Freezing temperatures but enjoyable

I was down at Neatishead staithe again yesterday (Wednesday 18th January) and it was pretty cold. Fortunately, the latest spate of freezing weather hasn't closed off the water with ice but you could see it gathering further down Limekiln Dyke. The sun was out but this made little difference to the temperatures which were only just above freezing.

It was pretty as you can see from the picture I took above. I also had the place to myself apart from a spate of three visitors who chatted to me about fishing and wildlife. I didn't mind. It looked like the fishing was going to be hard work with bites few and far between but I had an early roach that at least needed a net to bring in. The pike were lively. There was one feeding voraciously in the water near the back of the boat in the picture. I kept seeing big swirls and it made me wish I had brought some pike gear.

In the end I did ok. I didn't keep a tally but I had quite a few roach, about three or four perch and a ruffe. Nothing of any size to write home about. The kingfishers were busy flying up and down the dyke and had obviously been fishing nearby as I heard it plop into the water after a fish. There were also a couple of herons, one of which looked like he wanted to nab a fish from me rather than get his own. Just before I left I thought I saw a big otter heading out.

All pictures and text copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2023

New Year's Day fishing

 

I had a couple of hours of pleasant fishing last Sunday (New Year's day) down at Neatishead Staithe. I arrived about 2pm and set up near the entrance to the dyke (see above). The weather had been pretty still for most of the day and it wasn't too cold (perhaps 8C). The staithe does sometimes get quite busy with fishermen but there was only a couple of others there when I arrived. The guy opposite was fishing for pike and he did land one whilst I was there (probably not much more than 5lb).

I was 'fishing for silvers', as they say, using some red maggots which I had had some time. I had thought that the hard frost that we had before Christmas had killed them all off (even though I had kept them in the shed) but somehow they miraculously recovered. Saves having to buy more!

I had a steady stream of fish in the two hours I was there. I kept a rough count and it amounted to about 13 perch and 12 roach. The perch were not of any size but there was probably one that was that I lost. A couple of the roach were a bit bigger but nothing to report about until the end of the day. Some roach I think were probably roach/bream hybrids as they have that more slender look about them and aren't as coloured in the fins.

The best fish of the day came as it was getting dark (4pm) and was my last fish:-

Knowing the length of the disgorger shown (13.8cm) this fish is 23cm or 9 inches in length. It weighs about 10oz. It was a bit battered and looked like a pike had been at it.

All pictures and text copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2023