Sunday afternoon

There was a fine misty rain this morning that was being blown along by a strong breeze so I put off any idea of fishing until the middle of the afternoon. When I came out about 3pm, the wind had dropped completely and the water was beautifully still, which always makes float fishing a joy. It was pretty overcast but not that cold (maybe 9C) and it only started raining more heavily again when I packed up when it was getting dark.

The fish were hungry today and the water was clear enough that I could seem them attacking the bait as it sunk down into the depths. I know that I end up catching a lot of small fish, but I don't mind this as it keeps me occupied and there is always the chance that something bigger will come along. I was back at my usual spot, a dyke to the west of the village centre of Horning and close to the river Bure.

There were a lot of small roach again today. They are so numerous in these waters. One thing that concerns me is that a number of them seem to have some parasitic infection. They look like they are covered in black spots. I would say that maybe 20 percent of the roach and rudd have this problem in some way or other. I caught one reasonable size roach that was badly infected and I was going to photograph it but it wouldn't lie still long enough.

This was a rudd that was a reasonable size:

The rudd differs from the roach in that generally it has a more olive green colouration with redder fins and an upturned mouth (for surface feeding). However, it is not straight forward as the roach and rudd hybridise. This one has some sort of damage and/or infection to its flank and one of those black spots can be seen. This one is about 19cm long or 7.5 inches.

I also caught a different species today, a gudgeon. I used to catch these a lot when I was a kid. Again it was too wiggly to photograph.

I had been hoping to catch some more big perch but I was only rewarded towards the end of the day. I caught a lot of smaller ones first. This was the first of two that needed landing with a net:-

This one is about 22cm in length or 8.5 inches. Finally, I had a nice tussle with this specimen:-

This one is about 28cm in length or just over 11 inches, so about 14.75 ounces. When I was first down at these waters last year, I caught a much bigger perch than this but didn't have a camera to hand. I am still hoping to catch one that is maybe 2 pound. I think next time I am at the local tackle shop I will purchase some worms to see if this does the trick.

All pictures and text copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2016.

Back for more perch

Yesterday I was back at the same spot that I have been to the last couple of times which is close to where the dyke meets the river Bure. It was colder today, something like 8 or 9 degrees C and a bit of a nagging breeze made it seem chilly sitting by the waterside. At least the strong wind had died down and it was dry and sunny for the most part.

I was catching plenty of fish again today but I found that they had moved slightly round the jetty. I don't understand why this happens but it must be something to do with the conditions or the tide. Why should one bit of water be somewhat dead whereas just a few feet away another bit provides plenty of fish? It just goes to show that if you aren't catching anything you should just move on somewhere else.

I had a variety of species today. The ubiquitous roach of course and these were slightly better than tiddlers. What also turned up were one or two very small bream. They look a bit like roach, but they appear to be entirely silver in colour. They do hybridise so I wouldn't like to say for sure that they were pure bream but they looked like it. I also had a couple of rudd, one of which was getting to be something reasonable but didn't need a net.

The main attraction of the day was catching perch which seem to like this spot. I had four today, all of a reasonable size and all needing to be netted in. Here they are in the order I caught them:

This one (above) is 21cm in length or 8.5 inches.

This second one (above) is 20cm or 8 inches.

This third one (above) is 20.5 cm or 8 inches.

This fourth one was the largest and is 27cm or 10.5 inches.

Although the first three fish are very similar in size, they are not the same fish. If you look at the vertical dark bandings they are all slightly different.

All pictures and text copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2016

Another fine pair of perch

Not a great day to go out fishing as the wind was blowing in strong gusts and it was hard to stop things flying into the water. I lost my hat twice but I caught it before it got wet. I went out a bit earlier than yesterday and back to the same spot I had caught the large perch last night. It is still mild (10C) but it didn't feel it. It was also very overcast.

I was fishing with the same light gear on a pole rod (which is difficult to handle in stiff wind). The fish were still there and I began catching a few roach which were a bit larger than yesterday (don't ask me why). Quite soon into my couple of hours at the quay I caught this lovely 27cm (11 inch) perch:

It gave a good account of itself and it felt nice to haul in with the flexible pole rod. It probably weighs about 14oz. A bit later I had this one as it was getting towards dusk:

This is very similar in size, perhaps half an inch shorter and probably weighs just over 13oz. I don't think it is the same fish as it has a less pronounced 'hump' on its back. As a guide for weight I have been using this table that I found on the internet:-

Inches .....lb ozs
9 ..... 0 12
10 .....0 13 ¼
11 .....0 14 ¾
12 .....1 0
13 .....1 4 ½
14 .....1 9 ¾
15 .....1 14 ½
16 .....2 5 ½
17 .....2 13 ¼
18 .....3 5 ½
19 .....3 15 ¼
20 .....4 9 ½
21 .....5 5 ¼

I must get some scales and weigh these fish for myself. For interest, the way I measure the length of these fish is to photograph them with the disgorger seen. Then in a photo editing package I measure the length of the disgorger and the length of the fish and knowing that the disgorger is 12.5cm long, scale up the size of the fish appropriately. For example, the fish in the first picture above was 1410 pixels long. The disgorger was 651 pixels. This means that the fish is (1410/651)x12.5=27.1cm. To get this to inches multiply by 0.394, so this fish is 27.1x0.394=10.7 inches.

All pictures and text copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2016 (except for the table of perch length/weights).

Nice 11.5 inch perch to end the day

I was fishing again at the end of the day, starting about 4pm and finishing when it became too dark to do anything more. I decided to try on the dyke nearer to the entrance to the main river (Bure) to see if this made any difference to what I caught. I again used mixed coloured maggots (fishing with with two on the hook) and fed the swim with a few at regular intervals. I also tried to make a mental note of how many fish of each species I was catching.

As usual the most prolific fish was the small roach. I caught over twenty of these and none of a notable size. Later I started catching a few perch, starting with one of just about an inch long! Behind me there was a glorious red sunset and, although it was still mild (perhaps 11 degrees C), there was an irritating blustery wind. I then caught a small rudd, the only one of the day. As dusk began to fall I started to hook bigger perch getting up to six in the end and the penultimate one was a beauty, the second largest I have caught down here:

This fish is about 11.5 inches in length and probably weighs about a pound. I had noticed that the perch were taking the bait in snatching fashion making the float go under dramatically. I had a number of good sized fish in succession, showing that a shoal had probably gathered where I had been feeding the swim. It was so dark by the time I had caught this fish I had to use flash on my camera to get its photo. A nice way to end the day.

All pictures and text copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2016.

An hour before dark

Having been busy for most of the day I had an hour's fishing at sunset before going in for a cup of tea. The weather was really mild again today. Overcast this morning but starting to improve towards the end of the day. At dusk there was virtually no wind.

Just outside the door of where we are staying there is a small inlet of water just sufficient to moor a single small boat. Not having much time I thought I  would give it a go with the same tackle and bait as I was using yesterday. I have known the water on this side of the house go really dead in the cold weather but I suspected that it might prove productive again now that it had warmed up.

I had a fish biting as soon as the float hit the water. A very small perch to start. I intended to keep a mental record of how many of each type of fish I was catching but I got into conversation with someone and that went out of the window. Several small roach followed and then I had some success with a decent perch that needed to be landed with the net. 8 ounces maybe. More small roach followed. By then dusk had fallen and it was getting difficult to see the float in the water. Before it got really dark I hooked another good size perch but was it the same one I had put back earlier? It looked to be about the same size. It wouldn't be the first time I had caught the same fish more than once but that's another story.

All pictures and text copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2016.

Mild morning brings the fish out to feed

I have been out this morning fishing a dyke in Horning as I have been on and off for the last two and a half months. During the week the temperatures here were around the 4 or 5 degree (centigrade) mark, but today it is a balmy 12 degrees. The sun was out and there was only a light wind.

I have been out fishing today (between about 10.30 and midday) using very light float tackle. I have a cheap (£15) pole rod that I use for the purpose. This is a Middy Battlezone 4 metre Carp Margin Whip that was already elasticated and came with a pole rig. It is easy to get set up and is ideal for fishing around the boats that are moored here. For the last few days, whilst it has been so cold, the fish have not been feeding well and I have only been able to catch a few small roach and perch close in under the boats. Today things improved with the warmer weather.

I have been using maggots on size 14 hook and today I made a bit more of a concerted effort to feed the fish with the hook bait, just a few every time I caught a fish or had to change the bait. I started off catching a few small roach and then I began to hook a few perch including this nice specimen:

The disgorger photographed is 12.5cm long and so this fish is about 22cm in length (or about 8.5 inches). There was probably a small shoal in my swim as I had about three reasonably sized fish but this was the largest. A bit later I caught the largest roach I have had since I have been down here on these waters:

Unfortunately, this fish wasn't in such good condition. As you can see it has an injury of some sort on its tail and is also spotted with some sort of black parasite (if that is what it is). This fish is about 23cm in length (or about 9 inches). If you look at the length to weight chart for a roach at the Idler's Quest, such a fish will weigh between 9 and 10 ounces. So not bad. The perch probably weighs a bit more, perhaps around 11 ounces.

All pictures and text copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2016.