A WEEK AT THE NORFOLK BROADS

Hey all!

I have been away on a holiday to the Norfolk Broads with the family. We rented out a boat at Potter Higham called "The Ring Of Light",  a seven berth centre steering river boat with a top speed of 8mph! That's 2mph over the river speed limit. Anyway - we got out this boat for a week, a lovely 11.5 metre long and 3.6 meter wide boat which sleeps 5 - 7

We got there Monday the 14th of August and headed off from Potter Higham down on the River Thurne to a mooring spot near a place called "The Lion Inn". We moored up on the edge of the opening to the boatyard in the midst of open water. We were all full up as we had fish and chips at Potter Higham (And the best fish and chips I've ever had at that!) So we never went out that night, instead I went fishing (as you do when you're on a river). The holiday started off me trying to spin or lure for pike - but then I went off that as I got addicted to the Feeder fishing with my Lineaeffe Feeder rod! But the first night mind you I was only float fishing that day (and night) with the Regency Match rod and Magma reel and I had a few fish out...mostly roach and skimmers, but it was a nice start  to the hols.

Tuesday saw us taking a nice drive to Acle - and quite a slow one at that! But it was a very nice and scenic one. As we were waiting to get there, I was in my room reading the latest issue of IYCF and the bank side bible and taking a few snaps of the area and the boat.

Finally , when we got there I got out the feeder and the float rod and I was away again. I was using that "explosive feeder" groundbait in conjunction with a homemade red coloured breadcrumb I had made with coconut milk in it as well, and it was the dogs when mixed!  I also added some sweet corn, hemp and feed pellets to the mix and that was what I used all week (that mixture) in my feeder. That day consisted of me catching numerous species of fish, on feeder and on the float  - from roach , to skimmers, to perch and even the occasional eel. It was very surprising, considering I was using a size 14 hook on the feeder, every eel I had caught over the week was on the feeder, and all had been lip hooked!

Then night time came and I fished until about 10:30pm - the bites were coming thick and fast, with a nice array of good sized skimmers and perch out, the odd small roach and a couple of eels. Then at about 10:25 - my Lineaeffe Feeder rod started bouncing like mad - I struck into it and I was in. The rod had a nice bend in it and it was fighting quite aggressively - and for a little while, I thought it was a big eel, then it surfaced and I thought to myself... "nice - this is a pretty big skimmer!" I got it in the net and upon unhooking it my jaw dropped - it was a roach, and the biggest roach I have ever seen at that! So out came the Avons, I zeroed them and it turned the scales to 1lbs 4oz - a new PB roach!

My 1lbs 4oz Roach...

Wednesday, we were off to Great Yarmouth and a long journey at that! So I thought I'd clean the boat a bit while we were going there and as I was walking round to get the mop I slipped and was hanging on to the top of the boat! My mum thought it was funny and decided to take a picture of it! I managed not to fall in luckily! There's not really much to say about the fishing in Great Yarmouth, the river Yar was all saltwater where we were but the only saltwater fish in there were eels, and if you were not catching them you were catching small crabs!

Thursday we went from Great Yarmouth back down to Stokesby, a lovely little place near a village with only 200 residents! My sister and I had a fish out on the bank right near the boat, my little sister had a float rod out, I helped her out a bit and she was catching a few nice little roach, and I had the feeder out. I was catching a few eels still every now and then and a few roach, it was all good fun - especially the look of the tip when you get an eel bite, it goes right round...STAYS round and bounces like mad, and the fight is pretty good! I had a nice bite after a few eels and roach and I struck into it and it was a nice skimmer, the strange thing about the bream in the rivers were that they actually put up a bit of a fight! Here's a pic of my best skimmer of that day, not huge but nice none the less...

Friday we stayed in a place just up river a bit and again I caught a few nice fish - mostly skimmers and roach but not to very big sizes. The biggest I think I had out was about 4oz!. But good fun to catch as I was catching one every cast. My dad (who doesn't really fish) and I then had a mini competition to see who could catch the most fish. He said to me that as I had baited up the area I was fishing prior to the mini competition, that was the reason I had been catching much more than him. I then offered him to switch places with me and he accepted, and it was to his surprise that I was still catching much more than him without any loose feed! That was pretty much all we did that day - as we stayed in the pub that night to eat and have a quiz night, we came 3rd overall.

Saturday we went back to Acle for the day as we thought it was a nice place and it was on the way home anyway - I was fishing again off the back of the boat with a float and feeder. The day was not as productive as the last time we went to Acle but the float seemed to produce a nice few perch out - the biggest being this 13oz beauty.

A few roach came out as well as a pretty nice eel about 1lbs on the feeder! The rest of the fish were mostly skimmers and roach but although being good fishing - it still wasn't as productive as the first time we went there in the week.

Sunday we headed back to the Lion Inn on the Thurne where we went the first day as we were almost at the end of the holiday. We finally arrived at the place we stayed at last time ot the Thurne - and you know what I did? I fished believe it or not! Again on the back of the boat on swimfeeder and had a few nice roach out on the float - and my little brother kept feeding bread to an amazing looking black swan that was hanging around the boat. It was good fun that day with nice skimmers coming out regularly averaging about 10 or 12oz each time! I then had a lovely skimmer out at about 1lbs on float but I dropped it in the water accidentally before I could get a pic of it. (OK Ash - we believe you) Around about 30 seconds after dropping the fish had a nice take on the swimfeeder and it  was a nice skimmer again, I thought it was the same one! But this one had a little belly on it and upon weighing it, it turned the scales to 1lbs 4oz, the same weight as the roach! So I had a top joint biggest fish for the week - not that big, but fun none the less!

I then fished until early morning until about 3:25am to make the most of my fishing and had a few nice roach out, but no pics. The only picture I have is of me taking a self portrait with me and my little LED torch in my mouth - the only light I had all night, whilst waiting for a bite.

The next morning came and I was upset that we had to go - but in some ways I was happy, as the bed I was sleeping in was too small for me by about a foot! And guess who had to clean the boat in the morning because ours was the dirtiest one because of fishing!?

Overall, a great holiday - I'd love to go on holidays like that more often but I'm glad to be back!

Thanks for reading all!

Tight lines!

Ash