NORFOLK ANGLING BLOG

Drennan Luggage New Aqua Branding

2014-10-24T15:36:00.000+01:00

Please remember you can keep up to date with my regular angling reports by 'liking' the Norfolk Angling Blog Facebook page

I often have questions (which I appreciate) emailed through asking about the gear and bait I choose to use and what I would recommend. Now I am in no means an all out expert however I do believe having worked in the angling trade for 8 years as a buyer/mail order manager and having experience of using most of the leading brands over the years I am confident in what I choose to use and would happily recommend to others knowing it has been used and tested.

These are my own personal choices, of course people will have their own preferences and budgets which I fully appreciate. My purchases and recommendations are also not based on a 'money no object' basis so in the case of my seat box for example being a Matrix Super box 1, in my view at this price point nothing comes close taking into account the quality of the product and value for money. People say to me well a Rive is much higher quality which I may well agree with, however for me this is not taking into account the value for money aspect as you would need to spend well in excess of a £1000 on a Rive system in order to compare with a Matrix on a like for like basis. If a comparative model was £500 then this is a different matter!

Where I buy my gear from is also often asked and although I like to support as many shops as possible for me Angling Direct Norwich has a vast and comprehensive range of tackle and very high quality bait always in stock. You also have very experienced staff like Andy Flint, Wayne Anderson and Glen Hubbard to name just a few so if you want any guidance, advice or local fishing knowledge you can't really find any better than this (again my opinion)!

http://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/

Now to the tackle reviews......................first off luggage.

Drennan Luggage

Ive used over my years fishing so many different brands of luggage it will be hard to remember all but from the top of my head Daiwa, GTI, Preston, Shimano, Drennan Team England and I can easily say the current luggage I use being the new branded Drennan Aqua luggage range beats the lot hands down for quality, looks and value for money.

Drennan 10-12 rod holdall
I always like to use as large a rod holdall as possible so it can take my pole (2 large tubes) and all of the top kits in smaller tubes. Nowadays pole packages have many spare top kits and spare sections, cupping kits etc so I like to take account of this also if I want to add more rods or margin poles etc I have the capacity to do so. The rod bag looks great and is very well made with the material used and stitching. So far no problems to report it is fully waterproof (tested) and has good chunky zips. I also like the way the zip go's all the way round meaning access to the tubes is easily done. The strap is well padded and placed well and importantly so are the carry handles which is important as the holdall is very long at 6'5 (for the new style poles).

I have added below the technical specs from Drennan:
The 6ft 5in (195cm) length is long enough for the vast majority of poles and rods on the market. It is manufactured in a square format box section construction with two main compartments, plus a spacious outer pocket.
Made from a tough waterproof fabric, it has a semi-rigid, reinforced base. It also features two full-length heavy-duty zips along with a padded shoulder strap and carry handles for additional comfort.

Length: Approx 195cms (6ft 5ins)
Square format box section construction
Two full-length compartments
Three-quarter length side pocket
Tough waterproof fabric
Heavy duty zips
Reinforced semi-rigid base
Padded shoulder strap and carry handles

Drennan Single Rod Sleeve
I have never been a believer in rod sleeves and taking rods up ready made. I just didn't think it would make much of a difference in times setting up / packing away but I have been proved wrong. Most of my fishing throughout the year on the Norfolk rivers means a feeder set up is essential so having my feeder rod and reel set up is great meaning I can just unzip put the rod together and the rig is ready an waiting. The sleeve itself is padded enough to protect the rod and reel and so far no issues it also comes with neoprene sleeves to hold the rod securely together, I place one at the butt and the other two at the top and bottom of the quiver tip. It does fit in the larger holdall but being the non hard case version I prefer to carry this separate so the rod is not crushed.

Drennan Specs below:

They are ideal for protecting your valuable rods during transportation and storage and feature full-length zips, a cushioned carry handle and an internal quiver tip storage pocket. Usefully, they also come with extra rod identification labels and Velcro bands for securing the rod sections.
The Short Single Rod Sleeve is 160cm (63in) long and ideal for three-piece rods up to 15ft in length, and short 9-10ft two-piece rods. The Long Single Rod Sleeve is 196cm (77in) and ideal for longer two-piece rods up to 12ft.
Both Rod Sleeves are also designed for convenient attachment to the Drennan 6–8 Tube Rod Holdall.

Short Single Rod Sleeve: 160cm (63in)
Long Single Rod Sleeve: 196cm (77in)

Drennan Large Carryall
A great carryall ! fully caters for my pole roller, reels, bait boxes and accessories and really well made in the same quality material and striking branding. The strap is really well positioned and padded and the carryall has a hard base which is essential and again fully waterproof. I have also found the zip up pockets on either end really useful, I can't thing of anyway this can be made better to be honest?!

Drennan Specs below:
Constructed from tough waterproof fabric, the Large Carryall has a 70-litre capacity and is ideal for storing large amounts of kit. A full-length twin pocket is ideal for carrying keepnets, landing nets, baitwaiters and side trays. There are also two additional zip-up side pockets plus a small zip-up internal storage pocket under the lid.
Both the padded shoulder strap and the padded carry handles provide extra comfort when carrying. A robust, rigid moulded base provides further durability.

Rigid moulded 60cm x 26cm base
70 Litre Capacity
Twin net or side tray pockets
Zipped external storage pockets
Small zipped internal storage pocket under lid
Tough waterproof fabric
Padded shoulder strap
Padded carry handles

Drennan Cool Bag
For me having cool bag nowadays is absolutely essential. They are really designed for bait but I keep mine in a large bucket so keep my food and drink in this cool bag! What can I say again striking to look at very high quality and the inside has a foil like coating and it really does keep food, drinks or bait cool and it usefully has a waterproof all round zip - cant go fishing without it !!

Drennan Specs below:
Thickly insulated with a heavy foil lining and extremely durable thanks to a tough, water resistant fabric and reinforced base, they are perfect for keeping your bait cool and fresh during a session.
The Medium Coolbag has a capacity of approximately 20 litres and will take four 2.2pt and two 3.3pt Maggiboxes, plus ice blocks.
The Large Coolbag has a capacity of approximately 35 litres and will take two 2.2pt and six 3.3pt Maggiboxes, plus ice blocks.
Available in two sizes:

Medium – 20 litre (20 x 25 x 37cm)
Large – 35 litre (24 x 28 x 54cm)

Drennan Wet Net Bag
Not sure of the size I have but I could easy get two keepnets and landing nets in so must be the larger version. A very well made product and cleans really easily. The branding looks fantastic with the drennan logo on both sides and the zip at the top is easy to use. As with other similar wet net bags I don't find them 100% waterproof with wet nets inside or stink proof so I put the nets in a plastic before putting in the eva bag and this works very well.

Drennan Specs: Made from waterproof EVA material, they offer safe and convenient storage for wet keepnets plus additional landing nets.

Available in three different capacities:

1 Keepnet (55 x 48 x 16cm)
2 Keepnets (60 x 54 x 16cm)
3 Keepnets (60 x 54 x 25cm)

Reel / Visi Cases
To complete the collection I have also got the protective reel cases which are a must have and a couple of the new Visi cases. These are great for putting things like feeders in although mine have been used for catapults and pole pots.

All in all to sum up I would say if you want great looking functional but hard wearing luggage then this is the benchmark. It seems on many of the forums the Drennan luggage is rated very high as well as the frenzee however I do feel the pricing for the Drennan luggage is very competitive in comparison so well worth a look if your in the market for some.

Important Update - Norfolk Angling Blog is moving

2014-09-06T00:42:00.001+01:00

I am sad to announce that due to an increase in personal time pressures and in keeping with technological developments there will be no further Norfolk Angling Blog angling report updates to this site.

After over 5 years of angling reports and 500 thousand page views (from which originally started as a personal angling record) the blog has become very successful, a highlight was featuring in Angling Times and I'm pleased that the blog has helped many anglers get details and tactics for fishing the Norfolk Broads and surrounding fisheries.

However.......

I am pleased to announce that from the 6th Sept 2014 all new Angling Report updates will be issued to the Norfolk Angling Blog Facebook page.

This allows for quicker updates and reports including pictures will still be provided to help anglers interested in the great fishing Norfolk has to offer and to find details on where is fishing well and latest tactics that work.

The blog will still be live as an archive on line and the 'NAB' FB page already has 117 likes so please make sure you search in Facebook for 'Norfolk Angling Blog' and 'like' the page.

Thank you all for your support and kind comments over the years and tight lines to you all, see you on the bank sometime..........

Mike

River Bure St Benet's Abbey - Angling Report - 27th July 2014

2014-08-28T12:05:00.000+01:00

Well I was really chuffed that my 2 weeks holiday had begun and where better to start things off than with a session to St Benet's. I really enjoy this place as it feels magical and on a nice day you get some stunning sunsets as the pictures show. The fishing can also be fantastic especially fishing into the evening.

I was meeting Kieran on the flat swims past the black board as he was on a hire boat for the week and had moored up to fish. Throughout the day due to the heat and working in the garden without drinking enough I had a blinding headache meaning I had to get my head down between 12 and 3pm and didn't think I would make it !!!

Luckily though after drinking lots of water and some strong headache tablets with some sleep I was OK and made it to the swim for about 4.30pm. Kieran was already feeder fishing and catching some nice Skimmers so I set up a feeder only fishing in the slightly shallower water on the far bank fishing worm.

Wayne arrived at around half 5 and set up to our right on the pole as he was tired after fishing a match earlier on. What can I say the weather and sunset was superb and we were all catching plenty of fish with the bigger Skimmers coming out on the feeder. Wayne couldn't get them really going on the pole and the fish seemed further out but he still had a few.

Wayne packed up by 10pm but I stayed on until 11.30 as was still getting plenty of fish all Skimmers with some proper Bream as well. I actually lost count but had well over 30 Skimmers / Bream so was a cracking session. The mid-night walk back to the cars was a killer but was an experience and we were still in t shirts such was the warm temperature.

A great session all round..............

Wroxham Broad - Angling Report - 18th July 2014

2014-08-28T11:38:00.001+01:00

Myself, Wayne and Phil decided to have another session at Wroxham Broad and it was nice to already have all the gear in the car ready to go. I arrived at about half 9 and Wayne was already set up on his platform in the water in a swim to the right of the concrete pegs.

Phil arrived shortly after and set up in the water in the far right corner. Years a go this was a good area to fish but I'm not so sure now as the water shallows significantly and it weeds up but still worth a try.

I fished in the middle of them up on the bank and although it was warm and dry there was a very strong wind with lots of undertow. Because of this I fished a feeder, same as Phil whereas Wayne opted to fish the pole at 11mtrs with one line for Roach on hemp and the other a groundbait line with worm for Skimmers.

I was interested to see how he got on as we nearly always fish a feeder but I'm sure fishing the pole here would work. Cut a long story short it worked really well for Wayne and he had 33lb of fish which was a fantastic net of Roach and Skimmers, both his lines worked and I reckon he would have had many more if the wind wasn't so strong.

On the feeder I did ok and weighed in 16lb of Roach and some nice Skimmers all on worm. Phil struggled a bit more in the corner peg and had 9lb of fish which wasn't bad at all so overall a great session and im really keen to get back here soon and try the pole out soon.

River Bure, Woodbastwick - Angling Report - 28.06.14

2014-08-14T11:53:00.001+01:00

One of many decent Skimmer Bream caught on the River Bure

Great session to report on today and this is easily the most enjoyable session I have had so far in 2014. When I was 13 I remember seeing a swim along the woodbastwick bank which is opposite a small windmill and a professional angler sponsored by Browning was fishing in it.

I vividly remember watching him fish the pole and was amazed at how smooth and fast he was and professional In his approach. I sat with him for an hour or so and he was a really nice guy giving me loads of tips and advice and even gave me and handful of pole floats when I left!!

Ever since I've always promised to fish this swim and with the space station shuttle I finally can! Fast forward twenty years and I was finally setting up in this peg on a Saturday evening, I couldn't wait.

The boat traffic as you would expect was pretty relentless but at least I got plenty of groundbait out on the feeder line casting towards and far bank marker in the deeper water.

As the boat traffic died down the fishing took off and using worm or flouro maggot as hookbait I was getting decent Skimmers each cast. I had to cast slightly further out as the tide turned due to a snag and this seemed to help with the fishing with the bigger Skimmers sat off the main feed.

The weather was warm and overcast with frequant showers but the rain was light and with a nice breeze it was more than comfortable.Within 4 hours I put together a cracking net of 40 decent Skimmers with plenty of decent Roach as well so was a great session and well over 50lb of fish.

Happy to finally fish this special swim

River Yare, Postwick Angling Report - 11.07.14

2014-08-12T17:14:00.001+01:00

Had a few hours opposite Surlingham Ferry with Wayne Anderson on Friday evening after work. The weather was calm and overcast and river conditions were ideal for some Roach bashing on the pole. When I arrived at 4.30pm Wayne was catching on the stickfloat but struggling at times to hit all of the bites. I set up a 6mtr whip to hand and loosefeeding hemp and fishing caster on the hook was soon into some cracking Roach. It was easier to hit the bites this way and maintain good float control so this soon prompted Wayne to follow suit. Until dark the fishing was superb and once Wayne got into a rhythm he was uncatchable! As it was a nice warm evening we decided to also try into dark on the feeder for a few hours for Bream (although ended up staying until mid night) this was to be proven very hard and the although Wayne had one small Bream of 4lb on worm we just couldnt find the fish but that's the highs and lows of river fishing. We concluded that the shoals are probably more towards either Bramerton or Brundall. All in all a good session and Wayne was off to the Fish o Mania final which I can now say was superb 2nd for Daniel Brydon, congratulations mate.

Wroxham Broad - Angling Report - 21.06.14

2014-08-06T01:13:00.000+01:00

I must admit I've really been looking forward to fishing Wroxham broad and with the weather being a superb mid twenties and calm condotions we couldn't have picked a better day.

I arrived at about 2pm and found the left hand bank was free. I immediately set up a waggler rod and feeder rod for later in the evening and was good to see a guy in the right hand swim netting a Skimmer.

Phil arrived at 3.30 and went straight on the feeder. The water was crystal clear and I honestly thought we would struggle but how wrong was I the fishing was absolutely superb!

It took a while to get them going but by feeding pouchfuls of hemp and caster about 30 mtrs out the silver fish went mad and I was getting net quality Roach and even Skimmers with each cast.

Phil was also getting some clonking Skimmers on the feeder and his favourite 'omen' groundbait was working well. We fished into dark hoping for some bigger slabs but they didn't play ball, to be honest it didn't matter as we already had good bags of fish.

I counted back 42 Skimmers and loads of Roach and Rudd so was a cracking session. Phil had also managed some bigger Skimmers sticking to the feeder and fishing worm on the hook.

A great session at Wroxham Broad and although a little busy during the day with boats coming in it was a lovely calm evening with plenty of fish feeding :-)

River Yare, Postwick Angling Report - 04.07.14

2014-07-14T19:12:00.001+01:00

Phil has kindly agreed to provide the write up for today's blog update below and he has done such a good job I'm hoping he will do many more in the future!!!

We decided to have an afternoon/evening session, as conveniently we both had the Friday off work. The weather was fantastic reaching the high 20's though not conducive to fantastic fishing we were both confident that we'd get a few fish. After some discussion we decided to aim for the stretch of the Yare at Postwick, opposite the pub... I picked, Mike up at about 2, where we discovered we were rather embarrassingly dressed the same, but none the less we headed to angling direct where we stocked up quality bait..

We arrived at Postwick, where to our surprise, our preferred swims were free. With that we promptly set up, with Mike opting to set up his whip, which with a bit of work, always produces quality nets of roach at postwick. I on the other hand wasn't in the right frame of mind for whip fishing was only intending to feeder fish, however with Michaels constant insistence I also set up my whip...

Mike was setup and fishing first, and catching fish at 6m and after some work and a few balls of ground bait was catching some quality roach as well as one or two Rudd, all beautifully conditioned fish.

I on the other hand was struggling, like I said I wasn't in the right frame of mind for whip fishing, and couldn't get my head round it especially with the gusting wind... I was feeding hemp with tares on the hook trying to pick out the quality roach but only picking out the smaller ones, so I quickly switched to the hook bait that was proving so successful for Mike.. A single fluro... Which didn't help, so after my second tangle I was glad to switch to the feeder, where I started to pick up some skimmers and slightly better roach....

Mike managed to keep the fish coming on the whip, feeding regular balls of ground bait, with many of his roach being around the pound mark with one or two skimmers, he then hooked something which really pulled and swam against the (all but it very slowly) ebbing tide, unfortunately it did break of, but we assume it was an eel, good to see they're making a steady comeback, with a lot coming out so far this season.

I was having a few nice skimmers on the feeder, nothing I'd consider a proper bream, but hitting the 2-3lb mark... As the light faded mike joined me on the feeder line but couldn't really get a run of fish, and by 9.30 the bites had all but dried up.. I did manage to get one or two more fish by filling the feeder almost entirely with sweet corn and sweet corn on the hook, but with the music for the pub blaring out, we decided to call it a night...

Mike had had a cracking whip session with close to 20lb of silvers in only a few hours!!! and I had a similar sized net of skimmers on the feeder... Interestingly another angler who started as we were packing away started to catch as soon as the music from the pub ceased, it seems bream aren't keen on karaoke either......

Phil

Barford Pleasure Lake - Angling Report -

2014-07-03T22:55:00.001+01:00

Nice 16lb Common Carp caught in the margins on banded 8mm pellet

Fished an afternoon session at Barford Lakes today and because I arrived late around 2pm many of the pegs on the Pleasure Lake were taken. This was a good opportunity to try out a new swim and Jack recommended peg 2 which is in the small bay an area I have never fished before. The weather was perfect lovely warm and dry with only a slight breeze so I was really looking forward to hopefully catching some decent fish.

I set up a margin line to my right and cupped in ten potfuls of dry ground bait and some meat, a 5 mtr line where I cupped in hemp and and finally a 13mtr line for banded pellet shallow. It took a while to get the fish going starting on the shallow line but soon the Carp were moving around as I trickled in 2 - 4 barford 8mm pellets in 4 times a minutes and working the bait, I was soon playing a decent Common.

I had a few more on this line working the bait through the layers before switching to the 5 mtr line. Surprisingly this didn't produce and my only hope towards the end of the session was the margin swim. By this point I had 5 Carp in the bag all big fish around the 10lb mark so not bad but by fishing either pellet or dead maggots in the margin line I added another 10 Carp and some Bream including the stunning 16lb Common pictured above.

All in all a great session I must have had over a hundred pounds and my arms were certainly aching. The white hydro which I used on my shallow line performed perfectly and I also fitted black hydro to the margin line and I have to say its the best elastic and most hard wearing I have used to date can't say the same for the elastic which snapped - name no names but a popular brand and only fitted for a few months grrrr!

River Yare, Langley - Angling Report - 18.06.14

2014-07-03T22:43:00.000+01:00

I had originally booked off work the first day of the season but couldn't get the car as my wife was working. By the time Wednesday finally came I couldn't wait to get going.

I popped into Angling Direct in the morning to stock up with quality bait and catch up with Wayne on how the match went on the opening day. It turns out that over a hundred anglers fished with 40 odd pound winning the match and many weights over 20 to 30 lbs which shows the quality of the venue.

Due to this I decided to fish the Langley stretch which is new and where many of the Skimmer weights came from. I arrived to find that the facilities were superb with easy access, a nice spacious car park and well made swims.

I walked the bank and spoke to a few anglers and found that the tide was ebbing and the colour was dropping out not a great sign but a guy I was speaking with Peter Hanks was still getting a few Skimmers on the feeder so didn't look to bad.

I set up close to the pump house on the flat bank and just set up a feeder line to concentrate on the one method. Groundbait wise I was using my favourite Sensas river mix and hook baits were maggots, casters, worms and sweetcorn.

Weather wise it was warm and overcast and fairly breezy but it was great to be back and the long flat views were stunning. I found the deeper water by plumbing around with a lead and then put ten feeder fulls of groundbait out.

The first cast on double maggot (flouro and red) resulted in a cracking Skimmer which I was really happy with - good to be back! I stuck to the feeder as there was a strong breeze but warm and conditions for Skimmers was pretty good.

However the longer I fished the more the tide ebbed out and the water seemed to turn much clearer. Still the fishing wasn't bad until the eels moved in !!!

Unfortunately I had 25 in a row !! I tried different baits like corn but to no avail they were taking any bait I tried. It's good to see them back but it was a bit frustrating as it seemed to push the Skimmers and Roach away.

Still I managed a dozen nice Skimmers plenty of Roach and of course the Eels. It was a really fun session with spectacular views no sunset today but it was a stunning stretch of river and can't complain about the fishing :-)

Topcroft Fishery - Angling Report - 17th May 2014

2014-06-12T13:11:00.000+01:00

Myself and Phil decided to fish at Topcroft today and we were hoping for some Carp shallow with the weather being a warm 20 degree's plus and sunny.

Phil had arrived first and set his gear up on the right hand side bank which we have never tried. Unfortunately though it was immediately obvious that the Carp were all spawning and around the lake in the margins and under the platforms they were constantly thrashing around making loads of noise.

This was quite off putting and in the match opposite anglers were fishing the margins and catching but most were being foul hooked, not really what we were looking for so we both set up lines at 13mtr for shallow pellet and also 5 mtrs line for hemp and meat.

To cut a long story short this didn't work and despite trying to dob for several cruising Carp we couldn't get anything at all. After two hours we then decided to fish in the margins and despite the foul hooking risk we both had 7 Carp each alk between 6 and 10lbs with one of the fish Phil had nudging 10lbs (pictured)

These were all caught on Corn or pellet with a heavy groundbait mix keeping the fish interested. All in all despite the spawning it was a good session very hot and with only a slight breeze we had a good few breaks in the shade :-)

Taswood Fishery (Grebe Lakes) Angling Report - 5th May 2014

2014-05-16T22:14:00.002+01:00

A hard fighting Common Carp caught on pole and shallow pellet

Well what better way to spend a bank holiday than by being by the bank side! We decided that Taswood would be worth a try, specifically Grebe Lake, it's been a long time since I've fished at Taswood but I was keen to have a go as it's a very picturesque lake with some good quality fishing available.

View from the peg

I arrived with Kieran by half 9 and we were surprised to see that yet another coarse lake had gone and was now part of the main carp lake. Still Grebe Lake was available and we headed over to the far end as some anglers were already fishing in the swims we wanted. Kieran set up a method line and a waggler line. I set up 3 pole lines, 1 towards an island with a rig set up for banded pellet shallow, a 13mtr line for casters and a line at 6 mtrs for Hemp and meat.

I expected the first two lines to be the main lines with the meat line being an unknown as Ive never tried it here but it's the perfect time of year for hemp and meat.Well Kieran was hauling in some cracking bream on the feeder whilst I was setting up but I do know from experience fishing here the fish are quick to move off the feed, probably due to the shallow water.

Things were looking good and the weather was superb very warm, sunny with a nice breeze. I started off fishing the caster line and straight away was into some nice bream on double caster around the 5 - 6lb mark. Some of the smaller 2 - 3lb Bream were great fun to catch and were jumping out of the water at time over the pole. This is how the fish were in the Cinnamon Lake from years ago and with the shallow water this made things very interesting.

As I have found here before it was hard to keep the bigger fish going and the smaller silvers soon moved in. This prompted a move to the shallow pellet line towards the island and I had been plopping in two or three pellets here about 4 times a minute so was hoping a few Carp would be about feeding.
Sure enough by dropping the bait in and lifting the bait I was soon into a 6lb Carp which gave a huge fight to the end.

I had the Carp lined up in this swim and had at least ten but lost a few in the lily pads. As soon as I hooked the fish they knew exactly what to do and before you could pull the fish away they were diving into the lily pads. This made things very exciting and they all gave a great scrap all the way to the net. Towards the end of the session I switched to the short line where I had put a bed of hemp out and by fishing meat this worked really well but surprisingly for Bream rather than Carp.

By 4pm I had counted over 25 bream and 10 Carp so was more than happy. Kieran had also had a good run of fish mainly Bream by switching between the waggler and feeder lines. A cracking session ;-)

Shallowbrook Lakes (Meadow) Angling Report - 27th April 2014

2014-05-03T21:55:00.000+01:00

Wayne Anderson venue expert at Shallowbrook Meadow Lake

Well after the Easter weekend and not managing to get out on the bank due to family and DIY commitments I was really keen to get out fishing again! Since the match I fished at Shallowbrook I was also keen to have some more practise fishing for Carp shallow on the pole and I also had made efforts to make up some new pole rigs with the new Drennan AS pole floats and some home tied banded hook lengths with Guru QM1 hooks.

View from the peg

I think I have become a little complacent of late with some of my terminal tackle and elastic set ups etc so the match has taught me that I really need to get back on top of my game in that respect so that's what I will make sure will happen. After getting some top advice I was meeting Wayne from Angling Direct (current Yare and Wensum champ) and when I arrived at 10.30am he was already set up fishing.

My plan of attack was to have a 13 - 14.5mtr line for Carp shallow with two rigs one for mid depth and the other for shallower with a lighter float 0.3 and 0.4grams. Both were set up with home tied hook lengths and Guru QM1 hooks with bands. I have never tried the QM1's myself but I know Phil uses them for method feeder fishing and strongly recommends them so I was keen to try them out.

I also plumbed up a line at approx 11mtrs towards the top of the near ledge and I introduced 5 balls of Sonubaits sweet fishmeal ground bait with chopped worm. Looking back I think a more natural mix would have been better as I think at Shallowbrook mixing the baits doesn't seem to work well and fishmeal should be kept as a separate line.

Anyway back to the fishing as I was setting up Wayne was already netting some decent Skimmers and I started on the shallow line. I could see the Carp but they were further out approx 20mtrs this is where I'm sure a pellet waggler would have worked well (still need to get a new rod for this) I kept small amounts of 6mm pellets going in, around 4 x 3 pellets a minute and after an hour no Carp but some decent Chub.

After the hour I switched to the Skimmer line and had a run of Skimmers on worm or caster but they were relatively small. Wayne was still getting the Skimmers and some good fish but seemed to be getting more on the pellet line. This prompted me to swap to expander pellet on the hook and this resulted in some better Skimmers and kept them coming.

I wanted to keep going back to the shallow line to practise on the feeding and slapping the rig in and I did have two good Carp which fought hard but were landed both without any issues which was good. The rest of the session was really enjoyable the sun was out with a nice warm breeze. I may not have been bagging constantly but it was still good to be trying hard to catch the fish.

Presentation at times trying to fish shallow was really tough with the breeze picking up a few times, without it I would have had more Carp and in a match I would have made sure I had a pellet waggler set up which I'm sure would have picked up more Carp as they seemed to be further out in pairs, it could well be that they were starting to spawn so this may have been why the Carp were not feeding away.

I finished at 6pm and was happy with two big Carp and plenty of Skimmers, Roach and a few Chub. Wayne had a good 40 - 50lb of Skimmers so that's a cracking a result although he had been getting nets of 80 - 90lb so was below expectations it could well be that the fish have moved to some other pegs or the spawning is starting to have an affect.

Still a good session overall.

My final net of fish

Wayne's net of Skimmers, he stayed on and had another 40lb of fish !!

Shallowbrook Lakes - Angling Report (Open Match) 12th April 2014

2014-04-14T14:19:00.003+01:00

There's no two ways about it peg 19 was not a good draw :-(

**Open Match at Shallowbrook**

Well I'm not going to lie this was not my finest moment in match fishing.........however, I learnt a hell of a lot today which is worth it's weight in gold for the future!!

I knew I was going into the lions den entering the open at Shallowbrook as the calibre of anglers in the match I fished here last year was very high but I had some confidence as I had managed a 3rd then and was only ounces from 2nd position so at least I was competitive in that one.

I arrived for 8.30am with all my bait prepared although I had not made up any new rigs (lesson number 1) the draw was at 9am and I was shocked to see 20 anglers already waiting for the draw including Wayne Anderson and some other recognisable from open matches - I knew it wouldn't be easy! There was a dispute going on when I arrived as the pay outs were going to be for top 3 Carp and top 3 silver fish weights.

Initially I didn't mind the sound of this as 6 anglers out of 20 would get a pay out however Wayne and a fair few other regulars were not happy and I have to admit it really threw me whilst in the match as you had to go for one or the other so you felt forced down a route rather than building a total weight as per normal.

My quick plan was to go for Carp initially but if after an hour there was no sign of any I would then go for silver fish. Back to the draw and typically I pulled out a stinker peg 19 (out of 20) which was at the far end. The wind was bowing to the opposite end and the feeling was the lower numbers would fish well with the top corner I was at with one other to my left on 20 was known nicely as dead mans corner!

When I arrived I couldn't believe that Wayne was on peg 18 to my right but he was far right and his peg pointed out towards Chav island (as we call it) and was in a totally different space of water. Wayne was playing things down but I had a sneaking suspicion he would do well as Carp were definitely moving about in the area.

I set up two 3mtr to hand whip lines, a 13mtr shallow line and 13mtr dead depth line. The idea was I would start shallow for Carp and then have the dead depth line for Skimmers and the short line for Roach. Well I was all ready on time but skipped setting up a new shallow rig this was a silly mistake as I had bought some new floats for this and stronger hooks but felt the dibber rig I had set up would do.

I cupped in 4 balls of Sonubaits F1 sweet fishmeal ground bait out and then started shallow for Carp. Within 5 minutes I was in and the elastic zoomed out across the lake, suspecting the Carp was foul hooked this was confirmed when a large scale came back on the hook but no fish :-( I then adjusted the depth went out again flicking in pellets and straight away another was on. Wayne hadn't had a bite and I thought here we go but then this Carp came off this time the hook straightened.

I couldn't believe it and by the time I re - rigged Wayne had a Carp in the net and as I went out he then had another. Well I missed a few bites but I wasn't fishing shallow properly I wasn't happy with the rig and I wasn't feeding how I should of been. I just felt really out of practise on this method and with one of Norfolk's best anglers next to me I felt the pressure and kept missing bites etc.

I made the wrong decision and after a frustrating first hour thought I decided I would go all out for silvers. I put in 5 balls of ground bait on one 3mtr line and loose fed the other and had 8lbs of Roach but frustratingly no bonus fish and no Skimmers or Bream (they are not usually up at that end of the lake so I should have stuck it out for Carp). This is were I went wrong as I felt everyone would go all out for Carp and ignore the silvers but of course further down some 10 - 15lbs weights of Skimmers were caught which is were they all usually sit.

By ignoring Carp I also left the fish in the area for Wayne to catch and he doesn't need a second invite and had 6 x Carp for 32lbs and picked up the Carp win. I only ended up 4th on the silver fish side (guy to my right didn't weigh in) so a bit of a disaster overall. However I learnt loads, I used dacron connectors for the first time which worked superbly and I also learnt that I have nailed the general preparation and bait preparation but I need to ensure for future matches fresh rigs are set up and I'm happy with them before hand (plus I changed my hooks after the one straightened not impressed with the brand (name no names)

I definitely didn't draw a good peg but I should have fished shallow much better and I should have had new rigs for this method prepared I just didn't feel comfortable with the dibber and I never like making new rigs up in matches although may be I should have although Wayne had pulled the fish away by then either way.

All in all though as I write this report I feel like I enjoyed it and I enjoy the learning, for next weekend I really want to have a good practice at shallow fishing for Carp with fresh rigs, Topcroft will be ideal for this. There is another match at Shallowbrook on the 26th so with some practice and a decent drawer maybe just maybe............................!!

4th in Silver Fish Match.

Topcroft Lakes - Angling Report - 5th April 2014

2014-04-14T13:35:00.002+01:00

I wouldn't mind catching one of these as the first fish of the day every time I go !!

Back to Topcroft again today after a good session last weekend with some nice Carp being caught. Phil had fished here on Friday and done well so I decided to fish the same peg which was number 12 towards the other end of the lake. The wind was blowing into this end but wisely lots of anglers were already fishing in the bay where the wind was blowing towards. I was slightly sheltered by a bank side bush but the wind on the water was really cutting across and it was choppy to say the least so I knew that presentation would be difficult.

View from the peg at Topcroft Fishery

I set up a margin line to my left before the water really shallows and a line 4mtrs in front and one at 13mtrs. The weather was mild and sunny but as I started fishing at about half 11 the wind really picked up and presentation at any length was almost impossible. in fact I had to forget about the 13mtr line and literally fish a power top 2 to hand !!

I was feeding dampened micro pellets and fishing corn on the hook and was soon into a hard fighting Carp just shy of 8lb, like last week a very good start. By keeping the feed going in on a regular basis I managed to keep the fish coming, all of them on the short line. I lost one big Carp in the margins but despite putting a bed of pellets down they didn't move in (will try ground bait next time).

I did try the longer line but presentation was impossible so I stuck to the short line and managed 15 x Carp all between 5 and 10lbs so a pleasing result and a couple more than last weekend despite the challenging conditions.

Another 100lb plus bag of Carp from Topcroft in 5 hours fishing great value for a £6 day ticket! I will be back soon :-)

Topcroft Lakes - Angling Report - 30th March 2014

2014-04-04T21:27:00.002+01:00

I had some bigger Carp than this during the session but this was my very first fish! Not a bad start.....

Well after a big house move and some weekends away from fishing I was very excited to be heading to Topcroft Fishery which is a superb 3 acre lake on the other side of Poringland roughly 5 miles from Norwich. I arrived about 11am and met Phil in the car park and we had a good walk round looking at all of the available swims and talking to some of the guys already fishing.

View from the peg on a lovely spring day

There was plenty of activity with signs of Carp in the margins and at the shallow end balls of Carp were on the surface feeding away. We decided to fish the shallower end as the warm breeze was blowing into it and we set up in the same pegs we fished previously with my peg being number 3. I decided to fish a 5 mtr line at the bottom of the ledge, a 12mtr shallow pellet line on the pole and also a 13mtr line for corn on the bottom.

1 of 13 nice Carp caught on the pole all in immaculate condition

Phil went for similar tactics but also fed two margin lines after doing well in the margins last year. I knew the fish were moving around in the margins but I didn't feel they would confidently feed in the margins until the weather warms up some more especially with them only being 6" deep. I started on the 5 mtr line and feeding micro pellets with corn on the hook I was straight into a decent Carp and was chuffed to land a nice 9lb Mirror Carp.

It seemed that the 5mtr line with corn was the best option on the day although I still had some nice Carp on the shallow pellet line but I could only present the bait properly when the water was calm. Phil was struggling and was mainly getting Skimmers but it was great to be fishing in lovely warm conditions with finally some nice sun to soak up.

Kieran couldn't resist the weather and came to do some fishing but struggled to get any fish but he still enjoyed himself. In the final two hours Phil did have some nice Carp close in and some particular nice fish on the margin pole to double figures he ended up with around 6 Carp in total and 6 Skimmers. I was really chuffed to have 13 Carp with most near to double figures and also 4 decent Skimmers - a great session with over 100lb of fish :-)

Can't wait to get back here again soon escpecially with 16 degree temperatures and warm winds. Check out the action shots below, this was Phil's final fish of the session and gave a great fight.

Bramerton Common, River Yare, Angling Report - 8th March 2014

2014-04-04T20:46:00.001+01:00

**Final River Session of the Season**

Well it's come round quickly but today is the last session on a river for this season :-( Myself and Phil decided to fish Bramerton Common once again and we were hoping that the conditions were better than last weekend, although we planned to fish into dark for a few hours to increase our chances of some nice Bream!

I arrived just after midday and Phil was already fishing at the far end as the bank was busy with anglers and he had been catching plenty of Roach on the whip and feeder. We decided to move further down but probably not far enough as more people turned up and nabbed the best area where we usually prefer to feeder fish.

I plumbed up the feeder line and found the deeper water towards the far side and put about ten feeder fulls of ground bait out. I then started on the whip and had plenty of Roach and Perch with one or two fish being of a good size towards the pound mark. Phil was also getting a similar run of fish and with the tide running out we were hoping that it would turn as darkness fell.

By the time the light started to fade we both switched to the feeder but weirdly the water was still running out even though it had stopped for half an hour! We knew it would be hard going with these conditions but knew that even with the crystal clear water the darkness would help.

Sure enough by plugging away and hair rigging sweetcorn I managed 5 proper slabs and Phil had exactly the same amount but all his fish were on white chocolate boilie! All in all not a bad session to finish the river season, it was nice to have plenty of Roach and Perch on the whip and some proper slabs to put a nice bend in the rod :-)

At least the closed season can offer a change to fishing and I look forward to having some nice Carp bags on the pole soon.

Bramerton Common, River Yare, Angling Report - 1st March 2014

2014-03-13T11:55:00.002+00:00

A perfect conditioned 1lb River Yare Roach caught on the whip

I was tempted to head to Riverside Road again today intending to whip fish for Roach. I have just picked up a Browning Legend whip locally from Gumtree and was really keen to try it out, after last weeks session I felt the Roach should be feeding well in the clearer water. I didn't arrive until mid day as had some chores to finish at home and was sad to see that a bollard has now been put up blocking access to park near the bridge.

Unfortunately I feel the majority of anglers have been affected by the minority as we always made sure we were parked in the gridded area next to the bridge without blocking the walkway. Unfortunately I have noticed that some cars have been driving along the riverside roadway to the end and not hanging around either! I suspect one complaint was made and that's the end of that! Anyhow parking on a Sunday nearby is available so all is not lost for next year.

Still for the session today I headed across to Bramerton Common. Phil had fished here last week and although struggling on the feeder he had some good Roach fishing the whip in the last hour. I decided to fish the near corner close to the car and had a simple approach of using my 6 mtr whip to hand, feeder small amounts of hemp & maggots and using maggots or casters on the hook.

Like last week the tide was running out and the water was very clear, it took a good half hour to get a bite. I found that the fish wanted the bait hard on the bottom with the float inched through. By doing this I found the fish and the great thing was each fish was a good sized plumb Roach in fantastic condition and nearly all of them had to be netted. By carefully inching the float through with flouro or bronze maggot just as the float was nearing the moored boat to my right I had some cracking fish.

At least 3 of the fish were over a pound and gave a great fight on the whip and definitely gave it a nice workout. I packed up after only 3 hours but was happy to have some lovely River Yare Roach.

River Wensum, Riverside Road, Norwich - Angling Report - 22.02.14

2014-03-13T11:46:00.000+00:00

View from the peg at Riverside Road, Norwich.

After a good Bream session at Riverside last weekend I was really excited about getting back on the bank for some more. I met with Phil in Angling Direct Friday afternoon to stock up with some bait and speaking to Wayne we were happy and pretty amazed to hear he had 52 Bream only the day before all on the feeder using worm. That's a huge catch by any standards and to catch over 200lb of Bream like that during the day is fantastic. Of course Wayne is a hugely talented angler but it also shows the river conditions must be spot on.

So after all this anticipation and bulking up with ground bait we arrived on the bank at 7am (that's very early for me) we couldn't quite believe our luck in that the colour had really dropped out and the water was low - typically! Still you never know until you try and even though there was a dent in our confidence we quickly set up the gear. We both fished similar tactics with two feeder rods set up, one for out at the bottom of the far ledge and another bomb rod set up for the near side ledge.

After casting around to find the ideal depths in the swim I started off by casting 5 large feeder fulls of ground bait on to the far line then started fishing the bomb rod. I had some liners and plenty of Roach but it soon became apparent that the day was not going to be the red letter day we had hoped for. Another couple of anglers to our left were catching Roach but we kept at it hoping the Bream would eventually feed.

After 3 hours I dropped down to a size 20 hook from a 16 and lengthened the hooklength which resulted in a 5lb Bream, I was chuffed to get this and I had a feeling the fish were there but with the tide at a real low and the water getting crystal clear they just didn't have the confidence feed. I had plenty of Roach and one or two decent Perch throughout the session and Phil was getting much the same but unfortunately no more Bream between us both.

What also really surprised us was seeing a guy fishing dead baits to our right having 4 Pike in a row! two of them were into double figures which was great to see being not many seem to get caught of late although I'm under no illusions this would not of helped our fishing. Although we didn't have the Bream bags we hoped for it was still an enjoyable session, it was nice and dry with some sun and a fairly mild 10 degree's and it just go's to show how unpredictable fishing can be!

Not long left for the river closed season now and im hoping to get at least a couple more sessions in before the 15th March. I must say that with all this stormy weather and flood conditions anglers are missing out on more and more river fishing opportunities each year. I'm not in favour of scrapping the close season all together but I do feel the break should be shorter. Bearing in mind if fish are spawning they do not feed and anglers after all are the eyes and ears of the river banks. Let me know what you think? tight lines.............

I was happy to get one decent Bream but had expected to get more

River Wensum, Riverside Road, Norwich - Angling Report - 16.02.2014

2014-02-20T14:36:00.002+00:00

Some of the fish caught on the day which were all in great condition

**DON'T FORGET THAT YOU CAN 'LIKE' THE NORFOLK ANGLING BLOG FACEBOOK PAGE FOR ADDITIONAL PICTURES AND INFORMATION**

After a couple of weeks away from the bank side due to the terrible wind and rain we have been getting I was really happy to see that the forecast for this Sunday was mild, dry and sunny and at last without the 50mph + winds we have been getting in Norfolk. To be fair here in Norfolk we have been lucky compared to the rest of the UK and all the poor people who have had there homes flooded, of course the fishing on Rivers and Commercial venues have been negatively affected as well to say the least.

View from the peg - one of the lessons learned on the day was I was casting to far across and had to come in slightly closer

On Saturday I had spoken at length with Wayne Anderson (2013 King of the Yare Champion) in Angling Direct Norwich who confirmed that the Rivers were fishing really well for Bream with plenty of colour running through as a result of the extra water and constant rain we have had in recent weeks. He mentioned that Thorpe Green, Bramerton and Riverside were fishing well and I did have a look at Thorpe Green and it was indeed running through like hot chocolate!

After stocking up with bait Saturday I was up and out the door by 8am on Sunday. I wanted to leave earlier to meet Wayne at Riverside but with just getting over a cold it was hard to do so. Wayne was going to be fishing Riverside if a club from London were not there but he decided to go straight to Thorpe Green were I met him. He had been fishing from just after 7am and had 7 big Bream in the keepnet already!

Dusty Kiddell who I used to match fish with for Brundall Angling Centre was further upstream in the slip way swim and had 5 slabs so the fish were there but they were both agreeing that the fishing had completely dried up and no one was getting bites with the sun on the water. The trouble with Thorpe Green during the day is that the water is so shallow so even if the water is coloured up fishing during the day can be hard work as the fish shy away.

Due to this the three of us headed to Riverside Road and set up the gear downstream of the Gym as the club from London were not there. Wayne set up in a swim which had been the winning peg in the previous match with Dusty and myself to the left. This is only the 2nd time I have fished along here so I knew I was against stiff competition against two of Norfolk's best match anglers, as per the others I fished an all out feeder attack for Bream.

Wayne and Dusty were both fishing pretty much instantly as they had rods and ground bait ready to go and after about ten minutes Wayne already had a good slab on the feeder so things were looking up! Dusty also had a Bream on the feeder quickly but Wayne seemed to be pulling them in non stop!! I was so keen to fish that even as I was still mixing the ground bait I was casting the feeder out nicking some of Dusty's ground bait ! This worked and I had 4 good Bream in quick succession much to the annoyance of Dusty as he was still on his first fish!

Tactics for me were a standard running feeder rig with a size 18 Kamasan hook with ground bait being a mixture of Sensas Lake 3000 mixed with Mosella Brasem I was using casters, maggots and chopped worm. I did try corn a few times but didn't even have a touch on it at all which was strange. It seemed ever double dead red maggot or worm head was the bait the fish wanted.

I was getting the Bream but was struggling to keep them biting constantly as the fish seemed to be moving around. I tried the usual tactics of casting slightly further or shorter and changing hook lengths which seemed to pick some extra fish up. Dusty was having a similar situation and seemed to have some Bream whilst I sat bite less and vice versa which was interesting.

However Wayne really was the star of the show and whatever he was doing was working well and he seemed to have his rod bent over landing a Bream every time I looked across. It was a fantastic session a little breezy at times but with the sun out and the Bream which were a good sized in perfect condition it really was a fantastic river session without doubt my favourite style of fishing it's just a pity the closed season is 3 weekends away now :-(

Wayne striking into another River Wensum Bream on the feeder

By the end of the session at 5pm we were all happy with how the fishing went overall. For me it was impressive to watch Wayne in action without doubt he is one of the best river anglers In Norfolk and probably across the UK. He did go through with me after we packed away a number of tips which I have never considered and really would make a huge difference. I don't like holding information back on the blog but out of respect to Wayne I can't put them to print but his type of thinking shows why he is getting the results gets.

Also I have to say that despite a negative view of fishing Riverside Road it was a great atmosphere all day and quiet apart from the odd runner and dog walker with some parents and kids enjoying seeing some fish coming out. It would be great for the council to encourage angling along here with dedicated anglers parking and encouragement to fish when the matches are not running.

So the catch results were as follows:

Wayne 30 x Bream to 7lbs - Over 100lb of fish (+ he had 7 at Thorpe Green)

Myself 13 x Bream to 7lbs - Over 50lb of fish (didn't fish Thorpe Green)

Dusty 9 x Bream to 7lbs - Over 40lb of fish (+ he had 5 at Thorpe Green)

Absolutely fantastic fishing for this time of year and in total in 6 hours fishing between the three of us that's 64 bream from both venues to 220lb + of fish in total, unbelievable !!!!! This is thanks to the coloured conditions and some good angling and I look forward to getting out again hopefully 3 or 4 more times before the season ends on the 15th March.

All the fish caught on the day were safely returned

It's a good job Wayne had a quality Daiwa keep net with 30 bream inside!

Holly Farm Fishery - Angling Report - 25.01.14

2014-02-04T14:46:00.002+00:00

It was a stormy end to the session! (stock image)

I was going to have a weekend off but with the weather still remaining mild for the time of year and Phil fishing I was heading back to Holly Farm. After last weekends successful session we decided to fish the Carp Match lake again and decided to fish on the opposite side on a couple of pegs which usually are good draws in matches.

View from the peg at the Holly Farm Carp Lake

John Beck was fishing at the near end of the island and was getting a few Carp but his view was the lake was fishing hard due to over night temperature and we noticed as we were setting up there was a cold breeze which may have an affect. I wanted to keep things nice and simple so fished two 13mtr lines both for micro pellets and corn but one feeding sparingly and the other I cupped a large cupful of bait in for later.

After carefully plumbing and starting fishing at 11.30am I was straight into a Carp of about 4lbs not a bad start. I then had a good run of fish and had about 6 although Phil was yet to get any only small Skimmers. I was fishing in slightly shallower water and this may have made a difference. However after a few hours Phil had some hard fighting Carp as well again on sweetcorn.

The fishing was definitely not as easy as last weekend and I had to keep switching lines and changing depths to keep the bites coming throughout the session. It was great fun though and again nice to be playing decent Carp at this time of year. At around 4.30 we started to pack up and I had counted 12 Carp in total and Phil 10 so it wasn't a bad session at all.

As I was packing the pole away I noticed a flash of light surely it wouldn't be lightning at this time of year but then with a large clap of thunder we knew a storm was coming fast. Unfortunately as I was minutes away from moving the gear to the car park the storm hit hard right overhead. It was unbelievable as it came over with heavy wind rain and the whole lake was lighting up with the lightning flashes!!!!

As we got the gear back to the cars the storm had passed but we were drenched I've never known a storm to hit so hard and fast like that and even Phil was speechless!!
I am planning to have next weekend off fishing but will be back the following Saturday - tight lines.......

Holly Farm Fishery - Angling Report - 18.01.14

2014-01-28T22:41:00.000+00:00

View from the peg at Holly Farm (Carp Match Lake) I found the deeper water to the right of the water pump

After a superb session at Holly Farm fishery last weekend I was really keen to have another go but this time I wanted to try the Carp Match lake. Luckily the weather is still mild for the time of year around 10 degrees and there was a light westerly breeze so I knew the conditions for Carp were not to bad. I arrived at about 11am as had a few early jobs to get done at home and decided to fish a peg near to the car park at the edge of the island.

John Beck was fishing with the wind on his back in the bay but after speaking with him and following the wind direction I set up on the nearside island point swim. I was tipped off by John that the depth ledged off away from the island and it was here in this slightly deeper water the Carp feed well. Sure enough as I carefully plumbed up I found a nice ledge which flattened out into some deeper water.

I started off by cupping in 3 grains of sweetcorn with a grain of soft sweetcorn on the the hook. A little tip is to freeze and thaw out sweetcorn which softens it up for the hook making it easier for the Carp to take the bait and also by squeezing out the innards of the corn you can get the bait to slowly flutter down which will get you extra fish. This certainly worked well today and by moving the bait by lifting the float this can spark the fish into biting.

After 15 minutes I hooked into the first Carp and it gave a cracking fight but was soon netted and swiftly put back. I kept the odd grain of corn cupped in but also had a few micro pellets going in and this really worked well with some stunning Carp being caught. Kieran popped along for a chat and in total I only fished for around 3.5 hours and was very happy with catching 20 Carp being a mixture of F1's, Mirrors and Commons.

Another cracking session at Holly Farm and for this time of year catching 20 Carp for around 80lb in total is not a bad result at all, I will be back soon :-)

1 of 20 Carp caught in 3.5 hours all on Sweetcorn hook bait

Holly Farm Fishery - Angling Report - 11.01.13

2014-01-19T23:49:00.002+00:00

One of the great things about Holly Farms top lake is you never know what the next fish will be !!

Surprisingly we haven't fished Holly Farm Fishery for a while now so I was really looking forward to today's session. This time of year with the limited day light hours it is well worth fishing venues where you can be confident of catching and this superb 2 lake fishery in South Walsham certainly guarantee's good fish in all weathers. It also has ample car parking and tidy pegs with all the facilities you would need such as on site toilets and rubbish bins etc.

View from the peg at the Superb Holly Farm Fishery top lake

I arrived at about half 9 and met Phil in the car park, after a quick walk around we decided to fish the top lake about mid way along. The weather was lovely and sunny with a slight breeze and around 8 degrees not bad at all for January. It was good to see an old fishing mate of mine is the new bailiff (John Beck) who I used to fish with in the Brundall Angling Team. A very good river angler and I reckon his commercial skills are not to shabby either, it was good to catch up with him.

Phil had a cracking session on the pole

We fished opposite each other and both fished a pole line at 13mtrs and also a line at 4mtrs to my left under an overhanging tree. I was confident that despite the time of year the fish would come in close later in the session as there was a good depth and this time of year it is always worth having another line as an alternative should the fish become wary in the clear water.

I started off at 13mtrs cupping in micro pellets (slightly dampened) with maggot, corn or expander pellet as hook bait. The fishing was absolutely superb and from the off I was getting some cracking Skimmers, Crucian's and some Mirror/Common Carp to 5lbs. I even had some lovely looking Goldfish and despite the time of year Phil was catching plenty of Tench!!!

The fishing remained consistent with careful feeding but at around 3pm I tried the 4mtr line and using small cubes of meat with krill powder soaked in I had a run of bigger Carp which all gave a nice fight. Phil had a similar session and seemed to really get them going closer in for longer towards the end of the session. In the last half hour the cold really got to me though as the temperatures dipped it was the first time fishing my feet and hands started numbing with cold!

Still it was a superb session and I had 40 fish of all varieties and most were net fish so I cannot complain at all and will look forward to coming back here soon.

The Carp were all in perfect condition

Loddon Quay - River Chet - 04.01.13

2014-01-04T20:53:00.000+00:00

1 of 103 fish caught in 4 hours fishing

Today was forecast to be heavy rain and strong winds all day and I was so desperate to get one more session in before Monday and being back at work I went anyway! I picked Kieran up on route as he was after a Pike and as I really wanted to catch a few after a couple of difficult sessions we decided Loddon would be the best bet.

View from the peg at Loddon Quay, a reliable winter venue.

We arrived at about 11.30am after a long breakfast on the way and surprisingly it was nice and dry and very mild around 12 degree's. I set up near to the car and had two rigs set up one a lighter rig with a small size 20 hook and another slightly heavier with a size 18, both 4 mtrs to hand. I had forgotten to bring the hemp so had to feed small amounts of ground bait with each cast.

I have purchased one of the Preston ground bait punches as I used them years ago canal fishing and they are fantastic to quickly have ready a small consistent ball of ground bait to plop in with each cast. I knew it was working as I literally had hundreds of small fry balling up around the ground bait particles in fact there were so many the water was absolutely black at times.

I haven't seen so may small fry here ever so it was quite surreal for the time of year. Anyway back to the fishing and I was soon into Roach and Dace and I found that by fishing over depth and with double caster I had half a dozen good sized Skimmers which were very welcome. Kieran had a small live bait out but despite all the small fry and silver fish being around he didn't have any runs.

I don't know much about piking but it does seem like the pike fishing is no where near what it was in Norfolk years ago, I'm not sure why it may be because of the otters and cormorants getting the better fish but I'm not sure? it's a really pity as it used to be fantastic pike fishing in Norfolk and the Broads so hopefully it will bounce back.

After 4 hours we called it a day as more rain clouds were coming over (although amazingly it stayed dry all day) I counted 103 fish in total with the reliable fish counter and they were a good mixture of Roach, Dace, Skimmers to a few pounds and even some Rudd. It was nice to catch a few fish after a couple of difficult sessions though so I was more than happy !! :-)

It was good to see Kieran back on the bank !!

River Yare (Postwick) Angling Report - 02.01.14

2014-01-04T20:20:00.001+00:00

View from the peg at Postwick taken as I was packing up

After most of the week having heavy rain and strong winds (typical over the holiday period) today had a break in the weather being dry and calm and around 8 degrees. I decided to have a drive to Bramerton to see if any fish were coming out. Despite 6 anglers fishing no one had caught any fish at all with some fishing since first light, with the water crystal clear I wasn't even tempted to get any gear out of the car.

One of the people fishing I spoke to for a while assured me that Postwick was fishing very well and worth a try so I decided to try opposite Surlingham Ferry. When I arrived a guy piking had caught two jacks so I decided to give it a go. I set up a pole line at around 7 mtrs out and a feeder rig for half way out in the middle of the river.

Long story cut short but despite trying everything, chopped worm, pinkies, size 20 hooks and very light lines I didn't even have a single bite. The river seemed dead and within a few hours I felt I had made a big error and that the fish with all the high tides and salt water have moved into the city and boat yards. Even so it was nice to get some fresh air and have a few hours by the water.

Kieran was with me and we had a good chat and I packed up just as darkness fell. I was tempted to fish into dark for a few hours but with the temperatures falling I just didn't feel it was worthwhile. Hopefully I will catch some fish next time!!