Winter is under way

It's been pretty mild so far this winter, in fact last night at 6pm it was still 10dgc.  But Winter seems to be coming with Northerly winds hitting today and the temp dropping to 2dgc!

Since my last Blog, the club has lost its shooting down Bludeston - so no more Sunday sessions for me and Henry ;-(  but they have now  secured some marsh at Burgh St Peter, opposite where we used to shoot which has great promise.

Me and Henry took a trip to find the marsh on the 1st Sat afternoon it was open, and thought we'd bitten off a bit more than we could chew.  The truck's 4wd is playing up, so we couldnt select low range and soon found ourselves in the deepest mud you could imagine!  To get to our piece of shooting you litterally have to drive over 8 marshes, with no track what so ever - as you can imagine the gateways where the cattle stand were knee deep in soft mud.

Anyway, we got to the top and found geese all over the marshes!  but after debating whether to stay or not we decided to head off to Haddiscoe as neither of us fancied driving back in the dark without another vehicle to tow us out if we got stuck.

Back home and safe we started to hatch plans for a session the following Saturday.  Both Ian and Darren wanted to come along, so we met up at 4.45 decoys in tow and headed to the marsh.  the track was even worse due to the farmers moving the cattle off with heavy machinery, but we made it (just) to the field and found lots of signs of goose activity.

The only bad thing was we'd timed out trip with a full moon and the geese were already out and feeding !  we made our way to where i thought we could set up and put the coys out and waited.  It wasnt long before the geese were moving (not flighting) but they were very shy of our coys and seemed like they had been hit hard over the season.

3 geese came low down the dyke, flighting more than heading for the coys and good ole Bro let them passed for Henry to take a shot at - unfortunately he stuck two shots in front of the lead goose and forgot he had a thrid one in the barrell !!  I jumped up and dropped the last bird from the pack.

A bit later on, we had about 1000 birds above us, swirling and calling but not dropping in.  One bird came low and swung in,. I stopped Henry from shooting it, being sure the others would follow - but nothing ! they just flew off ...   as the goose lifted from the marsh Henry made good of shooting it, so at least we now had two in the bag.

As we packed up Ian managed to stand on an old piece of wood with a nail stick 4inches through it and pierced his welly and foot !  we couldnt help but laugh as he told us how it 'hit the bone' only to find a little pin prick of a mark.

Not a bad session, but not sure i will be back due to the track

Summer is well and truely over

Well another summer has come to an end, with not as much fishing as i'd have liked (but isnt that always the way) car trouble and working on the house just kept getting in the way of fun..  Even this blog has taken a hit, with not many updates being done!  so lets look back and capture a few things while i can remember them.

Back in June - Beth hit a landmark and turned 16...   she's as independent as ever and i never really get to see her much these days - there's always a party, concert or boy to visit ;-)

My beautiful girl turned 16 !! 

13lb Mirror from Henry's first 'All nighter' at Broom pits

Me and Henry actually managed to get the Bivvy out for more than a day session - and managed to bag this nice looking low double mirror at Broom pits.  We were plagued by small fish hitting the baits and caught several skimmers, but after dark they all moved off and the carp started to feed.  We had 3 'runs' the first didnt take the hook, the second produced this fish and the 3rd resulted in a snap off.
The following morning and Henry had some fun on the rudd, I havent seen so many decent rudd in ages and they would even take a bare hook (just like they used to when i was a boy fishing brooke mares)  Some of them were well over the lb mark, this picture doesnt do them justice, but they shone like gold in the sun.

1lb rudd

 

July and it was turkey hatching time ready for christmas.. Jimmy was a real charecter as a chick - just hope he (now a she) turns out to taste nice in December !

roger aka Jimmy Cricket

 Then it was time for Rogers annual birthday fishing trip in July - and this year the birthday boy actually caugt  a Bass  - it was around the 3lb mark and tasted gorgeous- just a shame it was the only fish we got



 We even managed to fit in a trip to Cornwall (Polzeath) again. such a great place, the kids loved the surfing as usual and Paul, Roger, Henry and me took a trip off Newquay fishing. Unfortunately Henry discovered he gets sea sick just like his dad and only caught a mackrell for his efforts. I got snapped off by a tope and caught a mackrell and a nice sized dog fish. Roger had a bit of luck and caught 2 lovelly bream and Paul got a ling 1/2 inch under size so it had to go back.

 

Henry with Rogers Bream
 

while we were there Dad was looking after our place and was kept awake by 'strange noises' in the chimney.  when we got back i rescued this poor little chap.  he had been in there for 7 days and I had to look after him for 2 weeks before he was strong enough to make it on his own.  How strange it is that hunters like me who think nothing of killing such a bird for the table when out shooting, wont think twice about rescuing a bird that's found itself in trouble.
I even suprised myself on holiday and got hold of some golf clubs.  Paul is Sh1t hot at the game and put me to shame.  But luckily Roger who has only taken up the game recently put me at ease and didnt thrash me too badly.  Henry is quite a natural, maybe all the time he spent down the gym should have been on the gold course!



Our golf cart - they should build these for the marsh!

Newquay harbour - being watched

A pint of propper job at Rock while the women shop
at Padstow



Then the shooting season kicked off..  No fowling to begin with due to warm weather and too many chores still to do.  Besides that me and Henry love to get the air rifles out if its nice weather in autumn, and we have had some truely amazing shots.  One session saw 3 pigeons taken at 50+ yards and one paced out to 80 paces !

 It was October before we got the shot guns dusted off.  and our first trip was a 'Walk up' at Hellington with big cuz Ian and then a flight on the Broad. The walk up was fun and produced 2 pheasants and 3 partridges.  I took the best driven partridge i have ever shot.  about 45 yars up and going like stink to my right.  I would guess about a 50 yard plus shot, clean killed in the air.  It hit the ground so hard it totally smashed the body up and pushed it's guts out the back.  I think it was rocket propelled

October 13th saw our first trip on the broad with 1 mallard and 2 Gadwall accouted for.  Then our second trip at the end of October produced 1 Grey and a mallard to Henry, and a mallard to me.   The freezer is filling up nicely, and we are starting to enjoy some lovely roast dinners...

The eyes say it all  - 1st session on the Broad & happy to be back

 

Henry on 1st October



I never get tired of this view

Henry on our second trip at then end of October -
1 Grey, 2 mallard and a shoveller 

On the Slaughters - a quick rain storm

 

 

 

 

It's been a slow start this year, but a personal best is always welcome..

Well, it's that time of year when the fishing rods get dusted off and the
Tench / Dog fish & Bass are on my mind.  However this year has been blighted with a particularly cold Spring including more than it's fare share of Easterly / Northerly winds.

The beaches have been really quiet, with no reports making me want to head to the beach, so my efforts have been concentrated on Broom pits after Tench.  A couple of fruitless sessions and an appetite to actually catch something led me and Henry to the small carp pit, and he managed to pull in 10 fish to 8.5lb in an evening session fishing free lined bread on the top.

Beautiful 8.5lb common 'off the top'

small tench in the same session - 1st i've seen caught off the top



nice mirror - again caught off the top on bread



Big Cuz had also lined up a 24hr session on a Norfolk Pit, which i must admit put me a bit out of my carp fishing 'comfort zone' but I soon got the Bivvy up and the baits out and managed to spawn my personal best (by a long way) carp of  24lb.  Talk about get the adrenalin rushing !  apart from that the session was quiet with just 2 more 'runs' / line bites which proved fruitless.

24lb early season Common (Male)

 Ian did ok - he managed to pull a 'New Bird'  he said it looked a bit cold and very kindly kept it warm in his bivvy over night !

 

Our little fishing home

A couple of weeks with relatively warm weather saw me heading back to the 'Tench Pit' with Henry for an evening session, it was bites from the off but other than a perch and a skimmer nothing was getting hooked.  As evening fell the fish started rolling in the shallows, so we changed where we were casting and instantly had bites, most were missed (presumed line bites) and others connected straight into the weed.  But we did manage to get a couple of big 'dustbin lids'  mine fought like a tench, i've never had a bream take line like that before, it was a real old scrapper.  and surprised me that it only went 6.5lb on the scales, so will be checking that they are accurate. 

Henry loves to do the cooking - bacon & Sausages

This ole boy had some kind of limpets on his head! 6.5lb Bream

Henry's was obviously a younger fish, and was just shy of the 6lb mark which is a PB for him.  Not a bad session -we will be back soon.





Henry's bream not weighed but estimated as just shy of 6lb. 
caught while we were packing up on his 'last cast'



A day for the record books

Since my last post, things have continued along the same vein with Ian and myself heading out each weekend after the woodies, but struggling to get a 'big flight'.

We had some 'fun' in a snow storm shooting Dodds field opposite the 3 horse shoes, with a bag of around 40 birds in 3 hours, but the 35mph NE wind killed us off and we had to pack up before we froze to death.  I swear i haven't been so cold since i was a nipper and Dad used to take us sea fishing.  Following this we hit  a 60 bird morning in one of Lenny's fields Yarmouth side of the McDonlads round about, before the flight line dried up.

Ian kept an eye on the field all week on his way to work, and the birds were still hitting it hard in the cold weather (its been around 3dgc for weeks now).  and on the Friday he made a call that we would go back for another attempt on a different flight line.

Wendys car was in the Garage, so I couldn't get out until 8am - which knowing how they have been feeding shouldn't really have been a problem as they weren't coming out of the woods until mid morning.  However on this particular day there was already approx 500 birds down on the ground before the frost had cleared.

We took our time and made a good hide at the bottom of an oak tree and then set out the coys.. The first birds were soon in -but keeping wide of our 'kill zone', but this didn't stop us, with both me and Ian being 'on fire' and hitting pretty much everything within 50yards.

As our pattern built up, so did the birds confidence and pigeons were now coming in nicely - allowing us to make the most of each group with pairs and triples hitting the deck regularly.  On two occasions, the action was so intense we were shooting as fast as we could load and each time we walked out to collect the birds we picked up 22 !  that's 44 birds in about 10 minutes...

It was so manic, we were struggling to find time to eat or drink !  but the action slowed a little mid  afternoon allowing us time to refresh ourselves and for me to take out an overhead magpie at about 70 yards (not easy through the branches of an oak tree)

Towards 4pm we were getting low on cartridges, so Ian went to 'pick up' in the near by woods leaving me alone in the hide.  I wanted to make my last 11 shots count, and managed to take 10 woodies with them - nothing special I admit, but when you consider I wasn't holding back and took a triple, 3 doubles and an almost impossible high bird out of the 11 shots it puts a whole new perspective on things.

Neither Ian or myself knew how many birds we had, but we knew it would be near or over our previous bests.  It took us about 2 hours to clear up ! and sort the birds out to be counted.  the final tally was far in excess of either of our expectations / guesses with 350 pigeons and a magpie picked up !!  What a day ..

Poor old Derrick will be kept busy gutting that lot ;-)

A day after woodies

Since the end of the season, Ian and myself have been out for a few days trying to get into the woodies on the rape with little success (by our standards) with a 35 and a 47 head count.

The birds are moving in really big flocks, hitting a field hard but then when scared off, not returning - but choosing to hit another field instead.

Last weekend the sugar beet on Cook's farm was cut and this centralised the woodies a bit, with several hundred hitting it at one point.  Ian couldn't come out to play so i thought Henry would appreciate a bit of sport on the blue's.

With the birds feeding hard on the field all week, it was one of those nights where i just couldn't sleep with anticipation of getting Henry into a big bag of them!   the wind unfortunately wasn't playing ball and could only muster up a 5mph NW, which while in the right direction for the field wasn't enough to get them coming hard into the coys.

Henry waiting patiently

Being as there were houses near by, we decided on a 7.30am 'shooting start' and got to the field at 6.45 to set up.  immediately the birds were in the area looking to land and our harts were racing ! i set up as quick as i could on the brow of the hill, then got the decoys out with Henry helping.

Our hide for the day -with our new piece of 'Ghost Netting'

He then got to rally drive the truck out of the way, while i tidied up..  and we got ready for it to start...... we waited eagerly for the first bird in, but it never seemed to come...  all the birds were going over and straight to the rape 2 fields over ! then something put them off and Henry got his first chance, which he missed (probably due to not holding a gun for 6 weeks).

Our decoy patter with Rotary in the distance

This happened every 20 minutes for a while, with him missing and me cleaning up - then he found his mark and started hitting them 'in the face' with only the odd bird getting away Scott free.  Its fair to say that the morning was slow, but it picked up in the afternoon, giving Henry the chance to take some testing birds - one he paced out to 60paces, another screaming bird over, and a his first double - although it got discounted as when we went to pick up one flew off ;- (

End result was 34 pigeons, a happy boy and a proud dad..

I don't know if he's smiling about the pigeons or the joy ride he just took around the field

One last trip for Henry

Henry was feeling better, so we decided to give Bludeston one last look before the season closed.  What a difference 24hours can make, the snow had gone and the temperature was up to 9dgc, but with the strong wind chill, it was still cold outside.

We headed down the byway, enjoying the off-roading as usual.  No getting stuck today, which was a bonus! and we were soon on the marsh with the decoys on a splash, trying our hardest to hide from the wind by laying on the edge of a dyke.

Nothing was flying, so other than a shot a snipe there was nothing to keep us entertained until darkness fell and the woodcock started to fly.  It was once of those nights that no matter where Henry stood the birds came over me.  I had 3 woodcock down and missed another 3 and all he had shot was a bush which got in the firing line..  Then 5 teal nearly took my head off and i added one of these to the bag, a cracking shot from Henry saw another bush take full pattern (if anyone knows a good recipe for eating bush, could they let Henry know).

Another season done, and some great memories stored...  Now i suppose its onto the pigeons, pike and then later in spring some Tench fishing !! bye for now

Two of the best shooting companions I could ever have...

The last weekend

Well here it is, the last weekend of the 2012 season!  Ian took the Friday off and after a poor start on the pigeons headed down to 3 sisters to see if the duck were still using the river in the hard weather.  Unfortunately his knowledge of the track was not all that good, and with the snow covering the Tyre tracks he ended up bottoming out in a 2ft hole...  after digging for a while and using some car mats and a padded unhooking mat to gain traction he managed to break free - only to find himself stuck again 200yds further down! 

Ian standing in one of the ruts he got stuck in,the photo doesn't
do it justice, but it was at least 2ft deep mud

The spade and mats were deployed again and this time he wasn't stopping, so went all the way back to the rail line and walked the 2 miles back to the river!   his determination wasn't really paid back either with any duck that came his way either  being pricked on dropping on the far bank.

He wasn't too keen to go again Saturday morning, but being as Darren was on the broad and Henry was still ill with a cold he agreed to keep me company.

I was certain that I could get to the end of the track and also that we would see a good number of duck during the morning flight...   We got up to 35mph SW winds, driving a blizzard !  it was truly minging.. We got to the track and despite Ians cautiousness I hit it hard - avoiding all the holes i knew of, but i had't accounted for the fact that the permafrost had melted leaving a right  sludgy bog at the bottom of the track to the cow pen, trying to get up a small incline saw me bog down to my belly pan!  there's nothing quite like that cold feeling when you lose traction miles from anywhere!  the spade was soon into action, clearing snow and breaking the wheels free.  15 minutes of cold sweat and i was heading in reverse back up the track as fast as i could to some harder ground where i parked up.  I was so relieved i totally forgot to close my window and left it totally open for at least 3 hours while we were shooting, returning to find my seat and dashboard totally soaked !

The trudge over the fields seemed twice as gruelling due to the deep snow and defrosted mud below, it was just like walking in the soft sand down the beach.. We were also laden down with decoys and a rod to deploy them, thinking the extra allure of decoys would see us bag up.

Male Hen harrier

Smew - fish eating razor billed ducks
rarely seen inshore

We got to the river and spent a while trying to get the decoys to land properly and settle, then as twilight broke I waiting eagerly for the teal to start flying!  We waited and waited, but nothing took to air, no geese, no duck no nothing!  then we were entertained by some smew which gave us a close look, and then another glimpse of the Hen Harrier we had seen the previous week.

Determined that we would see something, we waited and waited - then we heard the familiar Plink Plink of some pinks and saw them coming from Somerlayton direction, we called and they responded, heading our way and dropping all the time, soon they were 30yards up and just over the rail line heading for the splash and feed bin, looking to land - suddenly they spooked off the feed bin and followed our call to the river, but by now edging 50yards.  They got to Ian first and he stoned one out, then had trouble with his second shot (a miss fire)  at his first shot the geese spread their wings and anchored hard against the wind, i got a shot off as best i could hitting one in the rear, his butt spun out but as usual my chance of getting lucky in the rear end wasn't going to happen.

With a goose in the bag we decided to head for home.  I got some nice shots of the dogs (not that i was bored and looking for entertainment)


Ian with his Pinky in his hand

My old boy Mr Ben

Ian's dog Jake