4 1/2 day weekend...

[Renrag39]

Thursday. Finished work at 1400. Plan:- Commence Operation 'Pull finger out and fit kayak with bits and bobs that I've bought/hoarded for the last few weeks'. Quite an inspired operation title I thought.

2000hrs comes and I've cut and drilled holes, fitted 2 scotty rod holders, the anchor trolley and fitted a 'bits bucket'.

Break out the beers and dream of Friday!

 

Friday. Donned my flight suit, racked the 'yak and headed to my favourite spot on the upper Thurne. Put in, paddled to and tied up to the bank for my first few casts. Nothing for a while then, I spot a flash from under my kayak... I'm sure that was a Perch...

Out somes the UL gear, 2" reno killer on a 3.5g head. 2nd cast, bang, I'm in! Christened the Rod, Reel and Kayak in one fell swoop!

A lovely Perch of around a pound.

 

Movied on further downstream onto the broad. You need 'special' permission to fish this broad... I just stayed in the navigation channel. Cheeky but not strictly against the rules...

Paddled to the far end and anchored and drifted all the way down with the wind. On reaching the staithe end again, I took a strikingly marked 3-4lb Pike. Really well defined black markings on its' fins. This one came to a 3" kopyto.

 

Slowly paddling back to the car, I got another Pike, not much bigger than the perch tbh but still, very happy to end the day with a future monster!

 

Saturday. Decided to explore, so I went to Wayford Bridge on the River Ant. Never fished here before but variety and all that...

First few casts, all is good. Then my trusty Trabucco Exod 320 reel starts to feel, well, funny. Then it stops working... Cue much profanity, reminiscent of a full on tantrum, circa 2yo! Pathetic I was I don't know why it got me so riled but I was absolutely fuming!

From then on I just wasn't in the right frame of mind. Stuck with only the UL set-up and no idea of where is likey to hold fish, I basically give up, half heartedly having a few casts here and there to no avail.

Ended the day early. Bit gutted, confused at my own reaction and frame of mind. Just one of those days I guess.

 

Sunday. Went for a walk along Sea Palling with my beloved. Ended up being a reconnaissance mission That's got me thinking

 

Monday. I decided once again to explore, so I headed off to Wroxham. Spent a few hours exploring bridge broad with no luck. Bugger, I was banking on at least a follow there...

Out on the main river, no luck either... Funny, I swear this place usually throws up at least a Jack or 2...

Onwards to the marinas... Still nothing... I'm not despondent, just confuddled. I really don't get this... Even a few chaps in their rowboat had nothing on lives and thats a banker tactic in the marinas... :?

 

On returning, I popped into Wroxham Angling to have a chat. Apparently sport has just died there the past few weeks. A few good Pike came out over the weekend but nothing on lures. He estimated there must have been nearly 50 anglers hitting Wroxham over the weekend and for everyone who landed, he reckoned 4 or 5 blanked.

 

By my reckoning I paddled/drifted a good 10km's over the 3 days I had out. Despite mediocre sport/blanking, I've bonded with the kayak some more now and can see me having great fun on the broads this year.

 

I really need to do my homework on new places, instead of going out on a whim or working off experience from 5-6 years ago!

 

Oh and just had a fiddle with the reel I 'broke' Saturday... just the retainer nut on the spindle came loose... Do I feel stupid or what?

 

Pics coming soon, if I can find the cable that attaches my phone to the PC!

Edited February 28, 2012 by Renrag39

[Newt]

Sounds like quite a few days.

 

The U/L gear is more likely to produce some fish on really tough days than are the larger lures. A beetle spin makes a good search lure since you can cover lots of water to see if you can at least get some bumps and "pattern" where you get them so you can concentrate on trying other similar spots (depth, cover, current, whatever) with other lures. They have the advantage of being very inexpensive (so you can throw them into whatever places you fancy) and having a very light wire hook so that a biggun will pull it straight and get off unharmed. I carry 1/32, 1/16, & 1/8 ounce ones to see what the fish prefer on a given day.

 

http://www.basspro.com/Johnson-Original-Be.../15602/-1212854

[Phone]

Renrag,

 

Those left hand reel threads will get you every time. (just a guess)

 

Phone

[Renrag39]

Renrag,

 

Those left hand reel threads will get you every time. (just a guess)

 

Phone

Yeah, took me a few tries before it finally clicked into place that I was twiddling the wrong damn way!

 

Thanks for that Newt. Tried someting similar, the Cabelas Jig Spinners in size 4, Colorado blades, on 2" Kopyto's and the like but no luck. They're really single minded when spawning it seems, can't say I blame them mind Fingers crossed a few of them will be 'spent' come Thursday and looking for something a bit more avidly. I know I get hungry afterwards

Edited February 29, 2012 by Renrag39

[JV44]

Gtreat write up Renrag sounds like a entertaining paddle ,Got sidetracked from using mine but intend to make up for that in the close exploring a few spots higher up river and checking some depths got a plan for next season esp winter time for her use Steve

[Renrag39]

The 3 fish I caught on the Friday.

 

 

All the Thurne Pike seem to have dark striations on the caudal fin but they were so pronounced on this one.