Pollution Of The River Irk
I wonder how many years it will take for the River Irk to recover from this!!
Clevely Bridge Fishery
I spent the best part of the day at Clevely Bridge Fishery near Lancaster. It holds a good head of small carp, so I arrived with a bag of Betaine Green groundbait, sweetcorn and some soft hooker pellets in the hope of a nice net of fish
Square Lodge
Tony and I fished Square Lodge in Hindley this afternoon, and caught some lovely fish. I fished two lines, a pinkie line and a pellet line.
The Sun Shines On Phil-K
It an unusual feature of this stream that the fish often have a very silvery hue at this time of year.
Early Season On A Local Stream
I caught fish from this run last year, its now as dry as a bone!
Baptism
So there I was, soaked to the skin before I’d even cast a line – what a great start to the new season.
Luckily for me despite being piss wet though I hadn’t put the fish down, as about 5 minutes after starting fishing I had my first ever river brownie on a self tied fly. It was a typical fish for the river, well marked and about 12oz. The fly was a tungsten beaded, hairs ear finished with red copper wire.
Heartened by this initial success i made my way slowly upriver.
Only about 10 yards further upstream, my minicon darted forwards, and i struck into what i thought was going to be another 12oz fish. After a heart stopping 5 minutes, Phil did the honours for me and this cracking fish graced the net.
To say i am pleased is an understatement. a 2.75lb wild brownie on a fly I’ve tied myself. What a fabulous way to start the season!
The rest of the afternoon was spent searching about a few swims I’d never really spent time on before, but no more fish were forthcoming. To be honest i didn’t really care – that fish was a cracker and here’s some more photos of it.
One sleeve was blue and the other red as i fell on my left side and was soaked from my shoulders to my toes, and i was making a vain attempt to dry out.
Home Made Lures
After spending a large part of last season chasing trout on my local streams and rivers, it has become more than obvious that shop bought flies are not as effective as those tied by my friends. Rather than constantly badgering them for “samples” i decided that during the winter months i would learn to tie my own. Phil-K persuaded me to join Bolton Fly Tying Club whose members have been very patient with my cack handed ineptitude. The talks and demonstrations they put on during the dark winter evenings have been both informative and thought provoking. In addition to the talks, demos and tying the club also organise trips to fly fishing venues throughout the north of England and the occasional competition.
So last Tuesday the evening was spent tying three flies for their first competition of the year -a three fly challenge at Foxhouses Lake near Lancaster. The rules of the competition being that you are only allowed to use three flies all day which you must tie during the club meeting. Rather than tying imitative patterns such as buzzers, nymphs i made three big brash lures thinking that freshly stocked early season Rainbow Trout would be aggressive and likely to be attracted to large bright lures. I think some of the members were amused at my dayglo lures – more suited to mackerel fishing than trout fishing.
Phil-K in typical rod bending action.
Lets hope that the weather is better than Sunday. This is a picture of Chris from Bolton Fly Tying Club – he was using an olive damsel nymph pattern which he’s promised to teach me how to make. Whilst fishing is often a solitary pastime – meeting other likeminded souls has really revved up my desire to get out fishing on some new waters and catch some fish. Oh by the way I won the match:)
Mel Sykes On A Gondola?
I have spent my last three outings on the lower Irwell close to the city centre and blanked on each occasion. My intention has been to have a crack at some of the roach which shoal up in the city centre during the winter months. Bags of 60lbs of roach have been common during the last few winters, but this winter has been something of a disappointment as far.
Undeterred by rumours that the river has been “Cormoranted Out” i have attempted three usually productive swims using 3 different tactics, (stick, feeder and waggler). End result not even 1 bite in 10 hours fishing.
Next weekend is the last chance i will get to fish the Irwell until the season re-starts on June the 16th so am going to give it one last try opposite the Lowry Hotel and i will then be able to find out if patience is to be rewarded – or i am just a chump fishing water devoid of fish.
At i get into my feed, cast, trim, feed, reel in trance, my mind might wander to a dream about Melanie Sykes coming down the river on her gondola, delivering me a pint of Manchesters finest! What a girl – now that would be suitable compensation for 4 consecutive blanks:)
Are You Looking At Me (part 2)
Like a bushtucker trial!
Despite our frustration at not bagging up its impossible to complain when you catch redfins as beautiful as these.