• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Fishing Fiend

Mad About Fishing

Fishing Fiend Ltd Logo
  • About Me
  • The Anglers Challenge

3 Jolly Anglers

8th November 2010 by Mike Duddy

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.
manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout

Filed Under: Uncategorised

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. KB says

    12th November 2010 at 10:47 am

    Hi Mike, what kind of size to pike get to in these basins/canals?

    Not an easy question of course but I'm coming at it at least partly from the Salford Quays connection. I can't quite recall if the Quays basins are connected to the Irwell (as initially the Ship Canal) but there have always been suggestions of some seriously large pike in the Quays. Large as in fish that quite comfortably exceed the 30lb mark.

    They're relatively neglected in terms of angling pressure but very well populated in supplies of prey so, whilst rumours are just that (I'm not aware of any known captures at these weights), the potential components are there. At least for some urban myths of the slightly different kind!

    Great blog entry btw – very resonant of the piece I read (in the Observer I think) about piking in central London.

  2. Mike Duddy says

    12th November 2010 at 1:56 pm

    Hi KB

    I hope this article satisfies your curiosity
    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/06/24/pike-a-light-115875-22355681/
    I would think that a fish of this size is about the top end for the Rochdale Canal or the Bridgie. I have heard of bigger fish but they will be so few and far between that it makes fishing for them probably not worth the effort.
    With regards to the quays – i once hooked one that was so big i could have put a saddle on it. It ran, and ran and ran then the hooks pinged back out at me 🙁 I saw the fish take and would guestimate a high 20 or low 30.
    Have had a chat with Tommy the baliff and he agrees with me that most of the pike in the quays have been cooked over the last 2 or 3 years and that the fishing is now very poor.

    I would guess if your after a real biggun then the ship canal would have to be your best bet – but again its needle in a haystack time.

    Quays are connected to the ship canal via a lock gate.
    The ship canal is a canalised section of the river irwell.
    There are lock gates at pomona linking the ship canal to the bridgewater canal, which in turn links into the rochdale and ashton canals.
    Tight lines

  3. KB says

    12th November 2010 at 7:31 pm

    Thanks for the link – I can imagine a pike of that size being a surprise to many of the commuters in central Manchester.

    Your experience in The Quays (Huron Basin?) is interesting – though I guess you'll recall it under a different term! – as it fits with the pattern of what I'd heard though not seen. On that subject, I've also watched any number of hopelessly equipped (think Argos or even worse) people spinning in the bigger basins. In fact, they're probably the majority of anglers around there and that's puzzling, at least if we're talking something other than pike. As far as I know there are still large numbers of bream (big bream) around and more than a few decent carp.

    Back to pike and myths that ring true – Lymm Dam very definitely had some large fish as did a number of the nearby but usually nameless meres: THAT lake in the deer park with it's giant carp also has some resident pike of a monster size.

    That article on urban piking in London is no longer accessible from the Observer site though I might well buy the book – here's a link to a review of Blood Knots:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/may/09/blood-knots-luke-jennings-review?intcmp=239

  4. Mike Duddy says

    12th November 2010 at 8:19 pm

    Send me an email – i cant give all my secrets away on a blog.

  5. niar says

    14th November 2010 at 9:37 am

    Hi Mike,

    Nice to see your blog again and I thank you for your visit to my blog.

    I was really so long did'nt come here, and I see that everything doesnt change as I find again your fishing pleasure, river and fish. It's very wonderful. I love your nice hobby and activity and the way you describe at your blog.

    Please keep on writing. I hope I can often visit it again, as I really have a little time in open the blog again…

    have a nice day….

  6. anincorrigible says

    21st November 2010 at 7:16 pm

    Love the blog, the potential from these inner city sites must be huge.

Primary Sidebar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOM-emZ1Wkw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEJLElb6HUc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEQlDACC1WI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cne7QOilerQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm0KDPjP1J8&t=9s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7ZAuuDTsQs

Archives

Tags

5 Bar Gate Agecroft Pond Anglers Challenge Anular Bream ashton canal Bass Beach Fishing Birkenhead Dock fishing Bitterling blank Bradshaw Hall Bread Punch Bream Bridgewater Canal Bridlington Carp cheshire ring Chub Cleveleys Cod Common Blennie Common Comber Cornwall Crucian Carp Dab Dace Drinkwater Park Drop Shot Dropshot Drop Shotting Dusky Grouper European Eel FC United Fenix Flounder fly fishing Football Fuerteventura Fuerteventura Fishing Githead Bream Gynn Wall Heaton Park History Holiday Fishing Ide Irwell Isome Issos Beach Corfu Kelzo Labranda Beach Fishing Lesser Spotted Dog Fish Lesser Weever Live Bait Liverpool Docks LRF Lure Mackerel Madeira Goby Madeira Rockfish maggot Mariners Wharf New Brighton Old River Irlam Ornate Wrasse Painted Comber Pandora Perch Perch Rock Pike Pilsworth Pollack pollution Pollys Flash Prison Pond Rainbow Wrasse Roach Rochdale Canal Rockpool Blenny Rudd Salford Quays Sand Smelt Sarga Sea Fishing sewage litter Smoothhound Starry Smoothound Steenbras Striped Sea Bream Tench Three Bearded Rockling Tope trout walking Wallasey Dock fishing wallasey docks Whiting Worm YoZuri Minnow

recent posts

  • Back On The Bank 12th December 2022
  • The Fenix Trophy Final 2022 14th November 2022
  • FC Utd And The Fenix Part 2 17th October 2022
  • FC Utd And The Fenix Part 1 16th September 2022
  • Fishing Issos Beach Corfu – Summer 2022 3rd September 2022
  • A New Logo – time for a refresh 14th August 2022
  • Fishing For Big Perch At Bradshaw Hall 24th December 2020
  • El Blanko And Sancho Phil Ride Again 14th December 2020
  • Chasing Perch On The Worm Dropshot 23rd November 2020
  • Pilsworth Fishery Dropshot 9th November 2020
  • Fishing Cures The Blues 26th October 2020
  • Fishing Salford Quays – Smash And Grab 10th October 2020
  • Fishing Liverpool Docks 6th October 2020
  • Artists On The Irwell 1st October 2020
  • Drop Shotting Wallasey Docks and Salford Quays 29th September 2020
  • Its Like February Again 26th September 2020
  • Drinkwater Park Again 20th September 2020
  • A Summers Evening Fishing Drinkwater Park Lake 1st September 2020
  • Holiday Fishing Cornwall 24th August 2020
  • Ashton Canal Fishing Free Parking 20th August 2020
  • A Good Read ? 31st July 2020
  • Driving Me Up The (Gynn) Wall 30th July 2020
  • I Smelt A Record But Let It Go 27th July 2020
  • Out Fishing Again 19th July 2020
  • Attack Of The Killer Crabs 3rd July 2020
  • An Evening On The Prison Pond 27th June 2020
  • Bitterling and Bream 6th June 2020
  • Out On The Ocean Wave 1st June 2020
  • Only Mad Dogs And Englishmen 29th May 2020
  • Back In The Saddle 27th May 2020
  • Excitement Turns To Disappointment (again) 15th March 2020
  • New Season Excitement 14th March 2020
  • Waiting For The Tide To Turn 8th March 2020
  • An Anglers Challenge 29th February 2020
  • Piss Off February 24th February 2020
  • Fishing Fiend Species Hunter 2020 1st February 2020
  • In Search Of Pike 21st January 2020
  • Fishing Fuerteventura (again) 12th January 2020
  • Bringing Things Up To Date 11th January 2020
  • Tackle Shed 26th December 2019
  • The Friendly Anglers Fund 2nd July 2019
  • Dace Fishing On The Irwell 27th June 2019
  • Happy Times 25th June 2019
  • Parklife Fishing 9th June 2019
  • New Kit 6th January 2019
  • A Little Perspective – Pike 30th December 2018
  • Irwell Barbel Quest – Part 12 – Utter Frustration 23rd December 2018
  • An Artists Palette 15th December 2018
  • Hungry Pike 10th December 2018
  • The 2 Hour Rule 3rd December 2018
  • Black Death On The Irwell 30th November 2018
  • Using A Pole Float For Trotting The River 27th November 2018
  • My Most Successful Lure This Year 25th November 2018
  • Washed Up On The Beach 19th November 2018
  • Fishing At Monton Lighthouse 27th August 2018
  • Out With The Kids 17th June 2018
  • Winter Bream 5th February 2017
  • Manchester Grayling 31st January 2017
  • Pleasure Fishing Bradshaw Hall Fisheries Lake 7 25th January 2017
  • A Fish At Last 19th January 2017
  • A Bit Rubbish – Part 2 3rd January 2017
  • A New Year – An Old Challenge 1st January 2017
  • A Bit Rusty 10th November 2016
  • A Bit Rubbish 1st November 2016
  • Holiday Fishing Tenerife 5th July 2016
  • The Irwell Imp 22nd May 2016
  • Daddy Daddy Lets Play Fishin Lod 21st April 2016
  • Scratching The Itch 29th March 2016
  • A Great Day 25th March 2016
  • Holiday Fishing Fuerteventura 11th March 2016
  • Mersey Salmon Video 31st January 2016
  • Fishing On Christmas Day 25th December 2015
  • Going Fishing With My Dad 10th December 2015
  • I’m Still Here 6th December 2015
  • Walking The Cheshire Ring Pt2 1st April 2014
  • Walking The Cheshire Ring Part 1 31st March 2014
  • Is Back On The Bank 19th January 2014
  • A Stolen Hour 28th October 2012
  • A Day Out At Gingham Fishery Nr Horwich 30th September 2012
  • Irwell Barbel Quest part 11 13th August 2012
  • Full House 1st August 2012
  • Back On Th’Irwell 30th July 2012
  • Warning – Fishing Pox 19th July 2012
  • Your help needed 23rd June 2012
  • Duchy Lagoons 5th June 2012
  • All Quiet 31st May 2012
  • Right On My Doorstep 1st May 2012
  • Longer Evenings 17th April 2012
  • Shore Fishing Tenerife 15th April 2012
  • Trout In Dirty Places 2nd April 2012
  • Caddis On Steroids 29th March 2012
  • Irwell Pollution 19th March 2012
  • Fishing and Blogging With The BBC 15th March 2012
  • Always A Wag 2nd March 2012
  • Long Overdue 29th February 2012
  • Roach 23rd February 2012
  • Hooked 22nd February 2012
  • Trout Fishing At Pendle View 19th February 2012
  • The Quarry 18th February 2012
  • An Impressionist On The Irwell 5th February 2012
  • Angling Research – The Social And Community Benefits Of Angling 31st January 2012
  • Casting About 22nd January 2012
  • Church Gardens 21st January 2012
  • Golden 15th January 2012
  • A Different Kettle Of Fish 13th January 2012
  • Not A Just Reward 7th January 2012
  • Blanking On The Quays 4th January 2012
  • On The Rocks In Lanzarote 14th December 2011
  • Bloggers On The Box 23rd November 2011
  • Irwell Barbel Quest Part 10 15th November 2011
  • On The Canal In Manchester 5th November 2011
  • Roaching On The Ribble 31st October 2011
  • Fishing On The Ship Canal With The BBC 28th October 2011
  • October Kick Sampling With The Riverfly Partnership 15th October 2011
  • Angling Trust North West 11th October 2011
  • Donegal 6th October 2011
  • Rochdale Canal Tench 19th September 2011
  • 8th October Match – River Irwell Old Course Irlam – Top Hat Optional 17th September 2011
  • Canal Tench 10th September 2011
  • Pommie Bashing 2nd September 2011
  • River Irwell Old Course Match Aug 2011 29th August 2011
  • Road Trip 25th August 2011
  • On The Canal 19th August 2011
  • Starlight Express 15th August 2011
  • Bitter – ling 11th August 2011
  • Ouch 28th July 2011
  • A Warm Glow 18th June 2011
  • Inspiration 22nd May 2011
  • Not Another Bloody Blog 17th May 2011
  • River Irk Polluted Again 14th May 2011

Copyright © 2023 · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in