A combination of work and May weed won’t see me fishing for a while, the local beaches have been full of the stinking, horrible mess. My old mate Tony “Bracket” Allen sent me an e-mail with a couple of pictures of some striped bass from North Beach New Jersey rather than North Beach Great Yarmouth, whilst all this crap’s in the water it’s about how far you’ll have to go to catch proper fish.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel though; there is a big temperature drop and some northerly airflow forecast for the bank holiday weekend and into the middle of next week, no fun for the holidaymakers or kids on half term hols but with a bit of luck it’ll see off the shitty brown mess.
IF (that’s a big if) it does clear and the sea settles for the spring tides at the end of the week, I reckon we’ll see a return of a few better bass and possibly the start of the run of smoothounds. Even then I doubt I’ll get out, I’m at work on days Wednesday through to Sunday, but I may have to burn the candle at both ends for a session if a few fish turn up or any of my so called mates persuade me to go.

Whilst on the subject of so called mates, I spoke to Karl the other day reminding him we haven’t fished together since the 11th May. It’s not that I’m bitter or anything, I have lots of friends, it’s not like I have to go with him. Besides he gave me a proper towelling on an Internet forum for forgetting my money and rigs when I went with Mark to Lowestoft, merciless he was, reckoned I cost too much to fish with. Like me, he’s got little enthusiasm in these conditions so he’s been spending his time on the casting court. He’s been doing really well this year, he’s built a step into his cast and it’s going nicely. Last weekend he had a 224.29m on the 125g lead and a measly 218.90m on the 150g, top bombing by any stretch.

He’s got all the attributes to lay down some top distances over the next couple of years, he’s driven, young, big, strong and butt ugly, pre requisites for tournament casting! I’m only jealous; he’s half a footie pitch longer than me on the field. I can’t remember if I mentioned in earlier posts, him and Johnny even got the leg end back out on the field. He managed to beat the old duffer but Karl reckoned if PK cast with anything other than a tooth pick and put a bit of practise in, he’d be hard to beat despite his advancing years.

Steve picked some bait up from Pete and went locally today (26/05/07). Despite having rubbish conditions the top bait probably made the difference and in a relatively short session of 21/2 hours he managed a couple of schoolies the best around 2lb, nice one mate. Thinking about it if Steve had 2 in that time it must have been fecking heaving! Mark and co. had better luck with the soles as well. Him, a couple of his lads and Daz managed a few off Lowestoft’s North Beach yesterday, proving he can catch them as long as I don’t go with him. It’s not that I’m a Jonah or anything; or maybe I am it could be why none of my “mates” want to fish with me anymore. I’ll get down that way again soon, I enjoy the craic with the lads and I love fishing for sole.

Mark's boy with a nice sole, is it me or does he look like Ashley from Coronation St?

I’ve seen some cracking t’interweb reports from the Holderness coast. Chris Mack and his mates have been bagging up there with big catches of ray, smoothound and schoolies. No mention of the dreaded May weed either, lucky buggers. It still bothers me about the rays and their apparent dislike of Norfolk beaches. They used to be regular catches (at least that’s the impression you get) from off our local beaches but now they seem to miss us out, from the beach at least. They are caught regularly off the Kent coast, into the Thames and Essex/Suffolk estuaries before disappearing then turning up again off the east Yorks coast.

Macky with a cracking ray, why they seem to miss us out is beyond me.

And Macky's mate Graham with a nice Smut, thankfully they don't miss us out!

When I was a kid in Grimsby I used to go long lining with a local guy called Dennis Cooling, god bless him. We used to line for codling in the Humber during the winter then skate off the Lincs coast (Skeggy) during late spring. I haven’t heard of any turning up off the beach around the Lincs coast this year, though it’s changed a lot since I last fished there. Just seems odd to me if they miss Norfolk and Lincolnshire out, the beaches look right for them, especially Lincolnshire, and I regularly find purses on the beach when I’m walking the dog. I’ll have another go with fish and crab baits once the crap in the water clears.  

A cracking sunny day and I had big plans. After dropping Aidan off at school I popped to Brights and paid £5 for 25 rag! £5 for the love of god. Raced home as Johnny was coming round at 10am to go clay pigeon shooting. Mrs Aitch was coming with us for a first shot of her Beretta. To be honest I hoped she didn't enjoy it, then I could've sold her gun with mine and invested in a nice new shotgun. My plan failed miserably, Johnny had her breaking clays within 30 minutes and she now wants to go again!

Johnny left around 13:00, I had a few jobs to do before I could head off to meet Mark Bessey on Lowestoft South Pier for a bash at an early sole or two. Me and Mrs Aitch went out for brunch down the Kingfisher, I've never seen so much May weed, I hoped it would be clear further south. Mrs Aitch had me running round like the proverbial fly before I could finally get changed, load my gear up and head off to Lowestoft.

Got to Lowestoft, it was busy without being heaving. I could see a rod or two along the pier but plenty of room. First job was to pay the extortionate car parking fee and head off to my peg. Problem number 1, I'd left my money in my other jeans! I can almost hear Karl, "not that old chestnut" and "it wouldn't seem right if you did have any money with you Aitch" etc. Stuck. I couldn't think of anywhere to park free so I just abandoned the motor and hoped I wouldn't get a ticket. A short walk up the pier and I picked a nice spot just before the mast lights, a spot where I'd had a few sole in the past. Rods out reels out and where the feck is my rig wallet? Problem number 2, I'd tied a load of hooklengths and rigs up for the jolly Boys trip in June and left my fecking rig wallet on the bench in the garage!

A frantic call and text to Mark and I managed to blag a couple of flapper rigs and some size 4's off him to make a couple of rigs up. Its not right when your not fishing with your own rigs, doesn't feel right to me anyway, but at least I was fishing. I couldn't have faced an hour plus drive to pick my rig wallet up then driven back again to fish. I suppose it was 16:00 before I finally got fishing, high water was around 15:00 and although there wasn't much colour in the water and the sun was beating down on it, I was confident I would catch something. I had some good bait and some nifty cobbled together rigs on top of the fact Mark had a couple of nice sole the other day just a little further north than where we were fishing. Problem 3, May weed. It wasn't as obvious as it was down my way, but on the first retrieve there were sticky brown globules of stinky puss that could've come straight from satan's nostrils. I wasn't so confident now, 4 hours later and an undersized flounder each and it was time for home.

Many thanks to Mark and Daz for making it a laugh, special thanks to Mark for pulling me out of the cart with the rigs and insulation tape for a thumbie! Thanks also to Pipo Inzaghi for winning the European Championship for AC Milan, a crying shame, all those wasted giro's.....

He won't be walking alone tonight, sweet revenge for battering them 3-0 in the first half two years ago only to be mugged by Gerrard in the second half. I feel a transfer request coming on..  

I was going to have a week off, miserable weather, loads to do and my bait has about had it. I got home from work this morning and checked my mail to find a couple of mates were going to fish before the ESFJC meeting..

Shaun had mailed me, him and Rog intended to fish Trimingham for a couple of hours before tonights meeting at Bodham. I had what was left of my bait, I'd just serviced my reels and it would allow me to have a bit of a kip before shooting down there and having a couple of hours. I got to Trimingham around 14:30, the car park was fairly busy, I parked next to what I thought was Shaun's motor. I knew he had a 4x4 so I parked next to this Shogun and looked to see if I could see him. There were four guys to the right of the slip but I couldn't see Shaun and Rog among them, there were a couple more a few groins further right but I didn't fancy fishing there so I hobbled off left as usual.

I walked up a couple of groins, all was nice and quiet, until I got to the groin before the one I wanted to fish. I stepped over the low part of the groin and there's a guy taking photo's of a very attractive blonde babe in a white leather jacket and jeans. I kept my head down (apart from sly looks) and trudged off to my chosen spot. I set up at the waters edge whilst managing to keep an eye on Melinda Messenger and David Bailey. I shit you not, within half an hour the jeans and jacket were off, there were all sorts of porno poses on the wooden steps, the groin and at the waters edge. I was getting so engrossed I nearly missed my first bite!

Coming on a beach near you!

And just to redress the pretty / not so pretty balance of the piece, here's Shaun!

I had a schoolie first chuck about 1lb, it probably wanted to see the readers wives pics being taken next door. The couple left shortly after my first schoolie allowing me at least to concentrate on the fishing. There was no weed but there was no tide either, I sneaked out a couple more schoolies as the tide started to flood quite hard. With it came some loose weed which wouldn't have been a problem in itself except that there was May weed with it. There was the typical scummy, ammonia smelling surf which in my experience is rarely a good sign. I think the fishing will be a bit patchy until it clears, with the forecast this week for a warm settled spell to the end of it, it will get worse before it improves.

Continuing the porn theme, Rog sporting his trademark "dutch porn star" moustache!

I packed up as the weed and tide increased figuring I could get home early enough to have my tea, get bathed and sorted out before PK comes round for tonights ESFJC meeting. Its a shame I didn't get to fish with Shaun and Rog, sure we'll hook up soon, I'd see them at the meeting anyway and find out how they got on.

Rog's turbot, pretty isn't it, you can't say the same about the captor!

S Rog, Shaun and Dave did a sight better than me. Three of them fishing had several schoolies and some flats including the little turbo' above, well done chaps.

PK pitched up around 7:00, we loaded some bits in his motor then it was in to mine and off to Bodham. Tom Pinborough represents anglers on the ESFJC with Steve Coppolo, they are heavily out numbered by commercial interests but fair play to them, they put themselves up there on theirs and our behalves. With Tom at the meeting was Mat Manders a fisheries officer. I didn't take minutes or anything but the upshot is, people like Tom are asking for tangible benefits for us anglers before we get forced into licences, bag limits etc.

Mat Manders basically poopoo'd the "golden mile" which would've created an inshore recreational sea fishery and sanctuary from commercial exploitation, suggested a bass bag limit of 10 and told us that they had no enforcement powers anyway! Laughable really. I get the distinct feeling lip service is being paid to recreational sea anglers. Let's be right if there are 1,000,000 sea anglers and the government introduce a licence, say £20 pa. Of those million anglers 500,000 will buy a licence because they're are law abiding folk and bingo, £10,000,000 worth of revenue for sweet feck all! They don't even need to check a licence or prosecute an illegal netsman or provide us with enhanced sport, they get it for nothing and they know it.

Trust me a licence is coming, don't expect to get more than words for your money though. Lets hope people like Tom and Steve can force their hand and get us some concessions before we part with our cash.

A couple of my regular mates are off our patch today (18/05/07), hope they get on ok, I'm sure they will. 

After last nights fiasco and aware of the fact I won't get much chance this coming week, I set the alarm for stupid, daft, silly o'clock..

I surprised myself when I actually got out of bed at 3:30, I was in young Aitch's bed as he was in with mum, only fair I don't disturb them. The gear was still in the car from last night, all I had to do was make a flask and sort the bait out. I did contemplate going down to Walcott and using fish baits on one rod, but for some reason I just kept driving and ended up at Cart Gap.

High water would've been around 3:30-4:00, I started at 4:30 and had nothing but May weed for the first hour, proper horrible stinky stuff. It was wearing me down when thankfully it cleared. Almost as soon as it did I had a schoolie on crab, followed quick style by a double shot on a pennel and a further 2 in the next 2 chucks. That about sums the session up, a beautiful warm sunny morning, I packed up as the wind picked up and the clouds started gathering. Home by 8:15 gear sorted, toast buttered, ticketty boo.

Cracking morning. I thought these two schoolies were actually one proper fish, bless them they must've been scrapping with each other as well as me.

I'm gutted, I'm desperate for a fish. I met Johnny and Karl down at Mundesley tonight the plan was to fish the flood. Two casts each, one set of gear lost each and weed that would cobble dogs and the session turned into a few practice casts followed by the footie in the pub. Shame 'cos the sea looked good, I've decided to have a go at stupid o'clock as I won't get chance for a while due to work and home commitments.

Johnny bless him, we were sat in the pub and he turns to me and says all dead pan "I saw a weird thing this morning", me and Karl said "oh yeah". "Yeah" he said "I saw a mole and a hedgehog fighting!". "Bloody hell", or something similar, we both said, "who won?". "The hedgehog on points" said Johnny, god give me strength.  

I had a good day today. An old mate I hadn't seen in a couple of years told me him and a mate were going to fish Trimingham on a spur of the moment thing. I arranged to meet them down there, I didn't fish but walked the dog down to where they were fishing. I sat with Daz and Dave for a couple of hours before it was time for me to walk back and pick young Aitch up from school. Dave had managed a schoolie when I left, I'm not sure how they finished up. It was a funny old sea really, nice colour and a little lift in it but no run, normally an hour or two into the ebb there'd be quite a bit of tide, maybe thats why the guys struggled.

Daz has his own website that readers of this drivel may find interesting, check out www.allaboutangling.co.uk there are some good articles on baits and some lively forums.

On walking back I stopped for a babble with a couple of "old" local leg ends, I'll call them Frank Hinge and Tony Bracket just to protect the innocent. Despite a combined local fishing experience and expertise totalling about 200 years, neither of them had managed more than a couple of schoolies. Still it was nice to see them, I wish I'd had more time to have the craic and put the world to rights. Food for thought though I hope I'll still be fishing when I'm that old! I'm giggling to myself but in reality the oldest of them (Bracket) casts as well as I do and Hinge quite a bit further, proof if ever it was needed that there's plenty of life left in the old dogs!!

They know who they are, I hope to see them again soon, good old boys. 

I'm really getting hacked off. The first week (last week) of my fortnight off saw me out and about a lot without fishing, I enjoyed my time but can't help thinking I could've done more. This coming week will hopefully see me out and about fishing. I'd like to go for a shoot too but doubt I'll have the time for it all. My regular partners in crime have been doing everything but fish lately. Karl, Johnny and PK went for a practise cast at Bircham yesterday. Karl was at the UKSF meet today trying to replicate his form at the first meet which saw him finish as top day caster.

Locally a few lucky anglers have managed some nice bass, the ENE winds managed to keep a scruffy sea on for a few days which the bass seemed to like, the winds also seemed to have smashed up the first may weed bloom though I reckon it'll come with a vengeance this week. The forecast has the winds going generally westerly which will warm things up a bit, I may have another attempt at a ray or head southwards and try for a sole.

I did spend a few hours with my old mate Pete last week. He was telling me about a guy he knew who had bought a jack russell terrier puppy. He loved the dog, who wouldn't, he even built a large cat flap into his back door so the scamp could take himself out when he needed to go. One day during work, the guy received a call from his next door neighbour who happened to be a clergymans wife, telling him his dog was running amock in the back yard with part of an appliance. When the guy got home he found rover with a large black rubber thing tearing up the flower beds. Turns out rover had been upstairs under mummy and daddies bed and found one of his mummy's "toys". He'd taken the black double ended dildo out into the back yard to play with! Priceless, luckily for the guy, the bible bashing neighbour thought it was a hoover attachment! Maybe I'm just old fashioned or something, it seems even heads of state use sex toys these days..

Yo' Blair, Cherie's supposed to do that for you. Caught in that position you could mistake him for a Tory minister.  

I had a pleasant surprise tonight as my old mate Actionboy rang up from the front line. He’s doing ok in difficult circumstances but is obviously missing his fishing. He did tell me he can still view this blog and the usual sea fishing forums and asked if I could post some pics of fish seeing as he's millions of miles away from proper fishing! Here's some “library” pictures of me and some of our mutual friends..

Here's a rarity, a smile and a proper fish for Karl! A fine bass of 6lb7oz

A pot belly bass of 5lb13oz caught by a pot bellied angler.

If he doesn't watch it he'll get an ASBO, total lack of respect from the leg end.

Rod Stewart with a nice little spotted ray.

Actually he's not smiling, it's wind. A 9lb4oz smut for chuckles.

You're not missing too much mate, the local beaches have been patchy at best. Looking through some of these old pics has given me an appetite, I'll try and get out and catch something worth photographing. Keep your head down mate and we'll see you in the autumn just in time for a big bass and the start of the codling.