My week on the broads

[richjones]

A few weeks back, me and my family spent a week on the river bure around wroxham in norfolk. Me, my dad and my brother have all been keen to get into fishing and this week was sure to provide some great sport compared to the usual trips down to the local lake back home.

As im sure is the case with most fishing venues, the river bure seemed to have alot of secrets about where the "monsters" hang out, but as we are relative beginners we would be happy to just get a nice mixed bag of roach and perch.

 

 

The location of our cottage couldnt have been better, 25 feet from the river! so while everyone else was settling in after the long car journey, i was already out on the bank. Straight away i was catching roach of a good average size but what i found remarkable was the average size of the perch. Back home the majority of perch i catch are no bigger than 3oz but these were all at least 8oz and good fighters!

We had hired a small boat for the week, and during the next few days we travelled down as far as horning and found some great fishing around the entrances to the broads. Down here we found we were catching more skimmer bream, but nothing over a pound.

 

Most evenings, after a trip down to the pub (come on im on holiday!) i would sit out on the main river with a couple of other guys where we were all hoping for a shoal of the bures famous big bream to arrive. Night after night all we were catching was roach.One guy said that sport was slow because of the recent floods and that usually we could expect to bag up at least one night out of 5. Quite typically on the one night i wasnt sitting out, the other guys had hit into bream over 7lb and all caught a load with pictures just to make me pull a bit more hair out!

 

So after the great disapointment i knew that i had to catch a big bream before i left for home. The next day, me and my brother baited up an area of the river with hemp,caster and expo groundbait and returned an hour later to see if we would be in luck. Still we were catching just roach, but i was convinced that as the evening drew in, so would the bream. A couple more hours passed and my brother was begginning to doubt our chances, and so i told him that a switch to a mepps spinner might bring him a couple of small jack pike, brought in by the feeding roach. For him, this would be the best decision of his short angling career!

 

after just a couple of casts we noticed a big fish following the spinner, only to turn away at the last second. He tried a couple of different techniques until bang! fish on!

After a long fight the "jack pike" was edged towards the net, but to our suprise this was no juvenile pike, but a MONSTER of a perch! The fish avoided the net and shot off for another long fight and after a couple more attempts i managed to slip the net under the fish.

Having only caught perch up to 1lb 2oz myself i was guessing the fish could be 3lb, but didnt want to get my hopes up so estimated 2lb 8oz.

 

 

After weighting the monster 3 times we agreed on the weight... 3lb 8oz was the reading every time, what an amazing fish. My brother returned the fish safely and we retired to the pub to let the event sink in.

 

Although i never caught those big bream i was after, the week was fantastic, and even if the action was slow we all caught hundreds of fish (and my fist ever ruffe!). I have attached the picture of the perch and im sorry about the poor quality, mainly due to me not being able to keep the camera still through excitment, and us wanted to return the fish asap without photographing it hundreds of times.

 

A big thank you to all the guys here at anglers net who helped me make the most of the fishing by teaching me the best techniques etc. CHEERS GUYS!

[John Weddup]

Well done a fantastic perch and it seems like you really enjoyed it.

 

This is what fishing should be all about. Yes the match guys have that competetive streak but you should still be able to really enjoy yourself just as you have done.

 

I love the broads and am glad you enjoyed it too.

 

I would like to say thankyou very much for having the time to post a really long and descriptive letter.

It was most enjoyable to read and a change from how do I do this or that.

 

Best regards

 

John

[happypiker]

Thats a belter of a perch. Well done you and your brother for the trying to eke out something on a slow day, most give up but it's when you go the extra 9 yards that you get paid out in a result like this. I'm surethe big bream will show up for you some day soon, happypiker.

[KAYC]

Oh dear!!

Great post absolutely oozes passion and I think you may now be well and truly hooked on the magic of the Bure and surrounding rivers, I hope to be reading your posts on the broads in twenty years time.

[dant]

Thats a beautiful fish richjones.. The Perch potential of the areas that you fished the other week are relatively un-tapped.. Thats a great Perch by anyones standards, anywhere. Come the Autumn I shall be having a concerted effort to catch a similar fish or hopefully/possibly larger, I know they're there, somewhere....

 

Glad you had a good week on The Broads. It's a wonderful place to be and to fish..

[Steve Burke]

A great catch. Many congratulations indeed!

[Janet]

Fabulous perch, and and excellent report!

 

I hope you'll continue to tell us about your future fishing trips.

 

Well done.

 

Janet

[Team Man]

What a wonderful report, and what a cracker of a Perch, I'm quite envious.

 

I haven't fished the broads or the Bure in particular for some years now, that report made me want to go there again before too long

[captain cojones]

i enjoyed that read......cheers mate

[thedogs]

Wow thats a lovely perch! and what a lovely way to catch her. Well done on a great catch.