Sticky-Back Yak…21/06/2013

[Mark Crame]

 

The first stickleback was a splendid fellow, with fabulous red and blue gills. Tom kept him in a small basin till the day of his death, and became a fisherman from that day.

 

So wrote Thomas Hughes in Tom Brown at Rugby. That last line gets my point albeit in a roundabout way; only a fisherman, on rod and line, would catch a stickleback.

 

Now, its taken me such a long time to find them and then, an hour later, I had one. To be honest I wasnt looking for them, I was looking for the decent silvers I spotted in the dyke twenty years back but those dont seem to be there. Well, it was a recce and a very useful one at thatand plans were afoot.

 

Horrendous sleep for not long and unbroken, shattered all night at work, being played up all night, back home almost crazy with tiredness and then, in bed, unable to sleep. Earlier than planned I set off for a yak stickleback. Wilmy was no longer able to come and Si headed north instead for bassHemingways epic of the Old Man and the Sea has nothing on the Middle Aged Man and the Dyke. The version about fishing in Norfolk I mean. Anyways, a quick check of the books to look for mention of bullhead, minnow or stone loach (nope) locally, a read-up on characteristics and a coffee in my fishing mug and I was away.

 

 

Its really about the worst spot to park and unload a yak. Unstrapping was broiken by moving aside whenever I heard a car. Then it was through the thistles and stingers, over the gate and down the bank in a mad scramble. Lucky Im so nimble! Lucky Im so daft.

 

 

 

Now I could easily have sat in that spot and caught one, they were there. I could have sat on the roofbars and caught one, technically Id be on the yak of course but the spirit of the game dictated otherwise; I had to launch. So I may as well paddle away from the launch point before casting to the fish. I set off and went a few hundred yards, pulled into the bank and got myself going; out went the 5bb waggler and the size 20 hook, a single red pinkie hooked from the flat end with the point exiting halfway down the body.

 

Immediate bites, float being pushed around, occasionally bobbing under briefly; striking a stickleback is not really ideal but should be a necessity to get the point home but with no resistance its still futile. Bait comes in and looks untouched even though its been beaten up!

 

 

Okay, so next option is to reel quickly and bingo! Sticky no.1 is scooting across behind the float, comes out of the water as the rod is lifted up, is swung towards the yak and drops off the maggot and misses my hand. Oh.

 

 

I try again, another, similar thing, drops off at the end

 

Frustrating but fun, funny and did I say frustrating? And then the float bobs again, I pull it up and catch it as it drops into the yak, releasing the maggot in mid-air my first yak-caught stickleback, a male!

 

 

 

Brilliant! So I paddled a bit up the dyke, maybe half a mile but no other fish seemed present. I turned, headed back, loaded up scarily and set oiff for the river; I had a date with a ruffe and bream, still on the list and in need of knocking off. I launched from the quay again, headed for my chub spot, lost the first bite, a decent, fast and strong pull. Cast again anda pretty mangled dace, hit by a pike by the look of it.

 

 

 

 

Chub next

 

 

Followed by roach

 

 

Gudgeon

 

 

And eventually a perch.

 

 

Well Id ticked all these off already. I moved upstream, trying here, trying there, catching roach and perchthen a spot was spotted where something as feeding alongside the wooden pilings; I cast to a swirl and started picking up numbers of perch. Still no, ruffe or bream. I paddle some more and saw some bubbles tench? Carp? Could do with those but sure they were unlikely. The bubbles were many, they moved towards me, rapidly; these werent fish, what were they? Too fast, too many, they went under meI turned my ehad and up popped the first otter Ive seen in five years and the closest ad clearest ever, swimming now on the surface. I watched it exit onto a branch and disappear under a jetty. Another was moving below, I followed and lost it as I passed a moored boat.

 

I went further upstream, tried for a while and just had roach before returning, again spotting an otter on the surface and, exiting in the same place it disappeared. I appear to have located a holt in the bank on the town stretch. Ill have to get ready with the camera next time, stay and watch. Like them or not they are part of the natural heritage of British rivers and were a joy to see even if I am competing against them. Frankly it made my day to see them.

 

I tried once more in the chub spot, had a couple of little fish before landing and making my way home, six species caught and some otters seen (not to mention having swallows around me quite often). Most satisfactory, who needs sleep?

[Ken L]

Looks like fun and doubtless the yak gives you access to areas that can't be reached from the bank.

I have to admit though that I would have taken a lure rod and targeted the small predators.

[JOHN.H]

Mark,for the ruffe try the cut at Beccles quay, it used to be stuffed with them .500 metres to the east of the "stickleback" site adjacent to station road and slightly north of the farm are some extensions of the dyke you caught the "stalacles" on. Caught some bream of about 14oz to a pound on bread years ago and always wondered if they were silvers or commons , perhaps you should investigate further. I did only fish for one evening though and it was 34 years ago , but , nothing ventured nothing gained.

[Mark Crame]

Ken - I do mostly piking when on the rivers, trolling and casting, plenty of them there but hd already got that one ticked off for the tournament on the last trip.

 

John, good info, thanks! I normally get ruffe from beccles, will be there tomorrow. First I ever caught I thought was a baby carp. Funniest i ever saw was a mate cast a leger with the l;ine around his tip, it swubng down, hit the water then swung up, followed by a stunned ruffe! or snotty as they call them in beccles. I launch at the quay or down by the pool. thestickys came from the dyke that runs beneath the road 3/4 along haddiscoe dam, on the left before you get to the house on the right. A couple of hundred yards further back towards haddiscoe is a turning onto a causeway down to some marshes, one of which is my father's - I havene't been there in years. This is just past the main dyke that borders longacre farm which was the old railway line from beccls. This in turn runs down to the EA station on station road, the last bit of which is where I used to fish a lot as a kid; had a 22lb4oz pike there just before my 16th birthday and a 24lb 6oz just before my 21st. used to be a good spot when the fish were biting and at spawning time but weeded out in summer. Is this about where you mean or do you mean station road in beccles?

[JOHN.H]

Mark, Haddiscoe station side , dykes are a little wider but still no more than 3 ft deep . I used to live in Belton , so know the area fairly well even though I have been gone for some 20 years .

Regards ,

John