End of the Season

The end of the coarse fishing season finished in England at midnight on the 14th March and so it is time to give the fish a rest (unless you want to fish those still-water ponds and lakes which are excluded from the regulations). In the last week before the closed season I was down at Neatishead Staithe a few more times squeezing in a bit more fishing time before the end along with a number of other anglers. The weather has been steadily improving and becoming drier and sunnier but still pretty cold. I had enjoyable couple of hours with my brother and his family on Sunday the 13th when the morning sun brought some much needed warmth as we sat by the bank side. My nephew had been really keen for me to take him fishing with his Dad, but when it came to it, he was so excited he just couldn't sit still (he is only 5). Still we helped him reel in one or two fish and my brother caught a reasonable bream and I had a half decent perch.

I had a better afternoon the week before when I went down in the afternoon on the Sunday. I had three reasonable bream early on that were nice. This first one was about 30cm or 12 inches. Definitely the largest bream I have caught this season. This one was maybe 1lb5oz. Note it has lost part of its tail fin.

Note also that this fish has 55 scales along its lateral line which almost assuredly makes it a common or bronze bream rather than a silver bream. The next fish was a smaller 24cm or 9.5 inches and looks more like a roach/common bream hybrid and the number of scales along its lateral line and anal fin rays seem to confirm this:-

Finally, a similar 25.5cm or 10 inch fish that has the look of another hybrid but who knows:-

All text and pictures copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2016.

A cold wintry afternoon

Even though I new that the forecast was bad for this afternoon I couldn't resist going back to Neatishead staithe for another couple of hours fishing. As I arrived, it started to rain and sleet and, as the temperature was only 5C, I knew it was going to be a bit on the chilly side. I set up near the end of the dyke that the boats moor in and close to where the car park can be found. I had a reasonable size roach before deciding that it would be prudent to move to the other side of the water where there was a bit of shelter under the trees. Despite the weather this early fish gave me hope for a pleasant afternoon.

The fishing didn't disappoint. I took two rods with me this time, one rigged up with my waggler and the other a pole rod that I have described before. I was thinking that I could use the pole rod to fish in front of me and the waggler to explore some of the other water further afield. I thought that if the fish were a bit timid then I could handle both rods simulateously. I needn't have worried as the bites came in thick and fast and I changed from the pole rod to the waggler and back to the pole.

The fisherman who advised me to fish in the middle of this section of the water rather than on the edge of the main navigation was right. Here there were far fewer ruffe and I only caught one all afternoon. Most of the fish I caught were skimmers (very small bream) and the bites were continuous. I had another couple of decent roach and one perch, but none needed a net. I was using maggots again and feeding the swim very regularly. I had just swapped back to the pole rod when I caught this decent bream:-

As you can see it is a bit battered; it is missing scales behind its dorsal fin and it has some sort of injury/disease between its pelvic and anal fins. It was similar in size to Monday's being about 26cm in length or 10 inches.

All text and pictures copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2016