Pissed & Stoned
This post is nothing to do with my student days but an accurate description of last Sunday evenings fishing trip in downtown Salford.
I set up my usual trotting gear and waded out underneath a footbridge from which i had seen a shoal of bumper sized roach. Just as i struck into a lb+ fish i heard a shower of liquid hitting the water behind me. Distracted i looked up and saw three teenagers pissing off the bridge at me. Thinking that they couldn’t pee so far i moved slightly downstream and out of range. After a brief exchange of Anglo Saxon the little blighters started to throw fist size rocks at me from their vantage point high above me on the bridge. This resulted in me having to wade quickly back up towards the bridge so i could take shelter from their increasingly accurate barrage. By the time I had climbed the banks so i could get a grip of them the little sods had buggered off, laughingly giving me the one fingered salute.
Despite having fed the swim with hemp and having a shoal of 50plus big roach queueing up to be caught I decided to remove myself from the local youths firing line and fish a safer swim 100yds upstream.
I caught steadily, roach, skimmers and chub – none of which were any size. I continued to have trouble with line sticking in my closed face reel and lost my first big brownie of the season which snapped my 4lb hooklength like cotton as it went aerial soon after i hooked it. I will fish that swim again one day though, but will make sure its early in the morning before the little sods get out of bed.
Rites Of Passage
As we walked back to the car in darkness Tony was a little disappointed that it wasn’t a big double, but Matthew was enthused by the lengthy battle and capture of this magnificent fish – it has certainly fired him up and I hope that one day soon he can have the pleasure of landing his first Barbel.
Chubtastic
Christmas Comes Twice A Year
After spending the last few weekends gardening, the sense of anticipation i felt whilst packing my fishing bag and taking the rods out of my shed made me tingle. I had spent all morning and the early part of the afternoon working in the office, but i have to admit to my mind being elsewhere.
June the 16th last year was my first trip to Tonys favourite stretch of the Ribble. His kind generosity in sharing some of the rivers secrets with us – led to a bumper catch of Chub and Barbel.
Despite having plently of choice of venue we decided to head back to this special 200yds of river.
Tony had the good fortune of hooking a clonking big barbel on his first cast of the season. He played the fish for a good ten minutes before the crafty devil dragged his 7lb hooklength over some sharp rocks and parted his line like cotton. This led us to believe that we might be in for another red letter day
This year there were fewer barbel feeding, but we were compensated by catching lots of decent dace, trout, sea trout, chub and eels.
Undeterred we fished the run for the rest of the evening, Tony taking a nice Barbel of about 6/7lbs plus a great sea trout of a couple of pounds.
After last years experience in this swim, I set up with much heavier gear than Tony, using a big 3gramme avon float and an avon rod instead of my usual lighter stick floats and drennan floatmaster trotting rod.
Rather than fish the main run, i mooched about a few hundred yards upstream searching out the faster shallower gravel runs, but couldnt catch anything other than chub and dace. It was only when i moved back into the main run as dusk was beginning to fall that i felt something more solid and a little two pound barbel finished off another opening day to remember.
The fishing wasnt as prolific as last season, but the sense of peace and sheer enjoyment was burning as brightly as ever. Very little can surpass a long evening on a beautiful river with a like minded friend.
Response From The EA
Heres the response from the EA to the email I sent them a week ago regarding the recent pollution of the River Irk.
“Dear Mr Duddy,
PUBLIC REGISTER AND ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION REQUEST
River Irk, Manchester
Thank you for your enquiry. Please find below response from one of our officers.
This is an ongoing case. The source of the pollution was found on the day and the discharged was stopped. We are now undertaking enforcement action in accordance with our Enforcement & Prosecution Policy. There were very few dead fish and we also carried out an ecological survey.
If you have any additional queries please contact us at our e-mail address: nwsouthfolder@environment-agency.gov.uk or on the telephone number below quoting your reference number WTNGE29282.
Yours sincerely,
**** *******
External Relations Officer””
Now theyre not giving much away with that reply – but maybe as its an ongoing case then they’re not allowed to give out too much information?
If anyone has any thoughts then I would appreciate your comments.
Angling – Bigger Than Birmingham!
I have unashamedly stolen this snippet of information from an angling board which i read.
“At the start of the coarse fishing season, a new poll commissioned by the Countryside Alliance has revealed that more people have participated in angling (38%) than in organised football (36%) or birdwatching (22%).
In addition, a further boost to angling, revealed in a Parliamentary Question* has been revealed as Environment Agency figures show that in 2008 1,138,442 angling licences were issued: an increase of 334,981 or 42% on the number issued in 1999.
Countryside Alliance Campaigns Director Rob Gray commented: “It is fantastic news that at the start of the coarse fishing season angling is more popular than ever. This is a sport that can hold its own in impressive company, and it’s certainly impressive that it has beaten football in the poll.
“We still do not think there are enough young people going fishing, so in our recently released Rural Manifesto we are calling for angling to be put on the National Curriculum, so that all children will have an opportunity to take up the sport. It is already well documented that angling can help curb anti-social behaviour, encourage youngsters to participate in physical activity in the open air away from television, and can give them a focus and interest. You can support this aim by signing up to our Rural Manifesto.
“To put the new rod licence figures into perspective, Birmingham has only 1,006,500 residents, so we can also claim that angling is bigger than Birmingham!””
We all knew it but its nice to get official recognition.
Last Hour
I had the last hour of daylight on the river near the city cente. A cold wind meant that there were few fish rising, but i still caught a perch on a copper headed nymph and a small chub on a black Klinkhammer.
It seems as though trout are scarce this far downstream so am going to stop fishing this area until June the 16th when the coarse season re-opens.
A tube of Aquasure should sort out my waders, so maybe i might have the last hour tomorrow evening much further upstream There are a few likely swims at the back of my house which i havent fished since last summer and as trout are the predominant species up here I won’t feel so guilty if I catch any coarse fish.
Fly Fishing In Manchester City Centre
There is very little weed this low down in the river, and this roach looks as though it has really been in the wars during spawning on the rocky bottom of the river.
Letter to the Environment Agency
I am still smarting about the pollution incident on the River Irk. There seems to be no sort of news flow from the EA, and no updates in the local press. I hope that this incident is not going to be another which is swept under the carpet of a smoke filled room, so have written the following letter to the EA
“On the 14th April 2009 the River Irk in Manchester was polluted by some form of detergent/bleach entering the water course. Since then there has been no word in the press from either the EA or any other body giving information as to the cause of the pollution, what the pollutant was, and how much damage has been done to the river. I suspect that many miles have river have been damaged.
As one of the few anglers who fished this river, i would be most appreciative if you could give me some indication as to the cause and extent of the damage that has taken place.
Is a legal case being prepared by the EA against the company who have caused this incident?
And lastly what measures are being taken to re-introduce life back into the river. both vertebrates and invertebrates?
Kind Regards”
I will post their reply if I receive one.