Norfolk broads

[wotnobivvy]

I am going there on a 2 week boating holiday with the family in August. Me and the future captain of the English football team (only 9 at the moment) want to do a bit of fishing. We fish lakes at the moment, and it's a long time since I did any river fishing. I have what used to be called a 13' match rod, and the lad has a 10' version. What methods are best, and what sort of baits. We intend to moor up as much as possible away from the popular pubs and suchlike, so we will be able to get a free bit of bank. Is it worth ledgering instead of float fishing. We don't want to break any records, just get a few fish in the net. Any comments and thoughts will be gratefully appreciated.

[gozzer]

What part of the 'Broads' are you going to?

 

John.

[wotnobivvy]

We intend to cover most of the Broads, as we have a boat that goes under all the low bridges

[DaveG]

Cage feeder & plenty of groundbait,

 

you could always take a few sets of mackeral feathers I'll just

get me flak jacket

[pigshead]

the best times to fish are either early morning (just before first light) or late evening.i found that you can catch better quality fish during these times.once the boat traffic starts its like a motorway (especially in august), the quality of fishing deteriorates.also if fishing main rivers check tide timetables.i found that i caught less when there was no flow

[RUDD]

If all you want is a bit of sport the gear is fine.

Take a selection of waggler and stick floats.

On the rivers when there is a flow use the sticks and fish from your boat if possible.

Plenty of silver fish to catch.

Early mornings and evenings best due to boat traffic.

If there is no flow use a waggler - another ace tactic is to prebait and fish a quiet area of one of the broads.

[dant]

Acle on the Lower River Bure is my home village. For stretches on the Lower Tidals in areas such as Acle, Below Brundall on the Yare and below say worlingham on the Waveney, I would stick to fishing the feeder for a few hours of low maintenence fishing in the early mornings and evenings.

Mix up a good sized bucket of fairly stiff ground bait laced with corn and hemp (but not maggots) put in as much as you can, a couple of hours before you intend to fish or ideally the night before for an early morning session. I would fish as good a sized feeder as your rods can comfortably handle with at least an 1oz of lead on, if the rods are delicate, scale down the size of the feeder but keep the weight as the rivers can bomb out on certain tides.

You don't need to cast too far out 10/15 yards will be fine + it'll be easier to stay on top of your feed closer in.

Maggots will be fine for the smaller stuff but you will attract whats left of the Eel population, corn's usually pretty reliable for a better stamp of fish. You'll want at least 4/5lb lb line for fishing the feeder to a 2/3lb hooklength. Size 14/16 for fishing corn and 16/18 for the maggots. Expect the odd Perch, Roach, Hybrids and Bream with a few lumps if you hit the right areas.

 

If you're there in August I would give St Bennets Abbey on the Bure a go as it's fairly reliable and it's a lovely location also a few miles up river at Horning and Woodbastwick down to Upton and Acle.

The Brundall area of the Yare including Surlingham are also usually, good bets.

 

One thing to note is that we had a huge fish kill last Winter due to a saline surge on all the Broadland rivers, so no-ones entirely sure how the Broads will fish next season..

 

Hope thats of some help.

 

Dan T

[gozzer]

Dan beat me to it, I was going to say St Bennets, I've caught there, during the 'rush hour', just trotting a float from the boat.

I've had a few holidays there, but only on the North Broads. (Bure, Ant & Thurne).

 

One place I always moor up for a night is just below Richardsons(?) boatyard on the Ant. Plenty of sport with small to medium, roach, perch and bream, and a pike or two is always attracted to the shoal at some point in the session.

Another good spot for general fishing is Womack water, everyone seems to moor up at about 4-5pm, so you can get a few hours fishing before it gets too dark.

 

It's 6 years since my last visit so my info' might be a bit dated, but for my many visits before that, these places always produced.

 

John.

[Peter Waller]

The fish kill apparently only killed this and last year age groups, the bigger fish escaped. Nevertheless the EA estimate a 30% fish loss on the Thurne.

 

Personally I live on the Waveney where ledger/feeder rules during the summer months. However, if you visit the upper reaches then a visit the Locks at Geldeston, Mr & Mrs Newt will vouch for the cod & chips and ale. A stick float can be a useful tool up there, and the bar manager is a very able angler indeed.

 

A visit to Oulton Broad can be good, and a stick float can rule the roost there too, with a single maggot on a size 20. Species that you can expect being chub, roach, rudd, bronze bream, ruff, some class silver bream, the odd carp to 40 pounds and perch.

 

A plummet is invaluable, still water anglers tend to forget the rise and fall of the tide and wonder why they catch for twenty minutes or so before the results tail off!

 

Enjoy, the fishing can be great.

Edited February 19, 2007 by Peter Waller

[John Weddup]

Hi Dant

 

you have me worried as Oby is where I spend a lot of time in the early season on the bure. I have a caravan on site at mr Cooks farm.

The roach and bream fishing has been getting better and better over the last few years.

 

Were there many fish killed?

 

Were they all sizes and both bream and roach.

 

 

John