Puffer Fish

Puffer Fish.

A quiet hour in work gave me the opportunity to do a little fishing.  Cast in inch pieces of finger mullet and lost a lot to crabs, but having a good pull, struck and reeled in this monster! A Puffer Fish.  I was quite surprised by the amount of spines on its little body, and was relieved when another fisherman came across with gloves to remove the hook and return it to the sea. 

A lot of the fish here seem to be armoured with spines so I have now invested in a pair of gloves.  Though trying my best to keep fishing gear to a minimum, it is starting to expand! 

Norfolk Naval Base Fishing

Not the usual view from a fishing pier.

Mighty USA ships in the back ground.

Hot Friday afternoon on the fishing pier.  Good to see so many out attempting to catch fish.  Everyone from lads with spinning rods, trying for half and hour, to a couple of lads who had enough kit to fill a fishing store.  I caught one small shad, and lost two more.  Lots were trying to catch crabs as well; dropping baskets baited with chicken legs.

Racoons raiding the bins at Botanical Garden

Raccoons up close

Walking in Norfolk Botanical Gardens the other day we came to the picnic site under the pines down by the lake.  As we walked towards the covered area I saw a ringed tail disapear into the bin.  Even closer we saw another masked bandit sneaking up the post of the shelter and hidding in the roof.

Not many walking round today as it was a showery day, so the wildlife was closer in than usual.  Below is a lovely white egrit we saw as we crossed one of the bridges.

For the first time this year we also saw dragon flies.  I am sure they have been out sooner, we have just not noticed them.  Below is a picture of one taken by the veg plot shed.

Norfolk Naval Base Skate

Norfolk Naval Base Fishing Pier.

Started fishing at 0615 after looking up the fishing tides for Norfolk.  This web site gives you tides and more and suggests the best fishing times.  As I have no clue as to the right time to fish over here I have stuck to its suggestions.

The weather was slightly overcast with enough wind to make casting difficult.  I cast out two pieces on squid with my pier rod and then set about trying out my new bait caster reel on my spinning rod.

Predictably second cast in resulted in a a bird nest of line, which I was thankfully able to sort out without too much trouble.  After resetting the reel drag and casting more carefully I soon got the hang of it.  And very nice to use it was too.

After an hour I tried the pier rod to find a fighting fish on the end.  After a good fight I was able to land a nice male skate.  15 minutes later I caught a fine female skate which I landed on the rocks as my rod and line were protesting at the weight.

Birds in Norfolk Botanical Gardens

On a cold, sunny day Nic and I took a walk round Norfolk Botanical Gardens.

Not sure what type of wood pecker this is.  It back was not the usual black and white.
However later on we saw an easier identified Downey wood pecker

Later in the Italian Garden a great crown of American Robins were digging up seeds in the flower beds.

I think tis one is a female.

Frosty Fishing

A cold morning fishing at Rose River Farm. I wondered why my casting was getting harder and harder. 

Ice freezing up the rings. 

Still managed to land two nice trout. Slow retreats with small orange blob. 

Rose River Farm

As a Christmas treat my wife booked a fishing lodge on Rose River Farm, the idea was she could enjoy the peace and quiet in a lovely cabin and I could fish.

Rose River has a lovely stretch of river which is well manged but still challenging.  However I first fished the three ponds on the farm.  In the small pond outside my cabin on the first evening I caught 9 rainbow trout, running to a pound and a half.

The next morning I drove over to the main farm and fished the main pond.  I had numerous bites on a TQ blob and finally landed a couple of Bass

Great fun, they gave a hard short fight.  My fly rod was way too heavy and I should have brought a light 4 weight, nevertheless these were great to catch.

The next morning I had the opportunity fish the river.  I do not think I have ever had such good fishing on a river.  The fish were fight fit and I lost a lot more than I caught including a three pound monster who rolled of the hook when I got my net tangled.  Ahh the ones that get away.

This is definitely a place I will be returning to again.

The evening saw me trying to catch Blue Gills in the small pond.  I have never caught these or Bass before so it was a new challenge.  From my reading before hand the trick apparently was to present the fly and then leave it with as little movement as possible.  This technique seemed to work and I brought this neat little fish to hand.

Lovely marking but no real fight.

A wonderful time in a wonderful part of the world.

Rose River Farms Web Site can be found here: http://www.roseriverfarm.com/