I'm sick of bloody work. If I'm not at work I'm working at home, the only upside is I haven't missed too much on the fishing front, though its just starting to look like there's an improvement in the offing. I'm on 12 hour days tomorrow and Tuesday then courses Wednesday and Thursday, but me and Karl have a trip in the planning stages for Thursday night before I'm back on 12 hour nights Friday.

I may have some forward scouts going tomorrow, lets hope they have a few. The forecast doesn't look great for the week with the exception of a low front coming over Thursday preceded by some stiffish southerly winds that might just stir the south of the region up a bit. I think the slight improvement in catches over the weekend has been down to the low pressure. Venues that are normally ebb beaches have fished on the flood as well, perhaps the fish have just been waiting for the right feeding conditions and now they're getting a proper feed whatever the tide state is. I reckon things will settle down this week and the regular patterns we know for the beaches will return.

There's been no mention of sprats in recent reports though the inevitable bait robbers are rearing their ugly claws again. I don't know if the sprats have gone or not but if they have and the fish got a good feed of them they should be packing some weight on. I remember last year me and Nobby having a few at Pakefield and they were hollow. These were late fish, I gutted 6 and never took so much as a crab out of them. The crabs weren't much of a problem for the most of last summer but came back with a vengeance late autumn. I remember PK writing about the lack of crabs and wondering what the hell was going on. Sea temperature all year hasn't got much below 8° and I can see lots of things being early this year including the first moult.

I'm starting to think about bass too. I reckon your best chance for a proper one round here is early and late in the season. Last year we didn't chase the early ones as we were still catching lots of codling down South until April / May by which time the big bass had probably moved on and up. If the season looks like its going to shape up the same I'll be chasing the bass this year and giving the cod a break. Me and my mates have loads of things planned for this coming year, trips away, some sorties locally for different species and I'm also going to get myself back up to Bircham and have a craic casting with the lads up there. Its a great way to keep your cast in shape for the coming winter or just to improve with help from some world class casters.

Johnny's been having a play with the rod I bust. He took the tip and just put a tip ring on where it had broken. He thought he might like it shorter but he says its too stiff now. Amazing how losing 3" can change the action of a rod so drastically. We're going to take it up to Bircham and abuse it, see if the extra stiffness can be translated into extra yardage on the field. Right I've to be up at 6am so I'll shut up and go up. I'll report with pics our Thursday trip. 

Following my relatively successful trip to Trimingham with Nobby and Karl, me, PK, Johnny and Steve ventured down to Trimingham last Monday for a dabble. There was still some sea on but the swell had eased considerably and though I thought we'd catch, the weed turned up to put paid to having a proper go. Johnny managed some undersize codling as did me, Steve and Paul. I had the only sizeable codling, one between 1.5 and 2lb whilst Paul had some good whiting on the ebb. A bit of a disappointing session thanks to the amount of weed, it was also noticeable there wasn't a fraction of the tide we'd had on my previous, more succesful session.

More mundane things have taken over since then. I've helped a mate fit a kitchen, painted my utility and fitted some new skirting etc. It looks nice and hopefully I've scored some brownie points with Mrs Aitch. Things generally don't look like improving in the near future and the weather's certainly not helping matters. Now back at work and only able to fit sessions around shifts I'll have to go when I can, though I'm hardly enthused to go. Catches have improved down south of the region but even these seem hit and miss, I think I'll earn some more brownie points and wait for things to improve, they usually do over the next week or so. My usual partners in crime are otherwise tied up too, Karl is working and has courses to fit around work, Smudge may be out and about this week and I know PK went with Actionboy to Benacre today (19/2) before Actionboy's up and coming tour of duty. Good luck to Actionboy, he's going away until October, here's hoping he comes back safe and sound and hasn't lost his irrepressible enthusiasm!

I've been twittering on for weeks trying to get some of my mates to write a piece for my blog, finally Karl has managed it. Despite his looks it's an intelligent piece which basically sums up his luck at the minute. His lack of fish, which is strange as he's an annoyingly good angler, his wifes apparent hatred of her car and her immortal salt in the wound line "the bloke that run into me after I'd put it in the hedge was gorgeous". This hex thing is doing the rounds with my mates. PK had a spell where he couldn't buy a bite when all around him where bagging, how it goes I suppose, lets hope it clears off and leaves the Jolly Boys alone while there's still a few codling about. Right here's Karl's take on our trip last Tuesday night - Aitch.

“The path of life is strewn with cowpats from the devils own satanic herd”.
Edmund Blackadder

“What next”?
Karl Gibson

“Who cares”?
Aitch

Some northerly winds coupled with low pressure saw me, H, and Nobby heading for the ‘gap in the groyne’ at Trimingham. We were going to fish the flood, and with high tide at about 9pm I got down there at about 4. The sea looked sock on as I got out of the car. Within a couple of minutes, H arrived and we almost ran along the beach to our spot and set about tackling up.

I had one rod out and after I’d set the other one up I noticed the first crane over. ‘F@%king weed’ I thought, and left my second rod in the rest. If there’s a lot of weed about I’d rather just use one rod. H on the other hand was being really adventurous and had both rods out.
Five minutes later and he shouts down the beach “I’ve got a fish on mate”! A plump 2 1/2lb codling soon skidded up the beach. Spawny bugger.

My first rod had swung round so I wound it in to find not a scrap of weed. It was all tide. On with a 170g lead and out again. H recast, put his rod in the rest, and then the other one went! This time it was a 3lber. Time to start concentrating now. Out goes my second rod and H recast. Within minutes he had another one just short of 3lb! I’m 3-0 down and we’ve only been fishing for about 20 minutes.

Like a proper mate, H was being really magnanimous, NOT. The shoulders were pushed back, the man boobs were thrust out, and he strutted round the beach saying things like “Haven’t you had one yet”, and “They’re all at distance mate, you cant reach ‘em”.

Sometimes you’ve just got to take it haven’t you. (I expect it to bite me in the arse before long - ed)

Anyway, H managed to miss a bite and land a mini codling on his next two casts and there followed a fallow period. For the next hour and a half there were no more bites or fish, and we gradually retreated up the beach as the tide built, until eventually we were forced behind a gap in the revetment. A light in the distance heading our way was Nobby turning up to join in the fun, and he set up between us.

It’s a funny thing, but as the tide built, so did the sea, and it was getting decidedly rough. This mark is unfishable at high tide when its proper rough and I’ve nearly been caught out here before so I was very conscious of perhaps having to move. My kit was placed right against the base of the cliffs for security, and the night went on.

Half an hour after Nobby arrived, Golden Nads H gets another one about 2 1/2lb. 4-0!!!!! I’m thinking along the lines of taking up golf when the fun starts. I was winding in, stood about 8-10 feet behind the gap in the sea defences when a wave came surging through, followed almost instantly by another. I was knocked off my feet straight into the surf. Don’t let anyone tell you there are no cod about ‘cos the sea’s too warm. It was bloody freezing! I quickly got back on my feet and sorted myself out.

You tell me how 3 anglers of similar ability can fish within 30 yards and only one of them catch fish? They can't stupid, the two blankers are obviously numpties when the sea's full of prime codling like these !

Stick pitched up around 930. The plan was we'd have some breakie then sort the chickens out, then go for a couple of hours fishing. Sausage, bacon and egg later and we're ready for the slaughter. 25 chickens to kill, pluck and butcher would take us to around 4 or 5 at least. High Water was around 20:00 at Cromer, so a 5 o'clock finish would allow us enough time for a quick bite then fishing for 6 and a couple hours either side of high.

Now before I get any complaints from tree hugging, animal rights veggies, I'm one of the majority of people that eat meat. I love meat, I raise my own happy, healthy chickens and I eat them. I don't take any perverse pleasure in killing them, I take pleasure from humanely despatching the bird and preparing it for the pot in the same loving way they were raised. So if your easily offended by that sort of thing, feck off now!

He said to me "Do I look gormless?", is a pigs arse pork?

Stick's a butcher by trade and a good sort to boot. We'd spoken before christmas about sorting them out, but obviously it's the busiest time of the year for butchers, so I had to wait until he was free. So after feeding him, we set to work. Cockerels first then the hens, 25 chickens doesn't sound many but when you've got to dry pluck and butcher them its a laborious, dirty, feathery time consuming job. Hell for one man, but for two having a laugh the day soon went.

Ozzy Osbourne eat your heart out.

We finally got done by around 17:00. We'd been on our feet all day and were both pretty shattered, so rather than hang around the house we had a quick bite and shot off down to fish my local beach just behind the gas sites. It's a bit of a walk but can be worth it, there's some worm beds there and a nice pronounced gulley. The outfall pipes from the gas sites don't pump very often if at all these days but they still provide features across the gulleys.

There was a little surf in the edge and the night was as cold as its been so far. There was a damp, cold mist that hung around until high water too which made it very uncomfortable. We never expected to catch too much and we weren't disappointed. I used some frozen blacks and managed a flounder and a codling, Stick had dug some worms on Saturday and they tempted most of the undersize codling. We never had a single whiting surprisingly despite the sea being right for them, and it's nice too see so many juvenile codling. Every fish we had was between 4 and 8oz and they were all chunky little things, lets hope they make it back next year at 2 or 3lb.

Despite the little codling he still looks gormless!

Tomorrow night (Tuesday) should see me out somewhere with Karl and possibly Nobby, I'll ring him in a bit. That will give me an excuse to give the lump a shove about writing something for here, he's promised me and tomorrow will be fresh in his memory! We may do something a bit different, possibly a venue we haven't fished for a while (or before) we'll see.  

Me, Smudger and Karl went last Tuesday. It wasn't very inspiring really. It was a lovely day to be out and about and there was a surprising amount of sea on, the remnants from a NW blow up off Scotland. I've asked Karl to write a few words as a change from me, be good to get his perspective on things. I'm looking forward to it, he's the only bloke I know capable of multiple sarcasms. I took a few pics too, so here's a few bites while we wait for the lump to drag his knuckles across the keyboard.

Coastal erosion's nowt to do with the sea. Here's where the wind and rain has made the cliff slide, it's like one of those penny cascades at the amusements.

Smudger had the best fish of the day, a schoolie somewhere between 2.5 and 3lb, a stocky fit fish. There's been a few off Trimingham, they're there all year nowadays.

Piscatorial perfection, a sparkling schoolie for Smudge. Karl had one smaller than this on the day too.

If there's a better looking fish in the sea than the Bass, I've yet to see it. They even bring a grin to Mr Apathy, you should see him when he catches whiting.

Speaking of him catching whiting. A double shot of whiting on a pennel, look at the face it would curdle milk.

Apart from a few size whiting a size dab and the biggest schoolie, everything else was undersize, here's me banging it out as far as I can for mini codling and slugs.

PK wishes he could cast like this, he's sick of fishing further out for feck all!

And here's Smudge highlighting a slug for me, bless him. I don't really mind slugs, its not as if you get loused out by them and there one of the few fish that will oblige in an easterly.

The slug's the brown thing hanging off the hook.

All things being equal I'm out tonight with Pete, down the dreaded North Norfolk shingle. I haven't got high hopes but the company's good and I'd only be watching TV if I didn't, I'll keep you posted.

Just for "anonymous" who requested "more pics of that hunk Karl pleeeease", here's one of him at the last Gay Pride carnival, hope you like it!

Personally I don't think lime green is his colour, its too close to the colour of his eyes.