Where Are They Now ?

Who ? The crew from The Mighty Mole boat trips of 2007-2012, that's who.

Left - Allotment Clive - Now an actor, currently staring as Benny in a re-make of Crossroads

Right - Phil Calver -Still fishing and irritating people with his "You're not keeping that, are you ?" bollocks

Below - Smeg Sawyer - Working as a drag queen in Old Compton Street

Below - Goozerman - Worked for a short while as a double for George Clooney. Now a full time hermit in Capel St Mary

Below - Ian Kettle - Coincidently, also working as a double, for Rab C Nesbit

Below - The Mighty Turdster - Preys on vulnerable women on internet dating websites ( this is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. No need to exaggerate for comedy effect in this instance)

Below - (Sh)Anus and Elliot Morris - Emigrated to Winnipeg, Canada

Below - Poodle - Exiled to somewhere in the west country, where he spends most of his time sitting upstairs peering through his binoculars at his female neighbours (much the same as he did in Capel)

 

And for your pleasure, here's some more pictures of the legend that is Poodle Riley

Below - The Mighty Mole

 And a few more........

We had some great trips and I miss 'em. Good company, always a good laugh and usually a few fish too.

Way Out West

Not a fishing trip, but a few hours lure fishing was sneaked in. In deepest Devon for a few days, was walking the coastal path with Mrs Essex Scribbler and when we stopped to admire the view and have a drink I stumbled across a telescopic rod and a few lures in the rucksack. What a lucky find.

A 3" stick worm was set up on a Texas rig and less than five minutes later the first wrasse of the day was on the rocks. Fun on a light spinning rod.

 A decent pollack quickly followed and we continued the walk, occasionally stopping for a few casts every now and again. Well, every few hundred yards actually. It would be rude to go all that way without having a fish though, wouldn't it ?

Moved on to North Devon, near Lynmouth. In Lynmouth itself there were hoards of coffin dodgers and we were probably the youngest people in the town by about 20 years ( well, it felt like it ). The fine specimen below was slightly different from most of the pensioners in the town. This was an Essex version of the coffin dodger. 

About 70 years old, resplendent in teenager's hoodie, with a print of two dragons on the back, a pair of hideous nylon joggers, white trainers, obligatory gold chain, dyed blonde hair, smoking a fag and telling his mate he was "Takin' a bleedin' liberty". Class.

Visited Slapton Sands for the first time in about 30+ years. What a beach. Decent weather and a great trip all round.

More of the same.....

Had a few more bass on surface lures in the river, nothing big, but a nice way of spending a summer evening, especially with the fantastic weather we're (still) having. Another lovely day today, wandered down for an hour and met a couple of blokes I regularly see lure fishing.

Spent most of the time chatting, but managed to wangle a schoolie before leaving at sunset.

Anyone know what this is ? 

Someone said a sea squirt colony. I don't think so. Nothing happens when to squeeze or stand on them.

They are found at the low water mark in the Stour estuary. About as big as a your fist, maybe a bit bigger. They feel "dry" to the touch and are firm.

Over and out.

Success

Had a quick hour long session down the river yesterday trying for a bass on a surface lure. As I arrived a mate was just starting, although the tide was at dead low water and was yet to start to flow.

A few minutes into the flood and Guy had a decent fish on which came adrift. I almost immediately had a take, but the fish missed as it swirled at the lure, several times. Guy hooked another fish which, surprisingly, turned out to be a garfish. A long way upriver too.

Just before dusk a fish engulfed the lure with a big crash and I was into my first bass on a surface lure. Not a big fish by any means, about a pound and a half, but well pleased.

Piking In The Baltic Sea

Well, for a few hours anyway. In Finland with customers who wanted to visit our factory.

"Do you want a traditional Finnish sauna, sitting around in the nude with blokes you don't know, then jump into an ice cold lake or do you want to go pike fishing on a state of the art boat with ice cold beers in the cooler ? " I said. A slightly loaded question perhaps, but they made the correct decision.

They'd never fished before, so I left the skipper to sort them out whilst I got down to fishing ( you've got to be ruthless ). It was warm, sunny, great scenery and it certainly beat proper work. Ended up with a couple of jack pike and a decent perch.There are worse ways of spending an afternoon.

Finished the day on the 18 th floor of a Helsinki hotel drinking cocktails. All in the name of improving customer relations. The sacrifices I make for the sake of the company, eh ?

Estuary Lure Fishing

We like making things difficult for ourselves, don't we ? I know that I could go down to the Stour,Colne or Blackwater estuary with a few ragworm and my floatfishing gear and catch several bass on a half reasonable tide.

To make things more challanging I've been trying to catch them on lures. Which wouldn't be particularly difficult in some other parts of the country where the water is generally clearer, but so far I've struggled around here (struggled = failed).

Lovely evening last night though, T shirt and shorts weather until 10 in the evening. Not a touch though.

I'll have one soon.

Glorious Devon

Just back from a fantastic family holiday in Devon, where the sun shone every day for a week. You won't get anywhere better in the world when you're fortunate enough to have that kind of weather.

I managed to get out fishing most mornings and evenings for an hour or two, armed with a little spinning rod and a few lures. I fished several different rock marks, all within five minutes of the cottage and each trip yielded wrasse and pollack, with lots of missed takes. Over the course of the week I had 35-40 fish, with the three best wrasse going over 4lb, plus a few nice pollack.

 On the second morning I fished I had six takes in the first six casts, four of which resulted in fish, the biggest being a wrasse of 4lb 6oz.

All the fish came on 3 or 4 inch stick baits, hooked Texas style, twitched across the bottom. The most difficult thing was hitting the bites, with probably 60 to 80% being missed. Plenty of cursing and jumping up and down in frustration ensued !

The water was incredibly clear, especially to someone used to the murky North Sea. How I wish we had fishing like that round here.

Sitting on the rocks in shorts and T shirt, warm sun on my back, catching plenty fish on light gear, not a soul in sight. Unbeatable. Catching whiting whilst freezing your nuts off in November doesn't really compare !

Can't wait to get back there as soon as possible.