February always seems to be a miserable month for fishing and this year I’m getting those same old February blues. Blank sessions always seem to be the main feature of this month interspersed with morale boosting trips to commercial fisheries. This year is no different.
Last Sunday i took a trip to the Ship Canal for the last couple of hours of the day. A few unproductive hours on the tip with a groundbait feeder didnt even see me get a bite. I ended up feeding some pellets to a hungry swan – when it didnt want anymore I took it as a cue to pack up and go home.
Tuesday saw me taking a trip to Twin Lakes in Croston. After a slow start i ended up catching a small roach a chuck and ended up with a couple of dozen small fish. Despite trying casters and worm i couldnt catch anything bigger than 2oz fish. It was my first trip to Twin Lakes and was impressed with the set up – especially the lovely breakfast in the onsite cafe.
Today I spent a full day on the lower river Irwell – most of the morning was spent searching through swims with a stick float – the afternoon sitting behind on the tip near the City Centre. It was a long day without a bite, and has made up my mind to have another day at a commercial tomorrow.
Other than Pike fishing, theres not really much coarse fish action at this time of the year as water temperatures are so low. The trout season starts on the 15th March so at least I have something to look forwards to.
An Amazing Coincidence
I hope you like the photo i have used in the new title header above. I came across it whilst searching through other peoples photos of my local rivers and lakes on flickr.
The photo shows one of my favourite weirpools on the River Irwell, an area where no major redevelopment has taken place, and where evidence of Manchesters dark satanic mills still remains.
The IRA bombing of Manchester City Centre in 1996 was the catalyst for the most intensive period of change since the city was built in the 19th Century. However this corner of Salford seems to be largely forgotten. This photo was taken only last year and imagine my delight when on closer examination i discovered that it showed from left to right, my son Matt, Big Dave, me, Nick (anglingforsomething) and Tom (whatsthecatch).
My blog post on the day http://manchesterfishingfiend.blogspot.com/2008/02/perfect-day-nearly.html was entitled “perfect day nearly” its wonderful that someone has captured the moment with such a lovely photograph.
Plug Fishing
I had a free couple of hours earlier in the week and took the opportunity to find a few new access points to the Ship Canal in Trafford Park. I’ve found some promising pegs with easy access and am going to have a bash for a few hours after Matts rugby match tomorrow.
The Ship Canal has a bit of a magnetic effect on me. No one really knows whats in there, or how big the fish get, its one of the largest but least fished areas of water in the North West. I had an amazing session one morning last year when i took a tremendous bag of roach, but have struggled every other time I’ve fished here. If theres any piece of water in my local area which is going to throw up a real surprise then i reckon this is the place. Theres a month to go before the trout season re-opens so i will have a go at unlocking some of this waters secrets. There are rumours of big carp, tench, pike and some massive shoals of roach and bream. Maybe pre-baiting Ireland style with corn and crumb might be an effective tactic. Hopefully water temperatures will increase making fishing easire as the coarse season draws to a close.
Piking In Manchester City Centre
Tom In Argentina
Bradshaw Hall
I spent the afternoon in the pleasurable company of Matt and Phil at Bradshaw Hall fishery in near Bolton. I have never been a big fan of commercial fisheries but find that in the winter they usually guarantee a good stream of bites. I find these bites invaluable when taking Matt fishing, as it was only 4 degrees this afternoon and the east wind soon stripped us of any warmth we had enjoyed from the cars heater on the drive up. My theory being that he will forget about the cold if he’s catching fish.
We fished lake 7 (the small lake with the square island) for the first time ever, and surprisingly found bites few and far between. I set up with a punch rig over liquidised bread, and Matt with a maggot rig which allowed a free fall of the bait for the last 12 inches. The water in front of us wasn’t deep, only about 3 and a half feet, and we both fish midway to the island in the deepest water we could find (at about 6 metres).
Phil who had a longer pole and could reach the far bank was using casters, he was getting a bite a chuck from chub to about a lb. There are times when size matters as proved by Phil who was catching more fish than Matt and myself combined at a ratio of about 8 to 1 !!! The fish obviously enjoyed the cover of the overhanging branches on island, and didn’t stray that often into more open water. I did swap over to maggot at one point and despite steady loose feeding couldn’t tempt the fish away from their patrol route/cover.
We fished from 12 til 3.30pm and i was glad when it was time to pack up. At least we didn’t blank as both Matt and I had a few small chub and perch between us. Certainly not one of my more memorable winter trips to Bradshaws, and i doubt i shall fish lake 7 again in winter. Phil thinks lake 2 fishes best in Winter as its about 12 feet deep, I normally fish lakes 3, 5 or 6 but i guess if you don’t swap about occasionally you don’t discover anything new. All i discovered today was that i need a longer pole – though I’m loathe to buy one as it won’t be used that often. Maybe i might have a look on Ebay for a cheap second hand one.
Mere Beck
I spent the afternoon at Mere Beck with Phil and Tony. I blanked, as did Phil but Tony had a nice small blue trout. This was my first ever visit to this fishery, and i have to be honest and say that i think its lovely.
The small interlinked lakes are deep, and i think that only having a floating line today was a hindrance. I did get a good bite on a small green ptn late in the afternoon, but a shake of the fishes head threw the hook before i really got connected.
After starting out with all the best intentions, using spiders, buzzers and other imitative flies, as a blank seemed more and more likely i swapped over to a team of three lures (talk about a sign of desperation!).
Even this move didn’t pay dividends – but at least i enjoyed some winter sun in wonderful surroundings. Due to this fisheries proximity to Martin Mere a RSPB reserve, we were treated to huge flying “V”s of geese late on in the afternoon. Some of these flocks must have had upwards of 150 birds – a truly memorable sight.
Addictive
Thanks to everyone for your encouraging comments as your comments often give me food for thought and help me catch more. I have had the pleasure of meeting many readers of my blog this year, its amazing how our sport attracts such great people. For those of you who live nearby but have never got in touch – please do – i might try and nick your swim but i dont bite!
Mini Me
Should I Expect Anything Different?
Grim is the best word to describe both the weather and my weekends fishing. First light Saturday saw me picking up Phil K for a trip to the Mersey at Northenden. We both knew it would be tough as the thermometer in my car showed minus 5. The constant icing of rod rings and a disticnt lack of bites soon saw us packing up and enjoying the delights of a local roadside “butty bar”. I think we managed about an hours fishing in total but spent an enjoyable morning checking out some new swims in different areas of the river.
By this afternoon the weather had started to warm up, and i joined Tony and Pete on their local brook for an afternoons Roach fishing. The last time i visited this bit of water, Tony found a shoal of roach from which he proceeded to catch a succession of fish between 12oz and a lb. Amazing from a stream so small that i can touch the far bank with the tip of my rod.
However, this afternoon only Tony was lucky enough to find the fish. I managed to scratch out four small roach by roving downstream, but never really got into a shoal.
The winter months are always tough with fish difficult to locate. I’d much rather be out on the bank than sitting at home no matter that the odds are stacked against me. This time last year i spent alot of time searching out new swims on my local River Irwell while lure fishing for Pike. Maybe next weekend i shall do the same, at least i should get a bend in my rod (the bottom again).