Woolacombe surf pumping

Surf trip to Woolacombe  which served up the goods with a pumping head high swell and strong offshore winds. A bit of crew me bro, Rich W, Paul and Tim met up at Taunton. Can't say I had a great session with really tough paddle outs and blind take offs - still if you were fit and up for it there were some great waves to be had. Only caught a few big ones. Surfed over high tide it gradually decreased over the day and the stiff SE wind dropped. Should have gone in a bit later when things had calmed down but sometimes you have just gotta get out there without the risk of conditions deteriorating. The session was a good bit of exercise and kept me in touch with the ocean. Mild with some sun and no need for gloves or hood. Photos were from after I'd come in on the dropping tide when things were looking more manageable.

Rich on a nice left

Summers return in November and the Carp on the feed..

A really mild sunny day on the lake today with Common Darter dragonflies sunning themselves on the bank side vegetation. Red and I started on the Rainbows. I managed two on an olive Shipmans and Red had one on small olive Klink.

Common Darter - thinking its spring!

After an hour or so a few Carp just started to break surface. I noticed a nice double figure fish just under the surface 20' out. I had a dilemma do I stick with my 8'6" Greys Xflite 5 weight or do I rig up the 9 weight. In the heat of the moment I went for the easy option and quickly switched leader to an 8lb fluro chucked on my foam bread fly and cast right on its nose. It turned inspected then engulfed the fly in slowmo. I lifted and hit rock solid resistance. It never really ran but sort of used its dead weight to lunge from side to side. After a bit of a tussle Red helped me net, only just about in the net incidentally, a pristine Common Carp of over 10lb - my biggest on the fly to date. I caught another Common at about 2lb before the now resident inquisitive Mute Swan's finally forced me to head for the river.

Fished the Chew for the last few hours of light on coarse gear. The river was in good form with a nice flow and some colour. Loads of trout rising. Caught a couple of Dace on worm after I'd scaled down my tackle to a Size 16 on 3lb line. Met Rich Denning Keynsham Club president who had had good days fishing catching Chub, Dace and Grayling.

Dace from the Chew