fishing report norfolk broads july 2/3

[John Weddup]

Well another long weekend fishing.

 

I do like this work 4 days and fish 3.

 

I decided it was time to revisit my favourite parts of the norfolk broads. Sections of river I have fished for several summers now. I promised myself to fish both the river bure and thurne.

 

So Friday arrived early afternoon and visited wroxham to have a look around wroxham angling centre and join Norwich D.A.A. . Then a trip to lathams angling shop. This is part of my annual ritual but what a shock they have moved the large shop into a small part at back of store. Totally ruined what was the original largest angling shop in Uk for years.

 

Oh well at least the rivers are still in the same place.

 

So down to my very favourite bit of the Bure. It is between Upton dyke and Thurne mouth. It is a wide and fast flowing tidal section not far from Acle bridge. It has deep water close in on my bank which helps when the boats get busy. It is nicknamed the dalek and this is why.

 

 

Its a long walk and a few miles from any busy road just the boat traffic noise when they are busy. No boats when I started at 3am on saturday morning infact it was not really busy until 9 and even then its quieter now than when the end of july arrives.

 

Fishing is typical broads tidal river fishing. Two tip rods held high with 2oz feeders. Bait for me was sweetcorn with a definate fish preference for tuuti fruiti flavoured. I have proven in the past it is more the colour than the flavour. They seem to find it quicker in the murky water when red or orange.

 

Mick was with me and fished maggot to start and had several eels. A good sign the eels are making a comeback although Mick did not agree.

 

I fished until mid-day and had 37lbs.

 

 

 

Best I could do picture wise as I forgot to take something to lay them on.

 

This picture is for Dant he will be so pleased I found this although they did not work it last week. I thought of you when I spotted it.

 

 

A very enjoyable river session in typical broads style. I topped the day off with a long chat too a local who match fishes it and other area,s around there. You can always get some help from locals when they know you love the river aswell.

 

So I now needed to move to the thurne for Sunday mornings session. I first went to look at st bennets abbey the famous stretch of river bure. There was a match just finished of a small local club. The weigh in was not great as the bream did not show but the winning weight was all roach with 3 good sized fish amongst them. They weighed the best seperately which was 1.10. This confirmed my belief the Bure does have large roach no doubt over the 2lbs mark. Infact a friend of mine and I both had a few fish to 1lb 12 when we pole fished the bure a couple of years ago.

 

Anyway to coldharbour on the thurne. It was a rest and watch evening for me for an early start today. I was watching the barn owl hunt the marshes for some time much as I did the previous morning along with the marsh harrier and many other birds. The call of the oyster catcher bellowing over the wild marshes after the boat traffic has stopped is one of my favourite calls bringing back memories of my visits to the western coasts of Scotland as a newly married man.

 

So to bed early for a pre dawn start. Infact I awoke at about 3am so the start was actually without torchlight. I never expected to have a big catch as the river thurne is not that sort of water, It does throw up the occasional bigger catch but most match results are about 15lbs to win. However its a much gentler flow and one which is a pleasure to float fish.

 

This is the river at dawn.

 

 

Another absolutely stunning place to start any day. No noise other than the birds and the odd muntjack (they get everywhere).

 

I really am enjoying visiting some of the places that I do. You really must get out and about whilst you can is my attitude. I managed to get the skimmers feeding on corn and then got a bigger fish of about 4lbs.

 

Time to get my 20ft rod out and fish the big stickfloat.

 

Well i got it all wrong. The flow dropped off and I just could not repeat a brilliant session I had last year catching roach skimmers and small bream on the stick. Never mind I put the feeder in for one last try and caught a skimmer about 1lb so they were still there it was my presentation with the float that was wrong.

 

I still had a reasonable mornings sport but at 9am the boats started to get busy. The thurne is a much narrower river so it gets very difficult to fish properly with the boat traffic.. So packed up and an 80 mile drive home Just in time for a local steam engine rally I normally visit.

 

There you are a very busy and packed weekend and I really feel I have spent my time well, no wasted moments.

 

regards

 

John

 

P.S. best not post any replies to this as might feel the need to bore you all again next week if I am lucky.

[Renrag39]

More, MORE!!! Glad you had a good few days fishing John, the Thurne is almost impossible to fish at peak times. Very handy report for me at least and a reminder that I really have to wake up and go bleedin' well fishing.

This shift mullarkey is knackering my bank-time!

 

Renrag

[Anderoo]

Lovely report again John, thanks very much. Those photos capture the spirit of the place perfectly.

[Norfolkdipper]

Great report John. how well do you know the R. Yare as it leaves Norwich? I am going to recky Whittlingham lane tomorrow. Am fishing it on the 24th & I was wondering if you would like to join me there. I would like to meet you & what better reason than a session on a great river. ( sorry that sounds so lame, couldn't word it better). It would be nice to put a face to the exiting posts you put up. Either way that was a good weekend you had, well done. Any reply appreciated & thanks Mark.

[John Weddup]

Great report John. how well do you know the R. Yare as it leaves Norwich? I am going to recky Whittlingham lane tomorrow. Am fishing it on the 24th & I was wondering if you would like to join me there. I would like to meet you & what better reason than a session on a great river. ( sorry that sounds so lame, couldn't word it better). It would be nice to put a face to the exiting posts you put up. Either way that was a good weekend you had, well done. Any reply appreciated & thanks Mark.

 

 

Hi my friend that does not sound lame at all.

 

I would always enjoy a river session however I have not fished whiltingham lane for 30 years.

 

I wish you well and hope you report your session here. I never know where I am going until friday mornings and even then if work goes mad I often cannot get away. It makes planning difficult but when i do go it makes it so much more enjoyable.

 

Thanks for all replies. My last ps was a lie really I love having replies.

 

John

[Tigger]

Thanks for all replies. My last ps was a lie really I love having replies.

 

John

 

 

 

OK then John, well done m8 and some great pic's

[Norfolkdipper]

Hi my friend that does not sound lame at all.

 

I would always enjoy a river session however I have not fished whiltingham lane for 30 years.

 

I wish you well and hope you report your session here. I never know where I am going until friday mornings and even then if work goes mad I often cannot get away. It makes planning difficult but when i do go it makes it so much more enjoyable.

 

Thanks for all replies. My last ps was a lie really I love having replies.

 

John

 

It will be a few years for me as well. Last time I was there you could have a good day filling your net. It will be good to see how much the river has changed. Do you know, now I think of it, it must be 30yrs for me as well. Then it was as a boy with very little skill, a lot of enthusiasm & just the 1 rod. I will report back on the local conditions tomorrow night & fishing report as soon as I can after I empty the river ( The angler's perfect dream!!!!). I may stay there over night to see what happens, after so many years. It will be nice to see the old place again. Still hope top meet other posters some time soon.

[John Weddup]

Lovely report again John, thanks very much. Those photos capture the spirit of the place perfectly.

 

 

Hi Anderoo

 

It was your request for these type of reports a few weeks ago that inspired me to write these.

 

I think it was watatoad that said he rarely takes pictures or weighs fish. Well I have always weighed fish accurately but have never really photographed fish or venues much before.

 

You also helped me to post pics by telling me in laymans terms how to setup a photobucket account and post here. Without that there would be no pics and no reports.

 

I get so much help and local info on the bank by talking politely to other anglers and listening to what they have to say and really think the interrnet can be the same if we all work at it.

 

 

I have gained a lot from this site and if my reports offer the smallest bit back then I am very pleased. My real pleasure is if just one person is encouraged to fish our natural venues again then that is wonderfull. I always tell any prospective new anglers what ever sport you take up be it golf darts or angling or any other until you get to a reasonable standard you will probably fail wth little success for a while. If we can help here those new anglers either see real success or the way to acheive and keep them at it we do the whole sport and the person concerned a real favour.

 

My captures are not specimens or huge bags of carp but real fishing in its everyday form.

 

thankyou Anderoo

 

regards

 

John

Edited July 3, 2011 by John Weddup

[mvalias]

John

 

Same as you on the Latham's comment. I was there the weekend before. The shop was busy and there wasn't room to swing a cat.

 

I was looking at a new pole holdall, but the zips were sealed with a security tie, and I couldn't get a single shop assistant to help me. They lost my business.

 

Michael

[Anderoo]

Well these reports and the photos make me very happy, so please keep them coming

 

I am waiting for the day when I can follow my own advice and write up a day's fishing, but it's been hard work so far this year! I've just come back from another 3-night blank, so there's not much of interest there. Reading your reports and looking at the great photos reminds me why we do what we do.