Shooting and Fishing in Norfolk page 2

Norfolk has long been celebrated for its pike, and Norfolk anglers boast of the largest fish ever taken in England being killed in their county. The pike in question was a magnificent specimen, measuring exactly four feet in length, and weighing on the day after its capture 36 lbs. Other recorded and well authenticated specimens are fish of 33½, 31, 30, 29, 27½, 26, 25½, and 25 lbs., while fish of 1 5 to 20 lbs. are taken every winter. Norfolk had, for several years produced the heaviest fish of the season till the winter of 1898-9 when singularly enough the largest fish was caught in the Thames, but even then the eastern county was only beaten by ½ lb.

Pike-fishing in Norfolk ii quite a winter sport. In the summer and autumn numbers of pike are caught on spoon and other artificial baits trailed behind yachts and rowing boats. It is rare however for any of the monster fish to be thus taken. The angler, who would become possessed of one of these giants, must obtain the requisite permission to fish one of the preserved broads in December, January or February. Then the fish are generally sufficiently on the feed to enable the angler to get some sport, and on a really good day on a first class water, bags of a dozen or more big fish may often be obtained. The best day that the writer has ever participated in produced fourteen fish, ranging from 7 lbs. to 24 lbs., to two rods.

Perch are found in all the rivers of Norfolk, but not in a sufficiently large quantity to be worth specially fishing for. This is a great pity, for the perch is the very best fish to be found in the district, both for its determined fight for life and liberty when hooked, and also for its excellence on the table. And for its personal beauty is the perch admired. The perch's lovely coat of mail, barred with five stripes of black, and adorned with fins of the brightest vermilion make it one of the handsomest of fishes. The only time when any great bags of perch are made is when the roach are depositing their spawn at the sides of the rivers and dykes, and the perch follow them up and eat this spawn as fast as their appetites urge them to. At the beginning of June, when this is taking place, fair numbers are caught near the lower entrance of Wroxham Broad, the baits used being a lobworm or minnow fished as close to the bank as possible. When the angler is using a lob or brandling as a bait for bream, he sometimes comes across a shoal of perch and they are also frequently taken on both live and dead baits when one is fishing for pike in winter.

Bream are to be found in all the middle and lower reaches of the main rivers of the county, the muddy bottoms of the broads and slow flowing rivers being eminently suited to their sluggish nature. When well on the feed, they may be caught in great quantities, as many as twenty stones weight having been taken in a single day's fishing by two rods. The bream is rather a pretty fish when young, being bright and silvery, but when it attains a respectable size, it is a great brown creature, slow and heavy in movement, giving only moderate sport on the hook and being useless when caught although there are some people who eat the bream and profess to like it. Bream spawn in the last week of May or the beginning of June and are then rarely taken, however much the angler may try to tempt them. When engaged in this duty they are worth seeing. Immense numbers of great fish, rolling about on the top of the water in all directions, some with their back fins above the surface, all so busily occupied that they have no time for eating or anything but the business in hand. Bream attain to an immense size in some of the waters of Norfolk, the largest being those found in the Wensum above the mills at Costessy. These fish are not natives of the stream, but were put in some years ago by a resident of Drayton, and have grown to an enormous extent, specimens of seven pounds to eight and a half pounds being occasionally taken. I am happy to say that I have the largest yet caught, a fine fish of nine and a quarter pounds. On the Yare and Bure fish up to five pounds are taken every year.

Roach are found everywhere in Norfolk, as in other parts of England. Like the bream they thrive amazingly on our rivers and broads, and grand specimens are caught frequently. The largest roach in England are to be found in this county, the finest specimen on record being in the possession of the Norwich Angling Club. This fish weighed three pounds two ounces, and was caught in the Bure at South Walsham. On November 2nd 1899, a roach of two pounds fifteen ounces was taken at Horning. Roach are out of condition at the same time as bream, and therefore should not be fished for during May and June.

Tench inhabit the broads in considerable numbers, but owing to their shy disposition are not very often taken by the angler, except during hot thundery weather in July and August, and then only a few are caught in comparison with the immense number which must exist in these waters. The summer of 1899 was particularly favourable to the angler as far as these fish were concerned, several up to four and a half pounds being taken.

Rudd abounds in such waters as Barton Broad, Heigham Sounds and in fact in most of the broads connected with the Bure, and give capital sport to both bottom and fly fisher. A strong fish with powerful fins, the rudd takes a lot of handling, and unless its determined rush to get under a favourite boulder be checked at the outset the angler will stand little chance of bringing it to the net. The rudd (or Roud, as it is frequently called in Norfolk) is somewhat like the roach in appearance, but its fins are redder and its general colour rather more golden. The distinguishing feature is the position of the dorsal fin, which is at some distance behind the ventral fin instead of being directly over it, as in the case of the roach.

Ruffe are so numerous as at times to become a nuisance to the angler. On some days one catches nothing but ruffes, and great then is the angler's chagrin. Poor little ruffe! If only it grew bigger, it would be considered one of our most sporting fish.

Eels, like ruffes, are often a great source of annoyance to the bream fisherman. They inhabit all our waters in countless millions, and seem to be always hungry and ready to take the angler's baits. Immense quantities are caught during the year by men who get their living by their "eel-sets"; these "eel-sets" are large nets set across the rivers at intervals and into which the eels swim at night in their migration to the sea. The eels taken are sent to London and other large cities, where they command a ready sale and fetch a good price, Norfolk eels being second only to those of the Lincolnshire fens.

I have said nothing about the carp which, although plentiful enough in the Yare, are very rarely taken by the rod fisherman. Every year they may be seen spawning in the vicinity of Surlingham, but it is some years since one was caught on rod and line.

The roach and bream fisherman will find July and August the best months for sport. Let him try the Yare from Brundall to Cantley, the Bure from Wroxham to Acle, or the Waveney between Beccles and Somerleyton and he will find - granted favourable conditions of course - that he will soon fill his basket with the various species of fish with which these rivers abound.

The tackle necessary for fishing these waters are, first, the rod, which should be from twelve to fourteen feet in length, light and stiff, and fitted with upright rings of fair size to enable the angler to cast far enough to command a reasonable swim in front of him. A free running reel, of about three inches in diameter, is the most useful, and it should hold at least thirty yards of fine silk line. For floats, one or two large pelican quills and some smaller ones of goose or porcupine quill, or perhaps even better, a few of the reed floats one generally finds in a Norfolk angler's basket, will be ample for both roach and bream.

Let the angler be careful to fish with gut, finest both in quality and thickness that he can get, for on this will depend in a great measure his success or the reverse. The hooks, it need scarcely be said, should be of the best, and tied on gut rather finer than the cast. A landing net, disgorger, and a capacious bag or basket in which to carry tackle and fish, will complete the outfit, and the angler may then proceed to his fishing. Most fishing in Norfolk is done from boats, which are moored parallel with the stream, a little way from the bank, and in as sheltered a position as possible, with mooring poles well driven down into the bed of the river. Having fixed the boat, the next thing is to plumb the depth, and set the float at such a distance from the hook that the latter shall swim along just clear of the bottom. Now throw in the ground bait, which may be of boiled wheat, barley meal, or that sold ready for use by the tackle- makers, and put on the hook bait. This should be a lob or brandling worm for bream, and for roach a piece of bread paste or three or four gentles. The line is cast into the stream in the direction from which the tide or current is coming, and allowed to travel down past the boat without check, unless the bait be taken by a fish, in which case the float will be drawn down, or at any rate slightly agitated. On seeing this the angler should at once strike. Let this be done smartly, but at the same time gently, so as not to endanger the tackle or the hold on the fish, and let the fish be played carefully yet firmly, keeping it at the top of the water till exhausted, when it may be drawn to the side of the boat and lifted out with the landing net. Now a fish is landed; now a fish is lost, perhaps to scare away the rest for a time. Should the latter happen, the angler must throw in some ground bait to entice the fish back again round the boat. The great thing to be observed in fishing these waters, particularly the parts nearest the sea, is the constantly varying depth, which necessitates the occasional alteration of the height of the float on the line to ensure the hook always keeping on or near the bottom of the river. Should the water fished be much affected by the tide, the angler will find it much to his advantage to substitute a ledger for the float tackle. In using this tackle, which consists of a length of gut to which are attached two hooks, the line is cast out in a contrary direction to that recommended for the float tackle. When this is done the tide carries the line away from the angler, and, pressing on it, has a tendency to keep the bait in its proper position on the bottom, whereas, if it were-cast upstream it would be constantly drifting in toward the angler, and he would with difficulty tell when a fish had taken his bait. In fishing with the ledger it is absolutely necessary for the angler to keep perfectly still, as any movement of the boat prevents the feeling of a bite, and it is only by the feel that one can know when a fish is at the bait. " One of the best baits that can be used on a ledger is a large piece of bread paste, as big as the end of one's finger. Let the hook be buried completely in this, and a handful of ground bait be squeezed round the paste. The ground bait will soon be washed off, and the hook bait exposed_to the fishes' view in the most attractive manner. Sometimes fish go off the feed in a most unaccountable manner. In this case, if any pike tackle be handy, it is often worth laying it out to try to get the marauder out of the swim, if it is his presence there that is keeping away the roach and bream. If no pike can be caught the angler should try the effect of more ground bait, but be careful not to feed the fish too much.

Fly-fishing on the broads is a delightful pastime. An ordinary trout rod and line and any of the thick-bodied flies will do well enough, the best, perhaps, being the red and black palmers, the black gnat, governor, and coachman. Sometimes a bunch of six or eight gentles on a fair-sized hook, cast like a fly, will be found very killing. Whichever is used, it is as well to have one or two slices of bread moored near the reeds to attract the fish and keep them together, and also to form some sort of mark at which to aim the bait in casting.