Summer Nights

I have been able to get out fishing far less this summer than I would do normally. Which is a shame really when you think about the fantastic weather we've enjoyed recently and the long clear summer evenings. So when I bumped into Nick one lunchtime last week it took me a nano second to accept his invitation for an evenings fishing.

Its always a relaxing evening high up in the hills at Ogden Res, especially relaxing for my quiver tip which didnt flicker all evening. And relaxing for my Big S plug which swam undisturbed for the last hour of daylight, without being bothered by the lakes resident Pike.
The evening was as delightful as you can get without catching a fish. Beautiful scenery, lovely weather, and the accompanying sound of a Curlew.

Terminal Tackle

Saturday afternoon, saw me back on the banks of the Ribble near Ribchester. I went back to revisit the beat which I fished on opening day, determined that a few tweaks to my set up, and a more promising swim would see me taking a few better fish than my opening day account.

A discussion with Tony in the car whilst driving up the M61 saw me changing from my favoured Drennan Carbon Chub spade end hooks to Drennan Specimen eyed hooks. Rather than using a traditional tucked half blood which i usually use with eyed hooks, i used a knotless knot with the line initially passing through the eye of the hook from the rear to the front. The result of this was that the hook point hung slighlty upwards away from the hooklength and would hopefully result in fewer missed bites.

Those of you who have been following my blog for a while know by now that I have been having no trouble getting bites whilst fishing stick and pin on the rivers, but have suffered terribly from hook pulls and missing fish on the strike. I've tried a variety of hook patterns over the last few years, and have never really solved the problem. I think Ive now cracked it.

I shall add a couple of photos showing the differences with this new set up as soon as I can. The difference in the angle of the hook point when hanging in the water is remarkable using this new set up.

So back to the fishing - I started off in the peg Phil had plundered some cracking fish from on Wednesday - first cast i had a 4lb chub, second cast a brown trout of about a lb and a few casts later a Barbel of about 3lb. Not bad - and i didnt miss any bites or bump any fish.
After this initial burst of activity the swim settled down, and the bigger fish seemed to back off. It was only by resting the swim, that the fish regained the confidence to get switched back on to my maggots.
Tony moved in to a fast shallow swim 30 yds above me and took a succession of smallish barbel and some clonking chub.
As the light faded, we moved 200yds upstream to fish a deep pot of a pool, and again first casts saw me take dace and brown trout, before the swim died. Tony had yet again set up in a deep pool further upstream and took a nice grayling and a barbel of about 3-4lbs. The long summer evening made it possible to fish til 10pm.

I think this change of set up, a decent couple of swims, nice weather and good company gave me my best ever days fishing on the Ribble. A pb barbel of 4lb 4oz capped off a fantastic day.
(photos to follow)

Good Times - A Kamikaze Salmon

Due to work pressures, my time on the bank has been limited recently, and as I cant see any let up in the short term my fishing time is very precious.
Last week saw me out fishing only once, to take my young nephew Ed out for his 7th birthday for an hour at Drinkwater Park.
Its years since I last fished here, but was pleased to help young Ed catch 20+fish in an hour and a half.


June the 16th saw me out on the Ribble with Phil and Tony. Again work commitments resulted in me having to have an early finish. I caught countless brown trout to about 12 inches in length and a couple of dace to about 6oz. I did hook into a couple of bigger fish early on in the day, but suffered hook pulls on each occasion. It was only when i stepped up from a size 14 from a 16 that the fish began to stick.

It was rather a disappointing opening day for me, however Phil and Tony both found the fish later on in the afternoon with them taking Barbel to 8lbs and Chub to 5lb 10oz - jealous? You bet i am.

Lastly I would like to congratulate Tony on catching his Salmon. I doubt anyone else will catch a Salmon using this technique again this year. The story as related to me goes:-
"We were fishing stick and pin for the last few hours before darkness, we had been chatting to the balif of another beat who was Salmon fishing, and he told us that a recent high tide had brought a few pods of Salmon and Sea Trout into the river. We found a nice run, and were stick floating maggot, catching a few small chub, when Pete hooked into a decent fish which didnt move but just pulsed in the flow. Pete decided to give the fish a little extra pressure, and then the fish suddenly realised it was hooked, leapt clear of the water, shook its head and shed the hook virtually immediately. A very big Salmon according to Tony.
Now as the light was nearly gone, we were packing up to go home, but Salmon were splashing in the shallow gravel run, battling to make their way upstream under the cover of darkness. So i decided to have a bit of a laugh and wind Pete up - I jumped into the river and ran across the shallows wildly waving my landing net about, "shouting come here salmon - this is how you catch em Pete" and then all of a sudden i must have nearly trodden on one, and up it jumps into my landing net"
Here is the fish and a very lucky angler.

It does make me chuckle thinking about this, as Tony must have looked a real sight charging about in the river. Some people spend thousands a year in the pursuit of Salmon, and then Tony goes and has a kamikazi fish jump into his outstretched landing net.
Brilliant - i would loved to have been there.

The big problem now is that I am really lagging behind on the seasons List. I have a grand total of 12 species, whereas Phil is on 15 and Tony now on a runaway 17. Looks like I've got some fishing/catching up to do.

Hopefully i will be back on the Ribble in Phils swim on Saturday evening - knowing my luck probably catching tiddlers again.

And Again

Yet another Manchester River suffering a pollution incident. See link to BBC website for details.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/10307127.stm

And theres still no news yet from the EA about a prosecution for last years devastating pollution incident on the River Irk.

Casting A Line

Now the rugby season is over, Matthew now has the energy to spend a few hours on the river with his old fella on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Armed with fishing gear, wine gums and a can of Irn Bru we spent a happy couple of hours catching small brownies from the river. Fishing doesnt really feature on Matts top 10 list of favourite pastimes but hes a good lad who will humour his dad (I gave him a choice of long bike ride or fishing - hes a typical teenager and chose the option which would expend least energy).

Fishing a single grhe, we took a few little browns. Matts casting technique is unique yet effective but you cant beat the feeling of landing a beautiful wild little fish.

Monday evening saw me out on Kingfisher Lodge for a couple of hours after work. Rather than tiddler bash, I decided to have one last try at seeing if there was anything bigger lurking in there. Fishing a small method feeder with corn as hookbait, I only had one bite all evening from this lovely tench of about 3.5lbs.

After being informed by the housekeeper that I'm getting a pot belly I've decided to wipe the dust off my pushbike. This has resulted in my having a little route around some of the local lakes, and its interesting to see what people are catching.

Two in a day?

Nothing for months then two in a day !

I had no bait in the shed, and only 4 slices of bread in the cupboard - so three slices went in the blender and one into a bag for hookbait.
Left the house at 8.30pm. Strapped 5m whip to my pushbike, and was fishing on Kingfisher Lodge 15 minutes later. Packed up at 9.50pm - I could still see my float but was being eaten alive by midges.
Fishing punch at a depth of 18 inches, and flicking in the odd thumbnail size ball of liqquied bread I couldnt stop catching tiddly roach and rudd. I've never had a fish over 6 oz from this lake yet, and was intrigued to see bubbles fizzing in my swim. I think i will return with hemp and caster one evening and hope for a surprise.
Fished a flick tip whip for the first time in about 10years!

Catch Up

There been so much going on in my non fishing life over the last 9 months, that fishing and blogging have had to take a back seat.
Luckily, fishing is like a favourite old jumper, it always fits, can be picked up or discarded at will but always feels right while your wearing it. The same goes for blogging, enjoyable sharing experiences, but not necessary to keep doing whilst nothing interesting is taking place.

My recent wedding has really kept me off the banks, I didn't even take a fishing rod on honeymoon despite having the weak argument that "its meant to be a holiday for me too".

So other than an enjoyable trip out fly fishing on the Ribble with Phil and Tony, May seems to have been a write off as far as fishing is concerned.

Now life seems to be returning to normal and yesterday afternoon, saw me with a few free hours - so i naturally headed off to my favourite stretch of local river, fly rod in hand, to spend a few hours scrambling upstream in search of a few brown trout.

The gods were smiling on me as I took fish after fish from each pool and run I cast into. A duo of grhe and black spider accounted for fish from a few ounces, to a biggun at the end of the day which was a good few pounds but escaped the scales, and my landing net by throwing the hook at the very last moment.
My early season worries that the fish had disappeared seem to be unfounded - thankfully.

The coarse fish in the lower reaches of the Irwell, are now migrating to their usual spawning spots despite the Environment Agency doing their best to dig up spawning gravels at a critical time of the year.

For those who are interested, now is the time of year to take a walk around the smaller basins of Salford Quays or over the footbridges of Lower Broughton with your Polaroids on - the fish you will see are amazing. The shoals of roach and bream can sometimes reach seem to stretch from one side of the river to the other - a Serengeti like migration of fish from the Ship Canal into the River.

This evening should see me out roach bashing in Philips Park, the coarse season on the river opens in a couple of weeks, lifes circle keeps turning.