Fishing Fiend

Mad About Fishing

Mike Duddy

Out With The Boys

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Again, please accept my apologies for the lack of photos to accompany this post – i keep forgetting to take my camera with me, I can only download photos from my mobile phone onto my laptop – which has recently packed up. Once i get my laptop working again – i shall share some of the pictures I’ve taken recently with you.

Saturday was spent with Phil-K at Bradshaws lake 2. I started off fishing hemp and tares on the pole but didnt get a bite for over two hours – so swapped over to a shallow pellet waggler rig which brought immediate success. Both Phil and I both caught a good number of carp to 12lbs.
It was interested to note the action of my Drennan rod compared to Phils Hardy Marksman. The Hardy rod was as stiff as a poker with all of the action in the top 1/3rd of the rod whilst my Drennan floatmaster has a through action with the rod bending all the way down to the butt section.
I have often wondered if this rod is too light to use for powerfull fish such as Barbel on the Ribble, but after it coped admirably with these hard scrapping carp i am now reassured that i will be able to control decent barbel in the Ribbles strong flow.
Another interesting point of comparison was the fact i used banded pellet and Phil used hair rigged pellet. We both caught an identical bag of fish – which proves that carp at Bradshaws are just plain greedy rather than crafty.
Matt has been after beating his carp pb of 6lbs so I now have a nice easy venue to take him to next weekend.

Sunday afternoon was spent on the Ribble with Phil-K & Tony. Recent rains had put a good 18 inches on the river levels meaning that our favourite swims were unfishable. This lead us to try out a few other areas for the nice roach which we know reside in this area, and it wasnt long before we were all catching roach, dace and chubletts at steady rate.
Tony and I moved upstream for the last hour or so to see if we could get any sea trout from one of the streamier runs. I didnt have much luck but Tony caught i nice brownie and a Barbel of about 4lbs late on.
The constant rain made for miserable fishing conditions, but fishing the Ribble brings out the young boy in me – i just cant have a bad day when I’m fishing there. The highlight of my day was having a sea trout clear the water less than 5 yards from where i was fishing – a magnificent fish of well over 4lbs. I wish, I wish, I wish 🙂

manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout

Irwell Barbel Quest Pt 3

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After being given information about a 200yd stretch of the river where 2 barbel have been reputed to have been caught already this season I spent an evening searching water with a few pints of maggots and my trotting gear.
Despite being subjected to an all out assault by the rivers minnow population i have found a lovely undercut bank which drops away to an 8ft hollow. I reckon this little pot of a swim gove fish excellent cover and a steady supply of food. Next time I get the time, I will be leaving the maggots at home and using two tip rods, one with luncheon meat, the other halibut pellet. Maybe i will even do a little pre-baiting.

manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout

Childs Play

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After last weeks visit to the lake when i was lucky enough to get one bite in 5 hours, I opted for a change of tactics.
Ditching the heavy feeder rod and pellets, I instead used my 6metre margin pole fitted with 14s elastic.
I plumbed up at about 5ft and to begin with fed the swim with 3 tangerine sized balls of fishmeal groundbait which also contained a handfull of micro pellets. Hookbait was good old bread flake on a size 14 Kamasan611 extra strong.
There was a good chop on the water so i wasnt too worried about the profile of the pole scaring the fish.
I caught these three lovely tincas – the largest 5lb 5oz. I lost a couple too, one of which straightened the kamasan extra strong hook!!
As the evening drew in and the wind dropped the bites dried up and my swim filled with small roach and perch which pecked away at the bread flake, so i swapped over to bread paste.
Tony dropped by for the last half hour, and his young lad Logan was keen to get in the hot seat and have a go with my pole.
Single maggot on a size 14 saw him catching a steady succession of little roach and perch. The tench having been spooked by the pole.
If the rain holds off then hopefully I will be able to get a few hours on the Ribble this weekend – otherwise I will have a last go for the tench with Phil. No matter whether its this weekend or the next I am going to use tares over hemp and micro pellets the next time i visit this lake, as i am sure that there will be some cracking roach in here too.


I usually name the venues i fish but would rather not in this instance for obvious reasons this being a public blog.
However if you send me an email i will be happy give you the details.
manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout

Tench Heaven

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I spent the late afternoon and evening with Phil-K at one of our club waters which is renowned for its large head of tench. Neither of us had fished this venue previously and despite being given a few pointers by friends as to which pegs to fish and tactics to use we both struggled to get bites.

I spent the afternoon watching my tip being plucked too and fro as small fish attacked the 10mm pellet I was using as hookbait but only had one really good wrap around bite which resulted in a new pb tench of 4lb 14oz.

Towards the end of the afternoon/evening both of our swims were fizzing with feeding fish, but no matter what bait we used we couldnt buy another bite. I’m looking forwards to another visit when i shall try using pole tactics to see if a better standard of bait presentation and more accurate ground baiting will see us catch more fish.

I’m not complaining though, big tench should be the reward for using a little watercraft rather than being just another lump in a commercial water piggery.

manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout

Irwell Barbel Quest Part 2 – An Impossible Dream

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I spent Friday evening back on the banks of the Irwell, this time equiped with two rods rather than one.

Straight lead with a banded 10mm Halibut pellet on each rod. No bites in 4 hours – not even a twitch. Sitting on a river bank with only quiver tips to concentrate on soon results in my attention wandering – i did enjoy myself feeding the minnows though.

I spoke to a guy who told me that he had been fishing the river for the last 25 years and had only caught one Barbel and that was 7 years ago!

Maybe I might not achieve my target this year but it won’t be for lack of trying.

The next time I go to a tackle shop I am going to buy a baiting needle so that i can hair rig rather than band the bait and also buy some pva bags so that i can groundbait more accurately.

Running total now up to 7 hours.

manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout

Irwell Barbel Quest Pt 1

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Over the years there have been persistent murmurings that people have been catching Barbel from the Irwell, and it seems to be an accpeted fact that 500 of them were stocked into the river in the early 1990’s. Despite having fished the river on a regular basis over the last few years i have still yet to see one even though i am assured by some very reliable sources that they are there.
So – rather than continuing roach fishing down near the city centre i have decided to make a concerted effort to catch one of these mythical whiskered beasts.
Because i have been told in strictest confidence the location of swims from which Barbel have reputedly been caught in the past i am not going to post any photos during my Irwell Barbel Quest.

Tuesday evening saw me on the river, tackled up with an avon rod, bait runner reel, big lead and a bucket of 10mm halibut pellets. As this was my first ever trip using this type of gear, i set off in hope rather than expectation.
I dont often use baits this big so having no idea of how to fish in this style i chucked in two or three handfulls of pellets and then gently lobbed in my hokbait over the top.
I was only using one rod – so i had to ask myself basic stuff like how long i should leave my bait in the river before re-casting, should i band the pellet or hair rig it, is the lead too heavey, should i cast into the central flow or on the edges of the main flow, how far will my loose fed pellets carry downstream before hitting the bottom etc etc etc?
It was only to be a short session, 6.30pm til 9.15.
At 8.30 my rod tip hooped over and the bait runner screeched as line was ripped off the reel. Heart in mouth i struck into a fish which continued to streak off down the river making the main clutch on the reel sing.
I realised that this wasn’t a chub as the fish made run after run after run. I thought that i couldn’t be this jammy to hook into a barbel on my first trip out – and i was right. I wasn’t that jammy -it turned out to be a lovely Irwell brownie of 3lb 4oz (I’ve rediscovered my digital scales).
Alas it jumped ship between weighing and photographing so i cant show it to you – however its tail was enormous – as is the case with most big Irwell trout.
After that i had no more bites or twitches on the tip. Hopefully I will get out again one evening next week for another crack. This weekend there are pb’s to be broken as I’m off to “tench heaven” with Phil K.

manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout

Fishing In Wroxham

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When someone suggested a family holiday on the Norfolk Broads – i had to pinch myself to check that i wasn’t dreaming. An anglers delight.
Oh and when i say family holiday i don’t just mean Lucia, Matt and myself – all my brothers, sisters and their families, together with some of my cousins and their families, Lucias sister and her boyfriend all descended on Peninsular cottages in Wroxham for a week to celebrate my mothers 70th birthday.

I had promised Lucia that i would spend quality family time with her and Matthew – so trips on the river Bure and to the seaside were standard fayre each day – but every evening i got the fishing gear out for an airing.
I only brought basic tackle which the kids could use, (drop, stand on, etc) so rather than using an elasticated pole I only brought a couple of old 7m whips and a float rod and an old tip rod.

It was good fun teaching the kids to fish and there were plenty of obliging roach and perch.
Even some of the adults had a go – but non were as successful as my nephew Frank who seems like a natural.

During the week we caught roach, perch, skimmers eels and pike fishing outside the cottages we had rented. One quiet afternoon i got my tip rod out and set up using a ground bait feeder. I caught only a few small Roach, but lost at least 5 fish when either the hooklength snapped near the hook or it was bitten through by a fish. I struck into these wrap around bites and felt good fish on, but after no more than a few seconds lost them. This continued despite stepping up the hooklengths to 5.5lb (0.19). Maybe it was Jack Pike taking the maggots or eels i don’t know – but as my own personal fishing time was short – i found it frustrating not to be able to carry on fishing to find out what they were. I also lost a great fish in the boat basin outside my cottage on the last day of the holiday (when i used micro pellet as feed and double maggot on the hook- i suspect that it was a big tench).

The week flew by far too quickly – my first visit to Norfolk – definitely not my last.
As you can see from this photo above – my accommodation for the week was an anglers dream. I would love to go back one day for a weeks fishing with the guys and really investigate properly the great fishing that this region offers. I shall add the pike photos once i find out who took them.

If any ones interested here’s the link to the cottages. http://www.peninsulacottages.com/

manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout

An Angling Hiatus

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A combination of soon to arrive visitors from overseas and a family holiday will mean that I wont get the opportunity to get out fishing for the rest of July. I’m looking forwards to spending some family time – honest!

Anyway in light of this time away from my rods i decided to get in as much fishing as possible over the last few days – so i apologise in advance for the length of this post.

Friday Evening On The Irwell In the City Centre.


I fished one of the swims near the old Boddingtons Brewery (above) using stick float and maggots. All i could catch was small chublets and the occasional roach. As dusk fell i moved upstream to find some deeper water and was rewarded by catching this 2lbish chub.

This far downstream the Irwell is nothing but a glorified storm drain, with the banks being managed by the local authorities to prevent any chance of flooding the surrounding flood plain. This takes away the chance for traditional riverbank and river bed features such as concave or convex banks, trees etc. however there are still the foundations of old riverside buildings still to be found in the river channel, and it was by wading out on this old foundations that i managed to find fish holding features.

It was an enjoyable evening with the usual the usual fish a chuck – despite the less than salubrious surroundings I really enjoy fishing this area of river.

Saturday Morning – A Walk With Pete, Tony and Ian from the EA.
Saturday morning was spent walking the banks of one of our local streams with the guys and Ian the EA officer whos remit is the Irwell Basin. It was Pete and Tonys intention to show a particular length of river to Ian from the EA and to look into the possibility of making habitat improvements. I find spending time with Pete really interesting as he is very keen on the scientific side of our sport and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the plants and bugs which live in the river.
It was a great shame that there had been alot of overnight rain which had put 6 inches and alot of colour on the shallow river making fish spotting impossible. Pete put his case across really well to the EA who agreed with him regarding the improvements which could be made to the river.

It was interesting listening to Ians viewpoints on river pollution – especially the effects of long term low level run offs from wrongly plumbed domestic appliances. His stance on the recent pollution incidents on the Irk and Upper Irwell are also re-assuring. Its good to know that an EA officer who is also a passionate angler is in charge of my local patch of river.
Saturday Afternoon In Search Of Silver Bream

After leaving Tony and Pete, I picked up Phil and took him to a fish an old mill lodge up in the Lancashire hills which is reputed to hold Silver Bream. Catching one of these has started to become a mini obsession (another one to add to the list). The lake is well off the beaten track and quite exposed due to its lack of surrounding cover. I’ve fished this lake once before, and reached my two hour limit without a bite – and therefore packed up having blanked. That time I fished maggot waggler, this time Phil and I both tried using feeder and tip tactics. Yet again the two hour biteless limit passed so we both blanked.
To salvage our pride we headed off back down the M66 and had the last few hours of the day at Maceys in Bury.
We both used feeder tactics – Phil finding a shoal of small stillwater barbel – and i caught a mixture of roach, skimmers. Some bright spark had the idea that the Barbel would be happier in the River Roch rather than in a muddy carp hole – it wont be me but i sincerely hope that someone transfers a few the hundred yards or so to the river.
Sunday Evening At Croft Fishery Addlington
Heavy overnight rain on Saturday left our local river high and unfishable using our usual light trotting gear. I could see Tony wince when I suggested we visit a local commercial fishery to target stocky carp.
To his credit, Tony knew of a local commercial fishery which was a cut above the usual muddy carp hole, and we spent an enjoyable evening catching roach and carp in a lovely lake surrounded by mature trees and covered in water lilies. It wasnt hard to catch using a margin pole and maggots.

Monday At Borwick Fishery Near Carnforth
Phil and I had originally planned to go to and fish either a tarn in the Lake District or Cow Green Reservoir for wild brownies on the fly – however the recent unsettled weather was forecast to continue with heavy showers predicted throughout the day. Rather than being soaked to the skin up in the hills, we decided to wimp out and fish a commercial where we could retreat gnome like under our brollys when the inevitable rain arrived.
Phil was keen on visiting Borwick Fishery near Carnforth, as they have 8 lakes each stocked with different varieties of fish. We chose to fish Fingals Lake which was stocked with Ide and Carp.
Again we both started out on feeder tactics – immediately getting a bream a chuck averaging just over a pound. Phil stayed on the feeder all day long, and in addition to the regular bream he also caught some nice Ide and the occasional carp.

I mixed things up a little by going on the pole at 6metres, but found it difficult to avoid small, but beautifully marked Rudd.
I also caught Ide and Carp. The rain showers intensified throughout the day, and at times i was hanging on to my brolly to prevent it from taking off. The last of these turned into a downpour of biblical proportions and we packed up in driving rain, and thunder claps.

Was a good day despite the weather.
I’m now on best behaviour for the rest of the month and my fishing gear has been cleaned and put away until August.
manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout

Irwell Roach

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Sunday evening saw me on the banks of the River Irwell in Lower Broughton. Not the most scenic of fisheries but the fishing can be terrific when the river conditions are right.

In certain swims its sometimes possible to catch a fish every swim through, though this session only saw me catch a fish every third or fourth run through.

Fishing a single maggot under a 3bb stick float i caught mostly roach to about 12oz plus the occasional dace, rudd and small chub. For a change i used a keepnet to see what weight of fish i could catch in 4 hours fishing. 35lbs wasnt a bad catch at all, but one day if I get the conditions right i am sure that a tonne will be achievable.

There are some thumping big chub in this area, but so far this year I’ve yet to connect with one. Maybe the next time i visit this area, i will fish hemp and caster and see if it improves the quality of fish i catch.

I apologise for the useless photo but i had collected a gallery of locals, one of whom insisted on taking the photos.
I’m sure many of you will be able to recognise this length of river, however out of a length more than about 800yds long there are only about 6 fishable swims as the river is shallow and full of snags/ironmongery. If you are thinking of going down and giving it a try then its best to park your car at the local shopping parade as this is the only area with cctv coverage. You have been warned! (see earlier post pissed & stoned).
manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout

Ribble Chub

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As the river was low and slow, Tony and I decided to fish swims higher upstream which had a bit of pace in them, and also a bit more oxygen in the water. Tony who knows the river like the back of his hand predicted that we would catch some nice chub, and he wasnt wrong – we had a dozen between between 3 and 6lbs.
A couple of small trout and Tony also took a nice Barbel from some very shallow water.

I found a nice straw hat in a field on the way back to the car, which i immediately tried on for size. Finding it a perfect fit i decided to keep it, much to Tonys amusement.
In certain cirmumstances a picture is worth a thousand words.

manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout