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.