As the proposed Salford Friendly Anglers match had hit the skids, I had a free day - so took the opportunity to have a few hours on the lower Ribble after roach, dace and chub. I invited along the lads who had been prepared to fish Kingfisher with me - i think they enjoyed the change.
Rather than having an active day of wading and fishing the stick float - i decided to kick back and enjoy a nice sunny autumn day and sit behind a pair of tip rods (lazy lazy fishing on a proper bit of float water).
The downstream rod was baited with a single lobworm on a paternoster rig, just tempter in case there was a decent fish or two in the vicinity. The second rod was loaded with a BIG feeder filled with corn, pellet and swimstim green groundbait and I used a single grain of corn on the hook. As i expected, i had nearly a fish a chuck for most of the day on the feeder rod with the only barren spell coming as the tide came in and the river backed up with 2 feet of dirty water. This backing of the tide and the reverse flow was the kiss of death for the feeder as it seemed to stir up the debris on the bottom of the river, and i spent the rest of the session clearing leaves from the line. The other kiss of death were my skylining "friends" the brothers Carr!
Pauls net of roach and dace.
I thoroughly enjoyed the day out, which i capped off with a lovely 1lb8oz roach, though the great nets of roach and dace Paul, Chris and Dave (Meddyman) caught made me think that the next time I visit this spot I will leave the feeder rods at home, as they caught far more fish than i did using stick and waggler tactics.
The stick maestro in action.
140+ fish - an impressive tally from the East Manchester legend.
