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.

Feeling positive about Dilham Fishery

I have been to Dilham Fishery a few times before and I haven't always been that positive about fishing there. I would like to redress this because, actually, I think it definitely has its merits. I have been a couple of times recently; once on the 12th April when it was overcast and quite cold and then again on the 16th April when things had warmed up a bit. The good things I can say about this lake is that it is nicely laid out, it still only costs £5 for the day if you are using one rod (it is definitely the cheapest day ticket in the area) and on a cold day they have a very nice clean and warm toilet facilities with hot running water where you can unfreeze your hands! Fishing wise the species you can catch is quite diverse and it is not like some places where it is like fishing in a barrel and you end up pulling one carp out after another. You have to work at it.

Both times when I was there recently I ended up fishing the second peg from the toilet block. There are plenty of places by that spot where carp might hide out - in the reeds to the right of you, in the reeds on the far bank to the left and under the lily pads opposite. I concentrated on the margins to the right and fed sweetcorn regularly into the shallows. Float fishing a piece of corn near the bottom I caught a few small carp that first day, the most unusual of which was this fantailed carp:-

I think this is a crucian but it might be some sort of hybrid. Anyway note how all the fins are very enlongated. This fish is about 37cm or 14.6 inches.

On my return on the 16th April I didn't catch any carp but I did catch this nice roach (although it may be a roach/rudd hybrid) at about 2.45pm:-

This fish is about 25cm in length or 9.7 inches. This image shows the margins of where I was fishing:-

Towards the end of the day, at 4.22pm, my swim feeding efforts were rewarded with this 32cm or 12.7 inch bream:-

and about an hour later this 20.4cm or 8inch tench:-

All text and pictures copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2019.

A cold but successful day at Martham Pits

I have fished Martham Pits on a couple of occasions before but I have not written any blogs about my visits. Last Friday (the 5th April) I decided to go there on the basis that the weather looked fine but, although there was hazy sunshine all day, there was an awful cold wind that had me well and truly chilled by the end of it.

Martham Pits is run by the Martham and District Angling Club and day tickets can be purchased from the Co-op (88 Repps Road, NR29 4QZ) in Martham for £7. There are four pits labelled A, B, C and D. Some parts of the pits are only open to members and sometimes pits are closed for matches. You can use two rods.

When I arrived I decided to have a go at fishing pit B because this was the last one that I fished successfully. I always stick to float fishing and I had a variety of baits with me but it quickly became apparent that I was getting nowhere. Hardly a nibble. The club has also cut the vegetation back considerably around all the ponds so it did feel very exposed. However, I wasn't put off and about lunchtime I decided to have a wander round and chat to one of the other fishermen who was on a different pit. It seems that I wasn't the only one struggling and the guy I spoke to very kindly suggested I try pit A near the bridge. As he said this was where someone had won a fishing competition in the last week or so. He suggested using sweetcorn (which I had been trying anyway) and 'keep feeding it in'.

So I moved across to pit A and this was the view from my new peg. I began feeding in bits of corn and unlike B, I began to get a few nibbles very quickly. I always fish near the bottom and check the depth using a plumb weight. Soon I was catching a few roach and after a while one or two skimmers. The bites remained very tentative all the rest of the day and nothing like a firm carp bite.I eventually landed my first of three good bream at 2.35pm:-

This fish weighed 2lb and is about 38cm or 15.2 inches long. Ten minutes later I caught this lovely 4lb fish:-

This has the classic look of a mature bream with its humped back and bronze colouration. This fish is about 50cm or 19.5 inches in length. I reckon this is a personal best for me. Later on I had another fish of 3lb but I didn't photograph it.

I came back to the pits on the 9th April and fished A pit again. It was still quite cold and windy but there was more sunshine, so it didn't feel so bad. I had another couple of bream of 2 and 2.5lb on that occasion. Still no carp.

Al text and images copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2019.

Fun day at Barford Lakes

So, it is the end of the season on the rivers and broads but my attention has returned to inland waters and carp fishing (plus whatever else happens to be in the pond or lake at the time). On Friday (the 29th March) it promised to be a nice sunny day and I had intended to go to Stanninghall lakes near Crostwick but when I got there it was closed as it is under new management. Having been thinking I ought to go somewhere new anyway I quickly got out my phone and started searching for other lakes to the west and south of where I was. The mistake I made was not checking first that they were members only or not and so I ended up at Layfields Lakes at Great Witchingham. So then I had to search again and opted for Barford Lakes off the Watton Road.

Barford have eight lakes, two of which, the Pleasure and Top Lakes, are available to day ticket holders all year round. A day ticket is a slightly more expensive £8 for adults but there is a tackle shop on site and you can use two rods. After talking to a guy fishing on the Pleasure Lake I opted to try the Top Lake.

A funny thing happened to me as I was setting up. In my youth I would have been severely embarrassed but nowadays I can laugh it off. I had set up my seat and was about to tie a hook sitting down but as my bum hit the seat the rear legs gave way and I went right over onto my back with my legs ending up in the air! It wasn't easy extricating myself from this position either. The guy next to me asked if I was alright but we had a chuckle. I think I just hadn't locked the back legs of my seat into position.

It was a fine sunny, and mostly warm, day but two things were niggling me until I eventually moved. One was the slightly cold nagging wind and the other was the sun dazzling me as I had recently lost my sunglasses. I had arrived about 11am and during the rest of the morning until early afternoon things were a bit slow. I had chosen a corner of the lake where I could see a few carp surfacing, so I knew where to put my bait. I had sweetcorn with me and the first carp I caught was a crucian. Then I was trying a bit of bread crust float fished on a shallow depth in the corner and I had the first of several common carp. They were a good size. I could see another guy fishing on the right-hand bank from me catching some larger carp float fishing deeper into the lake.

Later in the afternoon I had had enough of the dazzling sun and moved to the bank on my right:-

This was the view from this new peg. The peg that I was at before is in front of the red car. I had some more commons from this location on sweet corn and this nice condition fish weighed 4lb:-

The orange disgorger gives you a sense of scale. It is 13.8cm long making this fish 48cm or 18.9 inches. Annoyingly two of the fish I caught that day were foul hooked and this really gets me down. I am going to try harder at avoiding this as much as possible.

Just to say that another guy a few pegs to the left of where I sat originally had a carp of over 13lb. I guessed it was a big fish as I could see the tail hanging over the edge of the landing net!

All text and pictures copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2019.

A couple of personal bests this season

The problem with blogs is keeping them up to date and I seem to be falling behind with this one. It has been nearly a year again since I last recorded anything and my entries seem to becoming sparser and sparser. Not that I haven't been fishing! This season has been a good one for me as I had a personal best carp of 12.5lb at Park Farm Lakes, Hockering:

This was on the 22nd July 2018 - a hot day that started out as a family fishing trip to the lakes. For most of the day I had been with my brother and his two young boys and a friend of the eldest. We didn't really catch much all day and certainly found it hard to catch any carp. I think the boys were finding it hard to sit still and concentrate! My poor brother was run ragged! Later on they all left and I carried on on my own. I think I had a decent 3lb+ bream before this common fell to a krill carp bait float fished near some water lillies. I only had 5lb line on my reel and so the fish took 20 minutes to land!

More recently I have been fishing for pike again with my mate Tony. We have been oscillating between Wroxham (fishing between the road and rail bridges) and Neatishead Staithe. I have had success at both locations (5 pike in all) and yesterday (the 11th February) was the best when I hooked this personal best pike at Neatishead:

This was a 12.5lb fish and was caught towards the end of the day at 5.10pm. Tony had caught an 8 pounder before I arrived at about 2pm.

All text and pictures copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2019.

Good finish to the season

It has been a while since I have caught a pike (the last time was over a year ago in January 2017) and, as the end of the season approached, I was determined to see if I could get one. Before that, though, I had been continuing to catch some reasonable bream at Neatishead Staithe. This one I had on the 6th March

which is 9.5 inches in length. Then on the 11th March, this nice fish fell to a worm:-

This one I bothered to weigh and it came in at 1lb 4oz for a 13.5inch fish. I reckon this must be a hybrid as it lacks the depth of a proper bream. Notice that it has been damaged at some point just behind the anal fin. From the shape of it, it looks like a bite of a cormorant.

I have been enjoying my time at the staithe and often meet up with people who have become my friends over the last couple of years. This is especially true of Tony and Eddy who come down on a regular basis, usually in search of pike. It was Tony who kindly gave me worms to fish with and to cultivate at home.

On the day before the last day of the season, the 13th March, Tony and I went to Gaye's Staithe in search of pike. Gaye's staithe is further along the Irstead Road from Neatishead and has a bit more open water. I had heard from other fishermen that there were pike to be had there.

We arrived about 2pm and it was a nice sunny afternoon. We were float fishing for pike using live bait that we were able to catch from the margins of the dykes. I had a couple of early runs on some pike but nothing connected. Then about 4pm, things began to happen. I caught this one at 4.10pm which we reckoned was about 7lb:-

Tony then caught a jack which he said wasn't worth looking at and it went promptly back in the water! Then two hours later, just as it was getting dark, I caught a 9 pounder (which we weighed) and this is a personal best. I didn't feel too bad for Tony as I know only a few days before he had caught a 10lb fish and he has numerous others up to 22lb this season. Well done to him!

All text and pictures copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2018.