Fishing

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.

Fishing Salford Quays – Smash And Grab

10th October 2020 by Mike Duddy

Words and moving pictures !!

After Saturday morning dance classes for little girls, Saturday morning football for little boys, and with an early evening dinner birthday meal with my eldest (who can tolerate us between 5 and 7pm) to come, I only had a short afternoon window of opportunity to slot in a bit of fishing.

And then when that short window for a few hours fun presented itself … bloody hell … where do I go? There are so many venues within 20 minutes of home I’m spoilt for choice. Anyway, after last weekends great session at Salford Quays drop shotting with garden worms, I decided to go back and fish the same few swims with small soft plastic lures to see if how they performed when compared to worms. (and the fact that I’d been sent some lures to try by a manufacturer I know meant that I could give him a bit of feedback too).

The Pink and the White Long Paddle Tails worked really well on drop shot rig – we didn’t really have time to give the jig heads a chance

So, back to exactly the same swims as last weekend. But with lures not worms. Here’s a photo of the lures I was going to use, but I only ended up using the pink and white long tail lures and the yellow paddle tail. I didn’t get time to tie on the small sickle tail lures, but I’m 100% sure they would work really well.

We caught plenty on the hot pink long paddle tails

Not as many fish in the linking canals now the temperatures have dropped

Sad to say that once the redevelopment of Cotton Quay takes place, this part of the quays is never going to be the same again,, for how much longer will be allowed to fish here 🙁

After a week of cold weather and nearly constant rain, the fish which were in the shallower 7ft water of the canals, had moved into the deeper 23ft water of the main docks. And we found the fish in the bottom 3ft, and that they wanted a near static rather than moving presentation.

As soon as we sussed out how the fish wanted the baits to be presented we again had near constant sport for the hour and a half we had to fish.

The fish loved the white paddle tails too

I only had 3g drop shot leads (i need to replenish my tackle box) so had to pinch on a couple of SSG to get to around the 7g thats needed to get the bait down quickly and keep in touch with the bait – the hook is a size 6 Drennan super specialist

These white long tails worked really well.

We didn’t catch anything big (the perch run to 4lb in the quays) but it’s impossible to tire of that electric feeling in the rod tip once a perch grabs the lure and shakes its head.

Happy times.

Salford Quays Perch Fishing – most are small but perfectly formed

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Artists On The Irwell

1st October 2020 by Mike Duddy

Those of you who have been regular long term readers of my blog will know that I just love stumbling across unusual links, information and quirky facts about my favourite River Irwell.

Over the years I’ve become quite the art connoisseur – especially when I can link other people art, to the places where I fish.

Back in February 2012 I wrote about “Impressionists On The Irwell” – have a read of these words and pictures from back in the day

Pierre Adolphe Valette was a French impressionist artist who came to live in Manchester in 1905. Finding our murky grey landscape to his liking – he stayed in the North West until 1928 painting many Manchester landscapes in the Impressionist style. He became a tutor at the Manchester Municipal School of Art and was mentor to L.S. Lowry.

Adolphe Valette Bailey Bridge 1912 above, Mike Duddy 2012 below

Adolphe painted many pictures of the Irwell in the impressionist style – today I did a good impression of an angler – and caught bugger all.

In 2016 I came across these two. an amazing sketch and a painting of the River Irwell at Agecroft by Valettes’ star pupil L.S.Lowry.

There were a couple of things that really grabbed me about two Lowry images

The first being that the location of these great pieces of art / Irwell history was just behind my house .. in fact less than a half a mile away, and somewhere I pass every day on my journey to and from work. I regularly fish at this exact location and love the fact that the trees in the distance are still there

The other thing that I love about these Lowry pieces is that as a child, I can remember watching rowing races here, with the old Agecroft rowing club, long before they moved to their current home at Salford Quays. I’m also proud to love the link local between Agecroft Rowing Club, which is one of the worlds oldest rowing clubs, formed in 1861 and the angling club of which I am chairman – the Salford Friendly Anglers Society – which was formed in 1817 and is the worlds oldest angling club.

I just love these old bits of history, and the art that has been created around the river.

So imagine my delight today when I came across these pictures from an artist I had the pleasure of meeting on the banks of the River a few years ago whilst working on the development of the new flood storage basin in Salford (more of that towards the end of this page).

First of all, have a look at this painting of Hulme Hall in 1770, a lovely riverside mansion.

And now 250 years later, look how its change ! Hulme Hall was demolished in the 1800s, sacrificed for a railway line.

The apartments are a 21st century addition, and line the banks of the Bridgewater Canal which flows nearby. The river has been changed by man so much over the past 250 years, it would be unrecognisable to a time traveler from 250 years ago.

And now the bit I love. @Kelzo has used is artistic skills to do a Hulme Hall mash up.

Hulme Hall lives 250 years on !!

I just love stumbling across these little river nuggets.

Anyway, back to www.kelzo.com

I first met him when he was commissioned to do the art work at the new Salford Flood Basin at Castle Irwell (now known as Kersal Wetlands). Salford Friendly Anglers have the fishing rights along the section of river that runs around the flood basin, and there are some good fish to be had.

While you are mooching about the river in this area, if you look around you will also find some of @Kelzo work. I love it, and the sharp eyed amongst you will spot lots of links back to Adolphe Valette, and L.S. Lowry.

Take it how you want, but in my view Kelzos work carries on the impressionist torch in a 21st Century style.

You can see the Lowry influence in a lot of his work – I’m sure he would approve.

Have a look below at some of his work on the flood basin. Check out his website for even more.

As I walk the banks of our local rivers, I see lots of places where artists have recorded. I think I shall do a few more posts like this in coming months.

Drop Shotting Wallasey Docks and Salford Quays

29th September 2020 by Mike Duddy

Have a look at the video, have a read below. Please subscribe to the Fishing Fiend video channel and give me a thumbs up!

It’s been on my mind now that after 7 consecutive blanks I need to catch a fish or two. The words “Mick the blanker” have been posted on my facebook page and even though I enjoy trying out new methods its always good to have a little confidence boosting session at an easy venue. Over the years, my go to easy venue has been Bradshaw Hall Fisheries in Bolton, and a few other local easy waters where i can catch for fun (Drinkwater Park on maggot fished shallow, Sainsburys Pond on punch bread for example) but today I fancied using up some worms I have in my shed so decided to go drop shotting at Salford Quays for some perch.

This would set me up nicely with a few fish on the bank, so that I could then head off down the motorway to the other end of the Ship Canal, and have a try for the unknown by fishing the drop shot at Liverpool Docks, a venue I’ve only ever driven past before, never stopping, never looking, and certainly never fishing.

I got to the quays early doors, and the sky was blue, and so was the water (the quays management dye the water to suppress weed growth – health and safety for the swimmers and other water users). I set up my 7ft 0.5-9.0gram drop shot rod, loaded with 6lb braid, 4lb flouro and a size 12 hook. Got my worms out and hooked up half a worm.

Salford Quays — Please don’t fish from the boardwalks when the swimmers are out

First drop in, I slowly retrieved and could see a shoal of small perch flitting about around the worm – first cast — the fish were there, it was going to be a good session!

A 6 inch Perch – the average size at the Quays — but the odd one grows MUCH larger.

And so it proved as I caught perch after perch for around two hours. I started off on the boardwalks near the Beefeater, but once the open water swimmers started their morning session I moved off Ontrario Quay onto one of the side canals. The angling club and the water sports centre have a very good relationship and for health and safety reasons the club ask anglers not to fish when people are open water swimming. The Quays is a shared space, plenty of room for all. The swimmers are over and done in 2 hours,,, so please just leave them to it.

So I started out fishing the canal between Ontario and St Peter Basin. It was stuffed with perch – all hungry for a bit of worm ,, and I caught plenty of greedy 6 inch perch. As we moved round into St Peters Basin, I was hoping for a few bigger fish from near the rafts of floating debris — as the big perch love a bit of cover.. however it wasn’t to be – I just kept on catching the small ones. Very welcome as well after a run of trips with no fish.

Once Phil arrived later in the morning, we stayed on St Peters Basin for another half hour or so, banging out small perch for fun.

We then decided to head off West down to the other end of the Manchester Ship Canal, and have a try in the salt water of Liverpool Docks. I’m slowly getting into my sea fishing, and especially my species hunting, but due to the geography and built environment here in the North West — LRF/drop shotting opportunities in the North West are in short supply on our local coastline. I’ve wondered for quite a while if Liverpool Docks would be a good venue, but there isn’t that much info online. So it was a bit of a step into the unknown. But on the premise of if you don’t give it a go, you’ll never find out – we drove out to Wallasey Docks, and once we found somewhere with parking and access (Tower Rd) we set up our drop shotting kit again, and loaded the hooks with garden worms.

Liverpool Docks – a very welcoming place

The water looked very inviting and clear, we could see huge growths of mussels and anemones on the dock walls, and the odd prawn flitting about but not fish.

First drop in we found the water to be 23-28ft approx deep, and after a while of jigging about down the side with no interest from any fish we started to flick our drop shot leads a bit further out into the dock.

Initially we were worried about debris/snags at the bottom of the docks, but these proved unfounded, as it turned out to be snag free.

The after a couple of plucks and stripped hooks, Phil hooked into the first of quite a few micro whiting.

The bites were no where near as frequent as Salford Quays, and all we caught in the hour or two we spent fishing were a few small whiting. However, Phil had a cracking bite/pull down on his rod tip leading us to believe that there are other, bigger fish in there, and that a return visit with a bigger variety of baits, and heavier drop shot leads might be worth while.

I say we needed bigger leads, as our 3.5g weights were really too light for the job in hand – when I come back it will be with 10g – 30g weights and with lug/squid/sand eel as bait.

Checking out a new venue is always good fun, but figuring out the fishing and catching a few is always better so we will be returning soon.

At the close of our day, we headed over to the Liverpool City side of the Mersey and had a look round the docks near Brunswick and Mariners Wharf. However parking was terrible, as was fishing access. And where there was access there were hoards of tourists/day trippers enjoying the nice sunny Sunday afternoon.

I apologise for the poor camera/shaky video. Next time out, I am going to be using an antishake camera holder, and will start trimming, and adding music and other fiddly bits to my videos.

In the mean time, please remember to give my new videos a thumbs up like, and please please please subscribe to the Fishing Fiend video channel.

Its Like February Again

26th September 2020 by Mike Duddy

No, I’m not referring to the temperature, I’m having a bad run of blank sessions just like I did in February.

7 trips. No fish.

I’ve had a couple more sessions experimenting with rigs on Drinkwater Park (that didn’t go well – but at least I’ve learnt what doesn’t work)

I then managed to fit in a half hour trip with my 5 year old daughter, and discovered that her interest in the river was purely all about throwing in stones, and skipping ahead to the next swim scaring every thing in sight including me.

Anyway — I’ve got a full day pass tomorrow, and am going out before light and returning home after dark. I’d love to tell you where, but then I’d have to shoot you. All will be revealed in my next blank? blog post.

Half an hour on the River Irk in Blackley

Holiday Fishing Cornwall

24th August 2020 by Mike Duddy

A long overdue two week break saw us loading up the car and heading off down the M6 and M5 to Cornwall for a fortnights family holiday in Cornwall.

I of course loaded up the car with fishing tackle, inflatable boat and outboard engine before my wife got a chance to fill up boot space with her excess luggage – it’s important to get your holiday priorities sorted from the outset.

Our journey down the country was spoiled by endless roadworks and traffic jams – only to be capped off by the clutch packing in on my (less than) trusty car.

So – plan B — dump the car at a clutch centre (no one is open in Bristol at weekends), hire a car and carry on with family holiday. Beans on toast for the next 2 weeks lol.

When we finally arrived at our destination for week one, I was delighted to see how close we were to the beach, and a launching ramp for the boat. Well done Mrs D – I couldn’t have picked a better spot myself.

Millendreath, Cornwall — look it up.

Anyway — the title of this blog post is Holiday Fishing Cornwall – with the word Holiday taking precedence over the word Fishing — and so it was, swimming, crabbing, coast path hiking and Eden Centre visiting were to the fore, with fishing very much on the back burner — Until…

I felt as though my restraint had been over done — it was time to pump up the boat and get out fishing.

My wife had other ideas – If I was going out fishing — so were my little helpers 🙂

Our first trip out was an hours look see early one evening. Despite numerous internet searches there was little information to be found about fishing at Millendreath or in Looe Bay – so it was time to have an initial search around.

As the kids were with me, i just set up a single rod with a 20g jig to see if there were any mackerel or pollack about. And for quite a while it appeared as though there was nothing about… Until – the rod tip hooped over and we had a fish on.

And here is a close up of the lure that did the damage.

Sadly that was the only fish of the evening, despite quite an intensive look about.

We ate the fillets for breakfast, and I kept the silver belly flesh for bait (mackerel belly – the silver bit – makes a great tough bait).

The next day, armed with a decent bit of bait we headed off to Looe harbour under the guise of doing a bit of crab fishing — we smashed the crabs, catching 35 of them in double quick time.

Whilst the kids were doing the business with the crab nets, I put a couple of slivers of mackerel belly onto a size 14 hook and had a look down the side of the harbour wall to see what I could catch..

First up was this cracking Common Blennie – which the kids christened Bennie the Blennie. Common Blennies are also known as Shannys – but I thought that it would be more appropriate for the kids to talk about Bennie the Blennie, rather than Fanny the Shanny (I”ll leave the potential issues with that name with you).

Then the micro pollack moved in.

I caught them a fish a chuck until I ran out of bait – well over 20 of them using small slivers of mackerel belly, on a size 14 hook, using a simple paternoster rig with a 1oz lead weight.

The next few evenings saw me out on the boat alone for an hour or two – using Berkley Gulp Worm for bait – the only thing i could catch was more micro pollack.

Looking back on it, I should have shelled out and gone on a mackerel boat from Looe to see where the mackerel were. It would have given me and the kids a bit of fun, I would have learnt where the mackerel were to be found, and it would have provided me with better bait than imitation rag worm.

But Hey Ho, I was relaxing on holiday and whilst I was enjoying a little fishing, it wasn’t top priority.

Our next week saw us drive another hour or so down towards Lands End, and we stayed in a lovely little village just outside Penzance.

Again, fishing information about Mounts Bay was a bit thin on the ground on the internet, but I was pretty sure that if I trolled a lure a good distance behind the boat, it wouldn’t take too long to hook into a fish or two.

And I was proved right, as you can see if you stayed tuned into my first ever Youtube Fishing Video (as promised) right the way through to the end.

We had a couple of really nice Bass during a short circular trip around St Michael Mount, and then the weather turned as an unseasonable Storm Ellen arrived with its 60mph+ winds.

This YoZuri 130F floating minnow did the business for the Bass at St Michaels Mount

A short cold session at Hayle (from Asda car park) was a bit of a waste of effort, and all too soon it was time to hit the motorway network again for the long long drive home.

I really wish I had spent a bit of cash on going on a Mackkie bashing trip, it would have given me a bit of local knowledge on hot spots, and also plenty of bait to use as an alternative to the Berkley Gulp Worm.

Holiday Fishing Cornwall – we loved it!!

A Good Read ?

31st July 2020 by Mike Duddy

A Good Read ? Blogs have been shutting down faster than video rental stores.

When I started writing the Fishing Fiend Blog back in January 2008 blogging was a fashionable activity. Dozens of anglers were sharing their fishy activity with an eager readership, and popular blogs were getting over a quarter a million hits a year.

Inevitably, over time many blogs have fallen by the wayside as anglers have just got bored and moved on from writing their fishy ramblings for others to read. Blogging anglers (we are often a secretive bunch) also got fed up of being accused of sharing secret locations, baits, rigs etc in the hunt for online recognition. I always understood the roots of this criticism — but with me fishing the urban waters of Greater Manchester, there are not many secret venues in my neighbourhood to share.

When I do fish a venue that I think won’t benefit from being brought to the public attention in a blog post, I try to keep the location to myself, and am careful with photo backgrounds to ensure I don’t give too much away and put unnecessary pressure on a particular location. However, most of the time I’m not fishing sensitive locations so I am happy to share. Sadly though the vast majority of blogs have been either taken down, or not updated for years.

The particular blog that inspired me to start this one was called North Country Angler, whose author Matt stopped blogging a few years ago, much to my disappointment and of many others as it was a fantastic read. Lots of others have stopped updating their blogs too, and I was talking to an ex blogger the other day who took pleasure informing me that “blogs are a thing of the past” — and it got me thinking.

If blogs are a thing of the past – how come I still get tens of thousands of visits to this site per year. How come over the past 12 years I’ve had way way way more than a million page views. It’s got me thinking, scratching my head and questioning myself is my blogging just a habit and is it still relevant in a more modern sort of digital world. Is blogging just something that was a fad in 2008 and a few of us have clung onto in ever dwindling numbers as years go by? Are there better ways of sharing my fishing exploits ?

A great example of a blog that has transitioned with the times is Dannys Angling Blog – which started off in the old blogger written word format, but has now been complimented with a You Tube channel – Danny has now had over a million views on his video channel since it started 4 years ago. A brilliant achievement.

I must admit to you, that I now spend far more time watching angling on Youtube – than I do reading about it on other peoples blogs. And I suppose that this realisation has made me reconsider the way I blog, and the direction I want to take things in the future

There are great video blogs (Vlogs) around such as Totally Awesome Fishing Show, and The Fish Locker and then theres a vlog that has morphed into a fishing tackle brand, who use demonstrations of their tackle on video to promote their brand and drive tackle sales Cadence Tackle – it sort of makes me think that the Fishing Fiend blog that I’ve been writing for the past 12 years is becoming something of an irrelevant dinosaur.

To me — the Fishing Fiend Blog has just been nothing more than a great way of making new friends by sharing my fishy exploits, and various successful (species hunts) and unsuccessful challenges (Irwell Barbel Quests). I know that to some its a regular read, and to some a way of learning how to fish – and I’ve always been free with help and advice with those who have made the effort to contact me. However, — the most important thing is that I still really enjoy sharing my fishing experiences, and engaging with the feedback generated.

So…. whats the upshot of all this blog waffle…..

I’ve recently had a play around with a friends GoPro camera – and now I feel comfortable using it, and editing to an amateurishly reasonable level — I’m going to start sharing video alongside my writings – and I’m also going to be adding an online shop to the blog — so that people (especially new anglers) can buy the exact same kit that I use and catch fish on.

Tide and time waits for no man (or blog).

A page has been turned and a new chapter begins. A good read will soon be turning into a good watch and read.

The videos start next week, the online shop will be arriving soon.

Out Fishing Again

19th July 2020 by Mike Duddy

Despite the recent bad weather I’ve taken every opportunity I can to get out fishing again.

My species hunt is progressing quite well, and I’ve been going out on a few sea fishing trips with Phil, and a couple of freshwater trips with the kids has seen me racking up quite a few more species.

After a nice chat about local fishing spots with my friend and master float maker Mike Cootes (who also has an excellent blog called Purple Peanut – click to read it) I was given heads up about a lake thats less than 20 minutes from home where I’ve never fished before… a small pond behind a factory, that Mike said was ideal for kids.

Tucked away behind a factory – a hidden gem

So Phil and I headed out one evening to have a look see — Phil with a pint of maggots …. Me with a tub of lovely lovely worm, my 13ft Drennan float rod, centre pin and a selection of Mikes lovely floats.

All set to fish with a selection of floats from Mike Cootes -aka “Purple Peanut”

Worm Salad — what fish can resist their charms?

Mike had told us that on a previous trip he had caught roach, rudd, perch, skimmers, crucian carp and tench … so we were quite looking forwards to trying out this new North Manchester venue. I set up fishing in a corner of the lake that was fringed with reed, and small lily pads, with a depth of four and half feet…. I set up my float rig about 3 inches over depth to get the worm bait hard on the bottom with the hope of a nice tench, and anything else that was interested. A small piece of worm section as bait with a size 16 micro-barbed hook, with plenty of chopped worm as a form of ground bait.

What fish can resist? I did snip off that ridiculously long tag once I’d cleaned my glasses and noticed it was there !

First cast — the float had hardly settled before a greedy little perch took my worm, then another, then another, then another then another ,,,, and so on until I was getting sick of the sight of them. So I upped the feed rate a little bit, to see if I could get any other fish species interested and to see if they might start to out compete the perch for the bait.

I fed off the perch with plenty of chopped worm, and the silver fish started to move in.

After the first half our of nothing but perch, the over feeding of the swim started to pay off. Once I hooked my first small roach, the perch disappeared and I spent the next hour catching small roach and rudd, and then a few nice skimmer bream.

A nice fish,,, but not there was no sign on my target species of the evening

Then, as we were getting towards 8pm and light levels were starting to drop the float slid away and I hooked into something a little more solid. I was rewarded by this wonderful little Crucian Carp — my first of the year and another entry onto my species list.

And then, back to the roach — but they had started to get a bit bigger, with a few fish pushing the 12oz mark.

And then, the float slid, I lifted into a fish, and my rod tip hooped over as a solid strong fish gave me the run around through the marginal reeds and lilies…. I had a hunch that it was a tench…. and after what felt like a couple of minutes (but probably a lot less than that) a lovely tench graced the net.

A Tench on one of Mike Cootes Tinca Sticks

I was thrilled. As the light started dropping as the evening drew to a close, we changed tactics and fished up in the water, spraying maggots and watching good roach swirl and pick up the baits less than 12 inches below the surface. We had a few more roach nudging the pound mark – but they didn’t photograph well with the flash of our cameras in the growing gloom.

I was delighted with the discovery of this little lake, my first ever visit despite its proximity to home. It just goes to show how theres always a surprise near to home if you are prepared to give small venues a try.

It was so good, I took one of my two little apprentices back the next day for an hours entertainment. I can’t think of a better venue to take kids for an hours fun.

I’m now up to 19 species for the year to date , as during the sessions on this little lake, I caught Perch, Crucian Carp, and Tench.

It’s great to be out fishing again after lock down ruined the spring. As you can imagine .. there are plenty more sessions and write ups on the way.

My progress can be checked against my Anglers Challenge page click the link here

Attack Of The Killer Crabs

3rd July 2020 by Mike Duddy

I’m relatively new to this sea fishing malarkey, and even fresher round the gills when fishing afloat. After weeks and weeks of stable high pressure over the UK the wind has turned westerly and the previously pancake flat sea turned decidedly lumpy.

I had a quick trip over to the Fylde coast again, only to be met with conditions like this…..

The Slipway At Rossal - impossible in a 20mph onshore wind two hours before high tide — The Slipway At Rossall – impossible in a 20 mph onshore wind two hours before high tide.

So seeing as though our slipway was far too dangerous to launch from, and there were waves crashing onto the beach at 5 bar gate nearby, and the sea was more than a bit lumpy further out at our chosen fishing location we decided to retreat back to the safety of the car and think about another destination for the day.

We could have fished at Marine Beach in Fleetwood – but we only had boat gear with us and not beach casters – so a quick return trip back to Manchester to regroup was necessary. In the car on the way back home, we briefly discussed driving across country to the East Coast near Bridlington as an onshore wind on the west coast would be an offshore wind on the East coast and the sea conditions might be a lot calmer. We were put off though by the long 3 hour drive. So back home it was. We also considered unloading all our sea kit, and swapping over to do a bit of fly fishing on Stocks Reservoir but we had loads of bait to use up which would otherwise go to waste.

A cup of tea and a sandwich later, Phil and I finally decided to have a try at Perch Rock at the mouth of the Mersey Estuary. We loaded up our beach casters, and an hour later we were set up on the beach for a 3 hour session – 2 hours down to low, and then an hour back up.

Setting up with the breeze at our backs - a lovely view of Liverpool Docks — Setting up at Perch Rock with the breeze at our backs – a lovely view of Liverpool Docks

Two rods set up, one with a two hook worm flapper, the other with a pulley pennel whole squid.

Everything looked perfect for a fish or two, the anglers to our left and right were catching Thornback Rays and Smooth Hounds so surely it was only a matter of time !!! — but you know how we roll on this blog — the only action we had for the first two hours was with the voracious crabs which were stripping our baits in less than 10 minutes.

It became quite frustrating, our rod tips in constant mini motion – not enough movement or rattle to strike at – and then to reel in bare hooks as a reward.

Full On Crab Attack – that was a lovely squid only 10 minutes earlier !

Eventually I got a nice positive rattle of the rod tip on my worm rod, and I landed this very welcome Flounder – my first Flounder of the year, and an addition to my Anglers Challenge

Sadly – that was the only action of a three hour session – the crabs were relentless – and they were stripping our baits before the fish could find them. The anglers around us were fishing crab baits – and they seemed to fair a little better catching a few fish, but getting through lots and lots of very expensive peeler crab bait.

As the day was still relatively early, and my wife and kids away for the weekend with the in-laws, I persuaded Phil to hang about for a bit, have some fish and chips and then hit the evenings high tide at Mariners Wharf on the other side of the Mersey estuary seeing as though we still had loads of bait left.

We have fished this spot quite a few times before and there is a noted snag which we avoided by a good 50 yards. Sadly it looks as though recent storms have washed a new one into the area, and both of us lost a fair bit of kit to a snag which we hadn’t encountered before.

If the snag didn’t get us, then Liverpools “Attack Of The Killer Crabs” did. Just like Perch Rock earlier in the day, they were relentless, even more so as they didn’t let go of the baits as we were reeling in.

Finally I had a bit of action – but not what I was expecting.

Well I wasn’t expecting an Eel – I’ve never caught one here before,,, but I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised to catch one at the mouth of a river estuary.

A short time later, I had another tentative rattle of the rod tip, thinking attack of the killer crabs again – I lifted the rod, expecting to get very little resistance but was heartened to feel the thump thump thump of a little fish.

I swung it up the sea wall and here was a fish I’ve never seen or caught before… a Three Bearded Rockling. I’ve caught plenty of the 5 bearded ones before on the Fylde coast, but never a red/brown one of the three bearded variety. I was quite chuffed as this was the end of what had proved to be quite a tough (but enjoyable) day with three new species added to the Anglers Challenge List

Seeing as though I had a free weekend – I wanted to get as much fishing in as possible, so Sunday morning saw and early start, a meet up with Andy and a drive over to the East Coast with the inflatable boat in the boot of the car. There was a stiff offshore breeze of nearly 30mph — but being the idiot/novice that I am – I thought we would be fine sheltered in the lee of Bempton Cliffs near Filey.

Even when we pulled up in the car park, and got the kit ready it looked like great conditions for fishing but after launching and going out 500 yards offshore we soon discovered a racing tide running along the base of the cliffs and a big swell which was occaisionally breaking in the gusting wind. So… I’m not at all experienced on the sea.,,, Andy and I just looked at each other and said “Nahh we’re not having this” and turned round, packed up and went home again. Not a wasted journey, as I have learnt that safety first is the key, and strong winds and SIBs are not a good combination. I retreated to fight another day.

Bridlington Lifeboat in action as we were leaving – they had rescued a Kayaker who got into difficulty in the big swell (which you cant see from the angle of this photo)

So that was that …. 3 new species added to the Anglers Challenge list … and a few lessons learnt …. roll on next weekend and some more fishing

Bitterling and Bream

6th June 2020 by Mike Duddy

Now that we are enjoying nice long evenings I made the most of it and visited Pollys Flash (aka Kingsdown Flash) in Abram, Lancashire in search of a Bitterling to add to my species tally for the year.

Pollys Flash – my swim for the evening – I fished only 4 metres out between the reeds and the lily pads

I set up nearest to the car park (lazyness) but then the wind was right in my face blowing food down the lake into my swim (craftyness)

Before I’d even wet a line the bailiff was around asking me if I had an unhooking mat! and I was sitting no more than 10 yards away from the rules board — oops

Abram Fishing Club — DON’T forget your unhooking mat !!

To my shame I didn’t – and my protestations that I wouldn’t need one, as I was fishing for a species that grew to a maximum length of 2 inches fell on deaf ears…. I wasn’t allowed to fish without a mat. I’d even taken my mat out of my bag as I was leaving home, thinking that it was a waste of time taking it with me.

Seeing my rig – a size 22 hook and the tiniest piece of bread punch I think the man felt sorry for me, and he offered to go home (as he lived just around the corner) and bring me a mat from his garage. You might feel, as I did that this was a bit of overkill, but he assured me that using that rig and bait, in that swim I was likely to hook into a bream and he didn’t want me to put the fish at risk.

Fair play to the man…. I waited for him to nip home and bring me a mat before fishing..

Tiny hooks and tiny bait are needed to catch tiny fish

First cast I hooked a Bitterling !! I should have put it on the mat for a photo as it would have been funny, but in my excitement I forgot.

Anyway — here is a pic of the smallest and prettiest freshwater fish in the UK…

Bitterling – lovely aquamarine sheen along its flank — one of the UKs prettiest fish

Bitterling are a very unusual fish, in that they lay their eggs inside live swan mussel shells, and you can see the spawning protuberance in red (also called an ovipositor) which they use to deposit their eggs in the mussels in the photo above.

I was delighted to catch one so quickly and thought that I was going to be in for an evenings bagging up on mini fish.

Sadly that wasn’t to be.

Next bite nearly an hour later saw my elastic stretching right out and I landed this nice 3lb Bream — now I see why the bailiff was so insistent on me having a mat. It was a great scrap on very light tackle.

And then, apart from half a dozen small roach that was it for the evening

I was highly delighted to add two new species to my list for 2020 – Bitterling and Bream and it takes my total species on The Anglers Challenge up to 11 for the year.

Next weekend – I plan to have a nice long drive,,, and to try for a species I’ve never caught (or even seen) before. Hopefully I will squeeze in a midweek evening session somewhere — we’re in June now and I haven’t caught a tench yet …

And I won’t forget my unhooking mat!