Fishing

The Fenix Trophy Final 2022

14th November 2022 by Mike Duddy

The Fenix Final Weekend 12^th 13^th June 2021

After the excitements of away trips to Warsaw and Milan we were really looking forwards to the finals weekend in Rimini, where all the teams who had entered the tournament, we going to get to play at the Rimini stadium.

The Fenix organisers had posted online that the finals weekend was to be the 5^th and 6^th of June, but that this was possibly subject to change. Ryanair had a promotional offer in January where it was possible to book flights with free cancelation, so it was a no brainer to take a chance on flights for £12 each way to Rimini. My wife and daughter are never ones to miss out a trip to a beach in the sun, so I ended up paying less than a hundred quid for all of us to have a week away in the Rimini sun, with the Fenix Finals thrown in the mix as an added bonus for me and Tommy.

About a week after I’d booked, Adrian the FC United Chairman told me that the finals would definitely not be on the dates I’d booked but likely to be a little later in June.. As it worked out they were only the week later, so my wife and daughter had a great weeks holiday with us in Rimini, and then Tommy and I stayed on for a second week to watch the football… Apart from the extra hotel costs etc we only paid another £70 for our later flights home, and ended up having a great two week holiday in Rimini. The extra days allowed us to visit all the local towns, and a trip to San Marino which was spectacular.

Beautiful Beach at Rimini ,,, miles and miles of sand.

Anyway – enough of my domestic arrangements – back to the football.

Once the girls had gone… the football began

As the girls went home and our second week in Rimini started we began to see more and more red shirts and badges in town as the FC fans started to roll in. The Bounty Bar and the Rose & Crown were doing a brisk trade. Wednesday was busy, Thursday busier and by the time of the first match on the Friday evening between Brera (of Milan) and Lodigiani (of Rome) the town was buzzing with non-league international football.

Fenix Posters were up around the town advertising the tournament

It was really interesting to watch the game between the two Italian sides, neither of whom wanted to go for it, with not conceding appearing to be more important than trying to win. It’s non-league though and mistakes and goals are never far away and mistakes inevitably led to goals and a 1-1 draw was settled by penalties in Brera’s favour. A proper Italian style match. There were plenty of fans from all of the other teams in the Rimini stadium, and the place looked great.

After the game we had a great time chatting to Alessandro Aleotti, the chairman of Brera and instigator of the Fenix Trophy. Tommy told him how he had been to every match the FC had played in both home and away, and how much he had enjoyed the different experiences in each game. I think Alessandro was either really impressed by my young fella, or just generous, probably both.. as he proceeded to take his third place winners medal from around his neck and present it as a gift to Tommy… what an amazing gesture, and that medal now has pride of place in Tommy’s Fenix memorabilia collection.

The next day was FC Uniteds big day out, as winner of group B we were due to play the winners of Group A Prague Raptors in the Final.

HFC Falke fans behind us really got behind their team

Before the Final we watched the other teams from the tournament play. The heat in the stadium was something else and as we watched the games between AFC DWS Amsterdam vs Cuenca Mestallistes of Valencia, and then HFC Falke (of Hamburg) vs AKS ZLY of Warsaw.

A brilliant rapport and friendship was kindled between the fans of the different teams from around Europe, each group supporting the teams that they had previously played in the group stages.

After Brera’s Friday nights dull win over Lodigiani we were particularly happy to see our Polish friends from Warsaw AKS ZLY win in great style against HFC Falke (a team from Hamburg who had a great set of vocal supporters)

After the AKS game, Tommy and I went to find the AKS goalie Diego up in the stands to congratulate him. We’d thought up a little football chant for him and Tommy wanted to sing it for him

“He saved a goal with his face

He sings with the fans he’s ace

Diego oh oh oh ooh

Diego oh oh oh ooh”

Which certainly brought a smile, as he went on to tell us that even though his team had won, he felt he had played really badly.

Diego Sesar De Hoyos — he saved a goal with his face you know !

Back to the FC Final.

We were a little worried that the FC team would find playing conditions to be very difficult. Us Mancunians are not used to having a kick about in 33 degree heat, let alone having a full blooded 90 minute cup final.

As it happens Neil Reynolds the FC manager, played his hand of cards well. FC went out from the whistle at full steam, and soon picked up a two goal advantage. The team then played the remainder of the match at a more pedestrian pace. It wasn’t a classic in terms of football but off this pitch up in the stands history was being made. A lot of beer was consumed.

At the final whistle FC had maintained their 2-0 lead, and the reaction of the 700 or so FC fans who had made the trip to Italy was something else. A few beers had been consumed and the fans went wild.

The obligatory red flares were being let off all over the main stand, and the air was thick with smoke…. Through the smoke we could see the players and management dancing with delight as they raised the Fenix Trophy aloft. The celebrations really started, quite a few of the kids including Tommy got onto the pitch and had a go at lifting the cup (I’d had a few glasses of Moretti by this time and the photos I took at this time were quite poor ).

FC United – Non League Champions Of Europe

What an amazing experience.. for us as fans, watching our team win a UEFA sanctioned European Cup, and for the players taking part in it. Who would have thought that FC would be playing in a Euro Tournament let alone winning it.

Well done to the FC team… and then it was back to the Rose & Crown, and the Bounty Bar to celebrate all over again.

As I had a nine year old with me, I did the right thing — took him to the pub and had a few more beers to celebrate with the other fans and the team.

There is a postscript to this tale…

A couple of weeks later I received a phone call from one of FC Uniteds Directors, asking if it was ok to give my contact details to Diego the AKS goal keeper as he wanted to give Tommy a gift for cheering him up.

I’d forgotten about it and then a few weeks later a parcel arrived at my office with Polish stamps all over it.

Knowing that it might contain gifts from a goalie that were meant for Tommy and not me, I waited until after school and then gave the box to Tommy.

The young boy was delighted to receive gifts,,, the shirt and goalie gloves that Diego had worn during his heroics in Manchester…

and also the most wonderful letter… please click the photo below and have a read for yourself,,, or scroll below the photo where I have typed it out for you.

Dear Tommy, You were really nice to me and cheered me up in Italy, even though I played the worst match ever. And you remembered the save with my face in Manchester which really makes me proud. Thats why as a way of saying thank you I’m sending you the shirt and gloves I wore in Manchester, as well as some Polish chocolate I think you enjoy. Keep supporting FC the way you do, and also like you supported me because that’s what sport is about – mutual respect. I hope your hands grow to size 10 so you’ll give these gloves good use in the future. All the best and glory FC …Diego Sesar De Hoyos goal keeper AKS ZLY

This letter is amazing – a fantastic gesture that sums up the spirit of the Fenix Trophy and of Diego… an inspiring tournament for both players and fans alike. We saw the friendships in the stands, and the fair play on the pitch… Roll on Fenix 2022/23 when FC try to defend their title, and more teams take part.

What a great tournament.

Tommy with The Fenix Trophy back at Broadhurst Park in Manchester

FC Utd And The Fenix Part 2

17th October 2022 by Mike Duddy

FC Utd And The Fenix Part 2 (the latest bit)

FC Utd And The Fenix Part 1 (the first bit)

After the excitement of the away to trip to Poland, the clubs league form took a turn for the better, with FC only losing 4 games in the following 4 months… and as the club moved slowly up the league, so the anticipation for the next Fenix game rose too.

Plenty of online tales of the exuberant excesses (piss ups) in Warsaw were shared on social media, and these along with the amazing crowd photos wetted the appetite of those who hadn’t travelled to Warsaw.

Amazing Fenix Tournament AKS vs FC United

It took quite a while for the return match to materialise October through until March but the wait was well worth it, as we also had the anticipation of a future trip to Milan, and a final in Rimini.

We invited our Polish friend Gniewomir and his family to come and watch the match.

#makingfriendsnotmillionaires Making Frends Not Millionaires

Gaia and Judah getting to grips with their Polish Heritage… Tommy just being himself,, they had a great day.

The match itself was a bit of a one-sided affair with FC 7-0 up at halftime and ran out eventual 10-0 winners. However it wasn’t the result that really mattered (easy to say when your team wins 10-0) it was the friendships created between two sets of supporters 1500 miles apart but with shared values of being against modern football. A great crowd of 1,250 enjoyed the game.. a tremendous crowd for a match between two non-league teams.

Highlight of the game was watching the AKS goalie complete a set of memorable point-blank saves capped off with the ball smashing him in the face to prevent a 5th goal. His name was Diego Sesar De Hoyos,,, a real character who after being subbed off at half time spent the second half with the FC fans singing songs on the main stand terrace. Diego became a firm favourite of the FC fans – and there’s more to be written about Diego in the next instalment of this trilogy of football posts… so watch this space.

Yet again, the AKS ZLY fans who travelled over en masse from Warsaw did their team proud .. forget the score line, they sang and chanted through the full 90 minutes and beyond. Their chants and banter reflecting their disapproval of the recent invasion of their neighbours in Ukraine by Russia.

Now we had completed a home and an away fixture against the team from Poland – FC were sitting proudly on top of their group. There were two other teams in Uniteds group AWS from Amsterdam and Brera from Milan in Italy. The Dutch team had withdrawn from the competition due to strict Covid restrictions in Amsterdam.. which left two group matches left against the Italians home and away, before the finals weekend in Rimini on the Italian coast.

First up was the away fixture in Milan. I’ve never been to that part of Italy before and neither has Mrs FF.. so she wheedled and connived her way onto the plane and it became a mini family break.. and very different to the lads and dads trip over to Poland. (less beer and late nights, more healthy eating and sightseeing).

First off was a couple of nights in the Italian Lakes …. very nice very (too) expensive… we move on quickly to the football in Milan.

We arrived same afternoon as the match … and after checking in to our hotel, the girls went off sightseeing, leaving Tommy and I to walk the short distance to the ground. Now we are used to the non-league grounds of the North of England, rugged, windswept and mostly shite. This was something else… designed by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807 – the Arena Civica was something special. Once the home of Inter Milan, and it hosted the first ever Italian international match vs France in 1910.

The match was great FC beat Brera Calcio 1-3 it was a great night … the Moretti was flowing, the entire repertoire of FC United songs were sung, the stadium was massive and the pitch seemed so far away in comparison to what we were used to. The flares which are banned in the UK (but not in Europe) were set alight and 500 FC United fans had the time of their lives.

The only disappointing thing about this match was the virtual complete absence of home supporters. After the great connection we made with the fans in Warsaw, the lack of home fans attending the match in Milan was a big let down.. and this was also the case for our next match against Brera at our home ground in Manchester.

The match in Manchester was watched by 870 fans, and was won 2-1 by FC United who topped their group with a 100% record and were in the cup final in Rimini in June.

The final part 3 instalment will be published in a week or so (once I get round to writing it)

Just a quickie to say that FC are currently TOP OF THE LEAGUE – and playing well. If you’d like to come along to a match with me Tommy and Phil… drop me a line on social media and we can make it happen.

FC Utd And The Fenix Part 1

16th September 2022 by Mike Duddy

After 360 articles on fishing, I’ve decided to change the subject of my next post article from fishing to football. ( I might do a few more football ones in future).

Here goes….

I’ve always enjoyed going to a match. As a child I used to watch both Man United and Manchester City on alternate weekends with my dad. He was a school teacher with 5 kids and not so much spare money, so sometimes as a treat we went in for the whole game, but more often than not we sneaked in for free to watch the last 10 minutes of a game when the large exit doors opened. I used to love it, the hot dog wagons, the End Is Nigh – Repent men, the huge crowds and the noise.

As i grew older it was Bolton Wanderers, Bury and Oldham Athletic with school friends, then Bournemouth when I was at university, and Leyton Orient when I used to live and work in London.

So for me I’ve never had “a team” so to speak, I’ve been a sort of floating voter just going along to enjoy a good game.

The wild wild days of my youth, being chased by mounted police down the back alleys of Manchester and Salford, watching the harder teenagers fight on the Manchester Road in Bolton, and outside the Pack Horse in Bury. The officer mounted on the white horse at the gate to the Stretford End who used to give us all the evil eye… I’ve always had that feeling that most police enjoyed football match duty and the opportunity to engage in a bit of violence with the fans. There was an edge to it, and I loved that edge.

Sadly as I grew older this all became stale for me, with all seater stadiums, smoking bans, no beer while watching the match etc and the slow death of the traditional atmosphere inside modern stadiums..

Lets face it. Modern football is shite. A mere shadow of how it used to be.

Sit down, shut up and spend lots of money is what football clubs want from their fans, and as this became more pervasive, I spent more and more time fishing with my friends and football became something that I used to do.

Then back in 2005, FC United formed as a protest to the takeover of Manchester United by Malcolm Glazer and financial shenanigans which enabled them to do this at the fans expense. It stank, but the new club that emerged from this shambles, and the passion of the fans that created it caught my attention, especially as they played their home games at Burys ground Gigg Lane, only a mile or two up the road.

It took a year or two before I got round to going to a match (children, divorce, dating again, work the trappings of early middle age and lots of fishing), then for some unfathomable reason I decided to go and watch an FC United away match one evening in Clitheroe.

Bloody Hell !! What a night. The singing started 10 minutes before the kick off, lulled a bit at half time, then continued all the way through a 0-3 win for FC and continued out into the street as the fans left the ground to make their way home. The atmosphere was amazing, the football was good, the standing up, the drinking beer, being part of a big tightly packed crowd who were enjoying themselves. I was hooked again.

I dipped back in and out of FC over the next few years, just as I had done when watching teams in my younger years but as my eldest son Matthew became interested in playing Rugby, me doing a lot of fishing, and other work stuff taking up a lot of my time football and FC Utd remained an interest rather than a passion. As FC moved from their home in Bury first to Stalybridge and then Ashton I was more dipping out than dipping in. Even when FC built their own ground at Broadhurst Park I was more interested observer than passionate supporter.

Then one day, my youngest son Tommy who was as the time 5 years old told me that it was about time I took him to a match. So the next Saturday was a nice bright April afternoon, FC United were playing Darlington at home, and we went along, FC United lost but Tommy was hooked.

The following season 18/19 FC had a torrid time, sacked their manager, lost every single match that we went to watch and ended up being relegated.. the football was shite and the players didn’t appear to care. However, my young man had the bug and he loved going to the matches, and I loved taking him.

The following 19/20 season was what I call “the Tunde year” a poor start to the season was followed by an explosive period as FC signed a new striker Tunde Owalabi who literally set the place on fire with his skill, goals and friendly personality. Tommy had a hero and unlike most childhood heroes this one was approachable, friendly and a great role model.

All boys need a hero – and Tunde not only happened to be a football god, but also a very nice fella.

The season could have ended in promotion but then Covid came in with a cough… and the season was over before it was over…. what could have been eh ?

Season 20/21 just didn’t happen and then season 21/22 started, and was then shortly followed by an announcement that FC were entering a European Competition for non-league clubs of a special nature, and that FC had been selected as the British representative in the competition.

By now – I can assure you that my son Tommy eats, sleeps, drinks and sleeps football. Playing as star striker for his local team in North Manchester — already gaining the reputation as a ruthless striker with many hat tricks to his name. Whilst refusing to tackle anyone, run, track back etc. His relentless occupation of the space between penalty spot and goal line has earnt him the title of “Tommy Tap In”… the prospect of his team FC United entering into a European Cup for non league teams excited him so much that he could hardly sleep in anticipation of the draw.

We watched the draw live on Youtube together for the Fenix as FC were drawn in group 2 along with AKS ZLY from Poland, Brera Calcio from Milan and DWS from Amsterdam.

FC United were in the same group as three other teams from Amsterdam, Milan and Warsaw, so seeing as though this fishing blog has now started making me some money, I decided to spend some of it and go to all the matches I could home and away in Europe with Tommy.

The tag line of this Fenix Competition is #makingfriendsnotmillionaires (a line they appropriated from FC United) and I already approved and thought it would be a good opportunity for Tommy and I to spend some lad and dad time.

First up was Warsaw away – a very cheap Ryanair flight and a decent hotel in the City Centre of Warsaw only a short taxi ride away from the ground.

Now I thought FC fans were loud and passionate but the fans from AKS ZLY of Warsaw were on another level. Fireworks, flares, drums, megaphones and they sang their way through the match despite being on the receiving end of a 1-6 drubbing by FC who were much the better team.

Heres a couple of photos from that night.

What an amazing night that was. And I think I sealed the deal in the eyes of Tommy – that he has a cool dad (despite all the fishing).

Could anything beat this – well yes actually…

Read on… in part 2 (next week) for the second part of this football story, as FC United made it all the way through to the tournament’s final in Rimini earlier this summer in 2022. We had some great trips and matches, met some amazing people, snagged some unbelievable souvenirs and made a couple of special friends.

Fishing Issos Beach Corfu – Summer 2022

3rd September 2022 by Mike Duddy

After a couple of years visiting Cornwall for our family summer holidays – and having a wash out with some really bad weather last year we decided to hit some guaranteed sun this summer, and washed up in Issos Beach, Corfu.

Mrs Fishing Fiend chose the location, and I was happy to fit in (pay) as a quick search online promised some decent fishing. A nice sandy beach and a rock encrusted shallow harbour must hold a fish or two for me. A search on Youtube soon found a chap reeling them in on a regular basis, so I carefully chose a minimal amount of kit that I could squeeze into my tiny rationed suitcase space.

Before I left a quick trip to the tackle shop I got myself a new 2000 sized Daiwa reel to replace my old and now nearly worn out Okuma Red reel, and some posh new 8 strand 6lb braid as an upgrade from the cheaper 4 strand stuff that I’ve been using for the past few years (is using 8 strand really worth it, in comparison to the much cheaper 4 strand ? I couldn’t notice any difference)

As space for tackle was limited, I stuck to a lure/drop shot kit… some 10g metals, some small 1 and 2 inch lures, and some split shot and Gulp worm with 4lb flouro ….. how could I fail to catch !!

So a couple of days into the holiday (and a few less beers the night before) I managed to sneak out of the Hotel just before dawn to see what I could catch.

I started off by flinging out some small 10g metals in silver blue, and then silver yellow without much joy… but I did enjoy the walk along the deserted beach, and saw a decent sized Mahi Mahi (or Dolphinfish) clear the water while chasing bait fish about 500m off the beach… after an hour of no action I swapped over to using some 2inch shads with a 2g jig head… This generated a few bites and lots of frustration as I started to have the tails bitten off lots of my soft lures, but couldn’t connect with any fish. Then, as the sun rose, the beach started to get busier and I dissapeared back to the hotel with tail between my legs for a few breakfast beers (and why not ? )

Next session was a couple of days later – another dawn start, but this time I tackled up using a split shot rig, 2SSG, a size 14 hook, and a third of a piece of medium gulp sandworm…. a rig that never fails over sandy ground !!

And I am glad/relieved to say that it didn’t let me down this time either.

I walked up the beach, past the public car park and first cast hit into my first ever Gilthead Bream (despite spending a few sessions chasing them in Cornwall on previous holidays).

The Gilthead came first cast on the Gulp Sandworm, only about 20 ft from the shore

I was delighted to break my duck with a new species,, and it was shortly followed by another couple of fish including yet another new species… A Steenbras

The fish weren’t big, and looking at the size of their mouths, its easy to see why I wasn’t catching on my previous session. Here a pic below of the business end of my tackle that finally saw me catching, and even then at least 50% of the time the fish were biting off the end of the sandworm without the hook (and my eyes are getting old and I couldn’t thread the sandworm up all the way to leave the hook trailing at the end ).

Using this much more lightweight rig, I caught a succession of small fish from the sandy beach including a few small striped Sea Bream also known as Sargo…. again look at the size of their mouths… small baits are really the way forwards in these hard fished places.

By 9am the beach started to get busy so I retired a happy man back to the hotel for a nice glass of Rose with my breakfast..

My final session of the holiday saw my try out the harbour area which was located 500m south of the hotel.

Again I tried the paddle tail lures without getting any success – despite plenty of follows from some very small Garfish. But as soon as I swapped over to the split shot rig, with the scented Gulp Sandworm the fish all of a sudden became very interested.

First up was an Ornate Wrasse – I’ve caught loads of these before all over the Med, and from the Canary Islands.

And this was followed by a few of these little beauties – again a brand new species for me Rainbow Wrasse — they have a cracking set of teeth, which sadly I didn’t manage to capture on camera.

And as the sun came up, that was that… the next four days were spent nursing kids with upset stomachs and then it was time to come back home.

A thoroughly enjoyable holiday.

Here’s a link below to the video I found of the guy who was smashing them out a few years ago… I wasn’t quite up to his standards… but once I found a method that worked I had my fair share,,, and a short 2 hour session in the morning before breakfast didn’t really upset the dynamics of a family holiday.

And here is a google map showing the local area where I was fishing. Sand dunes in the North, and harbour in the South.

Anyway — thats all folks until next time..

I will do a short write up on my summers match fishing on the Old River Irwell in Irlam, and talk about a new book that is being written about fishing on Greater Manchesters Rivers… which yours truly has his fingers in the pie.

A New Logo – time for a refresh

14th August 2022 by Mike Duddy

I’ve been playing about with a few ideas/designs — hope you like it…

More upgrades – new posts – videos – and fish photos coming very soon

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

Hope you are enjoying the videos, don’t forget to hit the thumbs up button and subscribe to the fishing fiend channel

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