The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.122 – Long Nights and Lazy Man’s Loads

After a great chilled family holiday it was back to the daily grind this week, and the ever increasing need to fill ones coffers, top up ones reserves. A ridiculous amount of Mixcloud catching up and some good TV with her in doors got me back in the mood again luckily as I thought I would struggle. So this week episode 3 of season eight of Game of Thrones titled “The Long Night” aired on Monday and had some viewers wondering and moaning why the heck was the epic Great Battle of Winterfell, filmed in the dark, yes you couldn’t make it up.

Luckily for me as a social media avoider I only caught snippets of some of the comments as I’d have only taken to one keyboard post rum and that wouldn’t be a wise idea. For me it added to the atmosphere and cinematic experience of what has been a TV series unrivaled up till now, and for more to watch lots of TV is rare these days.

And yes the battle was epic, an hour and twenty minutes of it !!!!

Maybe I was spoilt as the Wife and I viewed it on a HD projector which when projected on the wall the image is >90"'s. and like many projectors it helps that the room is dark anyway. Now it took my Wife a good couple of years to get me watching it, and it was the promise of boobs, battles and gratuitous gore that eventually persuaded me to dedicate some of my valuable free time to it. After a few weekends of splurging and binging we caught up with the latest episode, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Unlike my Wife, my brain cannot absorb a novel, music is my thing you see where I can properly zone out and get away from it all. So luckily for me she is on hand to fill me in on any GOT question I have, because it’s based on a novel after all, a very complicated one at that. She should go on Mastermind, ok, she might have to skip the general knowledge questions !!!!, but get to the specialised subject of #GOT she would clean up for sure.

So now the Night King and the Army of the Dead is no more, bring on Queen Cersei Lannister who is the widow of King Robert Baratheon and Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. She is the daughter of Lord Tywin Lannister, twin sister of Jaime Lannister and elder sister of Tyrion Lannister. So who will sit on the iron throne at the conclusion, after the last episode I know who my money is on...

....can you see what I'm getting at !!!!

She would certainly have more success than I’m having with these canal Zeds, as fishing for them is off a little at the minute, because of their preoccupation in all things more exciting, they don't appear to be feeding. So I decided to fish an area very much forgotten, a stretch with potential as it was not 'that' far away from the ‘deep bit’ where some nice canal Zander have been caught, 3 or 4 fish over 5lb and one of 7lb 8oz, that’s rare I tell thee from such a small area.

This stretch has remained on ones radar for a while however despite only fishing it a couple of times, and those times to be fair, my usual regimented approach ended up being rather lackadaisical.

I blanked, both times !!!!

Results were therefore poor but there is no reason why there shouldn’t be here, because let’s face it, Zander are here to stay, and in numbers too, and when the waters are beginning to warm, the fish get on the move. Now I did think about visiting an area patrolled by a battle-axe harbouring under her bridge waiting for unscrupulous anglers to accost, but that would be put off for another week or so when ‘Nora ‘could be caught off guard and I could sneak unnoticed via the neighbours backdoor.

With the geriatrics and holidaymakers beginning their fair weather cut cruising the boat traffic will only ever increase from this moment forward, so my session apart from this one will be early mornings or post tea in to dusk jobbies.

Sometimes when it’s cold and the silt gets lifted from the bed by the boats propeller, that can shift a laying up leech covered Zed off the bottom, and it can often bring bites. However when it’s warmer and they are moving around more it can be more of a hindrance than a help.

There are stretches that I know that are quieter for sure, but for me I want sessions on my terms, having to move floats frequently can become a pain in the backside and I often cut sessions short because of it.

A boat moving at 7.20am, what’s all that about !!!!

Now a change for this short afterwork session as I’d leave one of the deadbait rods behind, and replace it with a lure rod equipped with a bright green shad.

The theory was a threat of from an aggressor might spur a fish to at least have a go, rather than dormant looking at a washed out piece of smelt waiting it to do something.

These are predators after all, they cannot but help acting on their inbuilt instinct. Green out of the all the colours I use when lure fishing for them, does seem to be the most consistent if a bite is required.

This area is nice and open as well, with cover on the far bank so the 400 metres or so could be covered nicely with a lure, whilst a deadbait tight against some cover would be used as a sleeper, with the weather about to turn to being cold again, it was just nice to be out.

Now the session didn't go too well, a dumped poo bag right where I wanted to fish, a small motorboat went through and caused a wake like no other. A small dog off the lead jumping up at me "Sorry, I've been trying to stop him doing that",it was raining as well so much of it was sheltered under a tree. Not long in to the session though I had a bite on the lure which ended up being a small jack which ended up dropping off as it was nearing the bank.

When two more boats went through I decided to up sticks and drive to an area which is a veritable banker. It's home to a fish of 8lb 10oz which is in my title banner but there are fish here in numbers more often than not. The float had been out for twenty minutes or so and sure enough after staring at a blank with a motionless float and a lure unhindered, the float bobbed, and bobbed again and it sailed under. Not a huge fish, probably not even 3lb, but most welcome all the same.

From this day forward and to project my sanity, early mornings and post dinner in to dusk sessions will be the order of the day.

The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.121 – Cutting Ropers and Cunnus Thumbers

Oh to live the narrowboat life, the claustrophobia, cassette toilets and confined showers. That blazing argument with no doors to slam, those members of the gongoozleing fraternity watching your every move. Now this session didn't start very well to be fair, I was back on these poo riddled canals we have to endure with a bang !!!!

You see how dare I point out to a very irate corridor dweller who I eventually I awoke from his slumber, that his barking and unleashed dogs, who were following me down the towpath, were not only being annoying with their unpredictability, but were releasing chocolate hostages in unison. Not only that but in such a random fashion to trouble any seasoned battleship player, let alone some trying to trace their unseen dogs footsteps.

I’ve seen those that live on the water, dump dog poo bags on the middle of the towpath for all to see, once they have left their moorings, irresponsible dog walkers with their poop machine Charlie defecate on the towpath and verges in plain view.

Out of sight, out of mind seems to be the order of the day. Even those that do pick up their mutts poops and bag’it often leave them hanging off trees like Christmas decorations, what is all that about? I can take you to one particular spot on the canal with literally hundreds of bags that have been dumped over time.

Sadly it’s the few that spoil it for the majority, canals are a shared space after all, be it, cyclists, anglers, ramblers and who those that just want an escape from the city. The reality is for someone that walks more canal in a weekend than any boaters will ever do in a two weeks, or even four the amount of dog excrement that litters the waterways is seemingly greeting worse. Luckily the river season is peaking its head round the corner.

And no I’m not a miserable old git, dog waste tainted public spaces, is right up there with the main complaints from the public to the authorities. I’ve had to clean it off Sam’s Bike, his shoes and mine, my landing net handle and bait bucket. Stick and flick it if you really have to, just don’t leave it for others to have to endure, it really is disgusting and there is no need for it. 

Now talking of disgusting, even the ones you stumble upon that look like a Saag Paneer like this one I made the weekend after feeding your dog tit bits, at least make an attempt to clear it up, just don’t leave it for others to discover. 

Now an early form of paneer is said, by legend, to have been made accidentally in saddlebags during the Mongol Empire. As the nomads rode their horses from settlement to settlement with the desert sun beating down, the milk they were toting mingled with the rennet lining their rawhide bags, curdling into a sort of proto-paneer. Despite these early origins, though, paneer didn’t make its way into Indian cuisine until the Mughal Empire. 

Paneer only requires two ingredients to make the creamy cubes, milk is heated and an acid (often lemon juice or vinegar) is added, and the resulting curds and whey are separated. The curds are pressed, and there we have it. Paneer that can be eaten fresh, cubed and fried, or mixed into any dish. Now, back to the matter at hand Saag Paneer.

Around 2000 BCE, when the Ayurvedic cooking tradition found its legs, people likely prepared chopped mustard greens in earthen pots with yak’s milk. Saag in Hindi means “leafy greens,” which accounts for the combination of mustard greens, spinach, fenugreek, and other leaves in traditional saag, but, in its earliest form, mustard greens were the main event. 

Palak, meaning spinach, drives the quite common variation palak paneer, so if the menu says palak instead of saag, you can expect to see only spinach among the cheese cubes. The difference between the two isn’t huge. Saag is now typically made with spinach in addition to mustard greens. In the present day, heavy cream has replaced yak’s milk. When cubed, fried paneer enters the equation, the dish becomes saag paneer.

“Mick, you’re well off track now”

The reality is, the fishing didn’t go to well. The fish in reproduction mode you see with temperatures as they should be at this time of year, the usual hotspots, floats motionless, it was tough going, two dropped takes that was it, at least there was a couple of people interested in talking about what I’ve been catching in and around these poop paths.

So a blank !!!!, I'd say nice to just be out, but for this session it will be filed with those I'd rather forget.

At least the spring has brought some much needed colour to the drab canal banks, heck with the Zander with minds on other things, I might dust the carp rods off. 

Appledore – Shrimps and Sheepskin Fiddlers

Grade II listed and one of the oldest properties in Appledore, Dock Cottage was home for our weeks family holiday. With a prime location and panoramic estuary views over to Instow just added to the character of the property. A large patio area to dine, crab and occasionally fish off I was looking forward to the Easter Break. It's been a long time since Christmas and New Year and the daily grind was taking its toll.

Now Appledore, famous for its narrow streets, colourful fisherman’s cottages and boat building centre dating back many years is a popular holiday destination all year round, but my Twin Brother and his 3 daughters lives down this neck of the woods now having moved from Coventry, so it’s always good to catch up. Especially as a pub crawl is always in order, and shared time away from the kids to put the world to rights.

Appledore has always been a sea-faring place, with free-port status. In the 1580's there were 15 vessels and 115 mariners registered here. Many of these sailors are understood to have helped defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588.

Fishing was a lucrative trade in the 16th and 17th Centuries both in the Bristol Channel and further afield as far as Newfoundland. In the 18th & 19th Centuries Appledore was in the deep-sea & coastal trade and many brigs were used to import domestic goods from Bristol & Liverpool, and coal & limestone from South Wales.

Dock cottage where we were staying was apparently the residence for the owner of the Dock in days gone by. Construction started in 1853 and was completed 3 years later. This entailed the demolition of some alms-houses close to the site, and the construction of outbuildings, rigging lofts, saw mills and smith shops.

When finished, the dock brought work and prosperity to Appledore, not only in ship repairing, but in many other maritime trades, from boat building & sail making to rope making & chandlery. The resulting Dry Dock was 330 feet long, 36 feet wide, and could hold 2 large vessels at once. The first ship to be sailed over from Prince Edward Island, and brought into the Dock, arrived on 17 July 1856.

In more recent times with the onset of World War II in 1939, there was plenty of work: old wooden sailing ships were converted for barrage-balloon defence; motor gun-boats, landing-craft & wooden mine-sweepers for the Admiralty were needed. The contribution of the workers to the war effort cannot be under-stated. History here in abundance.

As I’m typing this though the current dock owners are seeking proposals for the use of the dry dock, as work dried up excuse the pun. Luckily the site is recognised as being of special historical importance, it is Grade II listed, and has the potential to be a Maritime Heritage Centre, which if realised, would contribute towards the general regeneration of the North Devon area. The UK likes to look after its heritage so let’s hope they can sort that out pretty quickly.

It didn’t help that one of the more recent companies to run it were taken to court and eventually prosecuted over noise and also because of water from the estuary was seeping into the dock and becoming contaminated with oils, sludges, paint and dirt from dismantled vessels. Instead of containing any contaminated water, FTD Marine Ltd pumped it back over gates and into the estuary. !!!!

That’s no good is it, so maybe a heritage centre would be the best use for it, a recent proposal and subsequent refusal by the council for flats and large-scale redevelopment of Richmond Dock was upheld by Secretary of State, so I’ll be watching with interest what they will eventually do with it.

Now out of the many watering holes to be visited, the Champ public house is one of my favourites down this neck of the woods, some fine Clearwater Brewery ales on tap (bottled ones are poor), live open mic sessions most evening and barmaids like they should be, you know, a proper pub !!!!

The weather had picked up as well because the 3 or 4 weeks prior, the bitterly cold wind really did hang around far more than I’d liked, and I was ready to pack ones winter coat. But with daytime temperatures in to the early twenties, it really had kicked up a notch. So much so, my Brother would be hosting a Barbi on the Sunday such the upturn.

To be fair we do well for the weather in the UK when we’ve holidayed here despite every year adding to the CO2 issue by venturing to far flung sunnier climes to be able to don the shorts, wear the rays without having to look at the weather app. Get good weather and location in the UK, it really is hard to beat.

We had quite a lot planned for the week round and about, but just being able to get out every day in to the fresh sea air everyday works wonders for mood, especially as the environment I work in doesn’t have any natural light. Fish and Chip always taste better when you’re by the salt, shore and sandbars, but then everyone knows that don’t they.

Being so close to the water, yes I did bring some fishing gear. A float set-up and also a lure rod to trying popping for bass that worked in an area not far from where we were staying.

The float, well hadn’t a clue what I’d put in the hook, I was trying to find some live shrimp when I was down here as I watched a YouTube video with someone catching quite a few schoolies on them.

If I couldn’t get any of them I’d try bread, lugworm or even some artificial living shrimp feathers I’d impulse purchased off of Ebay.

Tide times printed off, tackle down to the minimum, targets in mind !!!!

We were really lucky with the weather with only two shower dodging days, the start of the week reached 23 degrees as expected.

When you've a view of the estuary over to Instow it an ever changing picture they I could never tire of. The boats, the birds, the changing tide and weather. Ben was in his element taking every opportunity to spend time outside.

Gulls, Oystercatchers and other birds were very active , shame the fishing wasn't. To be fair after the 2nd lure fishing trip to some rocks a short walk away where I'd caught Bass before, I decided to fish right off the deck when the tide was up, well for crabs. Where in one particular hour session with my brother and his kids over we managed 33, all falling to smokey bacon.

A bleeny even wanted in on the act, but the other fish were not forthcoming despite trying a few methods to catch something.

A trip to Bucks Mill, Instow and Hartland Quay is was a busy week, it took 2 hours and 50 minutes to get down down without a stop (left at 6:15am) and it took nearly 6 hours with a nightmare service station stop, just before Bristol.

I love this part of the world though, it feels like England from a time gone by, we'll be back. Now need to dust off those Zander rods.