Sent To Coventry

I tried not to book in any work this week, but one appointment slipped the net. So this morning I was up at the crack of dawn to make a 9am meeting in Northampton which was only scheduled to last for 45 mins to an hour.


Now Northampton is a long way to travel for a 45 minute meeting, so rather than drive straight home I arranged to meet up with fellow blogger Jeff and see if I could manage to catch my first ever Silver Bream.


Silver Bream are a species not found in the Northwest, as they are something to do with our pre ice age connection with the River Rhine and are generally only found in rivers flowing East. They're a species of fish which I've hunted for high and low, and was slowly resigning myself to a long long trip to Mill Farm Fishery in Sussex where they seem to be found in abundance.


Now Jeff has been catching Silver Bream on his local canal on an infrequent basis and very kindly offered to meet up and put me on a swim where hes had them in the past, so after a quick change from suit and tie into my fishing scruffs in a canalside layby I made my way to the area which was reputed to hold a shoal of fish.


I set up a straight bomb rod with an 18inch hooklength, double maggot on a size 18 hook, and cast out to the far bank under an overhanging tree.Next job was to fire in a few pouches of maggots over the top and set up a pole line down the central track - again a light 0.3g float and a single maggot on a size 20 hook.


It wasn't long before i had a liner on the bomb rod, and next cast, out of the corner of my eye watched a sharp rap on the tip turn into a slow pull round. No need to strike, just wind slowly into the fish and i thought i had a skimmer on the way into the landing net - until - it rolled over at the net and showed its bright silvery flanks and red pectoral fins. Yes - how lucky am I - first proper bite, turns into my first ever Silver Bream - and not just any old SB, but a specimen which weighed exactly a pound.






I then had a perch on the bomb of about 8oz, but i really wanted my pole line to come alive, so I balled in some ground hemp and brown crumb, and 15 minutes later my float slid away into another Silver Bream of about 10oz. None for 40 years then 2 in an hour!


How good is that - Thanks Jeff! :)



The remainder of the afternoon only resulted in standard canal fayre, loads of perch to about 8oz, a little skimmer and a roach of about 12oz. I also had a little 1oz roach which i lip hooked as a livebait to see if I could tempt a Zander but by now i think my luck was well and truly used up with the Silver Bream so the Zander will have to wait for another day.

Down On The Farm

This morning saw Paul and I having a bash on yet another local farm lake. A good net of roach and rudd to 8oz, a host of gudgeon and the best fish of the day a 2lb+ perch falling to Pauls well presented single red maggot.

A lovely day, enhanced by the visit of a herd of horses, one of which decided a good splash in the pond would be a great way to keep cool.

Its about time I stopped going fishing with Paul, as I always seem to be the one holding the camera to capture his gurning mug holding yet another lunker. I need to either up my game or enter into a little sabotage.

CONGRATULATIONS to Chris Kendal whose blog i follow (but he doesnt update often enough) on his recent qualification through to the Fish O Mania final. Very very well deserved and I hope you go on and win it.

A Few Trips

I've been getting in more than my fair share of fishing these last two weeks and have been sadly neglecting the blog.

A trip out to Beacon View saw me getting a few carp on pellet waggler and a trip on the Irwell resulted in only a couple of micro brownies. The river was on its bones, and many of the regular riffles and runs were only a couple of inches deep. The lack of cover probably means the fish are becoming nocturnal as there is so little natural cover when the river is this low.

I've been told about a tiny little farm pond close to home by Paul, and we've fished it a couple of times during the last week. The sheer numbers of beautiful little rudd is amazing, then there are the scale perfect little crucians and also the odd tench. Not bad for a tiny pond with only room for 2 pegs.

Agecroft Regatta

Sketched by L.S.Lowry in 1948, fished by Mike Duddy 2011. When I was a little kid, my dad used to make us hold our breath as we crossed over Agecroft Bridge in the car. The river was still grossly polluted in the early 1970s and gasses and odours often hung like a shroud at the bottom of the valley at Rainsough Brew. Now the rivers getting cleaner, I chanced my arm for a trout or two yesterday in a nice streamy run opposite the old Agecroft Rowing Club.

I ran a gold head and a spider through the entire 200yd run but didn't get a touch, but if i give it a bit of time I'm sure that I will get a Brownie from here at some point over the summer. I wonder what Mr Lowry would have thought about trout fishing on the Irwell?

Ruinous

The Irwell is down to its bones at the moment, so it gave me the rare opportunity to fish the lower river and keep my feet dry at the same time. Walking out with your fly gear on the foundations of old slum dwellings certainly draws a few funny looks.

Unfortunately I didnt see sort of evening rise and didnt get any takes on the fly.

Will be heading upstream over the weekend to fish in some leafier environs.

Salford Friendly Anglers

A quick heads up for anyone whos interested in fishing any of the Manchester rivers such as the Irwell, Medlock, Irk and Croal. The next meeting of the Salford Friendly Anglers Society is being held next Tuesday the 19th April at 7.30pm at the Kings Arms, Bloom St, Salford, M3 6AN.

If you've never heard of the Salford Friendly then take a look at www.salfordfriendlyanglers.co.uk it has a rather interesting history and is in the process of setting up some exciting new environmental projects in the Greater Manchester area.

Silvers In The Sun

I spent the afternoon at Kingfisher lodges enjoying the lovely spring sunshine. There were lots of fish topping when I arrived, so I set up to fish up in the water and used a top 2 + 2 sections of pole. I've had a few people tell me that they've struggled on Kingfisher in the past, but every time i go there it doesn't seem to be much of a problem getting the fish on the feed. The key is to feed a couple of maggots (3 or 4) each cast, a small fine wire hook, a light hook length and a dotted down slim 0.3gram float as many of the bites are only a slight dip of the float. If you look carefully at the photo above, you can see I also put two bands of float rubber around the red tip of the float as this helps show up the shy bites. During the winter, I will fish with the bait just touching the bottom, bulking the shot low down about 18 inches above the hook and a number 10 or 12 shot as a dropper. In summer the fish are found much higher in the water column, so instead of the usual 5ft between hook and float, I shorten up to 2 ft and spread out the number 8 shot to fish on the drop.

Paul and I only fished from 4 til 7 and he also had a net of roach and rudd like this.

A couple of fish touching 120z but the majority tiddlers - kept me busy. Leaves on the trees, and water temperatures rising - should see me out on the river next week chasing Brownies - I can't wait.

Spring On The Quays

I love fishing Salford Quays in Spring. The Pike have been spawning, and the bream and tench making their annual migration out of the deeper docks into the three shallower docks in preparation for spawning in a couple of months time. Its the time of year when fishing the Quays is at its best - before the place becomes a canadian pondweed infested pit.

Paul and I have spent a couple of sessions trying out a few different techniques and baits - a slow start - including a blank - but i think we've cracked it now.

Tench to 4lb 14oz, Bream to 4lb+ and a nice carp of 17lb have been bending the rods recently - good fun!