The Magic Of June 16th...

This entry was posted on 25th June, 2013

The Magic Of June 16th...

The new river season was upon us, the plans had been made many weeks previous, the tackle was serviced and the bait was prepared, we were ready to go for another season.

Fishing with AD Norwich shop manager Andy Flint, we planned to launch his boat from Rockland and take the short steam up river to the popular fish holding area’s of Bramerton and Postwick, where we would moor the boat and fish from the bank as soon as the clock struck midnight.

The initial part of the plan ran smoothly, meeting around 5.30pm and launching the boat around an hour later, we took a leisurely steam up to the chosen fishing spots. For me it was the first time I’d been in a boat on the river in many years and throughout the half hour journey I was transfixed with the amazing beauty of one of the country’s best waterways, I suppose being on our doorstep the whole Broads ecosystem is a little over looked and almost taken for granted!  The birdlife was immense, as what seemed like every hundred yards, Andy was pointing out a different species of bird, with Herons, Kingfishers, Sparrow hawks, Cuckoo’s, Marsh Harriers, and numerous species of Ducks and Geese and even a Buzzard all making an appearance.

As we arrived in the area we planned to fish, we spent a few moments surveying the bottom, making sure we were 100% happy with the spot we would be fishing. We opted for an area on the corner of a bend, an area which offered around 12ft of water about 30-yards out, a nice comfortable chuck from the bank. The mud weights were dispensed and the pre-bait groundbait was laced with a good dose of corn, micro pellet and caster before being balled and deposited in the water, covering an area about 20 yards squared.

When pre-baiting for any species, but particularly Bream, we never like to bait an area too tightly, as Bream are shoal fish, you want to make sure that if a huge shoal of fish invades your spot, that they have room to manoeuvre and to feed comfortably. By doing this, it also heavily decreases the chances of line bites and foul hooked fish.

With the area primed with 4kgs of groundbait and goodies it was time to get tackled up and to set up camp for the night. We moored the boat on the bank and set up camp, the rods were clipped to the baited area, fresh rigs were tied and a new batch of feeder groundbait was mixed. It was around 9.00pm and we were ready to go, it was now just a case of waiting for the three hours before the clock struck midnight.

The three hours soon passed, the ‘Tea Station’ was in full swing and regular brews, along with a disposable BBQ kept us busy, as well as comfortably fed and watered.

As soon as the clock struck midnight the rods were baited, one with a pair of Dendrobeana worms the second with a single grain of corn. Both were cast to the baited area, entering the water with a familiar ‘plop’ which could just be made out in the moonlight, as they settled on the rest our eyes were fixed to the glowing isotopes on the tips of each rod.

It was the first time I’d fished the opening day of the season in many years, due to many different reasons, but sitting on the bank at 12.01 on June 16^th was pretty special and I know lots is often discussed about the fact we have a close season, but I for one still agree with it.

Anyway, on to the fishing…

I think both me and Andy thought it would be fish from the off, but how wrong we were, in fact we fished hard until dawn without even a single sign of activity. We put the lack of action down to the unseasonal cold weather, as throughout the night we’d been restricted to our brollys, wrapped up in all our winter garments. Not something you expect in the middle of our so called ‘summer’.

Dawn brought a new burst of enthusiasm, as the sun offered some welcome relief from the cold it also brought the first sign of fish, with Andy landing a ‘typical’ Yare Bream of around 4lb. For the next hour or so the session burst into life and the river fished how we had expected it to from the start, as a steady, if sometimes slow stream of Skimmers and Bream graced our net. Unfortunately the fish seemed to disappear as quickly as they had appeared, as once again the swim died and with the sun climbing higher and higher in the sky do did our chances of a bumper haul.

Around 9.00am we decided to call it a day and slowly started to pack away the tackle, before heading back to the moorings. It had been a thoroughly enjoyable session, even if a little devoid of fish, but that’s why it’s called fishing and not catching…

We vowed to return to a slightly different area of the river next time, so watch this space.

Until then Tight Lines

Andys Tackle Box: Korum Accessory Chair Preston Telescopic Feeder Arm Nisa Open Ended Feeder Daiwa Connoisseur G Feeder Shimano Aero Feeder Reels