Neatishead Staithe

I haven't been fishing for just over two weeks and so I was pleased to get away to the waterside this morning for a couple of hours. I have moved to the Neatishead area of the Broads and so I was keen to try Neatishead staithe which is on my local patch. The staithe is on Limekiln Dyke which feeds into Barton Broad. The village is at the end of the navigation and so is quite a way inland from the open water. The weather today was sunny and still and, even though still cold, it felt warm in the sunshine.

When I arrived about 10.30am there were already a number of fishermen strung out along the water. I had wanted to fish near the main channel and there was a space on the left-hand side near one of the waterside seats. I was float fishing as usual with a waggler weighted with five number 4 shot and a size 16 barbless hook. As soon as I arrived I scattered a few mixed coloured maggots into the water. I hadn't been fishing long when I had a good bite and to my surprise reeled in this nice bream:

It is difficult to tell whether this is a silver bream or a common bream. At this size they are known as skimmers. This one is about 26.5cm long or 10.5 inches and may weigh about 14oz. I suspect that I appeared to be a bit of a smarty-pants for having sat down for five minutes and then pulled in something that needed a net.

We had some other types of fishermen hanging about the waterside. Briefly on the opposite bank was a kingfisher. It made me look up as I heard that distinctive plop in the water as it dived for a fish. There was also a young heron that was hanging about, presumably waiting for a kind fisherman to chuck him a fish. He did an interesting manoeuvre as he picked up a fish from the surface of the water - a sort of flop onto the water surface and then a rapid take off.

I was surprised at how deep the water was. Having plucked out a bream I decided to fish deeper and deeper and got to around five foot or more. There were quite a lot of ruffe at this spot and I caught perhaps five or six of these:-

Funny little fish these. In response to being caught they puff up their gill covers. They also have a spiny dorsal fin like a perch. This one is about 14.5cm long or 6 inches.

I also caught a roach, a gudgeon and a perch whilst I was there for those couple of hours. Having spoken to a couple of the other fishermen I learnt that the inlet for the mooring was a better place to catch skimmers and avoid the ruffe. I also found out that this was one of the fishermen's favourite locations for catching pike in winter (up to 28lb) and big bags of roach and perch. I am looking forward to it!

All text and pictures copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2016.