For one reason or another I haven’t wet a line since i had a lure sea fishing session at Aldingham on 17 June 2015!!! Mrs P has been saying use it or lose it for the last 5 years!

Always wanted to start the season with a fly fishing session on the River Kent, before I wet a line on Barrow Angling Association waters which I have been a member for 5 years after dropping out of FFA Game Section and not fished yet!

I got to the lower beat of River Kent-Bowston Fishery at about 1330 it was a warm sunny day with a gentle breeze and there was plenty of water coming down.

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I set up up using a floating line with 4lb leader, my choice of fly was pot luck ….not sure of the pattern. It was a struggle tying the fly on such a fine leader…might have to some magnifier glasses!

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I fished downstream towards Croppers for about 30minutes which is the widest stretch of this fishery.

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  Looking downstream of Lower stretch of the Bowston Fishery with Croppers in the Background

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  Looking Upstream

I was surprised how the river has changed since my last visit, the lower beat arrowed red was just wider. Moving up stream on the bend the river narrowed .

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  River bank washed away leaving trees in the river

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Moving upstream I changed my choice of fly to a Bloody Butcher, know the name of this fly from using it from sea trout fishing

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The stretches upstream were wider with quite a lot of trees washed away leaving good pools. on the opposite bank, I would imagine that it wont be long before the trees will end up in the river.

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I gradually fished upstream up to Bowston Bridge along the way spotting a Kingfisher and Cormorant! I guess there there must be fish in the river, but I didn’t get any takes, I wasn’t that bothered as it was I was was a beautiful afternoon and nice to get out wetting a line again.

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  Hope the cormorant had better luck than me!

Ended up after two hours at Bowston Bridge where I could see that the house adjacent to the river was now complete…..very nice. On my last visit there were on the foundations down for it.

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All in all I had a pleasant couple of hours on the river and need to get my backside into gear and start to get out more!

Having read a lot of the local reports and the the fact that I am now on top of my gardens at home and the allotment and ,,,,,,,,Mrs Dangerous is not feeling too bad at the moment, I had the urge to go luring. I rang my old mucker Steve Magee knowing that he was on 9 days off……unfortunately it was his last day off and first nightshift tonight so he was out of the frame. I took Mrs Dangerous to FGH to get her bloods checked and went home to get my gear together. Rod …check! Reel …..check! Rapala sling bag……check! Chest waders……….not check!!!!!!……only found one wading boot…so had to get the wet weather gear out as I didn’t have time to search the house.
Set off and the very light drizzle turned a bit heavier on the drive down. I arrived at 1150 to an overcast Morecambe Bay, rough sea and a brisk westerly breeze (HT 1244 9.0M). There were two others bait fishing when I arrived

….one an old work mate from GSK… Keith Pearce.

I decided to use my Shimao with mono on and not braid….the last time i used braid with my Okuma set up all I got was wind knots. I started off with a Maria Chase SW:

…..managing to get out about 30M

…..annoyed that I could find my chest waders. I worked down towards my friend was fishing thinking that the exercise will be doing me good. Just before high water another chap arrive and fished further down towards the groynes.
I got to where Keith was fishing caught up with him….. as the last time I met him was at Priory Point about two years ago! He gave me an example of his casting technique:

He had one flatty when I arrived using fresh blow lug and was using two rods. I move down from him and decided to change from the Maria Chase to a Blue Mackerel Stinger Splash:

……..again getting out about 30M and working this lure more. The other chap down from Keith had a couple of flatties……no Bass to be seen from anyone ……only plenty of large jellyfish.

I went back to Keith for another natter during which he landed another flatty.

 

Decided  to call it a day @1330…….got home ….decluttered  a wardrobe and found my other wading boot and the chest waders!

Having not been sea fishing locally since 20 September 2013 at Aldingham!!!! I decided I needed to get back into it. I contacted my old mate and fishing companion Steve Magee to see if he was up for it……..and he was. I wasn’t able to get any fresh bait so I had to delve into the freezer and fridge to see what there was. I managed to find a bit of frozen black , salted blow lug

 

and frozen crab………courtesy of Stuart Stamp….thanks Stu.  Reading some of my old reports for for a bit of information seeing as it has been that long. I arrived at 1100 meeting up with Steve in the car park. We got set up ………………………………….

 

and waited for the tide to show (HT 1229  8.9M),

It was a nice sunny morning with a brisk SW breeze . I actually thought there may have been a few more people out fishing but we were on out own. The tide was fishable at 1130 as I predicted.

I decided to fish with just the one  rod…………………..with 2 hook size 2 clipped  rig on a 150gm breakaway, top hook with salted blow lug and the bottom with frozen black. I fished like this for the first hour then whipped some frozen crab onto each bait……..all to no avail!

It was a pleasant day out and good to catch up with Steve Just like my last visit to Aldingham it was a quite blanking session for both of us…..although Steve did say that he had a couple of knocks.

We fished until about an hour after high water and decided to call it a day ……as we running out of water.

It will have to be plan B next time…………fresh bait!!!

Having not wet a line since my last visit to Norfolk last year and with the Brown Trout session under way I opted for an early season visit to the River Kent Bowston Fishery……having always wanted to have a session on the Kent on the first week of the Brown Trout season. Penny Parrock Angling Association  (PPAA)  have fishing rights on the east bank and Burneside Angling Association have the rights on the opposite bank.

However there is a reciprocal agreement between both parties that you may fish either bank. Burneside actually stock this stretch with Brown Trout. PPAA did contribute to this stocking but don’t now due to the lack of visits by their shareholders. It is a case of catch and release by the shareholder.

I set off from Barrow-in-Furness at 1150 parked at the access point and arrived on river bank at about 1315. I  decided to start the session on the lower beat towards Croppers (route red on the map).

The weather was fine with an ait temperature of 10Deg C, the river was clear with a small run. There was a small hatch of fly and I decided to fish with a black buzzer. I worked my way down from the bend……..

……………………before the lower limit (“B” on the Map) before Croppers.

Steadily moving downstream I changed to a Pheasant tail Nymph and then Gold Ribbed Hare Ear (GRHE) without any takes…..or sigh of any fish.There were no movement and no sign of any fish showing……… the only movemnt was a swan which decided to take off just upstream of me……………………….

……and land in front of me.

I stuck it out on the lower strech for ablout 1.5 hours and decided to walk up-stream (route route blue on the map) to Bownton Bridge to seen what the river was like as I had not been on that stretch for a number of years.

Just downstream from the bridge the Environmental Agency had installed a flow measurement Station.

This was not here the last time I fished this stretch of the river.

I could not believe how much river bank had been eroded away and the alarming site of large oak trees which had fallen into the river.

There was only one other fisherman on the river ……….

………..a Burneside Angling Association member. I had a bit of a craic with him, he was saying it was a bit early in the season….. I then carried on further downstream.

As I was moving down the bank I notice a long black shape move from the opposite bank where the beck ran into the Kent ….

………..across to my bank. I quietly moved downstream to see what it was ……. it turned out to be a mink

I  manged to get quite close before it disappeared. As I moved a little further down stream I spotted another mink running along the back and down into an old oak tree root.

I was only about five feet way and it just kept looking at me……….staring me out. Unfortunately my I-Phone battery ran out. I stuck it out until 1600 and headed off home, it was  not a successful day on the fishing side but a fantastic day for scenery and wildlife.

With the wives going back to East Dereham for a bit of shopping, Paul Lloyd (my brother-in-law) suggested we have another session at Rocklands Mere Fishery…..I didn’t much persuading. The weather in the morning was dull with a bit of rain however the forecast was for an improvement in the afternoon. We set off at about 1100 and arrived at 1145, the weather was fine, overcast with a light Northwesterly breeze it was a tad cooler that our last visit on 17th Feb.The condition looked good with a nice ripple on the water it was a little calmer at the North end though.
WE got set up, Paul started on the first platform on the West bank and I started on the South bank. I opted to fish with floating line again with a single barb less fly on a 12ft leader. I started off using a black nymph casting out into the middle and also in the margins. Paul decided to move onto the east bank I stuck it out on the South bank out for about 15 minutes and joined him on the East bank.

I was fishing just opposite the island. I decided to change fly to a Black Buzzer, the fly I had success with on the previous visit. I was casting out to the side of the island with with a very slow figure 8 retentive and it wasn’t long before I had my fist take and landed a nice (but slim) 2.5lb Rainbow Trout at 1220.

I continued casting towards the island and into the margins and ten minutes after getting my first fish I was into my second this was a smaller rather plump rainbow about 1.5lb.

That was my take limit

…….. so was now onto catch and release. I experimented with various other flies a lures to no avail.

I had a walk round to see how Paul was doing and he told me he lost a decent Rainbow trout around the 3lb mark just as he was just about to net it.I went back and persevered for another 15 minutes and decided to around to the next peg which was also opposite the island.

It looked rather “fishy” this small channel between the east bank and island with a goo ripple. I reverted back to the Black Buzzer and it wasn’t long (1320) before I had my third fish was was safely returned without the use of my net.

The first two would have be released if I had my way but Paul wanted them for the table!

I continued with a very slow retrieve and 10 minutes later I was into another 1.5lb rainbow which again safely returned.
After my fourth fish things were very quite and that proved to be my lot.
Paul moved to platform to my left where I caught my first two fish and changed to a black Buzzer to no avail.

The sun was getting lower in the sky and were a number of rises but we could’t connect.

Paul was having a lot of pain with his “Tennis Elbow” and fortunately for him our 4 hours were up and it was time to pack in. I recorded my catch in the log book and we had a bit of a craic with James, the fishery manager. I will certainly look forward to further visits to this fishery when we return in the Summer.

Haven’t been to Norfolk with my wife since last September so it was time to have a visit with Mrs Dangerous to see her brother Paul and Theresa his wife for a weeks break. The last time I was down we had two sea fishing sessions (this was actually the last time I have been fishing) so we decided on a trip back the Rocklands Mere Fishery. The last time we we were there last June we both struck blanks. This time left the sea gear and actually put my fly gear in.
Prior to the planning in the session I made a visit to Harris Sportsmail to get a pair of Strata All Weather Trousers to go with my Strata wading jacket.
All packed up we decided on a 4 hour session which was reasonably priced @ £15 with a 2 fish take limit Rainbows could taken, Brownies had to be returned.. We arrived at 12 30 the weather was fine with sunny spells and a light westerly wind.
We booked in and the fishery at 1230 and the James Harold the fishery Manager, suggested we tried the north end/ east bank. Although I had plenty of flies I purchased 5 ( GRHE Goldhead, Claret Epoxy Buzzer. Cats Whiskers and a Caddies).
Fishing with a floating line I opted to start the session with a home made Black Buzzer. It wan’t long before I had a couple of take but did’t connect. Paul started the session on the West bank with a cats whisker and had one take but he too missed it.

After that that our session went very quite……not like the chap opposite who must have had about 10 fish from the platform he was fishing from on the east bank.

Paul decided to move onto the platform to my left and it wasn’t long before he got into his first fish … a nice 1.5lb rainbow caught on a GRHE Gold Head.

It wasn’t long before Paul was into his second Rainbow another fish of about 1.5 lb.

I continuously changed flies and the speed of my retrieves to no avail. The chap who had success on the east platform moved so I decided to have a crack there. I changed back to a black buzzer and at last got into a nice 1.75lb rainbow with an hour to go.

The weather changed throughout the session from warm sunshine and calm to rain/ hailstones and strong breezes. It was getting on for 1615 and storm clouds were moving in quickly from the west and Paul decided to pack in, I had one last cast this proved fruitful with a lively rainbow around the 2.0lb mark that must have come out the water about 10 times!

All in all we thoroughly enjoyable session and I will certainly be having another visit when I am down next ……or this Saturday.

With having plenty of bait left from out trip to Weybourne we opted for a different venue and decided to head off to Salthouse. We arrived at 0900 to be greeted by a decent sea ( completely different from yesterday at Weybourne). Paul was off like a shot……………..he just couldn’t wait to get into those Silvers

It was a sunny morning with a brisk easterly wind and quiet warm.

Walking onto the beach we opted to move east down the beach about 150M (that was our/my downfall). With having loads of bait left-over from yesterday we both got set up with two rods. I opted for a single 2/0 clipped down rig on one rod and a 2 Hook Flapper (1 up 1 down) rig on the other rod both with 125gm breakaways. I baited the single rig with lug and cast out ………with disastrous consequence ….got my first birds nest.

I was wondering how this happened and it dawned on me that Paul’s father in-law came round yesterday wanting to know if he had enough line on his on his Daiwa 7HT and about the break settings. I do remember slackening of by break showing him the movement on the spool….and didn’t reset/ check it. I left this rod and baited the other rod with blow lug, cast out and got down trying to get rid of the bird’s nest. After 15 minutes of trying there was only one thing to do and that was to cut the line. Before doing this I retrieved (or tried to) the rig, unfortunately I was snagged and guess what…..I lost my shock leader! Cut the nest out, loaded a new leader and got set up with a single 2/0 clipped down rig. Before baiting this up I reeled in the other rod to find myself snagged and……..you guessed it I lost another leader, loaded up a new leader (my last)……………..and it was time for a move!

Paul managed to get set up and started fishing, opting once again for a 2 hook Rig Flapper and a single rig flapper both with 1/0 hooks on the other with 170gm breakaways baited with blow lug.

We moved back 150M towards the car park and started fishing, there was a very heavy sea on with a slight run on left to right. I fished with just the one rod loaded with frozen black and tipped with either bluey/ squid. Things didn’t get better for me, I opened the bag of Blueys , cut a fillet of and………..I don’t know how I did it….stabbed myself in the palm of my hand, god did it bleed, I picked some wet seaweed up and it wasn’t long before it stopped bleeding……..I must remember this in future.

It wasn’t long before Paul got snagged and lost his shock leader (neither of us had any left)……..Paul was down to one rod. Things were very quite for both of us, bites were hard to detect (if we had any) and I opted to hold my rod rather than use the rod rest for the majority of the time.

Just before high water someone else arrive on the beach and fished about 100M to our right.

It wasn’t long before Paul’s luck finally ran out and dead on high tide (1138 2.30M)

………………………lo and behold he lost another shock leader. That gave him the opportunity to use my other rod …..which he duly accepted.

We carried on fishing until about an hour after high water and decided to call it a day.

Just as we were packing up another couple of lads turned up and fished set up about 75M to our right. I did read on one of the Forums that someone fished these venues from high water to low……………..perhaps we got it wrong!
It was an enjoyable session as was the one yesterday with Paul however and I cannot remember having as much bad luck since I started back into sea fishing last year, he too has not had as much bad luck as that.First thing on the shopping list when I get is for some more tapered shock leaders, Not even my old mate Steve Magee has this much bad luck! I must thank Steve by the way for swapping rod rests with me, mine won’t fit in the VW Golf without it sticking up my wife’s nose. I might just have to plan in a flatty bashing session when I get back up north to try to make my reports a little bit more interesting on the fish front…………….if I can catch one!

I was visiting (from Barrow in Furness, Cumbria) my brother in law (Paul Llloyd) and his wife Teresa (with my wife) for a few days. So Paul and myself had decided on a sea fishing session somewhere on the North Norfolk coast. The last time I was down here we had a trout session at Rocklands. We hummed and harred where to go and decided on a session at Weybourne. I had a look on a number of forums and the web for some reports but it seemed that nowhere was fishing good……..in the end we decided on Weybourne. We had already bought the bait…….blowlug frozen black, bluey and squid from http://www.wroxhamangling.co.uk/. We set off from Taverham ( 4 miles from Norwich) at 0745 and arrived at the car park for 0815. We paid £5 for a car parkin ticket unloaded the car a trundled east down the shingle beach. The sea was calm, it definitely didn’t look bassy but it did look as though it would fish well………….what for I didn’t know.

It was a pleasant morning with the sun shining through light cloud and there was a light onshore (northerly) breeze. The water was very clear and weed free. We got set up and were fishing for 0850 there was already someone fishing just as you come off the car park, we decided to move down the beach about 300M. We both decided to fish two rods. I opted for single 1/0 clipped down rigs on 125gm breakaways both baited with blow lug tipped with squid. Paul opted for 2 hook Rig Flapper and a single rig flapper both with 1/0 hooks on the other with 170gm breakaways once again baited with blow lug tipped with squid. Both Paul and myself put out one rod long and one a little closer in, there was a slight run on left to right. The wives informed us that if we did not catch any fish for the table it would be a Chinese carry out. Paul put the first order in …..just soup he already had the birds nest!

Things were very quite for the pair of us with the baits coming back stripped, it wasn’t until 0945 before there was any action………….. Paul landing a small eater crab……….safely returned.

The only action I saw throughout the session was landing a shrimp @1010, not caught with the hook but impaled on the wire of my breakaway

……..actually safely returned. High tide came……

and the still the hooks were coming back stripped. The wind changed direction to a southerly breeze and it became overcast.
About 2 hours after high water Paul suggested having a other 15 minutes and calling it a day. About 5 minutes later he cast out and straight away he had a knock and reeled in a nice Mackerel.

That gave him ………but not me

Having spent 2.5 hours on the Wednesday trying to pump black lug to no avail (only got 8!) I dug some fresh lugworm yesterday ready for a session today. I wasn’t sure where to go, I was contemplating Kingfisher Car Park (not fished there this year) but decided at the last-minute to head off to Thorney Nook. It was a decent day weather wise with broken cloud and a Westerly breeze when I arrived. There was a good surf on and it looked ……..very fishy.

I arrived at 1030 and there was already someone fishing.

I moved further down the beach to a mark I have fished before. I had plenty of bait and decided to fish the one rod with large bait. I fished a clipped 2 x 3/0 Hook Flapper rig with 125gm breakaway.

The weed in general wasn’t a problem until about 30minutes before high water when there seem to be a continuous “raft” about 10M out right along the beach.

Things were very quite(bait coming back untouched) up until an hour after a high water when I had a couple of knocks………..but missed them! (totally out of practice).

I carried on fishing 2 hours downand decided to call it a day. I had bit of a natter with chap to my right whilst he was packing up and he said that he had one knock but missed it.
Got home, gear washed and packed up ready for a fishing trip to Norfolk next week with my Brother in Law.

Seeing as there was not much water on the Duddon I made an executive decision for Matt and myself to fish on the River Crake. I tried all over to get some dyed shrimps without success so it was off to Tesco to buy some whole prawns. I also managed to dig some worms at my allotment, Matt got some from his garden and Dangerstu (working on my patio) retrieved some from under the old patio slabs…………………much appreciated.
Loaded up the bait/ spin rods and fly gear, packed the worms, prawns, some tobys, sea trout and salmon flies and it was off to the River Crake for us. We stopped off at the Penny Bridge Estate “Lower Beat” by the bridge at Greenodd to see that the river conditions were low, to be honest I didn’t think any thing different. Penny Parrock now have the rights to fish two rods on this stretch between Penny Bridge and A590 bridge over the Crake. To fish this stretch you need to book out in and take the passes that are located in a storage box local to the river. I suggested to Matt that we head off to an upper stretch known as Allan Tarn…………….and he agreed. We arrived at Allan Tarn at 1000.

There was a light run on the river as it entered Allan Tarn from Coniston Water.

View of the River Crake Looking Upstream towards Coniston Water from Allan Tarn

It was a pleasant day the sun was out, it was warm and there was a light Northerly breeze. We both started off floating fishing worm down the river into Allan Tarn. I haven’t fished on Allan Tran for over 10 years and from what I can remember it hasn’t changed much. There is still a houseboat there that I think is/ was owned by an old work colleague of mine (Stuart Galbraith)……….I may be wrong!

We moved south down Allan Tarn, Matt continued with worm and I decided to float fish a prawn.

Prawn Float Rig

It was very quite on the fish front and I wondered if there were any fish about. We moved back up to the head of Allan Tarn and lo and behold a salmon head and tailed about 25M out!

View of me “Work Drowning” on Allan Tarn

We had lunch and stuck it until 1230 and decided to moved south onto the Penny Bridge Estate “Lower Beat”stretch. Fortunately there was no one else on the river and we managed to collect and book out the two passes. We set off down the west bank and it was very difficult to gain access to the river.

I used to fish this stretch over 25 years ago with permission from the then owner of Penny Hall, Major Machell and it easy to get access to the river. A barbed wire fence runs the full length of the river on both sides, the only access it to climb over various gates along the bank. We climbed over one of the gates and clambered down the bank, when I say we clambered, I mean Matt clambered down …..said to me there is a big drop……….. and I didn’t clamber down…………. I fell head first down the bank! We bot float fished worms down the clear water for about an hour without any success and decided to move down to the original road bridge over the river.

There was a slight run on and a decent run where the the river falls over the waterfall. Matt was fishing a pool just before the waterfall and got snagged on the bottom. He managed to retrieve his line and landed this monster 5lb log!

Matt with the Biggest “Catch” of the Day

We moved downstream and fished the fast run off the waterfall. Matt got a tangle on his reel and while the worm was drifting about in the edge he caught a small eel that came off as he reeled in.

We moved downstream onto the other side of bridge where there was a decent run on. I continued with worm and decided to eat what prawns I had left over and Matt had a session with a copper Toby.

View of the River Crake Looking Upstream towards Greenodd Road Bridge

We did see a couple of Sea Trout show about 75M downstream but once again we had no luck. We stuck it out until 1545 and decided to call it a day and return the passes a jot down a report in the log book.

Although we didn’t catch anything we had a thoroughly enjoyable Dad’s and Lad’s day!