Fishing the Thurne at Potter Heigham

It has been seven months since I last posted anything here. In the mean time life has changed considerably, of course, and I do wonder when things will return to normal.

I have been fishing a few times since the new season started. Today I thought I would give the river at Potter Heigham a go as I haven't really tried it much before. It was a hot day to be by the riverside and as I drove there the outdoor temperature recorded by my car was touching 29C. It had been slightly more overcast with thin cloud in the morning which prompted me to think it wouldn't be too hot in the sun but by the time I arrived it was blazing hot. Fortunately, after walking one way up the river and back again I found a nice spot in the shade of a willow tree and I was very thankful. If you go over the bridge from the Latham's side and turn right, you will see where I mean. This was where I sat looking over the Thurne:-

I was float fishing as usual with a pair of red maggots on a size 16 hook (you can see my float in the picture). The maggots were getting a bit smelly and I was pleased that I had used them up by the end of the afternoon! The water does move quickly here and it was coming in with the tide - something I am not so used to. I set the depth for near the bottom (which was perhaps 4 or so feet deep) and to keep things under control I fished reasonably close in.

I wasn't getting any bites to start with and when that happens I try different things out to see if it makes a difference. I began feeding in my maggots and casters upstream of where I was (so that the food would get near the bottom in front of where I was sitting). I also reasoned that with all the boats going backwards and forwards the fish would be close to the bank. I was right and they were very close to the bank - I started getting bites with the float only a couple of feet from the edge.

After a while I began to catch a few roach. These were quite small but I was quite happy. I had shade, there was a nice breeze, I had tea to drink and I was getting regular bites. The afternoon wore on with the same pattern and I caught, perhaps, six roach. I was thinking about packing up when the float went under again and then I knew I was into something more substantial! I did not know how substantial until this large dinner-plate of a fish surfaced and I was gobsmacked! I had only brought my small landing net with me and I was wondering if it would fit in. Here is the beauty (a bream):-

The disgorger is 13.8cm long and so the fish is about 44cm or 17.5 inches long. I intended to weigh it but as I had it in my net in the water, giving it some time to recover, it swam off as I fished around in my bag for my scales! However, judging by other bream I have caught, this one is about 3lb. I reckon this might be the largest broadland river bream I have caught so far. I did carry on for a bit after this but, apart from a reasonable perch, there were no more bream such as this to be had.

Interestingly, a bit downriver from where I was sitting and across on the other bank, a family were swim feeder fishing and I could see that they had caught two eels.

All pictures and text copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2020

Another enjoyable afternoon at Neatishead Staithe

I was back at Neatishead staithe this afternoon. A mild (12C), overcast and windless day that was ideal for fishing. This time I was sat at the end of the staithe on the left-hand side where it joins Limekiln Dyke. I arrived about 2.30pm and there were three other fishermen on the opposite bank.

I was again using my 4 week old maggots and casters that I had last Sunday and without much effort a double red maggot was reaping rewards with some fine looking roach. I was again feeding in the casters to attract the fish. The advantage of a still day is that you can see the more sensitive bites more easily and not constantly distracted by ripples and the wind blowing your gear about.

I brought some pike gear along with me today and put out a dead bait (a sprat) on a float but without much success. I kept taking the gear out of the water because my friends, the swans, were back again (the same pair from Sunday) and we also had a visit from an otter. The first thing I saw of the otter was its tell-tale sign of a stream of bubbles rocketing towards me across the water. It carried on towards the upper reaches of Limekiln Dyke and then returned the same way and we had a good view of it on the surface of the water by the opposite bank.

I had my first good fish just after 3pm:-

This bream is 36cm or 14.2 inches which is probably in the 1.5lb range. Ten minutes later I had this super roach:-

This was about 28cm or 11 inches and came in at 12oz as I did bother to weigh it. This was all very rewarding and I was definitely having a good day. Anyway, I finished up with 12 roach, 2 bream and one small perch. Oh, and the ring on the swan's leg was numbered 4BYU for any of you birders out there that like to keep a track of our long-necked friends!

All text and pictures copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2020.

Return to the waterside

I was back fishing at Neatishead staithe this afternoon. It is good to be back there during the winter when there are no boats to contend with and the fishermen have the water to themselves. It wasn't that cold, perhaps 8C, but it was overcast and by the end of the afternoon I felt quite chilled through. At least there was very little breeze.

I had the remains of a pint of red maggots that had been sitting around in the shed for a couple of weeks. At least, at this time of year, they don't all turn into casters in a matter of days - there were enough maggots lurking in the bottom of my tin. I was float fishing as usual and began with a pair of maggots at a depth of just above the bottom. The water is still very high with all the rain we have had but the water clarity has improved; there isn't the muddiness in the water that there was a few weeks ago.

I started getting bites immediately and within a few minutes I had a couple of roach that weren't tiddlers. I fed in the casters that I had as groundbait into the middle of the water. I was sitting halfway down the staithe on the left-hand side as you view it from the car park. There were a few other fishermen present. There was a father and son (of about 9 years) at the right-hand end adjoining Limekiln Dyke. The son was doing better than the father much to the father's annoyance!

I thought I would try alternating my bait in rotation - double maggot, double caster, single caster. I also adjusted the depth of the bait to just above the bottom. This seemed to work. I was catching quite a few roach, some of not a bad size (up to, perhaps, 6oz) and I also snagged a couple of skimmers (small bream of maybe 6 to 8oz). Nothing like the bream they were catching on the river Yare at Woods End where we went for a walk yesterday! The guys there were into a shoal of bream of up to 5lb. I saw one nice specimen being landed using a swim-feeder rig.

I started to try and make a note of how many fish of each species I was catching by using casters as counters in the bait tin lid. I mostly had roach but there were about 5 or 6 perch (no size), 3 rudd, two dace, 2 bream and 1 ruffe. So six species in all.

Part of the enjoyment of sitting by the water is seeing and listening to the wildlife. There were a couple of cheeky swans (one ringed) that were seeing if we had any food for them. One was trying to nibble my boot. All through the afternoon there were robins competing with each other, tits of various sorts twittering in the tree tops, pheasants squawking from people's back gardens and, at the end of the day, the lovely sound of blackbirds chattering as they find their roosts.

All text and pictures copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2020.