float so much as twitching. Then I tried closer to the quay heading, just under my feet, and began to get the faintest of nibbles. Eventually, I caught one small roach.

Still, it is a nice place to sit with, at least, a bit of sun on my back. I could also hear the peep, peep, peep of a kingfisher flying upstream. Another fisherman came to join me on the opposite bank. He was dead-baiting for pike. Sometimes you think to yourself, 'shall I stick it out,' if the fishing is bad but I recommend, even though it is a pain, that the best thing is to move. So I set up again half way up the staithe and amazingly enough, began to have bites straight away. I then began to pull out a succession of small roach, none of them any size. I was surprised at how pale some of the roach were. Others were probably immature bream.

Another fisherman arrived, and was spinning for perch. He was using a small silvery jelly lure and near the car park end he caught a 1.5 pounder, which is a decent fish. Further along he pulled out another pound fish.

I struggled on in the cold wind (the sun had begun to disappear by this stage) and I was beginning to freeze. In the end I had about 15 roach and one small perch and I wasn't disappointed any way.

All text and pictures copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2018.