16th June 2018

Fishing again 

After a fairly long lay off from fishing, I decided that to get back into it, another holiday was needed.

We booked a week in the Norfolk Broads at Potter Heigham in a cottage beside the River Thurne.
The cottage was excellent with all the equipment needed for a home from home stay.
We booked through https://www.riverside-holidays.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/MAIN-PAGE-DOC-2018-without-bleed.pdf  and stayed in the Haven.
It will sleep 6, at a squeeze, but was very comfortable, and roomy, for the two of us.

I had decided beforehand that I wasn't interested in skimmers, I was determined to try and just catch roach.
Fishing was to bewith no groundbait, just loose feeding with a bucket of hempseed, and casters from my freezer.
No maggots!
I bought half a kilo of dendrobaener from Worms Direct, and for a test, some of their "worm enzyme concentrate"
After the drive of about just over 2 hours we arrived, collected the keys, and paid to park for the week.
Quite conveniently, there was an old boy offering a "river taxi" service down to the cottage for £10, so all our baggage and my tackle was loaded on board and off we trundled, under the bridge and down to the cottage. It was stated that this was no more than 600 yards, I think it was more, judging by our 10 minute daily walk there and back to the village.

As stated, the fishing was literally on our back doorstep.
What I didn't realise was that the Thurne is tidal, and running through, in both directions at a fair lick!
 I decided to fish with my Drennan float rod and my Youngs Heritage, and to use the stret pegging method at rod length.

So, the first few hours after arrival on the bank, were getting the method right, fishing with worm as bait, and droppering hemp and casters doused in the "enzyme" along the run.
I thought I had the method right, as I started to hook into perch, roach and.....skimmers.
Then as it was beginning to get darker...eels! 3 on the trot up to 2lb ish.
Decision made, don't fish with worm in the early evening, so, to the cottage patio for a few drinks before bed.
For the next six days, I fished firstly from the crack of dawn, and later.... a little later, and then back again in the afternoon/evening for a few hours.
Fishing mainly with sweetcorn as bait, fortunately the roach took this bait better than the skimmers, so I carried on using it, with the occasional switch to worm when all went quiet.
My best roach was 22ozs. Roach were by far the most obliging, only one true bronze bream of around two pound, and perch upto a pound on the worm.
I should say, that my 2nd bucket of hemp/caster mix without the "enzyme" didn't bring me the bigger perch, so perhaps it deserves another try?
I  fished with worms again in the early evening, on my last evening. Who is it stating that eels are endangered?
I couldn't stop catching them, one after the other in my 30 yard stretch of river.

All in all, a fine return to my fishing experience.

Beer
When not fishing, we were sightseeing, having never been to The Broads before, timing our journeys to coincide with the appearance of a real ale pub for a lunch stop! All pre planned...of course!
Of those we tried, including the Woodfordes Brewery and pub, our best experience was at the
http://thewhitehorseinnneatishead.com/ , an excellent selection of beer, and very good pub grub.