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Who's Counting?………….. A Fisherman's Journey

~ My mission…'to catch a trout from a river in every county'

Who's Counting?………….. A  Fisherman's Journey

Category Archives: Suffolk

SUFFOLK

08 Thursday Sep 2011

Posted by Tony Mair in Suffolk

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

American signal crayfish, cormorants, EA, John Anderson, Lark, Lark Angling & Preservation Society, Paul Jennings, Red Lion, Suffolk trout, WTT

Suffolk, my nemesis, PJ !

…’le mien’?

…mais non, Mon Brave Pecheur…lu dessus…

And it is all down to John (Anderson), and his enthusiasm for my mission, and his fulfilment of a promise made after a blank in May.

That day was  an unbelievably hot (as we now know only May was) and bright day, and with weed and reed growth, already  massive, we guessed that the trout on the Lark at Icklingham which the cormorants had disregarded, were probably hiding in the stem and root stock well away from my enticing casts. We saw no rise, nor swirl, nor ‘nothing’ that morning to John’s needless embarrassment. But his company through the morning and a delicious lunch at the Red Lion (well worth a visit…several local ales, and great food) and our endless chat, seemed enough to motivate this retired GP and fisher, to guide me again, knowing that trout streams in Suffolk are scarce.

After two more ciabbattas, and some cleansing ale, we were back on his stream…”I have a plan”, he revealed. And this time we headed downstream to below the weir, where it is very wade-able. His plan involved the PTN, and my set up included a weighted #20 (from Five Rivers Lodge), tied below a bushy caddis pattern with a pink-ish parachute…OK, a float, if you must…and it did feel as though I was trotting (!).

The wind coming off my right hand side was harsh and several casts needed retrieving from the fronds nearby…but just below the concrete weir and where the river had widened to produce a back eddy,

where John had once caught a small pike, one of the few casts which I put below the alder overhanging it, saw the floater dip, and a lift and resistance which became serious, meant I had a ‘fish on’….was it a chub, I worried? It planed (‘kited’ , if you listen to John Wilson) across the weir, pulling very hard and in that erratic style which singles out our preferred species. As it neared, its colours still confused me, but with John leaning to give me his long handled net , I saw SPOTS…and knew! Caution,  caution, caution…this is Suffolk’s only trout stream…and when he was netted, I am not sure whether John’s pride in helping, or mine in achieving (is that the right word?), dominated, but we were both very pleased.

He took the trailing nymph, and the colouration of this fish was unusual…almost orange when he came out of the water. He was  a stocked fish weighing in at just over 2lbs, so had probably been in the river three years.  It took a while to revive the fellow. He fought hard, as such a fish should. But revived, he returned to his eddied lie.

Afterwards we wandered upstream, me casting into the runs, optimistically,  where I missed out before, and did again!

John’s is a lovely fishery…”but dour”, he acknowledged!  But  why?

The water is clear, flowing quickly through lush streaming weed, in which I am sure nymphal life is prolific, even though on this day we saw little fly life (and not a single rise). There were minnows, galore, but few trout. But we saw several  of the species ‘corvus marinus’  and ‘pacifastacus lenusculus’….that’s cormorant, and American signal crayfish, to you and me. Of the latter, I saw dozens, and more than on any other stream I have fished, at the top end of our beat.

The work of the WTT manages stream and flow…and delivers spawning areas….protection of fish stocks is whose responsibility? The  EA?

We must all work together for the long term.

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SUFFOLK

12 Thursday May 2011

Posted by Tony Mair in Suffolk

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Tags

John Anderson, Lark, Lark Angling & Preservation Society

Google ‘trout rivers in Suffolk’….go on, do it!

Not much help from this search engine, eh?! Or most of the others, so patience and persistence was called for.

From my ‘where to’ sites, I chanced upon UKFishersOnline, and made a speculative call to the telephone number given for a ‘trout stretch’ on a river near Bury St Edmunds. I was delighted to talk to John Anderson who listened interestedly as I described my ‘mission’ and he volunteered to help me. I was to call him nearer the time of my planned visit.

As it happened I called him from Amsterdam whilst visiting Son and D-i-L #2, and, GS 1&4.

A lady answered – “Oh, you’re the fisherman!”  she commented….. I liked that!

Everything was quickly arranged after talking to John, and he mailed me a map to show outside which Red Lion pub, we should meet, and from which map I determined that I was to fish the water of the Lark Angling & Preservation Society.

I had found their website, but this informed me that no trout water memberships were available, nor day tickets, so my ‘fortune favours the bold’ approach to John was lucky, and his response was generous (a word which features in this blog several times!)

The site informed me that  –

“The River Lark rises south of Bury St. Edmunds and flows north-west across Suffolk and into Cambridgeshire, where it joins the Great Ouse near Prickwillow.  In its upper and middle reaches the Lark is a lowland chalk stream….”

and

“The Society also has some 6 miles of Fly Fishing water available on the River Lark between Bury St Edmunds & Mildenhall Suffolk

This is a great Fly Fishing experience with Wild Brown Trout in excess of 4lbs and stocked Brown Trout up to 6lbs in Weight”

May 2011 – the Lark

I travelled to Bury from North Norfolk and enjoyed a lovely drive on a beautiful Spring morning with the sun streaming through the coniferous woodlands south of Swafham and the hard wood area of Thetford. The Forestry Commission do a marvellous job in Thetford and the Stag at Lynford is rather special.

John is a retired GP,

so it was unlikely that I would be able to read the content of his hand written joining instructions to me, but  I did and we met at the prescribed time!

A short run to the river and an interesting chat about LAPS followed,

including the comment that ‘not many fish had been taken so far this season’. But, John kindly walked the bank and indicated some likely ‘where’s’, but on a sunny but windy morning, not only was casting difficult into runs between reeds which were already narrowing the flow, inside quite heavily silted bank sides, but there seemed to be little fly life, too. John noted that on a gravel pit nearby, there were six cormorants!

We saw no fish move that morning, (except, for maybe one chub) and I concluded, that in the bright light, fish were in the reedy margins, and my visit’ highlights were confined to good conversation with John, and his kind invitation to return, later in the season.

Eager to see more of the LAPS water, I ventured upstream, and on the road bridge just shy of Lackford, I spooked a small fish, which motivates and means I must return!

Until September, John….

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