Fishing Fiend

Angling Research - The Social And Community Benefits Of Angling

2012-01-31T17:59:00.000Z

Not my research - but the recently completed study by the fantastic people at http://www.substance.coop/ in Manchester.

Well done Drs Adam, Paul and Natalie

Here it is:
http://www.resources.anglingresearch.org.uk/sites/resources.anglingresearch.org.uk/files/Final%20report.pdf

Casting About

2012-01-22T18:39:00.000Z

I had a few hours free this afternoon, so I defrosted a few dead baits and headed off towards the Irwell at Agecroft. The river was still running high and fast so I decided to have a few casts on "The Pit".

"The Pit" is one of Greater Manchesters few gravel pits, dug in the late 1960s to provide gravel for the building of the local motorway network. Its not too far from home, but saying that its not an easy water is the understatement of the year. Its home to some massive carp, tench, bream and pike but their numbers as you would expect are very low. People have been known to fish the place for a season only to be rewarded with one or two bites - however the quality of the fish make these bites worth the wait.

So i mounted a roach and cast around for an hour or so without a touch. I like wobbling dead roach, I think its far more effective method lures as Paul and I have proved to each other over the last 12 months. Ah well today it wasnt to be, the wind chill and frequent horizontal rain showers eventually saw me off.

The windward end of "the pit" - possibly a heart breaking hole in the ground - or if I'm lucky it might give up a couple of its gems.

Church Gardens

2012-01-21T18:46:00.000Z

I spent a very windy afternoon at Church Gardens in Bolton fishing hemp and caster for the lovely roach which are present in large numbers. The wind was so strong that i couldnt hold anything more than 7m of pole and even at that length I found it difficult to hold the bait still.
Nothing for the first 15 minutes, but once the roach got a whif of the hemp I had a steady stream of bites all afternoon long from roach between 6 and 12oz with most of them coming 6 inches off the deck.
Great fun, and I reckon that it will be a great roach venue in the summer months when the fish are up in the water.
Only a couple of others were fishing, (sensibly on the tip) and they were catching small mirror carp on pellets.

How big the roach go - I dont know, anyone know if this water holds a 2lber?

Golden

2012-01-15T23:21:00.000Z

Angling, fishing, you can call it what you like but as we all know - its not called catching. We all get something different from our sport - its a fantastic way to be involved in some collective individualism.

I had a great time out fishng today - I didn't catch anything but took more pleasure than I would have recieved by catching something myself by watching others catch - and enjoy themselves fishing.

Have a look at Toms Blog and Nicks Blog and the Salford Friendly Blog for the full write up of todays trip out.

Flecks of gold dust - just like the eye make up on this pike which has survived a recent catastrophic pollution incident.

A Different Kettle Of Fish

2012-01-13T19:55:00.000Z

For the last couple of years I've done a little rod race with a few pals to see who can catch the highest number of freshwater species in 12 months. In 2010 I had 24 species, and last year 30. I could have easily had 34 last year but by the time September came I was thoroughly fed up with the whole process as i seemed to catch nothing but tiddlers. Whilst it was initially good fun, I eventually realised that I was missing out on the bigger specimen fish which really give me a buzz.
So in 2012 I've decided to turn my attention to nabbing a few lunkers.
20lb Carp, 20lb Pike, 10lb Barbel, 2lb Roach, 7lb Tench (a big fish for the northwest) and a 10lb bream are my targets for 2012. I know venues where these fish can be found, catching them will be a different kettle of fish.

Not A Just Reward

2012-01-07T20:38:00.000Z

A few of us spent the morning dragging blanket weed out of one of our local lakes - prior to some further work taking place in a couple of weeks time.

By lunchtime, we'd all had enough of the hard graft and decided to spend the last few hours of daylight chasing old essox.

Paul threw out a dead bait - without any success (though he did get one earlier in the morning before we started weed raking).

Adam was working hard with various types of lure, and managed to hook into a decent fish which ran him straight into a big lily bed where it threw the hooks.

Nick tried fly fishing tactics, with this cracking looking white streamer lure - but also didnt get any takes, follows or pulls.

And as for me, I had a rod, I had a few casts of a lure, but was a bit knackered and my heart wasnt in it. I kicked back and enjoyed the chat and the crack with some good pals (well thats my excuse for blanking).

Blanking On The Quays

2012-01-04T22:10:00.000Z

The Quays have been in the press recently as the controlling angling club are giving up their angling rights due to a perceived lack of silver fish in the venue. A very sad state of affairs, with lots of half truths being bandied about by many misinformed quarters.
BBC, Sky and Angling Times please do some proper reporting rather than repeating hearsay.
Due to the water clarity in the quays - its never been an easy place to fish, sometimes you can see them, but most of the time you cant catch them. A little thought about rigs and tactics is necessary to get the best out of this place.
I'm not going to give a list of fish weights - but i will say that there are specimens of all the main species to be caught if you put in a little effort.
The departing club have cited the fact that the place isn't overrun with easy to catch silver fish as their main reason for giving up the leases and creating a fuss - I think this is a disingenuous statement and my opinion is that a falling membership and harsh economic reality are the real underlying reasons.

Please dont stop fishing the quays - contact me if you've tried and but cant get it right and I will give you a few pointers.
Please dont contact me without having fished the place first!

That said, a few of us from the www.maggotdrowning.com fishing forum had a bit of a Christmas social on the quays over the holidays - and as you already know from the title of this post - we all blanked. 10 of us tried a variety of swims and methods - with the closest thing to success being a dropped run on a dead bait.

Paul and I stopped off for the last hour at Drinkwater Park which we have to pass on our way home - we eached bagged a mini jack pike on lures to save our blushes.

On The Rocks In Lanzarote

2011-12-14T20:15:00.000Z

The missus was instant that she needed a weeks winter sun in Lanzarote as an end to a hellish two year period of commuting to Leeds every day. I was insistent that I wasn't going to sit by a pool for two weeks and that a bit of fishing kit would be included in our measly 15kg Ryanair allowance.

So i packed this lot :) and spent many a happy morning catching pretty tiddlers from off the rocks in the harbour of Puerto Del Carmen whilst swmbo recovered from her Sangria heaven.
I didn't use any special tactics, just sweetcorn on a size 16 hook, and banded pellets on a size 14 with a constant spray of pellets or corn raining down around the float.

Lots and lots of small pretty fish, a couple of bream to about 12ozs but no bigguns. I was hoping that I might connect with a some of the big mullet, but the closest I came to a decent fish was when i struck into something solid and slow moving, but which bit through my 5lb hooklength after only a couple of seconds.
I got back this morning - brrrrrrrrr what a difference.

Bloggers On The Box

2011-11-23T20:39:00.000Z

I was recently contacted by a BBC researcher asking if I would do a days filming on the Manchester Ship Canal near the BBCs Media City complex about blogging and angling for BBC Learning.
So yesterday morning saw Nick (Angling For Something), Paul (Salford Angler) and myself tackled up and miked up on the turning basin of the MSC with film crew in tow.
Nick and Paul set up a couple of Pike rods in the hope of a televised glory moment, I set my sights lower and fished waggler maggot with the hope that any old fish would do.
In true blogger fashion - we all blanked!
But at least the BBC now have a record of some of the best anglers excuses available:-
Wrong time of day
Wrong time of year
Water too cold for fish to feed
Wrong type of water
Etc Etc

The guys from the film crew took it all in their stride - at least it wasnt raining.
All day to make a 5 minute clip - which will be available online sometime in Febuary - I'll post the finished clip up on here (if i like how they edit it).

Theres very little angling coverage on the BBC which to be frank is a disgrace considering that angling is the UKs largest participation sport by a considerable margin. More rod licences were sold in 2010 than the total population of Birmingham.

Irwell Barbel Quest Part 10

2011-11-15T18:21:00.000Z

The saga continues.........

After so long chasing just one - a couple of hundred turn up in an afternoon!

This afternoon - I received a phone call from Ian Hayes of the Environment Agency asking me if I would like to be present at the first stocking of Barbel into the Irwell in over 20 years. Would I!!!

I knew a couple of other who would jump at the chance of being present - Paul of Salford Friendly and Albert Morris of Salford Inter Clubs so a quick couple of calls giving the time and meeting place - a few eager anglers were waiting for the EAs landrover and trailer to arrive.

A couple of hundred of these little beauties were carefully introduced to their new home.

The EA are really doing their bit on the Irwell at the moment - its not only down to the DEFRA pilot project - these fish were ordered a long time ago - and theres more to come over the next few years to be restocked at various points along the river between the city centre and Bury.
I've spent many an hour (as I'm sure many of you have too) in pursuit of the elusive Irwell Barbel as 100 were originally stocked in 1990 at the junction of the Irwell and the Croal. There have been occasional captures over the years with most now having died off and not many which have bred on.
Hopefully the EAs stocking program will change this, with fish being introduced throughout the system between now and 2014.
I'm glad I was there, if only to see the Alberts face has he released the first net of fish.

These fish will probably disappear for a year or two - and then maybe start re-appearing around the 2 to 3lb mark and bring a conclusion to my not so vain dream of my first Irwell Barbel. Bring it on :)

On The Canal In Manchester

2011-11-05T22:58:00.000Z

Overnight rain left the Irwell with a good few extra feet on, so all plans for kick sampling went out of the window. This left me with a free day, so a few domestic jobs were completed and then an afternoon on the Rochdale Canal with Paul fishing a spot I've had my eye on for a long time.
Last summer I saw two guys catching some quality roach from this spot, and I've also heard reports of decent bream showing. So I fished pinkie on a size 22 over a small bed of micro pellets - and ended up with 2 micro perch which I didnt deign to photograph.
Paul fishing 10 yards to my right fished single maggot over a bed of crushed hemp and had a couple of quality roach to go with his micro perch.
We also had a pike rod out each - mine didnt get a sniff - but Paul got a nice little jack of a couple of pounds later on in the day.

All in all - good fun - and somewhere I'll go back to later in the winter when everywhere else is iced up.

Roaching On The Ribble

2011-10-31T22:57:00.001Z

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.

Fishing On The Ship Canal With The BBC

2011-10-28T11:04:00.002+01:00

I spent a few hours this morning fishing on the Manchester Ship Canal with Nick and Paul, seeing if we could catch any Pike from near the new Media City complex.
We arrived at about 8am so that we could nab a free parking space, and set up opposite Old Trafford football stadium. Nick and Paul had a couple of dead baits out for Pike, but I hadnt had time to buy any, so had to try and catch my own using maggot waggler.
It was a cold morning - and I'm getting my excuses in early - you guessed it not a bite or a fish all morning. We went well past our usual two hour rule (no fish no bites within two hours its time to move on) as we were being filmed by a BBC camera crew who were interested in making a short film about the Manchester Ship Canal and the people who use the canal as part of their daily lives.
It was quite a good laugh - and a nice break from work - as you know - any excuse to go fishing even though we didnt catch.

October Kick Sampling With The Riverfly Partnership

2011-10-15T22:31:00.000+01:00

Today we held our second kick sampling training day on the Irwell with the Riverfly Partnership. Blessed with some autumnal sunshine 10 new samplers joined the ranks of the Salford Friendly Anglers Monitoring Initiative on the Irwell.

We have now covered 13 sites on the Irwell between Rawtenstall and Manchester City Centre, 2 sites on the River Roch, and 2 sites on the Bolton Rivers. We're looking to expand the number of sites on the Bolton Rivers and the Roch in the Spring when we hold a third training day.

Our course tutor Louis Kitchen delivered yet another informative and engaging session, firing the enthusiasm of all involved.

The AMI has only been running for a couple of months now - notable discoveries include fresh water shrimps as far downstream as the city centre of Manchester, and Stoneloach as far downstream as Littleton Rd. This is great news for the Irwell - as these species are slowly finding the water quality of the river improving to their needs.
It seems as though the expensive works at Ringley WWTW to install ammonia and phosphate removal facilities are now paying big dividends in terms of improved water quality and the associated improvement in habitat.

Angling Trust North West

2011-10-11T21:48:00.000+01:00

As you all know I am a big supporter of the Angling Trust - my view is that angling needs a unified voice to speak for us in a climate where so many people and groups seem to be bashing angling from all sides.

Please take a look at www.anglingtrustnorthwest.net
and also http://anglingtrustnorthwest.blogspot.com

Lastly please add the links to your websites and blogs - angling needs all the help it can get.

Donegal

2011-10-06T09:53:00.000+01:00

I've just had a week in the North Of Ireland, touring round the Antrim coast and Donegal. An area with some fantastic scenery and equally excellent fishing.
The holiday was meant to be a treat for my mother in laws 50th birthday so fishing was not at the top of everyones agenda. Despite packing a travel rod and some little bits of kit, I only managed to get out twice - once for an hour on a beach with some big surf - where I blanked, and a short session from the end of a landing stage where i managed a small coalfish on a dexter wedge.
Not the best fishing but the scenery and whisky more than compensated.

Rochdale Canal Tench

2011-09-19T12:51:00.000+01:00

I've recently been spending a fair amount of time fishing on the Rochdale Canal - a venue where I spent alot of time fishing with my father as a child. Back in the day, our quarry was the incredibly large roach which used to inhabit the canals crystal clear water. I have forgotten now how many roach over 2lbs i caught from there but still have memories of catching one on a 9ft bamboo garden cane rod, after hiding myself in a tree.
Since the re-introduction of boat traffic to the canal, these mega roach seem to have disappeared, along with the crystal clear water - nothing stays the same indefinitely - some people call it progress.
Maybe at the expense of the large roach, the tench population seems to have soared over the last 20 years or so, and its these tench which i have been recently targeting.
I've been trying out various combinations of baits recently - starting off very successfully on maggot over micro pellets, then switching to hemp and caster which didn't seem as productive, 6mm expander pellet over micros saw me catching a few fish but I've now finally settled on bread flake over 2mm and 4mm pellet as the killer technique.
Yesterday evening I had two cracking fish, and in the last couple of weeks I haven't had a fish under 2 and a half pounds - which is amazing fishing for a canal.
The swims have also been interesting - some are much more productive than others - and also some are more homely than others - as this picture from last Thursday afternoon shows the contrast between my swim, and the 5* swim (including bench, flower beds and faux water pump) which Paul nabbed. My swim despite its rustic nature had tench in it though.

I've also had to uprate the elastic on the pole I've been using to a 16 - as the better fish fight like stink and are very canny at throwing the hook in the marginal rushes.

There seem to be definate feeding spells at the moment - its possible to sit for ages without a bite - then two or three fish come in a short space of time. Usually at the same time of day.
I'm not complaining though, i just cant get enough of this place at the moment.

8th October Match - River Irwell Old Course Irlam - Top Hat Optional

2011-09-17T15:43:00.000+01:00

Were going to hold another match on the Old River at Irlam on the 8th October - you're welcome to join us.
Draw 9am at the Boathouse Pub, Ferry Rd, Irlam M44 6DN.
Fish from 10 til 3.
Cost £10, £5 for juniors.
(Top Hat optional)
The EA are going to conduct a sonar survey of this water on Wednesday the 5th, so our match will tie in nicely with the work they are doing to revive this water as a decent fishery. There is even talk of money being available to renew the fishing pegs!.

The weights were low after the last match, but I reckon that now we've fished it our tactics will be amended and we will be more successful this time.

If you've never fished this venue before and want to give it a try - pls contact me and i will give you all the info I can.

Canal Tench

2011-09-11T00:11:00.000+01:00

I had 3 tench in 3 hours this evening from the local canal.
5lb8oz, 4lb2oz and 4lb and I lost another cracker by trying to bully it to the net (idiot).
All fish fell to a strawberry jellet fished dead depth over micro pellets.
I've experimented a fair amount recently with hook patterns and baits and I'm nearly happy.
I'm going again one afternoon this week, as I'm sure now that breadflake over micros will be a more productive combination.
I'll take a camera next time.

Pommie Bashing

2011-09-02T20:32:00.000+01:00

After a couple of fruitless trips to various local venues, I decided to go to the capital of Bitterling fishing in North West - Pollys flash. The Bitterling (also known as the Pomerainian Bream) are a lovely looking fish, and it wasn't too long before i bagged my first Pommie in over 30 years using a size 22 hook and half a pinkie.

I spent the afternoon fishing pinkies in the margin, and I had quite a few more, along with lots of micro roach, perch and rudd.
Paul on the other hand, was fishing big baits (maggots) and had a couple of crucians. We didn't stay for long, as once the Bitterling was in the bag there was nothing really to interest us there.

I'm up to 31 species for the year now - the target is getting past 35

River Irwell Old Course Match Aug 2011

2011-08-29T20:28:00.000+01:00

I dont fish many matches - its a form of angling that I've never really go into. However Salford Friendly Anglers Society are in the process of being granted the lease for the River Irwell Old Course in Irlam. Once a loop of the main river, now a still water after being chopped off by the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal.
This water suffered a terrible pollution incident in July 2008 when raw sewage backed up from a drain and overflowed into the Old Course killing thousands of quality tench, bream, carp and silver fish.
As a consequence the controlling club, Boathouse Anglers lost the majority of its members and no longer controls the water. However - there are a few chinks of light - and local kids have started catching silvers on a regular basis, some big eels have been caught, and pleasure nets to over 10lbs have been reported.

Salford Friendly Anglers Society decided to hold a fund raising match on August Bank Holdiay Monday and we cleared out about 10 overgrown pegs a couple of days beforehand - together with the already accessible ones to give us a total of about 20 fishable pegs.
16 of us turned up this morning.
I drew peg 33 at the deeper end of the lake and had a little roach on single pinkie first put in on the 6m line. A few more followed and after about an hour i had a dozen fish in the net and was well out in front of the others. Sadly there was another 3 and a half hours to go where i didnt get another bite.

The Boathouse Pub

My 12 fish for 8oz!

Most people caught, though the weights were low. Ken was the clear winner with 1lb13oz of roach on punch bread. In second was Chris Carr with an eel of 1lb3oz, then in 3rd Paul Carr with 1lb 2oz of little roach.
Not big weights, but people caught along the entire length of the venue.

The landlord of the Boathouse pub very kindly made a donation to the stocking fund and provided chips and sausage butties back in the pub after the match - many thanks.
To cap a great day - I had the pleasure of sitting next to Albert Morris in the pub after the match - a north west fishing legend.

Despite the low weights - most had a thoroughly enjoyable day - which we hope to repeat on Saturday the 1st October.

Road Trip

2011-08-25T23:35:00.001+01:00

I've spent a couple of days on the road with Pete, trying to catch my first ever bleak, zander, motherless minnow and pumpkinseed. We nabbed 3 out of the 4 with only the zander evading us.
This takes me up to 30 species for the season - busting last years record of 24 - with four months still to go.

We started off on the Warwickshire Avon at Stratford where a fellow blogger Jeff reckoned we had a good chance of catching bleak and zander.

The bleak were quick to oblige, and it didnt take long before we got tired of catching them. Petes swim held a good shoal of perch and he must have had 2 or 3 dozen fish to about a pound and a half.

I got bored of catching tiddlers so filled a bag of PVA with 4mm pellets and a big 12mm pellet fished on a band had my rod tip crash round with this hard fighting little barbel.

We both had a decent eel - which was something of a surprise - but despite sitting it out all day with live a dead baits we couldnt get any action from zander.

The next morning we drove down to Viaduct Fishery in Somerset, which we knew contained Motherless Minnows - also called Sun Bleak. Fishing single pinkie on a size 22 hook it didnt take too long to catch yet another species to add to the list. A long drive for a couple of drams of fish.

The back up the M5 to Silver Springs fishery at Congresbury which we knew contained large numbers of pumpkinseeds. These pretty little fish lost all self control when faced with a maggot - so after about half an hour of pumkinseed bagging the novelty value wore thin.
So I swapped sides of the lake and sat facing into the wind, and filled my swim in with the rest of a bag of 4mm pellets and half a tin of corn. By the time I'd set up my Browning margin pole and plumbed up the carp were in a frenzy over the top of the baited area at the edge of the lily pads in the photo above. First put in saw me get a lovely common of about 6lbs followed by about 14 others during a mad two hour evening session. Great fun but a long run home followed up the M5 and M6.
This weekend its back to the Bitterling hunt, and the Salford Friendly Anglers Match at the River Irwell Old Course in Irlam.

On The Canal

2011-08-19T22:15:00.000+01:00

A few snatched hours on the Rochdale Canal at Boarshaw was my reward for a tough week at work. I fished single maggot over a bed of micro pellets at the end of a bed of sedges and caught well for the first hour, a decent tench, a decent skimmer bream and some nice roach.

Then a jack pike moved in and I couldnt get a bite for nearly 2 hours (i eventually caught the little ****er and released it 100yds away down the canal bank). Then in the last hour had a run of a roach a chuck only interrupted by being smashed by another decent carp/tench.

Great fun.

Starlight Express

2011-08-15T14:16:00.000+01:00

My time on the bank has been severely curtailed this summer, but over the next few weeks work and family pressures are easing off and I should be out and about a bit more.
My pal Tony has also been a shortage of fishing time, and has found that he is only able to sneak in the last few hours of daylight and into the dusk for fishing.

So Saturday evening saw us meet up on the banks of the Ribble for an evening session. The river looked perfect for barbel as it was dropping off after recent heavy rains.
Both of us tackled up a single barbel rod with a large feeder and hair rigged halibut pellet. Tony fished his feeder on a helicopter type rig, I fished mine on a loop within a loop method.
It wasn't long before we were into fish. Nothing big but still exciting stuff waiting for the rod tip to bang over with an angry barbel on the end.

We caught steadily into the night, catching fish to about 5lbs, then at about midnight my rod tip hooped over and I was into a larger fish. It snagged me up twice, and I got the fish back under control by letting the line go slack for a minute then tightening back into the fish.
Just as i got the fish into the shallows where Tony reported to me that it was by far the best fish of the session, it made one last unfortunately successful lunge for freedom - as the 10lb hooklink parted just below the loop to mainline. Gutted.

No matter - it was a great session.

Bitter - ling

2011-08-11T08:59:00.001+01:00

I often travel far and wide to go fishing - but yesterday evening I made my first ever visit to a lake which is less than two miles from my front door. A lake I've always heard people speak about, but one which I've always avoided as I've percieved it to be a trouble magnet.
However, a phone call from a friend who was reporting the capture of a dozen+ bitterling in less than an hour resulted in an instantaneous re-evaluation of the lakes potential.
So armed with half a pint of pinkies, some gossamer hooklength and size 22 hooks I sat on the lakes rubbish tip banks in the hope of catching my first bitterling in over 25 years.
A couple of small roach, then nothing for ages. So i mixed up some groundbait and threw in a few balls of slop. The float buried and my threes elastic pinged out to the max as a small tench made a successful bid for freedom.
Now i dont like losing hooklengths to fish, and if I'm going to try for mini species then I dont want to get smashed up all the time by their larger bretheren. So I swapped top kits to an 8 elastic and upped my hooklength from 0.08mm to 0.11mm.
A few more roach from the margins but no bitterling. Then again the float dipped, and my elastic stretched out. And again pinged back as another tench or carp smashed me up.
Its funny how when you want to catch a biggun all you get is tiddlers and vice versa!

As it was getting dark - (and very wet) I decided to call it a night - but now I know they're there - I'll be back!

Ouch

2011-07-28T20:21:00.011+01:00

The blogs been quiet recently - to be honest I've been run off my feet with work - aiming to get a couple of things finished by early July - only to fall of my bike and injure my back the day after I'd cleared the decks.

As a result, theres not been that much activity - I had an evening on the lower Irwell with the chaps from Salford Friendly Anglers. Everyone caught a fish or two and I had this lovely brownie which went just short of 3lb.

A few sessions on some of our local lakes with Paul, Drinkwater Park Lake for the jack pike which infest the place, a couple of local farm ponds for rudd and crucians (we blanked), Heaton Park boating lake for old times sake (we blanked) and I had my first ever session on the lakes at Heaton Park golf course (we bagged up on quality roach).

I had a day on the Ribble with Paul - I seemed to catch one of every species going - the only species i didn't get were salmon and grayling.

And an another evening on the Irwell near the city centre with Nick - I blanked, he had this lovely little brownie on the dry fly.

A great evening - lengthened by an hour or two in the ...........

I've smashed my all time species list record - now up to 27 species!

I think my back is on the mend (falling off my bike and busting my okuma reel, Youngs barbel rod and my back wasn't the best way to start the summer) and thanks to Colin Leatherbarrow for fixing the rod:)

I attended the first Salford Friendly Anglers kick sampling training day for the new Irwell Anglers Monitoring (AMI) which was given by Louis Kitchen of the Riverfly Partnership - a great day and I learnt loads. If anyone is interested in joining the Irwell AMI pls get in touch with Salford Friendly Anglers Society via their webpage.

Lastly - I got so bored during my enforced lay off - I bought lots of new bits of kit from ebay etc - so hopefully I will be getting to try them all out over the next few weeks and share the outcomes with you all.

A Warm Glow

2011-06-18T09:56:00.014+01:00

What on earth is this? It looks like something from Alien vs Predator - the answer is somewhere below.

Back to the 16th June 2011

48 hours after the event, I've still got a warm glow coursing through my veins and a broad grin across my face. Nothing to do with the plate of Gorgonzola and biscuits or the lovely bottle of Rioja that Lucia had waiting for me on my return home, but all to do with yet another amazing day spent in great company on the banks of the Ribble.

After a pleasant drive with Tony through the Lancashire countryside, we ended up at the farmyard car park - two fellas bursting to get down to the river and do some fishing. We were delayed by some entertaining cockerels - really crowing their hearts out - and the farmers wife who wanted to stop and chat. I think she could tell that we werent really interested in stopping for a chat and wished us all the best for the new season.

Walking over the footbridge, we were pleased to see that there was no -one else about other than Tonys pal from the tackle shop, and that all the best swims were free. So we dropped our tackle down next to Phil-Ks favourite swim (where were you Phil ? we missed you!) and started to tackle up). As always boyish enthusiasm doesn't take long to surface when I'm out with Tony, and he was soon after his first fish of the season - searching out bullheads from under the riverside shingle.

Once tackled up, and in mid river situ Tony soon started to catch a succession of Dace, Trout and Grayling - but the big barbel which have graced so many opening days on the Ribble proved to me elusive. Later in the morning - Tony momentarily hooked a big fish - but it used to extra flow to its advantage and threw the hook in the heavy water.

My day started off, at the head of a long shallow run of water over a shingle bank. A sharp bite on my first run through briefly raised my hopes of a good day but I couldn't seem to get any other response from the swim no matter what I tried.

So a quick change of plans saw me walk to the bottom end of the beat, to fish a consistently good swim which has a fast run of water going into a deeper pot of a swim which always holds good trout, grayling and dace. I must have had a fish every other run through with the stick float for about an hour and a half. Great fishing and a great way to start the season off.

After a while i sort of half expected to see Tony walk downstream to see how I was getting on, so kept on checking upstream over my shoulder. He never materialised - but I did manage to spy a deer out of the corner of my eye, and had the great pleasure of watching it for about 10 minutes as it dithered about attempting to cross the river.

After a couple of false starts it finally made up its mind and went for it through the heavy water - what a privilege for a "city boy" like me to witness a scene like this. It made my day.

So after having bagged up at the lower end of the beat - I decided to walk back up to see how Tony was getting on and grab some lunch. He was still in situ - Phil-Ks position A - but the big barbel which so often reward those brave enough to wade out to this spot - weren't playing ball. Tonys best barbel of the morning was only a couple of pounds.
While I was mooching around eating lunch, i came across a sea lamprey which had just died after spawning, washed up in the shallows. I'e never seen one of these amazing prehistoric looking creatures before - bloody hell they're ugly.

I really wouldn't like to have to put a disgorger or my finger near there!

After lunch i had another half hearted attempt at the fast shallow fun where I'd started the morning off, but my heart wasn't really in it. So i decided to set up a swim feeder rod, and settle back on my unhooking mat for a post lunch snooze on the sandy bank just upstream of the footbridge.

Bait runner on and relax - I wish! The rod tip didn't stop bouncing until late in the afternoon, more trout and dace, three or four eels, and an absolute rod bender of a bite which saw me hook into a freight train of a barbel which snapped my 6lb hooklength as though it were gossamer.

Tony came along mid afternoon and joined me - two anglers - knackered from a working week and a mornings wading in fast heavy water - lay back chewing the cud - great company - delightful surroundings. The fishing slowed somewhat, but the chat didn't. The afternoon flew by.

As the fishing had slowed down somewhat - we decided to pack up and fish a section of river both of us had previously walked but never fished. Again our usually set up for searching the river, stick float and maggots brought us a constant return of small dace and brownies but we couldn't connect with any thing bigger.
The evening was becoming more regularly punctuated with heavy showers but also some big rising migratory fish to keep us alert. The last of which we saw was a magnificent double figure fish leaping a good 2 or 3 feet above the surface of the river before crashing back like a mini whale breaching. WOW I think I should move house up here - am going to take some worming tackle with me next time.
All in all - what a day - great fishing - great company - deer crossing a river, a sea lampreys gnashers - entertained to acrobatics from BIG salmon and sea trout, followed by a lovely plate of cheese and biscuits washed down with a lovely big red wine -
Could a day so eagerly and earnestly anticipated - really deliver as much as that, if only I could bottle and sell this warm glow............and some people just "don't get" fishing.

Sorry the blogs been quiet recently but I've been spending alot of time fishing the lakes in the park behind my house - entertaining and convienient for me - but not the stuff blogs are made of.
Now the river season is open - look forwards to the return of the Irwell barbel quest.

Inspiration

2011-05-22T21:59:00.008+01:00

Nick Carter, Tom Donnai, Matt Eastham.

Back in 2007 I started reading the blogs of Nick Carter, Tony Peet and Matt Eastham Angling For Something Time By The River and North Country Angler These guys writings were revelations to me at the time, my kind of angler, fishing waters I knew and they inspired me to start writing this blog. (my wife says she cant wait to get her hands on them lol).

Over the last few years its been my great pleasure to meet and fish with them, each of them great anglers with their own unique styles, and I can't begin to tell you how much my fishing has improved as a result of my hanging on to their coat tails.

Matt has been in charge of the construction of a new building at my sons secondary school, and we've been trying to arrange an evening on the river for some time now, but the dry weather this spring has resulted in some pretty poor fishing conditions - so our planned evening on the river together has been on hold for quite some time.

Last Friday evening was do or die, as Matts project in Manchester is soon coming to an end. Unfortunately there was some sharp overnight showers and the area of river I have for so long wanted Matt to experience had sadly turned into an open sewer as the up stream sewage overflows were kicking out their filth. The stench of petrol made it feel as though i was trout fishing on a petrol station forecourt - very very sad - and hopefully something that The Salford Friendly Anglers Society can get sorted out. Check out the colour of the water below. It was such a dissapointment that i couldnt show Matt our river at its best.

And the colour of the water above the offending sewage overflow.

However it seemed as though no matter where we fished - the trout werent interested. Later in the evening we found ourselves further upstream in Nick and Toms favourite stretch of river where the trout are often obliging - but werent for us.

No matter how poor the fishing was, the company was excellent. Its always a pleasure to spend some time in the company of these guys, especially when Tom starts off his wisecracks. Nick & Tom - anglings version of Cannon & Ball.

Just a pity Tony couldnt make it - though on hearing how bad the fishing was, I'm sure he was glad to have stayed at home.

Not Another Bloody Blog

2011-05-17T15:19:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone.
The Salford Friendly Anglers Society is a pain in the .... to update. So until Salford Univeristy come up with our new website - I'm going to blog them.

www.salfordfriendlyanglers.blogspot.com

(I spoke to the EA yesterday about the Irk, and surprisingly no one seemed to know anything about the latest Irk pollution incident - very very sad).

River Irk Polluted Again

2011-05-14T11:52:00.002+01:00

http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news/54605/river-irksome

Very sad to see that its happening again, and again, and again.
I had a look at the Irk yesterday afternoon, and the stench of sewage was terrible.

Cat Food

2011-05-04T07:53:00.006+01:00

As this years ridiculous chase for species of fish continues (this is the last time I'm going to do this challenge (Promise)), I decided to take a trip up to Borwick in Lancashire to try to catch my first ever grass carp and catfish.
On Friday, my main line of attack was ground bait method feeder with sweetcorn on the hook, and a second rod with a dead lip hooked rudd.
It wasnt long before the method rod ripped round and I was into a good fish which had the clutch screaming. It screamed all the way into a snag, and that was the end of that. Grass carp, big common or catfish i could only guess but it was a big fish and i was gutted not to catch it.
I had a couple of Ghost Carp soon after and then Paul and I started to catch some grassies up to about the 4lb mark.
Nothing on the catfish rods though.

We returned on Bank Holiday Monday determined to catch moggies. The fishing was very similar to Friday - But i decided to try luncheon meat instead of the methofd I had a run on my dead rudd which resulted into a fresh air strike. Paul had a couple fo runs later in the day which gave him his first ever Catfish - a pot bellied little kitten of about 5lbs.

I got a little bored of watching a motionless rod tip so for the last hour sprayed some maggots about and caught a rudd a chuck on maggot waggler up in the water. I'm sure these catfish will soon grow on to prodigious sizes as the lake is packed with 2/3oz rudd.

I also nabbed myself a 2lb golden orfe on maggot so yet another tick off the list takes me to about 18 species for the year and were only 5 months in.

Not a bad result for 2 days of fishing in an Easterly gale.

Sent To Coventry

2011-04-26T22:05:00.005+01:00

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

2011-04-24T21:54:00.004+01:00

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

2011-04-23T20:48:00.003+01:00

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

2011-04-17T21:27:00.004+01:00

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

2011-04-15T10:19:00.004+01:00

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

2011-04-13T08:51:00.005+01:00

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

2011-04-10T21:41:00.006+01:00

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

2011-04-03T20:48:00.003+01:00

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!

Stalking Carp - A beacon of hope

2011-03-19T19:16:00.004Z

Stalking Carp - sounds difficult?

Well sometimes its easy.

Fishing with Paul this afternoon on a local public park lake we were both blanking using pole fished maggots, hemp and caster, until Paul got up for a walk round, and suddenly saw this "beacon of hope."

Some free lined bread did the trick and a 11.5lb wierd looking carp was soon gracing the landing net. A very odd fish to see in a public park - which has obviously lost all self restraint when faced with medium sliced Warbies.

Attn All Bloggers

2011-03-17T16:13:00.002Z

Hi everyone,
Will you please take a look at the following link, http://www.ourrivers.org.uk/
Please complete the letter to Richard Benyon, the minister in charge of Defra and tell him what you think. It takes less than 5 minutes to complete.
If you have a blog, would you also copy and paste this and post in on you blog.
Thanks
Mike

Happy Days

2011-03-13T21:56:00.010Z

The blogs been quiet of late - a wet wet holiday in Portugal the reason. No sea fishing - too rough for boats to go out, too rough to fish from the rocks, rivers bursting banks, and the lake i had in mind rose nearly 8 feet over the 8 days we were there. A silver lining was found, via a lovely little restaurant serving lovely cataplana washed down with some great Lagos red.

Back in the UK a couple of crazy days back in the office then a two trips out with members of the www.salfordfriendlyanglers.co.uk Saturday evening was spent with Matthew, Paul and Derek on the upper river. Matthew is getting to be a bit of a dab hand with the centre pin, and had a few small brownies on maggots while trotting for chub.
And Paul had a couple too, until he switched to slower water and a big lump of bread flake, and he proceeded to winkle out a brace of chub just short of 3lbs each.

And despite acting as Matthews Ghillie for the evening, I managed to snaggle a little Bullhead out from underneath a rock which I can now add to my seasons species list.

A very pleasant evenings fishing in good company was followed by another evening on the same bit of river with Nick, Pete and Derek.

Nick and I trotted maggots and both had small brownies, while Pete who was trying out a new centre pin christened his new bit of kit with a cracking Brownie of 3lbs 4oz.

A lovely fish which i am sure would weigh at least 4lbs when its regained its mid summer condition after a few months of gorging on minnows. Pete followed this beauty up with a nice Chub well over the 3lb mark - hopefully I will get a photo to show you.

As darkness was falling about 6.30 we packed up and had a walk downstream to find Derek very pleased with himself after catching yet another 3lb+ chub (3lb4oz in the digi scales)

A great weekend was rounded off with a couple of pints in the pub - happy days, great fishing, good company and some very enthusiastic anglers looking forwards to the clocks changing and longer evenings fishing on the river. Bring it on!

Bone Cold On The Ribble

2011-02-23T22:05:00.003Z

Sunday afternoon saw me on the lower Ribble with Tony and Pete. I lucked out by picking a swim that was a bit of a wind tunnel, and by the time I packed up for the day I was really feeling the cold despite the multi layers and neoprene mitts.

So thats the moaning over with - the fishing and company were excellent. Good laughs all afternoon and a constant stream of lovely dace to the net.

Tony caught this lovely fish - what is it ? your guess is as good as mine - definately not a roach - not a chub or a dace. They dont seem to crop up on other rivers, but on the Ribble they grow BIG and people often mistake them for specimen roach. I think they have been named CHROACH.

I started off using crushed hemp and caster in a block end feeder - and it didnt stop twitching all afternoon. A change to stick float brought me a couple of small chub but the dropping tide resulted in the inside line becoming too shallow, so back onto the feeder and back onto the dace. I wasnt complaining as the fish were going to 12-14oz.

My first time on the tidal part of the river - very impressed with the fishing

Strawberries & Cream

2011-02-19T17:51:00.005Z

I've had a few sessions recently on Drinkwater Park Lake, which is the closest fishing venue to my home. Mostly its been lots of jack pike falling to spinners, but i had this lovely net of roach on hemp and caster.

Many people think that hemp and caster is a summer combination, but I've found over the years that it works just as well in winter.
I'm looking to get a couple of hours on the Ribble tomorrow afternoon and use up my remaining bait - hopefully the roach in the river will be equally obliging.

The Future

2011-02-12T19:27:00.004Z

I've bought a few bits of new tackle this week from ebay (bargains!) so was keen to get out for a few hours this afternoon, and give them an airing one of the lakes behind my house.

A new pole was the first new item to be test driven, light as a feather and lovely and stiff - so different from my last long pole back in the day..... an Ian Heaps 9m pole which weighed a ton, and bent like a banana. I misjudged the elastication - and ended up with the elastic far too tight - so bumped off a good 50% of the tiddler roach and rudd which reside in Kingfisher Lodge. I still managed a good few pounds of fish during the course of the afternoon.

I've also bought myself a set of bite alarms, so that i can fish with a "sleeper" rod more effectively. A simple worm and bomb rig didn't get a bleep all afternoon. Though my partner for the afternoon Paul hooked into a jack pike of a couple of pounds on his worm and bomb rig.

On the way home at the end of the day, we passed by Drinkwater Park Lake, which as i have told you in previous posts was thoroughly netted by a departing angling club a few years back - and is now a long way off most peoples fishing radar. As its less than 5minutes from door to lake, i often take a walk around "Drinkies" and its a very rare occurrence to see any fish moving or surfacing. Paul assured me that the place was alive with small tench but to be honest - i thought we was pulling my leg. So i didn't expect the haul of tiny tench which came back from only a couple of sweeps through with a landing net. Lets hope they grow on - hopefully Drinkwater Park Lake will once again become a great fishing venue.

The Bad Old Days

2011-02-09T12:10:00.005Z

A little rummaging aroung the internet - and I found a record of a debate in the Houses Of Parliament regarding pollution of the Irwell.

RIVER IRWELL (POLLUTION)
HC Deb 18 April 1950 vol 474 cc91-106 91

§ Mr. Anthony Greenwood (Rossendale)
The subject to which I want to call attention tonight is the pollution of the River Irwell. Eight hundred years ago, when the hamlet of Kersal in the township of Broughton, which now forms part of the City of Salford, was handed over as a gift to the Cluniac monastary of Lenton, near Nottingham, the most important part of the gift was the fishing rights in the river Irwell. Even in the 18th century the salmon rights in the rivers of Lancashire were let every year for many hundreds of pounds. Today I am afraid that fish in most of those rivers are virtually extinct. Anybody who stands today in the City of Manchester outside the Exchange Station and looks down at the noisome black water which flows beneath him would find it difficult to believe that any fish, or any other living creature, could ever have lived in what the "Manchester Guardian" has so rightly called that "melancholy stream."
Yet, Sir, from many points of view we should all be proud of the River Irwell. It is the hardest working river in the whole of the United Kingdom. On the 50-mile stretch of the River Irwell and its main tributary, the Roach, stand more than 100 cotton mills, in addition to a large number of other industrial undertakings—slipper factories, bleach works, coal mines, tanneries, paper mills and gas works. I think it is true to say that no other inland river has made a greater contribution to the industrial greatness of this country.
Unfortunately, however, the amenity value of the River Irwell is practically negligible, although there are parts of the Irwell Valley which from the point of view of beauty, could compare with almost anything in North Wales. But, so far as I know, the only amenity value of 92 the Irwell at present is the fact that the Agecroft Rowing Club in the City of Salford still use the Irwell for rowing and, I believe, continue to hold an annual regatta. I know of no other amenity value of this river. It is of no use to agriculture because the water is too full of impurities for livestock to benefit from it. There is no fishing in the Irwell for reasons that I shall come to in a moment. Swimming is completely out of the question, and even walking along its wooded banks is spoiled by the condition of the water. In a letter to me a constituent said: The only real pleasure that the River Irwell can give in this part of the world is the music of water running over the stones, but such is the odour at times that you cannot get near enough even to enjoy this. Hon. Members who were in the last Parliament will remember that I have had my differences with the British Field Sports Society, but I have nothing but admiration for the excellent series of reports on river pollution which have been prepared for that Society by Mr. H. D. Turing. When the first of these reports appeared, I wrote to the Society and ventured to suggest that they should make a similar survey of the Rivers Irwell and Roach. These two rivers were covered by the third report; and very sorry reading it made. There are two passages in that report which I should like to read. The first says: The banks are lined with factories, large and small, many of which take their water from the drainage of the hills forming the slopes of the river's valley, and discharge it as a polluted effluent, either into the small feeders, or the main river itself, so it may be said that no natural water normally enters the river from its cradle in the moors to its grave in the Manchester Ship Canal. The second quotation is one which I find still more appalling than the first. It is: There are no fish in these rivers (apart from a very occasional tributary), no insects, no weeds, no life of any kind except sewage fungus, nothing but chemicals and any dirt which cannot be put to profitable use. Sewage effluents (and, being usually very good, they are the most encouraging feature of the appalling situation) are hailed with delight as being the purest water which the rivers hold. The full importance of that statement will be realised when I remind hon. Members of the frequency with which residents in Bacup, Ramsbottom, Manchester and Salford are subjected to flooding from the waters of the Irwell.
From the report of the British Field Sports Society, it emerges that there are 93 three main sources of pollution—the paper mills, the dyers and the tanneries. I appreciate that all these undertakings have been labouring under very great difficulties. For example, the paper mills, during and since the war, have had to make do with straw for pulping when they would sooner have been using esparto grass or the wood which they used to use before the war. I am afraid that there may be very little hope of reverting to the use of esparto grass and wood in any quantities during the next few months or even years. The difficulty is that straw requires a much greater degree of caustic soda for pulping purposes than either of the other raw materials. The result is that the caustic flows in great quantities into the river, causing, in Mr. Turing's words: a gruesome-looking foam to cover the surface, killing off any life which may by chance be trying to establish itself, and stultifying the effects of attempts to purify other effluents. Perhaps I can give an example along these lines. It is, I believe, the practice of manufacturers who have works along the Irwell—if they take water direct from the river for feeding their boilers—to introduce water softeners in order to counteract the effects of the natural hardness of the water. I know of one undertaking where it is frequently unnecessary to introduce water softeners because the water is so heavily impregnated with caustic soda from paper mills nearly two miles up stream.
The dyers, too, are faced with serious problems. I think hon. Members will appreciate that if a dyer succeeds in getting a really fast dye which will not wash out of cloth, it is extremely difficult to remove it from the spent dye which goes out of the works in the form of an effluent. The consequence is that every day literally millions of gallons of grotesquely coloured fluid, often with a transparency of less than one inch, are discharged into the Irwell or its tributaries. I know of one dye works—not by any means one of the biggest—which uses 1,250,000 gallons every day, all of which is discharged into the river in the form of an effluent. The result is that at different times of the day the Irwell may be all the colours of the rainbow. On 2nd November, for example, the chairman of the general purpose committee of the Bacup Corporation, reporting to his council on what he called the "increasing pollution of the 94 river," said that at 8 o'clock that morning the river was a vivid orange colour, with suds rising 18 inches high on the water, and that by noon it had changed to an intense black.
I do not want to give the impression that this is a new problem, or that nothing is being done about it. In fact, it is an extremely long-standing problem and, in spite of what I have said, substantial progress has been made. Even within living memory, the scum on the Irwell was so thick at times that birds could be seen walking on it. The work done since then, however, has produced some results. I should like, particularly, to pay tribute to the work of Dr. Southgate, the Director of Water Pollution Research at the Water Pollution Research Laboratories at Watford and also to the Lancashire Rivers Board, who have tackled this problem with great keenness and zeal. 1 think that the hon. Member for Bury and Radcliffe (Mr. W. Fletcher) will agree that the Lancashire Rivers Board have been doing extremely good work. I am glad to see the hon. Gentleman in his place, because I discovered the other day that it was one of his predecessors, Mr. John Kenyon, Member for Bury, who in 1899 moved the rejection of the Rivers Pollution Prevention Bill and succeeded in getting it talked out. I am hoping that the hon. Gentleman will do something tonight to make up for the error of his predecessor.
We have, in fact, in Lancashire enjoyed various powers in this matter denied to other parts of the country. The Mersey and Irwell Joint Committee Act of 1892 was in many ways a model of its kind, and that Act, together with the Lancashire County Council (Rivers Board and General Purposes) Act of 1938 gave the Lancashire Rivers Board powers not possessed in any other industrial area outside the West Riding of Yorkshire. I believe that the Board have been making as full use of those powers as is practicable under present conditions. I certainly believe that the local authorities and the industrialists in the area are unanimous in praising the Lancashire Rivers Board for the efficient and speedy way in which they have tackled their herculean task. Nor do I complain of the manufacturers in the area. I believe that the needs of the nation have made it necessary for them to do various things which it might 95 have been possible to avoid under easier circumstances. Far be it from me to propose placing upon them heavier burdens than those which they bear at present.
I am not suggesting that this is an easy problem, and I am not claiming that I have any solution for it tonight. If all the trade effluents in the area were discharged straight into the sewers, there would be precious little river left over long stretches. If, on the other hand, we adopted the "closed circuit" system, by which each undertaking purifies its own water and uses it over and over again, that would be very desirable if it could be done. Unfortunately it is impracticable in many cases, and would, I am afraid, place a heavy financial burden on industry which it would be difficult to justify in the economic circumstances of today.
Indeed, I do not believe that we can hope for any very radical measures under present conditions, but I raise the problem tonight because I want to focus attention upon it, and I hope that, as a result of this Debate, some manufacturers will be encouraged to make that little extra effort in dealing with effluent which may make all the difference between the River Irwell being a dirty river and being the disgracefully dirty river which it is at present. The advantages to the manufacturers themselves would be not inconsiderable if that could be done.
At present, we are in a period of transition. The excellent Lancashire Rivers Board are to give way shortly to a new board, the Mersey River Board, which is being set up under the River Boards Act of 1948. I want to ask the Parliamentary Secretary tonight when that Board will be set up, when it will be in operation, and what more effective contribution it will be able to make towards coping with this problem than its predecessor has made. Are we at last to have a standard of water purity laid down as suggested in the Hobday Report? I hope he will tell us whether his Ministry, in co-operation with industry and with the River Boards, has any concrete plan, practicable under present circumstances, for restoring to our rivers some of their original beauty.
I will conclude by quoting from a leading article in the "Bury Times" of a year ago: 96 It is time the public conscience was roused and a check put to the practice of turning our rivers into open sewers. It is time, too, that a more determined and scientific approach to the problem of industrial effluents was made. Dirty and filthy rivers in which all natural life has been killed should no longer be tolerated. Given the will, a much more successful effort could be made to clean our streams and rivers, and industry, the River Boards and the Government must get together to devise a plan.
§ 6.19 p.m.
§ Mr. Walter Fletcher (Bury and Radcliffe)
I think that a great public service has been done by the hon. Member for Rossendale (Mr. Anthony Greenwood) in raising this point. He has put forward the facts with fairness and accuracy, and though, in the same way as myself, he is not able to suggest an immediate practical solution, nevertheless, it is a very good thing to bring the matter forward, even if the moment is one when we have not a crowded House to listen to us.
The hon. Gentleman pointed out that I represent the constituency—although he only mentioned Bury—which has a direct interest in this matter. I would remind him that the constituency is Bury and Radcliffe, he having kindly handed over half his previous constituency which, from his point of view, I now misrepresent. I should like to add that while it is perfectly right to try to bring this matter forward with the idea that action should be taken in every possible way, we must not let ourselves slide into an attitude of wishful thinking with the idea that we can do very much to restore the Irwell and its tributaries to what they were before.
The hon. Member for Rossendale has referred in rather surprising terms to the British Field Sports Society and the benefit he received from the advice given by somebody there. But if his mind is in a state of change about blood sports he might remember that when the Irwell was a pleasant stream for fishing and boating and bathing there were also foxhounds and beagles who practised their wickedness there along its banks. Today the only real trouble the local hounds have is to learn the difference between red and green lights.
The river Irwell has been described to me as "no longer a river but a drain."
§ Mr. Jack Jones (Rotherham)
A sewer.
97
§ Mr. Fletcher
A drain—I select my own word. With the greater care now taken by industry—and on which a very watchful eye must be kept—in an area where streams running into the Irwell cause great pollution before they come near the boroughs of Bury and Radcliffe and where single industries on streams running into the Irwell, some in the hon. Member for Rossendale's own constituency, cause much pollution, no easy remedy exists. In an area where industry is urged to greater production and efficiency the chances of making the Irwell anything but part of the industrial machine are practically nil.
It may well be that action that can be taken here will be a useful warning for other parts of the country where rivers have not got into the advanced and awful state that the Irwell is in now. I do not think it is wise to be very optimistic and to think that very much can be done to restore the Irwell and to make it a pleasant stream in any way at all. If something can be done, industry undoubtedly will lend a hand and the local industrialists and Chamber of Commerce are extremely keen to help. If industry will co-operate with the successor to the Lancashire River Board there is possibly a chance, not that we shall notably improve the waters of the Irwell or the Roach, but that we shall show to authorities concerned with rivers not yet in that advanced state of pollution, the best way of preserving in something like decency a stream which must essentially serve industrial purposes. There are many of these streams in the country.
I hope the Minister will realise that all those responsible for these areas are at one in wishing to arrest or even to mitigate the terrible pollution that has taken place. I hope an effort will be made to improve the position and above all to set an example of what can be done in other streams. I have not found in my division a voice raised against such an effort. I have found great willingness to co-operate in every possible way, bearing in mind that industrial efficiency and maximum output unfortunately must take precedence over the amenity value of the Irwell.
§ 6.24 p.m.
§ Mr. Jack Jones (Rotherham)
I speak as one who, with the exception of perhaps 98 one hon. Member, lives as near to the Irwell as anybody in this House. We have listened to a carefully designed Budget Speech which stated that we must increase production, and I am one of those simple fellows who believe that to secure that production one must have a sane and satisfied atmosphere in the workshops. I speak on behalf of those disciples of angling who get enormous pleasure from a few hours of fishing. I know of nothing more relaxing or more calculated to take one away from the turmoil of this House than fishing. This Debate will have been of value if it does nothing more than to draw the attention of the Minister to this question of ensuring that the rivers of Lancashire where fishing is followed, are not allowed to get into the same condition as the Irwell.
With the growth of industry there has been a great increase in the disposal of effluent. Leather, paper and other industries have had to find an outlet for their effluent and the River Irwell has become an industrial sewer. As a result we do not see on the River Irwell what is to be found on the River Weaver where, the Minister if he goes there at the opening of the angling season, will find thousands of good honest British workmen enjoying a little repose not 30 miles from the Irwell.
I hope that everything possible will be done in the future to safeguard the amenities of rivers of this kind, where working men can have the form of sport they enjoy most, just as some hon. Members opposite can rent at high prices reaches of salmon rivers in the North of Scotland. I hope that as a result of this Debate no rivers will be allowed to get into worse condition, and that the Irwell will receive more attention. I should like to compliment my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale (Mr. Anthony Greenwood) for raising this matter on behalf of working men who derive enormous enjoyment from fishing, to the benefit of their industrial production.
§ 6.28 p.m.
§ Colonel Clarke (East Grinstead)
Like the hon. Member for Rotherham (Mr. Jack Jones) I join in the Debate because I am a fisherman, and I want to see the sport of fishing distributed as widely as possible. I know that the pollution of many of these rivers in industrial areas is preventing a great number of people 99 who might enjoy that sport from doing so. I am glad indeed that the hon. Member for Rossendale (Mr. Anthony Greenwood) has brought up this matter with regard to the River Irwell. As an officer of the British Field Sports Society I should like also to thank him for the complimentary remarks he made regarding the work of the society in trying to prevent this pollution.
I am sorry that my hon. Friend the Member for Bury and Radcliffe (Mr. W. Fletcher) has left the House, because I should like to emphasise exactly what the society have done in this matter. My hon. Friend said he thought the hon. Member for Rossendale had obtained the benefit of advice from the British Field Sports Society. Actually, of course, the society has spent a great deal of money in recent years in having surveys made of these rivers and letting people know what a tremendous amount of harm was done in this way during the industrial revolution and what a tremendous amount of pleasure is now being denied to fishermen in industrial areas.
I feel that my hon. Friend was rather defeatist in this matter. I see no reason why we should submit to the managers of these factories doing what they like. In many cases that is the position. In my constituency I heard only this morning of a case where the County Medical Officer of Health had been trying for some time to persuade a man with a small factory to do something about the effluent. He had just stuck his toes in and said that he did not see any reason why he should do anything, since there was no legislation to make him do it. I know that we cannot discuss legislation now, but I think I should be in Order in saying that I recollect that in the last Parliament we passed an Act which consolidated existing legislation relating to pollution. Many of us have been looking forward to some other Act which will further widen the powers of local authorities and others in this respect.
This question of pollution does not affect just one river. There are many rivers all over the country which are affected, and the survey of the British Field Sports Society has made this known to the public. I believe the public conscience is now being roused. I am glad that this matter has been raised, and I 100 give my full support to anything that can be done to try and put it right. I am certain that a great many people in the industrial areas have been denied a great deal of pleasure, and as a fisherman, I also very much regret the state of this river.
§ 6.32 p.m.
§ Mr. James Hudson (Ealing, North)
I apologise for intervening in this Debate when Members may desire to bring business to an earlier conclusion than usual, but I have a better qualification for speaking about this matter than most other Members because for many years I lived on the banks of the Irwell. I have had a closer experience of the Irwell than even my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale (Mr. Anthony Greenwood) has had. I fell into it. Indeed, I fell into it in days when the water was infinitely worse than it is now, when it was absolutely black and when the stink of it was different from all other stinks which have ever been experienced by man.
§ Mr. Ellis Smith (Stoke-on-Trent, South)
Has my hon. Friend been there lately?
§ Mr. Hudson
Yes, I have been there lately. That is one of the points I want to make, that things are now much better than they were in days gone by. I remember, too, that when I fell in I was a prominent worker in the local Band of Hope. The amount of water that I was able to partake of on that occasion—it was not the pure water which we sang about in the Band of Hope—still leaves a reminder of the dreadful things that the mill owners in my hon. Friend's constituency and the constituency of the hon. Member for Bury and Radcliffe (Mr. W. Fletcher) did to the Irwell in those days. Some of them are still prepared to do so.
I am a little disappointed by my hon. Friend's speech. He spoke too excusingly of the difficulties of the local manufacturers in this connection. The Irwell joins the Mersey near where my hon. Friend the Member for Rotherham (Mr. Jack Jones) now lives, and it used to pollute the Manchester Ship Canal. In the Manchester Ship Canal just after the Irwell had entered into it, was the effluent of the Manchester Corporation's sewage works. For many years the local council of the area where I live complained that when night came the Manchester 101 Corporation turned their crude sewage into the Manchester Ship Canal. I understand that that has now ceased. The Manchester Corporation has had to make very expensive arrangements for dealing properly with the sewage so that it does not cause a nuisance as the constituents of my hon. Friend do.
I was appalled at the intervention of the hon. Member for Bury and Radcliffe. He ought to be as keen on improving the Irwell as those of us who live on its banks lower down. I was appalled at the readiness with which he suggested that this stream was bound to continue to be the defective thing that it has been. The River Weaver is another tributary of the Mersey, and it might be just as bad as the Irwell but for the care that has been taken, at any rate in the middle reaches of that stream, by industrialists who have their works on its banks.
I do not know what steps can be taken but I hope that greater attention will be paid to this matter. I hope steps can be taken by regulation, and better still by education and appeal, to get the industrialists in the upper parts of the Irwell, round Rochdale, Oldham and up to Irwell Springs, to save the waters of this stream from the pollution that has for so long been practised there. Irwell Springs is a lovely name; it is the only part of the Irwell where there is a little pure water still running. The river is not allowed to run more than about a mile before the pollution begins.
I admit that a matter like this cannot be put right in a day or two, but action should now be taken. I am a fisherman, although I never hope to see fish in the Irwell. I should think the fishes' memory of what the Irwell has been like during all the time that I have known it, will for ever discourage any poor fish from swimming into the Irwell again. If, however, the fish can go back there it will be something to be thankful for. The people who have lived on the banks of the Irwell will also be grateful because they are so sick of the pollution and stink of that poor stream.
§ 6.37 p.m.
§ Mr. Hardy (Salford, East)
I make no apology for intervening in this Debate. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale (Mr. Anthony Greenwood) on raising this question. I do not agree 102 that there has been the improvement which it has been suggested has taken place in recent years. I am sure that a great deal more could have been done. I am not an angler, although I have every respect for anglers; but I think this House should be more concerned with the health of the people. Three years ago, when there was a serious flood which ruined hundreds of houses and furniture, the damage was done not by clean water but by filth from the river and its bed.
If hon. Members were compelled to live next to the River Irwell, something would have been done many years ago; but because these are only working-class people, little or no attempt has been made by the Government to tackle the question at all. In fact, when the flood took place and damage to the extent of £500,000 was done, the Government were approached, but all we got was sympathy Of coarse, sympathy is like gravy without the meat. We had to appeal to the Lord Mayor of London's Fund to enable us to compensate or rehabilitate some of those people —to restore them to their houses with the utility furniture available at that time.
If steps were now taken by the Government, I feel sure that they would eliminate the fear which exists in the minds of the people who are compelled to live in that area. The River Irwell has been a music-hall joke for many years—as black as ink and filthy. The filth has been responsible for creating a lot of disease. Negotiations have been going on for a considerable time between the catchment board and the local authorities in the area, but the improvement scheme has been abandoned because the Government are not prepared to say what grant they will make towards it.
I hope the Minister will give us some definite information tonight about the steps which the Government propose to take in order to try to prevent the recurrence of the flooding which took place three years ago. The people who are compelled to live in this industrial area are very seriously disturbed. We can imagine the position after a day like yesterday in Manchester, Salford and other districts around there. I do not want to make it appear that Manchester gets all the rain and that Salford gets none. There was incessant rain from five o'clock in the morning yesterday until late in the evening, and one can imagine 103 the fear and dread which exist in the minds of people compelled to live in that area when they see a day like that. If the river were as clean as it ought to be or as it may have been many years ago, that fear and dread would not exist.
As a representative of this area, and one who has lived in it all his life, I believe the inhabitants will expect me to congratulate the hon. Member for Rossendale who raised the subject. We have been hoping for some considerable time that something definite would be done by the Government. I sincerely trust that they will make up their minds to make these people feel happier—or, if they cannot make them feel happy—make them more comfortable in the knowledge that the Government will deal with this serious question of the River Irwell.
§ 6.43 p.m.
§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health (Mr. Blenkinsop)
I think we are all very grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale (Mr. Anthony Greenwood) for raising this subject this evening and also for the wide variety of experiences which have been related by other hon. Members—experiences which went as far as that of the hon. Member for Ealing, North (Mr. J. Hudson) and his trial by immersion. It has been suggested to me that some of his well-known views might have suffered a change as a result of his experience of water on that occasion but, as he rightly says, the water was not the sort of water in which he and others are interested.
This is, indeed, a serious subject, and it is of the greatest importance that we should give every possible consideration to ways in which we can alleviate the difficulties which arise from the particularly hideous condition of the Irwell. I believe that all those who are in any way concerned with this problem realise that it must inevitably need a long-term policy to achieve any striking improvements to this river. There is no doubt that we can do more in connection with rivers which have not yet reached the state of the Irwell, but that does not mean that we ought not to do what we can for the Irwell itself.
I want to say a word or two about the action which has already been taken and which will, I hope, continue to be taken 104 in the future. I should dike to pay a compliment to the old committee, the Mersey and Irwell Joint Pollution Committee, who did some very valuable work before the war—so much so that it could fairly be said that at the outbreak of the war the river was in a much better condition than had been the case for some considerable time previously. It may be that that is not saying very much, but at any rate the committee did make real progress and showed that it was possible to make improvements.
Unhappily, during the war and since, the conditions have deteriorated, partly because of the new factories which have been established on the side of the river and partly because of shortages of material, some of which were mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale. The main problem is, of course, that of the use of straw pulp for paper manufacture. That is, perhaps, the most important single item of all the many contributory factors—and there are many contributory factors. I believe there are some 210 trade premises which have discharged their effluents into the River Irwell by the time it reaches the Manchester Ship Canal, and there is also the effluent from some 54 sewage disposal works, although it may be true that the effluent from the sewage disposal works is pure by comparison with some of the trade effluents.
The problem is, what can be done, in particular, about the effluent from paper mills what can be done to try to remove the excess soda in the effluent from these mills? Some mills have already installed recovery plants, and both my own Ministry and the Board of Trade are interested that this should be done. The recovery of caustic soda can be of value and we shall certainly encourage in every way possible the use of these plants. We have to face the fact, however, that their installation is expensive, and naturally the mill owners themselves have wanted to know how long they are likely to go on using the straw pulp, which is a substitute for the wood pulp they used previously. As far as we can see, they are likely to go on using it for some time, and the advice we have been given from those who made a very careful survey of the position suggests that, on economy grounds, there may indeed be a need for a further use of straw pulp. We have, therefore, discussed this matter with the Board of Trade and 105 we shall see that, before any fresh straw pulp apparatus is installed in any of the factories or in new factories, full consideration is given to methods of recovery of caustic soda.
The question of other trade premises which discharge their effluent into the river has also been raised this evening, although none is quite so serious as that of straw pulp. Further, the local authorities in the area are considering in what way their sewage disposal works can be improved and whether or not a regional scheme for sewage disposal could be developed. Again, this is inevitably a long-term problem; the solution will take some time to develop, as well as being expensive, but I have no doubt that if it were possible it would be of great advantage to the area. Reference has also been made to the Water Pollution Research Board who have done, and are doing, some valuable research work. They are trying to see whether there is any less expensive way of recovering soda which might help us in tackling that side of the problem.
As my hon. Friend the Member tor Rossendale said, we are in process of setting up a new river board, as we are in the process of setting up new boards throughout the country, under the new Act. I believe that today the Order has been made defining the area of this new river board. The area of the board will include the Mersey and its tributaries—the Irwell and other tributaries of the Mersey. One of the first problems it will have to tackle will be this very serious problem of pollution here and in the other streams. It will take some time to establish this new board, because the full statutory procedure has to be gone through and a further draft Order has to be made for the constitution of the board itself. It will not directly affect the powers because, as my hon. Friend said, there are wider powers already in existence in that area than in most other 106 areas of the country; but it should be possible for the new board to give perhaps rather closer attention to the problem than was possible in the past.
I should mention the fact that the new river boards will take over the functions of fishery boards. I do not think we can be optimistic enough to hope we can provide for the two hon. Gentlemen who spoke about fishing and the point of view of anglers any catches—or any that they would value—in the river Irwell in either the near or long-distant future. However, we do, of course, take account of those interests in setting up the new river boards, and in considering what action can be taken to preserve other rivers from the sort of difficulties that have arisen here.
I can say, therefore, that we are giving continual consideration to ways in which we can lay down reasonable standards for rivers. Obviously this is not a matter I can go into fully tonight because it would undoubtedly require legislation, but we are considering the report which has been submitted by the sub-committee of the Central Advisory Water Committee which has made a series of very interesting and helpful suggestions for the future, some of which would not necessarily require legislation to carry through. My hon. Friends and all others who have shown interest in the subject can be assured that we are very anxious on our part to do everything we can to assist in dealing with this problem, remembering all the time the essential economic conditions in which we are working. It is for that reason that I cannot offer an early hope to my hon. Friend, but with the co-operation of the new board and the authorities I am sure some improvement can be made eventually and that deterioration in our rivers can be prevented.
Adjourned accordingly at Six Minutes to Seven o'Clock.

(It actually took until the early 1980s before fish began to reappear in the lower River Irwell.)

A Couple Of Sessions

2011-02-05T23:07:00.006Z

The first was on Thursday, spent in the company of Big Dave up at Pendle View trout lake. I dint get a touch in two hours - the first time I've ever blanked there. I didn't feel so bad, as so did the other two anglers fishing the lake.

Fishing buzzers under a bung, i would normally expect to catch a few rainbows up at Pendle, its an easy well stocked fishery but Thursday mornings must be the trouts morning off.
The only pull of the day came to Big Dave, back on the bank after recent illness - and he missed the only half chance of the day. A nice bracing sunny day though.

I've been busy recently buying new bits of kit for the coming year. A lovely Youngs 12ft avon rod was delivered this morning, so i had a trip down to the local pond to see if I could christen it with a Pike.
I did !

But only with this little Jack of about a pound.
Lots of jacks but no ladys coming out at the moment. Paul was down there with a few dead baits but didn't get any action - i am beginning to think that the better fish have been eaten/removed as I havent had anything over 3lbs this winter.
We finished the day off at Waterdale, another lake which used to hold some tremendous pike. I worked the whole lake with lures into the dark without a touch, and Paul didn't get any interest on his dead baits. Yet another lake which is a shadow of its former self - sad really.

Ying - Yang

2011-01-29T21:43:00.005Z

I spent the afternoon flinging lures and wobbling roach around Salford Quays and the lower reaches of the River Irwell without success.
Some lovely winter sunshine made it a pleasure to be out and about.

Imagine my pleasure this evening to find out that one of my fishing pals has had a successful day

My friend Chris took his son fishing on the Mersey for a few hours - (oh dear Chris it looks like the fishing gene has skipped a generation in your family) - and his young man managed to catch himself the trout of a lifetime. Well done, congratulations and dont ever let your dad forget it :)

An OH NO!!!!!!!!! Moment

2011-01-23T09:32:00.003Z

Last night, I'm very sad to say, I experienced one of lifes OH NO @%#!& moments. The realisation that after erasing the photos stored in my camera, and deleting the content of my computers recycle bin - the folder in which I thought i had stored the days fishing photos was EMPTY!
I'm an idiot :(
Under normal circumstances I would really be too bothered, but yesterday I experienced some great conditions for taking photos with a really hard Hoare Frost in the Ribble Valley. Also I had the pleasure of taking Paul out to attempt to catch his first grayling (acheived), and he also caught his first sea trout - and I deleted the pics - IDIOT!

A day trotting maggots down the clean gravel icy cold runs of the mid ribble valley, puntucated by lots and lots of hot tea and clearing the rod rings of ice ended with a 2 inch grayling, a lovely bright silver sea trout of about a pound, and then right at the end of the day a rod bending black cock sea trout of about 3lbs looking very bruised and battered post spawing.
It took about 4 hours and a hot bath before the feeling in my legs came back fully - brrr - but it was a fantastic day on a very cold river.
Paul - please accept my apologies - if anyone knows how to retrieve deleted photos from a digital camera memory card please let me know.

A few hours later - thanks to my clever little sister I have been able to find the missing file!Thanks Angela

Lots of hot tea

A little grayling

I should have brought some vaseline for my ring!

Silver and Gold

A battle scarred out of season cock sea trout ended the day.

Back On The Bank

2011-01-18T17:16:00.003Z

After weeks of flu enforced inactivity I finally made it out fishing this afternoon. Sitting in the house looking at the sunshine in the back garden - I just couldnt resist nipping out for an hours lure fishing on the park lake which is only 4 minutes walk from my back door.

Third cast I had a Jack Pike of about a pound, then a couple of casts later on of about 3lbs. I worked my way around the lake casting in likely looking spots, but didnt get any more interest until I reached my starting point where I had another little Jack of about 2lbs.

Good fun on light spinning gear, and funny that all three fish came from 20 square yards of a 5 acre lake. Maybe the silvers were shoaling in this area or maybe the pike are congregating in this area prior to spawning who knows.

As the sun dropped, the cold crept through my layers of clothing and I coughed my way back up the hill to a nice warm kitchen and a brew. It felt good to be back on the bank - my favourite thinking spot.

So roll on 2011 - I'm looking forwards to some great fishing fun.

I've not really paid much attention to this lake over the last few years (Drinkwater Park) as its glory days as one of the best tench waters in Greater Manchester are long since over. A mean spirited couple of nettings by a departing angling club have removed most of the best fish and the lake is a shadow of its former self. Rumour has it that a new angling club are looking to take on the lease - which can only be good news (as its a park lake it will have to remain a day ticket water).

The List 2010

2010-12-31T15:16:00.004Z

So another year ends, as always plenty to look back on and laugh about, situations to reflect on, and happy memories to smile about.
"The List 2010" ended with my species count of 23 being pipped by Tonys 24, with Phil getting a very respectable 19. I found i had an increased workload from September onwards and to be honest getting out fishing regularly hasnt been that easy over the last few months. My record of 24 remains intact - though I've no doubt any of us could easily have beaten it given a little effort.
Highlights of the year, well of course it has to be the big brown from the Irwell, closely followed by the Schelley from the lakes. That said, I think the time spent on the riverbank with pals new and old, and the laughs we've shared together are far more important than catching fish.

After all our sport is angling not catching.

Tis Lucias birthday tomorrow so were off to Wales for couple of days break (fishing rods not allowed) so happy new year to you all.

Bolton Fly Tyers

2010-12-30T18:30:00.002Z

Commencing 7pm Tuesday the 4th Jan 2011, Bolton Fly Tying Club are starting a series of demonstration/instruction evenings for budding fly tyers.

The series will start off with a demonstration of tying simple buzzer patterns, followed by the opportunity to have a go at tying some of your own afterwards.

I''ve been going on an off for the last couple of years, and think its a great way to keep involved in fishing related activity during the dark winter months.

In addition to the tying, the club also host visiting speakers and tying demonstrations, as well as organising a series of trips to local still and moving water venues.

Take a look at their website http://boltonflytyers.blogspot.com the club meets the 1st and 3rd Tuesday every month at the Beehive Pub in Horwich, and welcomes anyone with an interest in fishing and fly tying.

I'd Rather Be Fishing

2010-12-28T21:19:00.005Z

Snow, Ice, Christmas duties and a heavy dose of flu have all conspired to keep me house bound for the last week or so.
I felt slightly more chipper this evening, and was soon fingers and thumbs at the vice.

They might not be pretty - but they work.

Through A Hole In The Ice

2010-12-12T17:18:00.004Z

I arranged to meet Paul at 11am on Kingfisher Lodge and by the time I arrived he had very kindly made a hole in the ice just big enough for two.

Fishing a short flick tip whip, a size 22 hook, 0.08mm hooklength and a dotted down float i set about winkling out a few roach to use for wobbled dead baits later in the winter.

The very subtle differences in between our rigs made amazing differences in our catch rates with Paul initially catching about 5 fish to every one of mine, even though our floats were less than three feet apart. Once i added another section of pole and fished in slightly deeper water, with my hook bait an inch above the deck, I immediately started to up the numbers i was catching. Paul by this time was fishing a few inches over depth and found his bites starting to tail off.

Swapping between pinkies, punch and casters and experimenting with different presentations we caught steadily for a few hours until the cold had numbed my toes.

Our joint catch of fish was less impressive than it should have been as a hole in the keep net meant that we were fishing a form of catch and release.

A good little session - though most of the fish were too small to be of any use as wobblers.

Mooching About

2010-12-05T19:02:00.009Z

With the snow beginning to melt, and most of the local still waters frozen solid I was hard pushed to find somewhere to fish today, and when I did find some clear water only fished half heartedly.

I've found fishing in melt water is rarely productive, but as always I enjoy getting about and about and fishing is only a bonus activity on days such as today.

First off was a quick visit to the rochdale canal in the city centre, but this was still heavily iced. So a quick drive down to Pomona Quays on the ship canal found some open clear water. It was still misty and bitterly cold - even this heron couldn't be bothered to fly off and let me approach to within only a couple of yards.

Nothing doing on the ship canal, so another short drive took us over to Salford Quays- which as you can see had a fair covering of ice.
No sign of any pike and getting ever colder, we took another short drive over to Brindle Heath Lagoons - where the ice was really thick.
Then off towards home, but not before stopping off to have a walk around drinkwater park and Kingfisher Lodge, taking in a little bit of the Irwell on the way back to the car.

Brrrrrrrr

A Big Irwell Brown

2010-11-28T15:42:00.004Z

With the thermometer in the car nudging -5Celsius this morning, i cried off my pre-arranged trip up to the Ribble with Tony and Pete. I just couldn't face wading knee deep in the freezing cold river water and having to constantly remove the ice from the top few rings of my rod.

So as all the local lakes had a two inch lid of ice it was an easy decision to have a wander along the Irwell in Lower Broughton to see if I could snaffle up a Pike or two on my lure gear.

A lovely bright crisp but oh so cold morning, at least lure fishing would keep me warm and on the move.

I've had most of my Pike on the Irwell using a standard cheap mepps style spinner with a red tag, for some reason they seem to consistently out-perform plugs and other styles of lures. After about 20 minutes I made my way to the foot of a faster tongue of water, and to be honest i wasn't expecting to catch anything from this particular swim, but just as the lure was coming back in close to the bank, a decent fish rolled over the top of the lure, from its girth and creamy white belly I assumed it was a half decent pike, and re-cast short to see if it was still in the area.

Luckily for me, the fish decided to have a second bite at the cherry, and i was convinced by its plodding head shaking fight that i had a nice pike on the other end of the line.

Image the knee knocking moment I experienced when the fish rolled on the surface a second time and instead of seeing the greeny cream body of a pike, i saw the spotted flanks of a huge big brownie. Bloody hell - was i shaking when i knew what i had on!

The fish really used the faster tongue of current to its advantage, and i was obliged to follow it downstream a bit as there was no way i was going to be able to coax it back upstream to land it.

I kid you not, i my legs were turning to jelly as i landed it.

What a beauty - 26 inches long and bang on 7lb weighed on my digital scales.

A quick pic and then I slipped it gently back into the river, where it sat still for only a couple of seconds before it was off.

I fished on for another hour or two, but didn't have any more luck.

Who cares - I'm still shaking now as I write this up, well worth all the recent blanks.

And Again

2010-11-20T19:56:00.001Z

And again
Pike 0
Lures Lost 2

Time To Give Up

2010-11-19T16:46:00.001Z

So I had a couple of hours this afternoon on my local park lake.
Pike O
Lures lost 2
But at least the weather was pleasant.

An Expensive Blank

2010-11-19T09:26:00.002Z

Sunday afternoon - again on the Bridgewater Canal near Old Trafford.

Pike - none
Lures - lost 4
Fingers - numb (i dropped my neoprene gloves somewhere)
Mood - bad

3 Jolly Anglers

2010-11-08T20:41:00.012Z

Our day on the canal started off in bright sunshine - great for two of us but not so good for the hungover member of our trio. We parked the car amongst the old warehouses of Ancoats and made our way to the Rochdale Canal, where we tackled up with lures and traces. Leapfrogging our way down the towpath, the canal seemed to be devoid of fish until this monster committed hari-kari on this "natural"looking mini lure.

Once we got as far down as Piccadilly basin, i was wondering if the bright sunshine had put the fish down, so i put on an old favourite of mine, the bright green bottom grubbing Big S. Five minutes later I was into my first Jack of the day.

After this early success, i unclipped my lure and passed it over to Tom, to see it would help him break his duck - it didnt take long for this lure to attract more interest - and Tom was unlucky to loose a fairly decent fish pretty much immediately after tying it on

As lunch time was approaching - we thought it would be churlish of us to miss out on the delights of the Jolly Angler pub which is less than a minutes walk from the canal bank.

After taking appropriate Saturday afternoon refreshments, we made our way down the canal towards Castlefield. I had another little perch with eyes too big for its belly, but we couldn't get any more action with the Pike. It was a good afternoon though, as we got to see Manchester from a different perspective. Our afternoon was finished off in the Knott Bar - fantastic real ale.

Outside the Bridgewater Hall

Another greedy tiddler

A 19th century tower block, and a slightly more modern one.

This Sunday, I think a few hours on the Irwell will be in order. I've yet to have a river pike over 10lbs and its about time I hit lucky.

Final Fling

2010-10-30T17:47:00.003+01:00

Tomorrow is the last day of the Salmon season and I've not had one so far this year so today I decided to have a final fling with a few lures. With time being limited, I could only manage a couple of hours on the Mersey rather than taking time to drive up to the Ribble.

Some lovely autumn sunshine made the afternoon quite pleasant - but as I suspected before even starting to fish the day ended with a blank. I didnt even see any signs of fish whereas I've seen plenty of salmon on each time I've been on the Ribble this summer.

I always enjoy flinging a few lures about, and these below have been regulars in my box this year. Maybe I should chuck them all in the bin and start again as this season has been a spectacular dissapointment on the lure fishing front.

An Irwell Walk

2010-10-28T06:41:00.006+01:00

I've been so busy at work recently that fishing has had to take a back seat. Even during the odd occasisions when things have slowed down, I've felt a little guilty when thinking about sneaking off to go down the river. A riverside walk with the family last Sunday the afternoon had to be the next best thing.

A few sessions

2010-10-18T22:06:00.008+01:00

Theres been a lack of blogging recently but definitely not a lack of fishing.
I spent an afternoon plugging for pike in the city centre at Castlefield but didnt get a sniff of a fish. A lovely place to spend a few hours though

I was at my desk on the last day of the trout season, when my dad rang to see if i fancied a couple of hours on the river. So half an hour later, i had my dad positioned at the head of what i consider to be the best trout run on the Irwell. Two fish from his first three casts set the tone for the next two hours as we shared 18 fish and some lovely autumn sunshine.

The weekend saw me chasing ruffe again - another couple of biteless hours - seriously driving me nuts. Am close to giving up - Tony has 24 species now to my 22.

A late night email and phone call from the local bbc radio breakfast programme had me up at Salford Quays at the crack of dawn, as the breakfast show wanted to do a piece about funding being withdrawn for the oxygenation machinery which is the only thing which keeps the place alive. I felt slightly cheated when talking to the EA representatives the next morning who told me that the only thing that was happening was that the machinery was going to be changed from the pumping of liquid oxygen into the water, to pumping air via a venturi system instead - a much cheaper and equally effective alternative. Seems like the BEEB had their knickers in a twist over nothing - or were trying to invent some news!

Thursday morning i met up with Phil, Tony and Lloyd for Big Daves annual stockie bashing session, on his secret venue in Shropshire. Great fun fishing for rainbow trout in a water FULL of big, mental, rainbow trout. As always i stopped counting the number of fish i caught - its too easy (but still fun). I'm glad i only go once a year, otherwise this sort of fishing would lose any sort of appeal.

Last Saturday I spent on the Ribble. I couldnt wade for long as the water was soooo cold. The fish seem to have switched off and the only luck I had all afternoon was this nice chub which succumbed to my maggot swim feeder tactics.

Tomorrow evening I'm off to Bolton Fly Tying Clubs AGM - a great gang, lovely company. I only go to their evenings during winter months.

Sorry for such a rotten post, I really should write up these trips properly but have been so busy with work and other projects.....
Like catching sticklebacks ... which brings me to 23 species for the year so far :) Sad but true.

Bad Luck Or A Lack Of Guile

2010-09-28T11:48:00.002+01:00

Sunday Afternoon saw me back on the banks of one of the Wigan Flashes in what I have been assured is a good Ruffe peg. After 3 hours of fishing at different depths, styles, going down to a 22's hook with a 0.08mm hooklength my float finaly dipped. In my stupor/inertia/trance i didnt react just gormlessly stared as my float re-emerged. Shortly afterwards I packed up.

I'd had plently of options but yet again choose the wrong one. Tony had a great afternoon catching some big dace on a small Lancashire river. My friend Derek went onto my local river and connected with one of the lunkers for which the river is slowly developing something of a reputation.

The photo isnt great, but what a fish! 6lb 13oz of superb wild brownie. A fish of a lifetime - well done Derek.

A Big Wet Disapointment

2010-09-21T12:29:00.003+01:00

I had a free pass on Saturday - no work, no gardening/decorating/cleaning/shopping etc.

Fantastic.... i thought. I could fish a couple of venues and with a little luck, knock a few species of the list.

First port of call was at one of the flashes near Wigan where i was reliably informed that Ruffe literally launch themselves at a maggot, no matter how badly it is presented. After sitting for two biteless hours started to bitterly resent being given such duff information.

So I upped sticks, and a short drive up the M6 saw me ensconced on a banker swim on the Ribble. I tackled up with two rods, one maggot feeder, the other straight lead and a big fat worm on the hook - surely i couldn't fail to catch an eel could I ?

Trout, small chub and some decent dace fell to my carefully laid traps - not not an eel in sight. I am sure any Ribble regulars will laugh at my inability to catch an eel from the Ribbles "snig" infested waters.

I packed up at about 9.30pm in the pouring rain - a little despondent at not catching my target species, but cheered by some good company. Tony was trying out a new John Wilson quiver rod which he had spotted as a bargain on ebay - I am happy to report that he christened his new purchase with a lovely big Ribble chub - well done that mon/man.

Back To Secret Lake

2010-09-16T22:19:00.007+01:00

In my increasingly desperate chase for species, I had another trip to Secret Lake . I dropped off the Housekeeper in Leeds at 8am and made my first cast just after 9. A clear sky the previous night had led to a big drop in temps - so I wasn't too optimistic about catching any carp before lunch especially with the wind swinging around to the north. So i had a good mooch around, and baited up a swim tight to some sedges and overhanging trees, with strawberry boiles and halibut pellets. I set up two rods on a straight through running ledger, the first with hair rigged halibut pellet, the second hair rigged boilie. I sat back and enjoyed the morning sun, and as expected didn't get a bite.
While eating my lunch i thought that I'd not come all this way to blank, so reeled in the pellet rod, and set up a method feeder rig and launched in out into the centre of the lake.
There is a huge head of bream in this water, and it didn't take long for my rod tip to hoop round, and a small bream of about a lb graced the landing net, soon followed by another, then another and a few more. I was to be honest getting a little bored of bream on the method, so i started to fire in 4mm pellets over the top in the hope of stirring up some interest with the resident carp, now that the weather was warming up. So a quick change to a pellet waggler rig saw me catch first cast.... you guessed it - another bream, then another, then another.

Once it got to 3.15pm i had to start thinking about the half hour drive back to Leeds, and a punctual appearance for the only member of my household to do any work today. Just as i was in the process of packing up, my forgotten about boilie rod suddenly hooped, baitrunner screamed and i struck into a decent fish which streaked into the snags on the far bank. I was just thinking about giving it some welly - when the handle fell of my reel (note to self, stop buying cheap gear), so the fish inadvertently had a load of slack - and out it popped like a good un. I managed to cobble the reel back together for long enough to land a lovely common of about 5lbs.

Yet again no Grass Carp - but a lovely day out, and a good excuse to return.

Red Letter Day On The Tarn

2010-09-11T17:42:00.006+01:00

I've been meaning to fish a certain Cumbrian Tarn all summer, but for one reason or another have never made it. So I decided it was do or die time, and that I would make the trip up there today no matter what the weather forecast predicted.

My early start, long drive, long climb and subsequent blistered feet were well rewarded by some greedy trout who kept me occupied from beginning to end.
Using a small swimfeeder filled with maggots, a size 16 hook and an 18 inch tail I had a bite every cast. Sometimes from a little 4 inch trout such as this one.

And sometimes from its bigger 12 inch cousin like this one.

My patience and fortitude fishing through some horrendous weather was rewarded with this little Ice Age Gem, which takes my speices count for the year to 22. Read em and weep Phil.

The Good Old Days

2010-09-09T07:18:00.007+01:00

Have a look at this old news reel.
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=32966

The River Irwell comes in at 1.05 mins

There is a longer version here http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=32967 but I cant seem to get any sound with this one.

This is how I remember the river from my childhood - am I really that old!?!

The factories and chimneys are now all gone, though the foam still occasionally makes an appearance. My dad used to teach Spanish in the all girls convent school which was situated on the far bank just above the weir - He still can't believe that I catch fish from this weir pool.

Irwell Barbel Quest Pt9

2010-09-05T22:32:00.002+01:00

And so after a gap of 10 months, I decided to squander a few hours this evening on my futile search for a Barbel from the Irwell. I'd virtually given up on the idea of catching one from the Irwell until someone texted me whilst I was away on holiday that they'd taken one at 12lbs.
With renewed ardour I cast my pva bags and halibut pellets into a deep channel near The Cliff, tightened my lines and waited, and waited........... til it went dark when I packed up and went home.
Nice to know somethings in life don't change.

Pike Fishing On The Manchester Ship Canal

2010-09-04T10:32:00.003+01:00

The blogs been quiet for the last couple of weeks - Ryan Airs measly 15kg luggage allowance meant that the housekeepers eyebrows were raised to the highest levels when i attempted to pack a travel rod and some odds and ends of tackle.

I got back on Thursday so by the time I'd waded through my inbox, post and facebook messages it was Friday afternoon before i could even think about wetting a line. With only a couple of hours spare, i headed off down to into Manchester City Centre, parked up at the Casino on Regent Road and instead of working my way upstream into the city centre i turned left and worked my way downstream into the Ship Canal.
Alternating between my favourite 5 or 6 lures, all i could manage was a solitary 4oz perch.
I made my way down as far as Trafford Road Bridge, and didnt even have any follows from pike.
I'm getting a little disillusioned with lure fishing on the lower river and Ship Canal, other than a few fish from the weir, action has been very very slow. I'm packing away my lure gear now for the rest of the year - if i go again I will target roach and maybe use one as a dead or livebait on a sleeper rod.

The Best Laid Plans

2010-08-18T11:11:00.002+01:00

How often do we dream about the perfect fishing scenario? We have it all planned out in our heads, ideal weather, river levels, the best swims empty, loads of bait etc etc.
Well yesterday saw me on the Ribble, with the benefit of perfect river levels, empty swims, loads of bait, lovely weather ... the whole shooting match.
I was of course hoping to catch some clonking chub and rod bending barbel.......... not a chance.
I must have had over a 100 small dace, and in some instances really small dace. The chub didnt get past 4oz, the roach didnt get past 2oz, and the brown trout might have made 6oz if it had been eating stones for its dinner.
Late on as the light was failing, there were fish charging at the fry in the margins, so i changed from my stick float rig, and tied on my new favourite silver vibrax minnow and proceeded to catch two lovely perch of about a lb each on consecutive casts.
The highlight of the evening was seeing the Salmon leaping about in the pool. There were some decent sized fish in amongst the grilse. I think next year might see me buying a migratory licence again.

Lure Fishing In Manchester City Centre

2010-08-17T12:12:00.002+01:00

I've had a couple of short evening sessions lure fishing on the River in the centre of town. Using a small Big S, a vibrax minnow and a small copper mepps spinner, action with perch and chub has been pretty good. No fish of any remarkable size though. Its surprised me that I havent had any takes or follows from Pike, so last night I tried a few hours on the Bridgewater Canal between Old Trafford and Castlefield. Again just small perch and no Pike.
Every time I fish the Bridgie, I get a sense of nostalgia - teenage days idled away with good mates catching little to bugger all.
Off to the Ribble downstream of the TT this evening - hopefully a fish or two will bend the rod.

A Tale Of Three Rivers

2010-08-09T20:05:00.005+01:00

Saturday afternoon Lucia asked me to drop her off in Manchester city centre so she could fulfill her female urges to shop. Rather than trail my lady wife around various ladies clothing emporiums i bid her adieu and took a 5 minute spin around the inner ring road and ended up in the car park of the casino on Regent Rd (another city centre free parking spot).

I got a few funny looks whilst tackling up from the McDonald and KFC munchers, and then headed off down the zig zag path which leads directly to the river near to the old Harry Ramsdens chip shop.

I started off using a size 2 copper meps and had a few follows from some small perch, but no follows from any pike, so I switched my lures around a bit hoping to find a pattern that might attract some interest. The Big S, the Silver Minnow, the Jointed Plug all had a swim but nothing doing. It was only when I swapped over to a blue and silver Vibrax Minnow that I started to see some action.

I'd had a couple of casts in every swim down from the Campanile Hotel to the V&A Hotel without any fishy interest (other than the suicidal small perch) and then a chub of about a pound took an interest and put a bend in the rod. The river was a little dirty (ha ha its the Irwell were talking about here - its like fishing on 3 miles island!) so it wasn't until the final moments at the net that i realised i had caught my first ever chub on a lure.

After the V&A the riverbank pathway narrows to only a couple of feet wide, with quite a steep drop into the river - so care is needed if you decide to venture down this way. Once at the VAT offices theres plenty of room again, even a couple of benches for a nice sit down. It was from outside the VAT offices that i caught 5 perch between 4 and 8 ozs in a dozen or so casts.

The VAT offices is the upstream limit for easily accessible fishing in the city centre, upstream of this point, mountaineering skills/ladders and waders are a necessity.

So a chub and half a dozen little perch wasnt a shabby return for two hours on the river.
I like these little Vibrax Minnows, having used them recently on the Bridgewater Canal and now on the river. They cast well, the spinning blade deflects the lure away from snags, and they attract other species as well as Pike.

Sunday saw me returning to the Ribble to fish the swim where I've recently had so good sport. The river was up about 18 inches, and the force of water over the previously shallow gravel run was nearly strong enough to take my legs away from under me. Rather than risk my neck, I decided to fish the near bank crease which had formed, and for two hours i caught a succession of small roach, dace and chub using maggots and caster. I was really enjoying myself tiddler bashing, until Tony gave me a call to enquire about river conditions - his immediate reaction was to suggest joining Pete on The Dane. Hmmmmm

So a nano second later, I started to pack up and head off for an hour down the M6 as Pete had told us that the Dane was only an inch or two above summer levels. Within the hour I was battling through the Balsam and I started to catch small roach and dace again from what is a noted barbel swim - sounds familiar! I started to swim hop downstream until I came to Phil and Tonys favourite grayling run. I only fished to top end of the run for 15 minutes, but still managed to catch 3 nice fish. However, Tony was itching to catch something a little bigger, so we again set off through the jungle of balsam to a very snaggy swim which the chub and barbel favour due to the cover it gives them.

We both quite alot of maggots to use up so we fed the swim quite heavily to encourage the fish out from under the overhanging tree branches and bankside roots into the clear run in the centre of the river. A few small dace were caught, then Tonys float buried, and the swim erupted as the long broad bronze flanks of a decent fish made a dash for the overhanging willows. The result Fish 1 Tony 0.

As the swim was so narrow, we took it in turns to run our floats through, again a few more dace, and then Tony managed to catch a lovely chub of about 4lbs. It wasn't long before I had a fish of similar proportions. I had been concerned that we wouldn't be able to land any decent sized fish in such a parrot cage of a swim, but the chub as so often is the case gave themselves up after a couple of strong runs.
The light faded all too soon, and we didn't manage any barbel.

Is The Grass Greener On The Other Side?

2010-08-06T17:09:00.003+01:00

I've fished a particular swim on the lower Ribble twice in recent weeks and despite catching a fair few fish, the only good rod thumper I've managed to hook was a Chub of about 4lbs. Now this swim is a fast tongue of water over a gravel bottom, feeding into a big, long deep pool - its one of those places that screams FISH HERE at me - a real classic stick and pin run. On the two previous occasions I've tackled this run, I've fished from the southern bank and have had a deep back eddy in between me and the area I really think holds the fish, so at lunchtime today I had a few hours to spare and decided to approach the swim from the northern bank.

By changing my angle of approach, I could now wade over the shallow shingle bank, and stand waist deep on the side of the drop off into the faster deeper main current and run my float along the crease between the fast and slower water.

Again I set up with my standard stick float gear of 5bb shouldered wire stemmed stick and a 5lb hooklength, but rather than using a Drennan specialist size 14 hook, I used a Drennan size 16 carbon chub hook. The finer wire gauge i hoped would make a difference to presentation, and I know that the hook is strong enough to hold any fish under 10lb without loosing shape.

After spending 5 minutes feeding the swim and watching the world around me I had a first run through with the float.

About 3/4s of the way down the run, the float buried and i felt an almighty bang on the rod. Fish on!
After a brief run, the fish stopped in the central part of the heaviest flow and pulsed in the current, typical barbel behaviour. Over the last few sessions I've been using my avon rod for trotting the Ribble rather than my 15ft lightweight Drennan, so by using the arc of the stronger rod i was able to apply low side strain and gently move the fish into lighter flow. (its nice to be able to boss a fish for a change rather than being bullied by any fish over 3lb as was happening with the Drennan).

After what felt like ages but was probably only 5 minutes i slipped the net under this nice barbel which weighed 4 1/2lbs. Action was fast and furious for the next 3 hours, I managed another half dozen barbel, a nice chub, lots of dace to about 6oz, a small brown trout and a surprise flattie.

I've decided that as this flattie was caught above the tidal limit, on coarse fishing gear then I'm claiming it as a species on this years list - so now I'm up to 21.

So the upshot is that by being a member of clubs which own opposite sides of the river bank, I get the opportunity fish the same swim in different ways. The grass on the north bank is definitely greener.

Mackerel Rock

2010-08-03T21:12:00.003+01:00

Last Saturday Lucia and I went for a day out walking along the cliffs of Holy Island on Anglesey. As were were going to be passing one of the North Wests top mackerel marks, a travel rod and feathers were added to our daysack. For those of you who fancy giving this place a try - its OS grid reference is 224 793.

I didnt fancy joining the scrum on the rock - wasnt too sure that its a safe place to fish on a high tide!

Our timing was a little off, and our walk from Trearddur Bay to South Stack Lighthouse coincided with a high tide. Normally a high tide is a good thing as it brings the fish slightly closer to shore, however a high tide combined with a reasonable swell and a strong breeze isn't a safe combination when fishing on an exposed rock mark such as Mackerel Rock.

With only an hour or so available for fishing (whilst Lucia ate her lunch and read a magazine) I choose to fish a much safer mark about 500yds further along the coast. No mackerel - but a nice pollack decided to take my feathers. Later in the afternoon we headed off to fish Holyhead Breakwater for an hour or so before driving home - as the tide was at its lowest I was surprised when a nice mackerel took the lure I was using. I just didn't expect a mackerel to be feeding at low water.
Shows how much i know about sea fishing.

Sunday saw me on the banks of the Ribble with Tony. Standard tactics of 5bb stick float, maggots and centre pin reel saw me catch a number of dace to about 6oz, small trout, a nice chub and a couple of surprise roach. I've never caught roach so far up river before. Its reassuring that there are so many smaller roach and dace in the river, hopefully these fish will grow on and become the 1lb and 2lbers of the future.
I just love my time on the banks of the Ribble, its an amazing place to spend a few hours. Sunday saw us catching lots of fish, we saw a Stag and Doe come down to take an evening drink from the river, and Salmon and Sea Trout were leaping clear of the water on a regular basis. Its a privilege to be able to observe natures wheel turning.

Secret Lake

2010-07-30T14:45:00.004+01:00

Thursday saw driving Lucia over to Leeds again - so rather than fish club waters on the River Wharfe, I decided to visit a lake which i know contains Grass Carp. This venue is only 30 minutes drive from the hospital where Lucia us currently working and I was able to have a good 6 and a 1/2 hour session before having to pack up. Its also got great mobile phone reception so I can fish and work at the same time.....bliss.

I apologise in advance though, as I have been sworn to secrecy regarding the name and location of this venue - It will have to be refered to as "secret lake".

Secret Lake is a fantastic, woody, swampy snaggy water which I'm told holds a good head of carp to well over 20lb and a number of grass carp of a similar size.

The kind friend who told me about this lake assured me that it would be deserted during the week and gave me strict instructions as to how I should approach each of the 3 swims he recommend for me to attempt to catch my first "grassie". Rather ashamedly I have to admit that i didn't quite follow his bait recommendations or fish the swims he recommended (though the latter of these two decisions was taken out of my hands as there were already anglers in situ).

The bait recommendations of strawberry or pineapple boilies went right out of the window as I didn't get time to buy any. So I tackled up with halibut pellet on one rod fished tight to the overhanging trees and cat meat on the other fished into the centre of the lake.

I didn't get a bite all day on the halibut pellets fished tight to the overhanging trees, but a caught a bream (up to 3lb) every cast on the ledgered cat meat...... so much for it being a carp lake!

When I was packing up at 3.30 I asked a few other anglers how they had been doing, none had caught any carp - so maybe it was just one of those days.

I've got list fever - so have generously offered Lucia another lift to Leeds one day next week - hopefully the grass carp will be biting. The prospect of beating my carp pb which is 17lb is also on the cards at this lake - maybe its time to buy some strawberry boilies.

Catch Up

2010-07-24T13:59:00.026+01:00

Its been a week or two since my last post - I've been busy - fishing and working, so be prepared - this post is a long one.

A week last Saturday, Matthew and I had a few hours free in the City Centre of Manchester when we dropped Lucia off to do a bit of shopping. We parked the car for our two hours free parking in the Toys R Us car park and completed a little loop of the Aston and Rochdale Canals plugging for Pike.

Matt had action on his first cast, catching a greedy little perch on a long silver minnow type plug. I had to wait for my fish until the last 15 minutes of our little trip, when a 2lb jack took my Big S lure close to the near bank at the end of my retrieve. This is an area of canal that I have never fished before, but i know it holds a good head of fish, including double figure pike, and some large chub! Its free fishing, the only cost being parking if you want to fish for longer than two hours. There is a carpark next to the canal basin beside Piccadilly Station, you could fish from your car if you wanted to at this point and enjoy some good sport.

The following Tuesday saw me offer The Housekeeper a lift to work in Leeds. This of course meant that I had stashed a rod in the boot of the car, with a view to checking out some new water on the River Wharfe near Pool. With about a mile of river to explore, I wasn't going to be able to fish all the available swims in the few hours i had available, but using maggot, stick and pin I managed to winkle out a few nice grayling and a couple of small brownies. I managed to lose a cracking grayling which caught me by surprise as it took the bait withing 3 feet of where i was standing. The greedy so and so had positioned itself in the river to intercept the maggots leaking from my bait apron rather than the spot i was trying to feed by hand. That will teach me !

Friday afternoon, i had arranged to meet a young lad from one of the fishing forums i contribute to. He wanted me to show him how to catch a few fish from Maceys in Bury - but when push came to shove - he didnt show up.

So i tackled up in peg 29 which is in my view the best swim on the lake, and using a method feeder and 8mm pellet managed to catch about a dozen carp in the few hours I was there. I thought I was doing really well during my first hour, then one of the regulars came along and asked me why i was using a groundbait method feeder rather than a compressed pellet feeder? He proceeded to give me a lesson using pellet method, in that whilst both caught about the same number of fish, his were on average double the size of the ones i was getting. You live and learn hey!

Sunday afternoon saw me back on the Ribble, but I started off in a new area downstream of the Tickled Trout. I had walked this section on a family walk the previous day, and identified a lovely tongue of water which i reckoned would hold a few fish. I wasnt disappointed by my choice of swim and caught a dace or chub every second run through with the float. Best dace about 6oz, best chub about 4lb8oz.

Later in the afternoon we moved up river past Ribchester to a favourite stretch of river, but heavy showers in the Ribble Valley led to a rapidly rising river and more difficult trotting conditions. I reckon the river rose about a foot for every hour we were there.

I did manage a few more dace and another nice chub. Phil K took a nice little silver sea trout - another one to add to his list. We were all hoping to catch a barbel or two on stick float gear but surprisingly none showed despite the ideal barbel conditions.

Spurred on by being last in this years List - I decided to play a little midweek catch up by visiting Square Lodge in Hindley for an hour or two on Wednesday evening. Using a margin pole, soft green pellets over micros Square Lodge didn't disappoint and I caught some lovely crucians, the largest going to about 1lb8oz. A heavy storm, thunder and lightning had me putting down my carbon lightning conductor for about an hour, and sheltering under a leaking umbrella. The storm seemed to be the kiss of death on the fishing, as once it had passed over, i couldn't buy a bite so i packed up early and went home with a nice bottle of red.

Last Saturday saw me dropping Lucia off in town for a couple of hours shopping. So i did the natural thing and headed off to the Bridgewater Canal for an hour or twos plugging for pike. This time i hit the other side of town, and parked my car next to the Throstles Nest Bridge near Old Trafford. From here i worked my way back towards Castlefield. The pike proved to be elusive, however small perch were regularly following my lure back to the bank, so i changed to a smaller lure and immediately started catching perch between 2 and 8ozs.

I cleared out my tackle shed on Saturday evening, and realised that i had about 3 cardboard boxes full of half used bags of pellets, some of them over 3 years old. Rather than chucking them away i decided that I will used them all up over the next month or two, and at the same time knock off a few more species from The List. So on Sunday afternoon i had a few hours at Beacon View fisher near Standish.

There was a match taking place when i arrived, so i set up in the corner peg just past the owners house.

I set up a sleeper rod with a hair rigged 12mm halibut pellet tight into the corner marginal rushes and then a second pole line at 6m in about 5ft of water fishing soft green pellet over micros.

I started off catching roach and skimmers on the pole, until after about 30 minutes the baitrunner on my sleeper rod screeched into life, and i caught a very lively mirror carp of between 3 - 5 lbs.

Whilst i was re-baiting the sleeper rod swim, i had left my pole in the marginal rushed with the hookbait up in the water. I just managed to grab the end of the pole as a white koi of about 5lbs dragged my pole into the water.

After this i managed a couple more roach and a brown goldfish (another one off the list).

I noticed fish swirling out in the middle of the lake, so i pulled in both lines, and re-setup with a pellet waggler.

I was then lucky enough to have a golden hour and a half, when i caught a carp every other cast. This only stopped when i ran out of 4mm feed pellets and had to start firing in micros. This either put the fish off, or made them feed on the bottom, because the bites immediately dried up. I wasn't bothered i must have had nearly 50lb of carp in an hour and a half and my arm was aching. Great fun, only spoiled by the large numbers of rats scuttling about in the margins. I washed my hands under the farm tap before driving home. I really don't like fishing in rat infested waters - its a pity that i wont be going back there until i hear its been cleaned up a little.

So with 5 months of the year left, I've caught 20 species of fish. My best ever tally is 24. I think if i put my mind to it i will break the 30 barrier this season - then i can give up on this stupidly addictive chase. My other friends have been out catching big barbel, chub from the Irwell, and yesterday i heard that Karl has taken a 2lb7oz roach from the Ribble - now thats a fish!

A Greedy Perch

2010-07-08T09:54:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I spent the last hour of daylight plugging for pike at Adelphi Weir. A very aggressive greedy perch was attacking the plug for about half a dozen casts before it finally committed hari kari and hooked itself up.

Apologies for the dodgy mobile phone picture.

I didnt see any pike.

River Irk Pollution - Icebergs of Foam

2010-07-07T12:43:00.003+01:00

Its been a while coming but the EA have finally got their man so to speak. Hopefully McBrides who have had a long history as polluters of the Irk will get the message at long last.
Some of you may think that the fine is small when compared to the £capitalisation of the company which is over £250mil but i guess a really big fine might persuade them to upsticks and move elsewhere, destroying jobs etc.

Here is the EAs press release on the matter.

The Environment Agency has been successful in prosecuting a company who were responsible for foam icebergs to form along the River Irk near Manchester.

The Environment Agency has been successful in prosecuting Robert McBride Ltd for a pollution incident that caused a large amount of foam to be seen on a five mile stretch of the River Irk in April 2009.

Robert McBride Limited pleaded guiltyunder the Water Resources Act 1991 to causing polluting matter to enter the River Irk. The company has been ordered to pay a fine of 6,600GBP and costs of 4,822.64GBP.

On 14 April 2009 the Environment Agency received over thirty reports of foam on the River Irk from members of the public. Environment Officers attended the scene and traced the pollution to a hole in the retaining wall of Robert McBride Ltd’s site, where a brown discharge was entering the river and causing large amount of white foam to cover the river downstream. Officers visited the site and requested the company take action to stop the pollution entering the river.

Officers took samples of the discharge and an ecological survey showed there was chemical pollution which had a negative impact on the invertebrates for up to three miles downstream. Officers also saw dead fish. The discharge was identified as bleach which is toxic to aquatic life.

In mitigation, Robert McBride Ltd indicated its guilty plea at the earliest opportunity and cooperated with the Environment Agency. In addition, nearly 70,000GBP has been spent by the company stopping the pollution, investigating the cause and improving infrastructure on site.

Gordon Whitaker, Environment Manager for the Environment Agency said,

“We have worked with Robert McBride Ltd to ensure that the necessary action was taken to prevent any future pollution. Hopefully this prosecution will remind Robert McBride Ltd and other companies how important it is to protect the environment from pollution through preventative measures”

A long day on the river

2010-07-06T21:02:00.006+01:00

As the housekeeper had to work last Saturday I had a rare day to myself. Phil and Tony have been pulling away from me in the number of species they have caught from "the list" so i decided that Saturday would be a suitable day to fish a couple of venues and get myself back in the running.

So 7.30am saw me tackling up on the banks of the River Dane with my usual river set up of light wire stemmed stick float (8xNo4) and a closed face reel (the flow is too slow to send the pin round whilst the rivers are so low). I've only fished the Dane once before with Phil in the depths of winter, when we both blanked but i remembered his advice as to which swims held fish, and was rewarded with a nice little grayling first run down.

The fishing, the scenery, the solitude and the weather were all fantastic - I'd forgotten how much I enjoy fishing alone (dream time) and I caught a steady stream of Dace and Grayling all morning.

My original intentions for the day were to spend a few hours on the Dane to catch a couple of Grayling, then head up to Deep Pit or Square Lodge to knock a Crucian Carp off the list followed by an evening on the Ribble trying for a sea trout. However, a quick call from Tony who expressed a wish to try out some new water on the River Severn saw me meeting up with the boys and heading off down the M6 towards Shrewsbury.

As it turned out I didn't fare so well on the Severn, all I managed was a small trout, a couple of Salmon Parr and a number of small dace. Phil also struggled, but Tony found some good chub in a faster run of water, the best going to just over 5lbs. It was a lovely fish in mint condition. Its always good to try out somewhere new, and despite not catching very much I will certainly return. You can often visit a fishery many times before you begin to unlock its secrets. It would be churlish to complain about a lack of angling success when I've had the opportunity to spend an afternoon on a beautiful river bank with two good friends.

The list started off as a bit of fun, but it seems as though we all have a little competitive streak in us. For once in my life i was pleased to catch a minnow, as this little tiddler put me one ahead of Phil and a little closer to Tony.

During the summer Matthews rugby team still train every Tuesday evening, and I usually spend the evening running the perimeter of the pitches attempting to halt advancing middle aged spread. This evening, a bad back prevented me from jogging my 5 circuits of the training fields, but didn't prevent me from taking my lure fishing gear to the lake which borders the training ground. Two jack pike of a pound or two each were my reward and now take me up to 18 species for the year so far.

Summer Nights

2010-06-30T21:39:00.003+01:00

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

2010-06-21T10:36:00.002+01:00

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

2010-06-18T15:08:00.008+01:00

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

2010-06-14T11:57:00.007+01:00

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

2010-06-08T07:41:00.004+01:00

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?

2010-06-03T23:05:00.002+01:00

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

2010-06-03T12:23:00.003+01:00

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.

Another Amazing Photo By Tom Blackwell

2010-05-07T10:32:00.004+01:00

The lovely photo which forms the background to the title of my blog was taken by Tom Blackwell. Over the last few years he has taken some amazing pictures of urban Manchester, and has a number of portfolios which can be found on the photo sharing website flickr.

As a fan of Toms work, I often check to see if he has uploaded any new pictures - to my delight I found this new photo giving a rather unique vista of Manchester.

This lad is a photoshop wizard!
You can have a look at his other photographs here http://www.flickr.com/photos/tjblackwell/

A Sunday Pleasure

2010-04-20T10:58:00.008+01:00

What a pleasure it was to pull up in the car park, adjacent to one of my favourite trout fishing swims and see a HUGE lunker of a trout gently sipping flies off the surface.

I havent seen any decent fish for ages on the river, and have been very worried that they had been fished out or wiped out by some form of pollution. This fish was well over the 3lb mark, and it was a pleasure to watch it moving from side to side in the current having its Sunday dinner.

I've had a few good fish over the years from this river, so rather than sneaking up behind it and casting a line, I left it in situ for Tony who was driving up the motorway to join me.

The river was low and clear, and maybe this clarity and the early season lack of bankside cover resulted in the fish spooking as soon as Tony approached.

It was very disappointing to see two points of sewage pollution entering the river. Its things like this which left unreported have a cumulative long term effect on the river. I've reported them both to the EA pollution hotline.

Despite flogging the water for a good hour or so I didnt do much in the standard pools which used to produce so many fish. So moving upriver I caught a little brownie (my first of the season) from a pool below a little waterfall. It seems as though the fish have deserted the deeper runs and moved into the bouldery pocket water which gives more cover and a chance to escape from predators.

I then spent 20 minute turning stones in the river to see what sort of bug life was around, and was reassured to see huge numbers of creepy crawlies such as stone clinger nymphs, caddis larvae and baetis nymphs - surely a sign that pollution hasnt been too severe over the winter months. This hunch was reinforced by my capture of these bullheads and even more surprisingly a nice big stoneloach.

Tony also managed to take a micro - brownie, at least a 10th of the size of his original target fish.

As always, it not always the catching of a big fish which gives pleasure, I got immense satisfaction from just being able to observe this magnificent creature in its natural environment. Those who are taking fish from our rivers are nothing but shortsighted, selfish and stupid.

Maggot Drowners Fund Raiser At Lindholme

2010-04-19T19:23:00.002+01:00

For the last few years I've been an avid reader and poster on the angling forum www.maggotdrowning.com

The site is a mine of information, with contributions by both top match anglers and enthusiastic amateurs like myself. Unlike other angling forums, it is very welcoming to anglers of all abilities, there is little bitching between members, and is a mine of information regarding venues, tactics, baits etc. not forgetting the jokes and general banter.
The nicest thing about it is that its free and there is very little advertising.

However over the years, the site has now become the most popular anglers forum on the net, and consequently a site which started as Daves (the owner) hobby, is now costing upwards of £10k a year to run not counting the countless hours of time Dave spends ensuring that the site, servers e.t.c. are working properly.
Family and work commitments have resulted in Dave being given a hard time by his better half, as his work life (income) and family time was suffering due to the hours spent on administering and financially supporting what has now become the largest angling site on the web in the UK.
This pressure led to Dave considering selling the site to a commercial operation, or plastering the site with advertising in order to raise cash to pay for someone to run the site for him. But instead of taking this route immediately he informed the members of the site about the costs and time involved in running such a large sitem and the problems this was creating for him and this has resulted in many of the sites regular users donating £15/year towards the running costs.

The £15/year is optional - some feel as though all websites should have free access, many users were happy to contribute a small amount towards the upkeep of what is one of the best angling resources on the net.
One of the sites members is Neil Grantham owner of Lindholme Lakes complex near Doncaster. Lindholme is probably the premier match fishing complex in the north of England and Neil very generously donated his lakes to the Maggot Drowners for a day so we could have a match to raise funds towards the up keep of the site.
So on Saturday nearly 100 of the UKs most inept and ugly fishermen were to be found desecrating the banks of lakes where you would normally find top match anglers such as Alan Scotthorne , Neil Mahcin and John Allerton plying their trade.
Sunshine, laughs and fish a plenty were the order of the day. I caught a lowly 15lb of fish but it didnt stop me having a thoroughly entertaining days fishing in great company.
I dont know how much was raised in total but hopefully it will go someway towards paying for a part - time webmaster for the site, and to keep it free of a heavy advertising presence.
www.maggotdrowning.com is still a free site, though regular users are encouraged to donate £15. Its worth it!

Oh and before i forget, (as if) my catch included an Ide and a gudgeon - so thats me up to 9 species for the season now. Phil and Tony - beware - I'm fed up of getting early morning texts saying I've caught aCrucian or I've got a tench - wedding or no wedding - the gloves are off!

The List - causing some exitement!

2010-04-07T14:20:00.006+01:00

Looks like Phil & Tony have both been badly bitten by the list.

Phil and Tony have now both caught 8 species of fish each this season, to my 6 - a fact which they have suddenly become keen to remind me about.

I'm not worried, the year is still young and I'm sure both of their faces will be coated in egg come the 31st Decemeber.

Good Friday saw us visit Beacon View Fishery near Standish. I fed micro pellets and used a 4mm hooker pellet fished at dead depth to catch a steady succession of skimmer bream to 2lbs and the occaisional roach to a lb.

We were joined later in the day by Tony and his young son. I think Tony was hoping for a steady stream of bites and fish to keep young Logan entertained - but the water is still pretty cold and the fish werent being too obliging. They did however catch some small roach, skimmers and a rudd - which Tony added to his list to bring his tally up to 8. ( are you sure it was you who caught the rudd Tony - I'm sure i saw Logan reeling it in). Its a difficult time of the year to take youngsters out and get them into fishing - unless kids are really keen they soon feel the cold if their not catching a fish every 5 minutes.

Phil_K was again fishing maggot feeder, and also had a steady catch of Skimmers - he also caught two nice perch - the largest was 1.5lbs.

So after being picked on all afternoon for only having caught 6 species - i decided i was going to start overtaking the boys. Therefore on Monday morning - I met up with Phil at Pendle View Trout fishery to have some fun with their always obliging Rainbow Trout. (Phils already caught a Rainbow this season - so it was a safe choice of venue for me).

I caught 10 Rainbows up to 3lb 20z on a variety of flies - the most productive method being a spider pattern fished at about 18 inches depth.

Phil used a buzzer pattern to catch two small perch ( his first perch on the fly) and a couple of small rainbows.

So thats me up to seven species now, and with a couple of months left before the rivers re-open for coarse fishing it leaves me plenty of time to target still water species such as crucian carp, ruffe etc.

Partridge Lakes - Holbar

2010-03-27T11:46:00.003Z

Phil and I decided to take a day off work and visit Partridge Lakes. Despite it being only half and hours drive from home, its a commercial I've never visited before. They have various lakes and canals, including two lakes Holbar one and two which are supposedly stuffed with decent carp.

Now I know its still early in the season, and that the carp haven't really switched onto feeding mode yet, but i cant resist the attraction of my tip flying round whilst fishing the method feeder. So i fished 8mm pellet hair rigged and sometimes banded with a method feeder. Phil started out using waggler gear and maggots fished in mid water - we were both plagued with F1 carp of about a pound in weight. (not really enjoyable fishing if the truth be told).

Mid afternoon, Phil decided to have a change of tactics, so he set up his electronic bite alarm, and a maggot feeder rig, cast into mid lake and sat back in his chair for a snooze.

First cast - his alarm screamed and he landed this beauty of 13lb 12oz

Second cast- his alarm screamed again and he landed another cracker of 12lb 10oz.

Third cast - i was seriously jealous by now- he landed a chub of about 2 1/2 lbs.

As i had been a silly fool and only brought pellets and no change of bait - i was stuck with catching tiddly F1's. Next time I visit, i think that adding a tub of worms and a tin of sweetcorn might be a sensible idea.

Phil also caught a little perch - which means he now has 8 species to my 6 for the season so far.

Spring Equinox

2010-03-21T21:38:00.006Z

Today was the spring equinox - the frogs spawned in my garden pond yesterday, the chicks are just about to hatch in my incubator, and I caught my first tench of the year.

After a bright sunny start to the day watching Matt play rugby, I was itching to get on the bank - yesterdays rains put me off trout fishing on one of the local rivers, so a quick trip to Maceys my local commercial fishery was the order of the day.

I usually use maggots at Maceys as they are a good catch all species bait, but as this year I'm trying to use them as little as possible and the sun was still shining i used a groundbait method feeder with hair rigged sweetcorn on the hook.

I waited, waited and waited some more. None of the other fishermen on the lake were catching, and just as i was resigning myself to a blank - my tip wrapped round and i caught this little 15oz tench.

Its easy to be precise about fishes weights now, as I've started to use a pair of digital scales rather than guesstimates.

Hopefully i might get to knock another species or two off the list on Friday when i have a day out with Phil (i should really take him Rainbow Trout fishing as he's already caught one :))
My side draw needs a tidy - untidier than Matts bedroom!!

Wot No Fish ?

2010-03-16T09:46:00.002Z

As yesterday was the opening day of the fly fishing season, Tony and I took some time off work and wetted a line on our local river Irwell.

I was certainly a little ring rusty and spent the majority of the first hour or so, freeing my line from the riverside trees and shrubbery, and untangling birds nests which i was creating around my rod tip (one day i will have to book some casting lessons with Chris Aldred).

The river itself was very cold, low and clear - not ideal conditions for catching fish - but I've always been able to catch a few from my favourite runs no matter what the weather and water conditions.

Not this year - we tried all sorts of runs and pools which we know from experience hold fish. But after a good few hours we had a nil result.

The only fish we saw sight of were two small fish rising in a flat pool, which disappeared as soon as Tony got in the water to present an f fly over them.

A really disappointing day. We didn't even see any fish in the banker pool at the bridge near the mill where usually a few fish can be seen lurking under the cover of the bridge.

We did a kick sample to see what was about, and found a fair few bugs, and Tony saw a couple of bullheads so pollution cant be to blame. I personally think that mink have decimated the river over winter - no doubt helped by cormorants which have descended on the river in numbers when the still waters were frozen over for 5 weeks earlier in the winter.

It could be a tough year on the river - i hope I'm wrong but the evidence says I wont be.

Kingfisher Lake

2010-03-09T16:36:00.005Z

As you drive along the M60 from Prestwich to Swinton - Kingfisher Lake is the first lake that can be seen through the trees on the left hand side.
If the truth be told, its not my favourite venue due to the noise from the motorway and as a consequence I rarely visit. In fact - so rare are my visits that i realised its 25 years since i last wet a line there.
The council are currently spending alot of cash in the park improving the paths, so during a sunny afternoon last week i had a cycle around the park, checking out a few of the lakes and trying to spot a deer (no luck on the latter).
I know there is good fishing in the three other lakes within the park, not including Drinkwater Park Lake - which has not yet recovered from one of the local angling clubs netting the place and removing all the decent fish to one of its private club waters -grrrrr. So after having a look around the three lakes nearest to my house - i had a cycle around Kingfisher Lake and was pleasantly surprised to see fish topping.
This gee-d me up to have a walk over there on Sunday afternoon, armed with a pole, a loaf of bread and my pike gear.
Using bread punch fished at mid water and Liqquid bread as feed i caught a small roach a chuck for the whole 4 hours i was there. I tried using bread paste and larger lumps of bread flake, but could do nothing to get through to any decent fish.
I cast out one of these little roach as livebait under an old fashioned bung - using a baitrunner reel to give some extra bite indication, but I didn't get a touch from a pike and the little lip hooked roach went back none the worse at the end of the day.
I did catch a solitary small Rudd amongst all the roach so at least i can up my total by one for this years species list (race/competition with Phil).
It could be another 25 years before i return to Kingfisher Lake as at least two of the three other lakes behind my house are much better fishing and not as far to lug my gear.

Brighter Skies and THE LIST

2010-03-03T21:35:00.005Z

I couldn't miss making the most of a rare sunny day, so all work was put on hold, and Phil and I drove up the M6 to Borwick.

The less forgiving would call Borwick an over exposed hole in the ground, I prefer to think it reflects the gritty, rocky northern hillside this fishery is located upon. It is however stuffed with fish, and after the long big freeze the fish might be hungry.

Phil set up using a huge bodied waggler taking about 5 or 6 SSG shot, with single red maggot as hookbait which he launched towards the centre of the lake - hoping to pick up fish cruising in mid-water.

I decided to set up using a cage feeder filled with liquidised bread and sweetcorn on a hair rig as hookbait.

After about 30mins, and a few small knocks my tip wrapped round and i felt a really solid fish on the end which took alot of line. Unfortunately it shed the hook just as Phil was readying the net to help me land it.

I joked to Phil that it was probably going to be my only fish of the day - and I sat gutted as Phil proceeded to catch 6 nice carp during the next couple of hours.

It was only when i switched over to using a method feeder with Swim Stim Green Groundbait, that i finally caught a few nice skimmer bream, then just before we started to pack up, my tip wrapped right round again and i played and this time landed a nice small carp of about 4lbs.

The sunshine, the buzzards, the oystercatchers, curlews and lapwings made it a lovely day out in the sun.
Roll on spring.

You might have noticed that in the right hand column of my blog I've decided to list the species i fish i catch this season and the largest fish of each species. Every year I compile a personal list - my best year was 24 different species, last year i managed 20 without trtying. It looks like Phil wants to make a little competition about who can catch the most this year...... bring it on Phil :)
Phil - anything less than 20 will be classed as pathetic and only three types of carp count towards the total common, grass and crucian carp.
A tench is a tench - golden tench don't count as an extra species, neither do blue trout or golden rudd etc.

In fact here is the list which counts.

THE LIST

Salmon
Sea Trout
Brown Trout
Rainbow Trout
Char
Grayling

Bream
Roach
Pike
Perch
Tench
Ide/or Orfe
Silver Bream
Carp
Crucian Carp
Grass Carp
Eel
Chub
Barbel
Minnow
Stickleback
Shad
Vendace (in your dreams)
Schelly (i might show you where)
Bullhead
Stoneloach
Rudd
Dace
Bleak
Bitterling
Brown Goldfish
Gudgeon
Zander
Ruffe
Catfish

And if you can get a lamprey i will buy you a pint..

So you've got 36 to go for my best ever is 24

Good Luck Phil :)

Winter Blues

2010-03-02T22:19:00.003Z

The cold weather has really put me off fishing recently and I've only been out twice in the last couple of weeks. SWMBO even gave me the green light for a trip last Sunday afternoon and I stayed in and watched TV instead!!!!

In the middle of Feb I spent a very cold day on the banks of Debdale Reservoir lure fishing for pike - i was in the company of a dozen other pike fishermen - we all blanked!

Maybe the two inches of snow that fell in the morning didnt help things much.

Heart Stopper On The Irwell

2010-02-20T18:59:00.002Z

The weather was lovely this afternoon, so i grabbed my spinning gear and headed off down to the River Irwell for the last few hours of daylight. I fished a couple of new swims, but didnt get a touch.
However, i did get a follow from a really decent Pike, well into double figures, however it didnt get within 3 feet of my lure, and as saw it following, i slowed my retrieve down - this didnt work, as the fish just turned around and swam off.
Maybe next week i might come down for a few hours with some dead baits and see if the fish is still there.
I'll post a picture of the lure i was using later.

Pastures New

2010-02-18T15:24:00.003Z

I've recently joined Bay Malton Angling Club, so that i can enjoy the delights of the River Dane.

So a nice sunny morning last week brought me out of my semi hibernation and out onto the river bank.

Even though it looks like a lovely warm day in the photo, the water temp was 36 degrees, and i had to wear two pairs of waders to stay warm. I tried various runs and deeper pools but it wasnt to be - not a bite, sight or sound of a fish. Phil and I were treated to the sight of a lovely big Buzzard though. It seems to be a lovely stretch of river, and i cant wait for the mercury to rise!

Brrrrrrr

2010-02-12T09:17:00.002Z

I must be getting old, as i seem to be feeling the cold this year. Normally i manage to keep quite warm, but no matter how many layers i put on, it doesn't take long before i feel a chill in my bones.
This has resulted in me spending far less time than usual with a fishing rod in my hand. I've taken another trip up to Heskin Hall and battered the roach using a short whip and bread punch. I'm going to consign this venue to being a place where i take kids and beginners, as now I've sussed the place out, i find the fishing too easy. Despite a frosty start - i was getting a bite a chuck from roach and nice skimmers using punch and liquidised bread.
My only other trip was for an hour yesterday lunchtime when i spent an hour at the weir with two other fishing nutters, who are so addicted to fishing that they decided to have a fish during their lunch breaks. So the result was that Phil K, Nick and myself all blanked. Though the weak wintry sun and a good chat made for an enjoyable hour.
I've been spending a fair amount of time, walking the river banks this winter, hopefully sussing out some new spots for when the trout season opens. Roll on spring.