Mike Duddy

Back On The Bank

12th December 2022 by Mike Duddy

It’s been a while since I wrote about fishing, despite doing quite a lot of it.

A bit of a domestic disaster with an extension that went very wrong had left me short of the extra time I need to write about or film and edit my fishing exploits,, and most of my tackle has been in storage. A drop shot kit in the back of the car has been mostly it – and perch bashing on my local canals has been pretty much all I’ve been up to.

So… here’s the latest… and hopefully there will be plenty more in the future.

The Fenix Trophy Final 2022

14th November 2022 by Mike Duddy

The Fenix Part 1

The Fenix Part 2

The Fenix Final Weekend 12^th 13^th June 2021

After the excitements of away trips to Warsaw and Milan we were really looking forwards to the finals weekend in Rimini, where all the teams who had entered the tournament, we going to get to play at the Rimini stadium.

The Fenix organisers had posted online that the finals weekend was to be the 5^th and 6^th of June, but that this was possibly subject to change. Ryanair had a promotional offer in January where it was possible to book flights with free cancelation, so it was a no brainer to take a chance on flights for £12 each way to Rimini. My wife and daughter are never ones to miss out a trip to a beach in the sun, so I ended up paying less than a hundred quid for all of us to have a week away in the Rimini sun, with the Fenix Finals thrown in the mix as an added bonus for me and Tommy.

About a week after I’d booked, Adrian the FC United Chairman told me that the finals would definitely not be on the dates I’d booked but likely to be a little later in June.. As it worked out they were only the week later, so my wife and daughter had a great weeks holiday with us in Rimini, and then Tommy and I stayed on for a second week to watch the football… Apart from the extra hotel costs etc we only paid another £70 for our later flights home, and ended up having a great two week holiday in Rimini. The extra days allowed us to visit all the local towns, and a trip to San Marino which was spectacular.

Beautiful Beach at Rimini ,,, miles and miles of sand.

Anyway – enough of my domestic arrangements – back to the football.

Once the girls had gone… the football began

As the girls went home and our second week in Rimini started we began to see more and more red shirts and badges in town as the FC fans started to roll in. The Bounty Bar and the Rose & Crown were doing a brisk trade. Wednesday was busy, Thursday busier and by the time of the first match on the Friday evening between Brera (of Milan) and Lodigiani (of Rome) the town was buzzing with non-league international football.

Fenix Posters were up around the town advertising the tournament

It was really interesting to watch the game between the two Italian sides, neither of whom wanted to go for it, with not conceding appearing to be more important than trying to win. It’s non-league though and mistakes and goals are never far away and mistakes inevitably led to goals and a 1-1 draw was settled by penalties in Brera’s favour. A proper Italian style match. There were plenty of fans from all of the other teams in the Rimini stadium, and the place looked great.

After the game we had a great time chatting to Alessandro Aleotti, the chairman of Brera and instigator of the Fenix Trophy. Tommy told him how he had been to every match the FC had played in both home and away, and how much he had enjoyed the different experiences in each game. I think Alessandro was either really impressed by my young fella, or just generous, probably both.. as he proceeded to take his third place winners medal from around his neck and present it as a gift to Tommy… what an amazing gesture, and that medal now has pride of place in Tommy’s Fenix memorabilia collection.

The next day was FC Uniteds big day out, as winner of group B we were due to play the winners of Group A Prague Raptors in the Final.

HFC Falke fans behind us really got behind their team

Before the Final we watched the other teams from the tournament play. The heat in the stadium was something else and as we watched the games between AFC DWS Amsterdam vs Cuenca Mestallistes of Valencia, and then HFC Falke (of Hamburg) vs AKS ZLY of Warsaw.

A brilliant rapport and friendship was kindled between the fans of the different teams from around Europe, each group supporting the teams that they had previously played in the group stages.

After Brera’s Friday nights dull win over Lodigiani we were particularly happy to see our Polish friends from Warsaw AKS ZLY win in great style against HFC Falke (a team from Hamburg who had a great set of vocal supporters)

After the AKS game, Tommy and I went to find the AKS goalie Diego up in the stands to congratulate him. We’d thought up a little football chant for him and Tommy wanted to sing it for him

“He saved a goal with his face

He sings with the fans he’s ace

Diego oh oh oh ooh

Diego oh oh oh ooh”

Which certainly brought a smile, as he went on to tell us that even though his team had won, he felt he had played really badly.

Diego Sesar De Hoyos — he saved a goal with his face you know !

Back to the FC Final.

We were a little worried that the FC team would find playing conditions to be very difficult. Us Mancunians are not used to having a kick about in 33 degree heat, let alone having a full blooded 90 minute cup final.

As it happens Neil Reynolds the FC manager, played his hand of cards well. FC went out from the whistle at full steam, and soon picked up a two goal advantage. The team then played the remainder of the match at a more pedestrian pace. It wasn’t a classic in terms of football but off this pitch up in the stands history was being made. A lot of beer was consumed.

At the final whistle FC had maintained their 2-0 lead, and the reaction of the 700 or so FC fans who had made the trip to Italy was something else. A few beers had been consumed and the fans went wild.

The obligatory red flares were being let off all over the main stand, and the air was thick with smoke…. Through the smoke we could see the players and management dancing with delight as they raised the Fenix Trophy aloft. The celebrations really started, quite a few of the kids including Tommy got onto the pitch and had a go at lifting the cup (I’d had a few glasses of Moretti by this time and the photos I took at this time were quite poor ).

FC United – Non League Champions Of Europe

What an amazing experience.. for us as fans, watching our team win a UEFA sanctioned European Cup, and for the players taking part in it. Who would have thought that FC would be playing in a Euro Tournament let alone winning it.

Well done to the FC team… and then it was back to the Rose & Crown, and the Bounty Bar to celebrate all over again.

As I had a nine year old with me, I did the right thing — took him to the pub and had a few more beers to celebrate with the other fans and the team.

There is a postscript to this tale…

A couple of weeks later I received a phone call from one of FC Uniteds Directors, asking if it was ok to give my contact details to Diego the AKS goal keeper as he wanted to give Tommy a gift for cheering him up.

I’d forgotten about it and then a few weeks later a parcel arrived at my office with Polish stamps all over it.

Knowing that it might contain gifts from a goalie that were meant for Tommy and not me, I waited until after school and then gave the box to Tommy.

The young boy was delighted to receive gifts,,, the shirt and goalie gloves that Diego had worn during his heroics in Manchester…

and also the most wonderful letter… please click the photo below and have a read for yourself,,, or scroll below the photo where I have typed it out for you.

Dear Tommy, You were really nice to me and cheered me up in Italy, even though I played the worst match ever. And you remembered the save with my face in Manchester which really makes me proud. Thats why as a way of saying thank you I’m sending you the shirt and gloves I wore in Manchester, as well as some Polish chocolate I think you enjoy. Keep supporting FC the way you do, and also like you supported me because that’s what sport is about – mutual respect. I hope your hands grow to size 10 so you’ll give these gloves good use in the future. All the best and glory FC …Diego Sesar De Hoyos goal keeper AKS ZLY

This letter is amazing – a fantastic gesture that sums up the spirit of the Fenix Trophy and of Diego… an inspiring tournament for both players and fans alike. We saw the friendships in the stands, and the fair play on the pitch… Roll on Fenix 2022/23 when FC try to defend their title, and more teams take part.

What a great tournament.

Tommy with The Fenix Trophy back at Broadhurst Park in Manchester

FC Utd And The Fenix Part 2

17th October 2022 by Mike Duddy

FC Utd And The Fenix Part 2 (the latest bit)

FC Utd And The Fenix Part 1 (the first bit)

After the excitement of the away to trip to Poland, the clubs league form took a turn for the better, with FC only losing 4 games in the following 4 months… and as the club moved slowly up the league, so the anticipation for the next Fenix game rose too.

Plenty of online tales of the exuberant excesses (piss ups) in Warsaw were shared on social media, and these along with the amazing crowd photos wetted the appetite of those who hadn’t travelled to Warsaw.

Amazing Fenix Tournament AKS vs FC United

It took quite a while for the return match to materialise October through until March but the wait was well worth it, as we also had the anticipation of a future trip to Milan, and a final in Rimini.

We invited our Polish friend Gniewomir and his family to come and watch the match.

#makingfriendsnotmillionaires Making Frends Not Millionaires

Gaia and Judah getting to grips with their Polish Heritage… Tommy just being himself,, they had a great day.

The match itself was a bit of a one-sided affair with FC 7-0 up at halftime and ran out eventual 10-0 winners. However it wasn’t the result that really mattered (easy to say when your team wins 10-0) it was the friendships created between two sets of supporters 1500 miles apart but with shared values of being against modern football. A great crowd of 1,250 enjoyed the game.. a tremendous crowd for a match between two non-league teams.

Highlight of the game was watching the AKS goalie complete a set of memorable point-blank saves capped off with the ball smashing him in the face to prevent a 5th goal. His name was Diego Sesar De Hoyos,,, a real character who after being subbed off at half time spent the second half with the FC fans singing songs on the main stand terrace. Diego became a firm favourite of the FC fans – and there’s more to be written about Diego in the next instalment of this trilogy of football posts… so watch this space.

Yet again, the AKS ZLY fans who travelled over en masse from Warsaw did their team proud .. forget the score line, they sang and chanted through the full 90 minutes and beyond. Their chants and banter reflecting their disapproval of the recent invasion of their neighbours in Ukraine by Russia.

Now we had completed a home and an away fixture against the team from Poland – FC were sitting proudly on top of their group. There were two other teams in Uniteds group AWS from Amsterdam and Brera from Milan in Italy. The Dutch team had withdrawn from the competition due to strict Covid restrictions in Amsterdam.. which left two group matches left against the Italians home and away, before the finals weekend in Rimini on the Italian coast.

First up was the away fixture in Milan. I’ve never been to that part of Italy before and neither has Mrs FF.. so she wheedled and connived her way onto the plane and it became a mini family break.. and very different to the lads and dads trip over to Poland. (less beer and late nights, more healthy eating and sightseeing).

First off was a couple of nights in the Italian Lakes …. very nice very (too) expensive… we move on quickly to the football in Milan.

We arrived same afternoon as the match … and after checking in to our hotel, the girls went off sightseeing, leaving Tommy and I to walk the short distance to the ground. Now we are used to the non-league grounds of the North of England, rugged, windswept and mostly shite. This was something else… designed by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807 – the Arena Civica was something special. Once the home of Inter Milan, and it hosted the first ever Italian international match vs France in 1910.

The match was great FC beat Brera Calcio 1-3 it was a great night … the Moretti was flowing, the entire repertoire of FC United songs were sung, the stadium was massive and the pitch seemed so far away in comparison to what we were used to. The flares which are banned in the UK (but not in Europe) were set alight and 500 FC United fans had the time of their lives.

The only disappointing thing about this match was the virtual complete absence of home supporters. After the great connection we made with the fans in Warsaw, the lack of home fans attending the match in Milan was a big let down.. and this was also the case for our next match against Brera at our home ground in Manchester.

The match in Manchester was watched by 870 fans, and was won 2-1 by FC United who topped their group with a 100% record and were in the cup final in Rimini in June.

The final part 3 instalment will be published in a week or so (once I get round to writing it)

Just a quickie to say that FC are currently TOP OF THE LEAGUE – and playing well. If you’d like to come along to a match with me Tommy and Phil… drop me a line on social media and we can make it happen.

FC Utd And The Fenix Part 1

16th September 2022 by Mike Duddy

After 360 articles on fishing, I’ve decided to change the subject of my next post article from fishing to football. ( I might do a few more football ones in future).

Here goes….

I’ve always enjoyed going to a match. As a child I used to watch both Man United and Manchester City on alternate weekends with my dad. He was a school teacher with 5 kids and not so much spare money, so sometimes as a treat we went in for the whole game, but more often than not we sneaked in for free to watch the last 10 minutes of a game when the large exit doors opened. I used to love it, the hot dog wagons, the End Is Nigh – Repent men, the huge crowds and the noise.

As i grew older it was Bolton Wanderers, Bury and Oldham Athletic with school friends, then Bournemouth when I was at university, and Leyton Orient when I used to live and work in London.

So for me I’ve never had “a team” so to speak, I’ve been a sort of floating voter just going along to enjoy a good game.

The wild wild days of my youth, being chased by mounted police down the back alleys of Manchester and Salford, watching the harder teenagers fight on the Manchester Road in Bolton, and outside the Pack Horse in Bury. The officer mounted on the white horse at the gate to the Stretford End who used to give us all the evil eye… I’ve always had that feeling that most police enjoyed football match duty and the opportunity to engage in a bit of violence with the fans. There was an edge to it, and I loved that edge.

Sadly as I grew older this all became stale for me, with all seater stadiums, smoking bans, no beer while watching the match etc and the slow death of the traditional atmosphere inside modern stadiums..

Lets face it. Modern football is shite. A mere shadow of how it used to be.

Sit down, shut up and spend lots of money is what football clubs want from their fans, and as this became more pervasive, I spent more and more time fishing with my friends and football became something that I used to do.

Then back in 2005, FC United formed as a protest to the takeover of Manchester United by Malcolm Glazer and financial shenanigans which enabled them to do this at the fans expense. It stank, but the new club that emerged from this shambles, and the passion of the fans that created it caught my attention, especially as they played their home games at Burys ground Gigg Lane, only a mile or two up the road.

It took a year or two before I got round to going to a match (children, divorce, dating again, work the trappings of early middle age and lots of fishing), then for some unfathomable reason I decided to go and watch an FC United away match one evening in Clitheroe.

Bloody Hell !! What a night. The singing started 10 minutes before the kick off, lulled a bit at half time, then continued all the way through a 0-3 win for FC and continued out into the street as the fans left the ground to make their way home. The atmosphere was amazing, the football was good, the standing up, the drinking beer, being part of a big tightly packed crowd who were enjoying themselves. I was hooked again.

I dipped back in and out of FC over the next few years, just as I had done when watching teams in my younger years but as my eldest son Matthew became interested in playing Rugby, me doing a lot of fishing, and other work stuff taking up a lot of my time football and FC Utd remained an interest rather than a passion. As FC moved from their home in Bury first to Stalybridge and then Ashton I was more dipping out than dipping in. Even when FC built their own ground at Broadhurst Park I was more interested observer than passionate supporter.

Then one day, my youngest son Tommy who was as the time 5 years old told me that it was about time I took him to a match. So the next Saturday was a nice bright April afternoon, FC United were playing Darlington at home, and we went along, FC United lost but Tommy was hooked.

The following season 18/19 FC had a torrid time, sacked their manager, lost every single match that we went to watch and ended up being relegated.. the football was shite and the players didn’t appear to care. However, my young man had the bug and he loved going to the matches, and I loved taking him.

The following 19/20 season was what I call “the Tunde year” a poor start to the season was followed by an explosive period as FC signed a new striker Tunde Owalabi who literally set the place on fire with his skill, goals and friendly personality. Tommy had a hero and unlike most childhood heroes this one was approachable, friendly and a great role model.

All boys need a hero – and Tunde not only happened to be a football god, but also a very nice fella.

The season could have ended in promotion but then Covid came in with a cough… and the season was over before it was over…. what could have been eh ?

Season 20/21 just didn’t happen and then season 21/22 started, and was then shortly followed by an announcement that FC were entering a European Competition for non-league clubs of a special nature, and that FC had been selected as the British representative in the competition.

By now – I can assure you that my son Tommy eats, sleeps, drinks and sleeps football. Playing as star striker for his local team in North Manchester — already gaining the reputation as a ruthless striker with many hat tricks to his name. Whilst refusing to tackle anyone, run, track back etc. His relentless occupation of the space between penalty spot and goal line has earnt him the title of “Tommy Tap In”… the prospect of his team FC United entering into a European Cup for non league teams excited him so much that he could hardly sleep in anticipation of the draw.

We watched the draw live on Youtube together for the Fenix as FC were drawn in group 2 along with AKS ZLY from Poland, Brera Calcio from Milan and DWS from Amsterdam.

FC United were in the same group as three other teams from Amsterdam, Milan and Warsaw, so seeing as though this fishing blog has now started making me some money, I decided to spend some of it and go to all the matches I could home and away in Europe with Tommy.

The tag line of this Fenix Competition is #makingfriendsnotmillionaires (a line they appropriated from FC United) and I already approved and thought it would be a good opportunity for Tommy and I to spend some lad and dad time.

First up was Warsaw away – a very cheap Ryanair flight and a decent hotel in the City Centre of Warsaw only a short taxi ride away from the ground.

Now I thought FC fans were loud and passionate but the fans from AKS ZLY of Warsaw were on another level. Fireworks, flares, drums, megaphones and they sang their way through the match despite being on the receiving end of a 1-6 drubbing by FC who were much the better team.

Heres a couple of photos from that night.

What an amazing night that was. And I think I sealed the deal in the eyes of Tommy – that he has a cool dad (despite all the fishing).

Could anything beat this – well yes actually…

Read on… in part 2 (next week) for the second part of this football story, as FC United made it all the way through to the tournament’s final in Rimini earlier this summer in 2022. We had some great trips and matches, met some amazing people, snagged some unbelievable souvenirs and made a couple of special friends.

Fishing Issos Beach Corfu – Summer 2022

3rd September 2022 by Mike Duddy

After a couple of years visiting Cornwall for our family summer holidays – and having a wash out with some really bad weather last year we decided to hit some guaranteed sun this summer, and washed up in Issos Beach, Corfu.

Mrs Fishing Fiend chose the location, and I was happy to fit in (pay) as a quick search online promised some decent fishing. A nice sandy beach and a rock encrusted shallow harbour must hold a fish or two for me. A search on Youtube soon found a chap reeling them in on a regular basis, so I carefully chose a minimal amount of kit that I could squeeze into my tiny rationed suitcase space.

Before I left a quick trip to the tackle shop I got myself a new 2000 sized Daiwa reel to replace my old and now nearly worn out Okuma Red reel, and some posh new 8 strand 6lb braid as an upgrade from the cheaper 4 strand stuff that I’ve been using for the past few years (is using 8 strand really worth it, in comparison to the much cheaper 4 strand ? I couldn’t notice any difference)

As space for tackle was limited, I stuck to a lure/drop shot kit… some 10g metals, some small 1 and 2 inch lures, and some split shot and Gulp worm with 4lb flouro ….. how could I fail to catch !!

So a couple of days into the holiday (and a few less beers the night before) I managed to sneak out of the Hotel just before dawn to see what I could catch.

I started off by flinging out some small 10g metals in silver blue, and then silver yellow without much joy… but I did enjoy the walk along the deserted beach, and saw a decent sized Mahi Mahi (or Dolphinfish) clear the water while chasing bait fish about 500m off the beach… after an hour of no action I swapped over to using some 2inch shads with a 2g jig head… This generated a few bites and lots of frustration as I started to have the tails bitten off lots of my soft lures, but couldn’t connect with any fish. Then, as the sun rose, the beach started to get busier and I dissapeared back to the hotel with tail between my legs for a few breakfast beers (and why not ? )

Next session was a couple of days later – another dawn start, but this time I tackled up using a split shot rig, 2SSG, a size 14 hook, and a third of a piece of medium gulp sandworm…. a rig that never fails over sandy ground !!

And I am glad/relieved to say that it didn’t let me down this time either.

I walked up the beach, past the public car park and first cast hit into my first ever Gilthead Bream (despite spending a few sessions chasing them in Cornwall on previous holidays).

The Gilthead came first cast on the Gulp Sandworm, only about 20 ft from the shore

I was delighted to break my duck with a new species,, and it was shortly followed by another couple of fish including yet another new species… A Steenbras

The fish weren’t big, and looking at the size of their mouths, its easy to see why I wasn’t catching on my previous session. Here a pic below of the business end of my tackle that finally saw me catching, and even then at least 50% of the time the fish were biting off the end of the sandworm without the hook (and my eyes are getting old and I couldn’t thread the sandworm up all the way to leave the hook trailing at the end ).

Using this much more lightweight rig, I caught a succession of small fish from the sandy beach including a few small striped Sea Bream also known as Sargo…. again look at the size of their mouths… small baits are really the way forwards in these hard fished places.

By 9am the beach started to get busy so I retired a happy man back to the hotel for a nice glass of Rose with my breakfast..

My final session of the holiday saw my try out the harbour area which was located 500m south of the hotel.

Again I tried the paddle tail lures without getting any success – despite plenty of follows from some very small Garfish. But as soon as I swapped over to the split shot rig, with the scented Gulp Sandworm the fish all of a sudden became very interested.

First up was an Ornate Wrasse – I’ve caught loads of these before all over the Med, and from the Canary Islands.

And this was followed by a few of these little beauties – again a brand new species for me Rainbow Wrasse — they have a cracking set of teeth, which sadly I didn’t manage to capture on camera.

And as the sun came up, that was that… the next four days were spent nursing kids with upset stomachs and then it was time to come back home.

A thoroughly enjoyable holiday.

Here’s a link below to the video I found of the guy who was smashing them out a few years ago… I wasn’t quite up to his standards… but once I found a method that worked I had my fair share,,, and a short 2 hour session in the morning before breakfast didn’t really upset the dynamics of a family holiday.

And here is a google map showing the local area where I was fishing. Sand dunes in the North, and harbour in the South.

Anyway — thats all folks until next time..

I will do a short write up on my summers match fishing on the Old River Irwell in Irlam, and talk about a new book that is being written about fishing on Greater Manchesters Rivers… which yours truly has his fingers in the pie.

A New Logo – time for a refresh

14th August 2022 by Mike Duddy

I’ve been playing about with a few ideas/designs — hope you like it…

More upgrades – new posts – videos – and fish photos coming very soon

Fishing For Big Perch At Bradshaw Hall

24th December 2020 by Mike Duddy

So – after a few sessions catching small canal perch on the drop shot – and a long hard blank session at Pilsworth I’ve had a few hours contemplation time – to think about where I might be able to catch a perch big enough to break my measly PB of only one and a half pounds. In the middle of my last blank session at Pilly – the penny finally dropped. Even though there are plenty of good perch in Pilsworth, they are probably to be located in very small area of a very large lake. I need to increase the odds in my favour, and at the back of my mind I’ve known for a long time that there are some good perch to be had at Bradshaw Hall Fishery in Bolton, and that very few people ever fish for them.

Right – that decided it – a few sessions at a venue with a good head of rarely fished for Perch was needed So a week or so ago Phil and I headed off up the A666 (the devils highway to Bolton) for our first of three sessions.

A very cold morning saw us setting up in a likely looking corner of Lake 3 – and then the wait started – and went on and on… bloomin heck – it was chucking it down, it was cold, we’d set our hearts on a decent perch and it just wasn’t happening. We were fishing half a worm, over a bed of chopped worm on a size 14 hook an inch over depth under a 5bb waggler. Great perch rigs. However, the fish thought otherwise and we had to endure another 3 biteless hours in the rain.

Once the rain abated, Phil had a little walk round the lake, and noticed that 4 pegs down from where we were fishing, the lake was alive with fish topping and there were bubbles coming up all over.

Less than a nano-second later, we had packed up our rain shelter, picked up our kit and moved ourselves into the two pegs on the lake that looked as though they had a few fish in front of them.

And bingo we were straight onto a few fish. Only small Roach, Perch, Ide and Chub to begin with – but then as the afternoon started to draw to an early winter close – I hit into a couple more solid fish.

I’m not someone who regularly takes a set of scales with him – if i catch a decent fish i put an object next to it and try to work out the length/weight later on at home — but I think i might in future have a go at weighing a few.

Anyway – 15 inches was the length on my best perch of the afternoon – If I had a roach of that length it would according to length/weight tables weigh around the 2lb 5oz mark – so surely this fish must be a new pb and I will claim it at 2lb.

I tried to look for a perch length/weight table similar to this excellent one that was compiled by Jeff Hatt a few years ago for roach (below) but couldn’t find one. I think i shall try to create one for perch over the next 12 months.

The float in this photo is a smidgen over 8 inches long – so the fish must be 14-15 inches by my reckoning.

And we had a couple of fish this size and slightly smaller between us on chopped worm before it was time to call it a day.

Our next session a few days later we arrived and it was a howling gale and driving rain. Oh God – Phil had left his brolly at home – so we decided to both squeeze in under mine – cosy. As the wind direction had changed – this time up the valley, we forgot about fishing lake 3 again, and fished Lake 4 with our backs to the wind.

Using the same rigs and bait as the previous session, it didn’t take too long for us to start getting bites and catching fish. Though it did take until nearly 3pm (again) until the bigger fish showed up. And I caught this cracker below – a similar size to the one previously on lake 3. Our hands were cold and wet – and we have a bit of trouble getting a decent photo – so another fish on a mat in a net photo followed. Never mind – I’d got no scales again – so this fish I reckon to be 15 inches – the weight 2lb — at a guess.

Again – we had an assortment of other fish, mostly roach and ide.

Our 3rd session – we were joined by Kaden and Dave – who had by now heard that we were catching a few nice fish and wanted to join us.

Sadly for them – the day we chose – the weather was truly awful – a cold biting north easterly and squally showers. The two lads were keen and set up facing the prevailing wind (or foolhardy) into Lake 4, whereas Phil and I both took the much easier option of fishing into Lake 3 with our backs to the wind. It didn’t make much difference in the end – on this 3rd session the bigger perch just didn;t want to play – but we could plenty of smaller ones, some nice roach, ide and F1s.

I think the penny has dropped for me regarding Perch – a few chats with Phil and we now have a little list of local waters with “perch potential” that we can explore over the next few months off lockdown. My next two targets – a set of weighing scales and a Manchester 3lb perch …..

Watch this space.

A few things to note about Bradshaw Hall Fisheries

Please take a look at their website – as opening times vary throughout the year.
Speak to the staff, tell them what you are trying to catch – they are very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful.
No live baiting or lure fishing for perch – fishing from designated pegs only.
There are good perch in lakes 2 3 and 4.
Biggest I’ve heard of is nearly twice the size of the ones we caught.
It has BIG potential to smash your PB

If you catch a cracker please let me know (and I will be back in your peg the next day lol)

El Blanko And Sancho Phil Ride Again

14th December 2020 by Mike Duddy

Another local lockdown session up at Pilsworth Reservoir — this time I put the drop shot kit away, got my new brolly/bivvy out and a pair of tip rods hoping to target some of the big roach which reside in this popular carp venue.

I had one rod out with maggot on a helicopter rig, and the other with chopped worm in helicopter rig. As always the best laid plans rarely come to a satisfactory conclusion – and other than a couple of tremors/flickers my rod tips remained still all day long.

My day was improved by unexpectedly meeting a load of pals on the bank who came for a chat. Great conversation with Phil, Eric, Greg, Derek, Mick and Mike made a fishless day much more enjoyable.

Sometimes there’s just not a lot to be said about a session – and this was one of these occasions.

A panoramic dusk/sunset photo replaces the fishy glory shots on a blank day

The entire lake (about 12 anglers) blanked, and it was only at the end as we were getting to the car park – that we came across a young lad in the process of landing a small jack pike – showing everyone else that there are fish to be had (lol — the place has a great head of carp and silvers they were just having a day off in the cold weather).

Fair play to the lad catching this jack pike right at the end of the day — Phil wandered off muttering something about a gypsies curse

I am going to be coming back again and again to Pilsworth now its changed hands.. and am looking forwards to some fun sessions in the future.

Next up are a few more perch sessions – and I can tell you that the written blog is a bit behind the action by a week or so, and the next edition will have pictures of my NEW PB PERCH — so watch this space for a bit of action at long last.

In the mean time – El Blanko rides again.

Chasing Perch On The Worm Dropshot

23rd November 2020 by Mike Duddy

While I have an ambition to improve my perch pb this winter, I’m not really that bothered if I achieve it or not. I just care about being out on the bank with a fishing rod in my hand, and having a bit of fun with my friends.

So with lock down 2 in full swing, I’m still doing my bit, working mostly from home, minding my own business and only fishing very locally.

I can’t get much more local than Heaton Park lake, and my local canals and I’ve snatched a few late afternoons off work to try my luck.

Heaton Park Boating Lake is a venue that’s always intrigued me. I have fished it on and off since the mid 1970s and sadly its a pale shadow of its former glory. It used to have specimen roach and perch, but in recent years these have been plundered by the cormorant invasion and only the bream and carp are surviving in any numbers. I had a session on there a couple of years ago, with expert lure angler Ant Glascoe Jnr (its a local venue for him too where he spent many a youthfull hour) and we struggled to find any perch. I think we had 4 smallish perch between us in a 3 hour session. I had two 1 hour sessions recently and blanked on both occasions. A very sad state of affairs – a great venue ruined by the black plague. Maybe it fishes better in warmer weather, so I’m not going to give up on it just yet despite my two blank visits last week..

A couple of hours on Heaton Park Boating Lake… blankety blank.

The park locks its gates at dusk — its like playing Russian Roulette fishing into the evening … will I be able to get out of the gates before they lock up or will I have to climb the fence

Last weekend I had a free pass from Mrs Fishing Fiend for a few hours late each afternoon. I spent the first afternoon on the Bridgewater Canal, first near Monton Lighthouse, and then a little further towards the Trafford Centre at Peel Green. I didn’t have any success at either location 🙁 and again – there were cormorant working the canal while we were fishing. Is it any wonder I didn’t get a sniff of a fish. I’ve fished both of these spots in summer months and always been able to catch plenty of fish — a different story now the water temperature has dropped.

Only 35 miles from the sea, the guy who built this was expecting global warming and rising sea levels to come faster than the rest of us.

We had a try casting near the boats, but again nothing. No fish, and cormorants working nearby.

On Sunday afternoon, Phil and I decided to have a try on the Rochdale Canal, I fancied having a go in the City Centre of Manchester, but Phil persuaded me to head a little further north and try the canal at Slattocks. Again, only a couple of miles from home, and an old stomping ground of mine over the years. The canal up here has produced some great fish of different species over the years, pike, perch, roach etc. I know this bit of canal well and we hopeful of a few fish. Unfortunately for me and Phil, quite a few other anglers had the same idea, and we counted well over a dozen other anglers out predator fishing, and another half dozen sat on boxes fishing maggots and bread for silvers. Its great to see so many anglers out – but not so great to know that they had already fished through the areas we were hoping to catch some fish from.

Undeterred, we cracked on, walked a mile or so without any action and then found a shoal of small perch lurking in the oxygenated waters of a sluice/race pool below a lock.

These perch were crafty little robbers, nicking our worms without grabbing the hooks. We had great fun striking and missing half a dozen times before catching a fish. At least it made us forget about the cold as neither of us had realised before setting out that temperatures had really dropped and we weren’t dressed for the cold.

Despite trying a few likely fish holding spots, and getting our worms nicked at a few of them we could only catch in the one spot, and the small perch there soon got wise to us after each of us had caught half a dozen of them. The light was dropping, as was the temperature and with was a relief and a welcome to get back to the car and a bit of warmth.

No idea where I will get to this coming week, other than its going to be within 5 miles of home.

If you’ve had any winter success on any of these venues please let me know in the comments section I always interested in other anglers success on local waters

Pilsworth Fishery Dropshot

9th November 2020 by Mike Duddy

My first trip back fishing Pilsworth Fishery in probably 15 years. Even though its less than 10 minutes drive from home, I just fell out of love with the place over time as the owner Eric just let the place turn into a big dump with loads of rubbish in and at the back of nearly every peg. Would it have been so difficult for him to walk round with a litter picker picking up the rubbish while collecting anglers ticket money every day ??

Anyway — Pilsworth has been up for sale for the past few years, and this summer a new owner has taken over. Time for a trip back… and it felt great just being there again.

I have such fond memories of the place – stretching back nearly 50 years. I can remember fishing the place with my dad when only about 8 years old and meeting the Ashursts — who my dad told me were the best fisherman in the country. They were !

There were plenty of carp moving about in “perch corner” — but sadly no perch

I fished it plenty of times as a teenager for roach on the waggler – always had great days and caught plenty of fish, but never the same size as the ones that came from the Rochdale Canal at Boarshaw (it was always a mental toss up — lots of roach at Pilsworth — or blanks with the possibility of huge roach that the canal offered). Back in the day it was a match venue ,,, these days it’s been stocked with plenty of big carp and bivvy anglers are more prevalent.

So, back to last weekend — I had a few hours free, and decided to check the place out again armed with a small tub of worms and my drop shot rod. I completed a circuit of the main lake over 3 hours. I didn’t catch many fish, and the ones I did catch weren’t that big – but it gave me the opportunity to see how the place has improved in recent months, and I will certainly be back for the perch and pike this winter. Being there again felt like wearing a favourite old jumper or coat — a comfortable warm fit.

Pilswoth Perch — Nothing big but very enjoyable

I caught a few small perch, and two small jack pike — not a bad return for a cold windy morning. I’m sure that with all the feed the carp anglers are putting in there, and the lack of attention on other species – I’m sure that i can catch a few nice fish out of here over the next few months…. I’m going to be back soon.