Fishing Fiend - Page 2 of 19 - Mad About Fishing

New Season Excitement

14th March 2020 by Mike Duddy 1 Comment

As the coarse fishing season on my local rivers finishes and one chapter closes another trout season opens and a new chapter begins.

Fishing Fiend Junior V3 has been showing lots of interest in accompanying Daddy on the river bank this spring.

Not that I’ve been encouraging her interest (pink rod, pink reel, pink line, pink flies etc) but tomorrow morning, weather permitting, I shall be accompanied by an excited 5 year old casting for her first trout.

Getting Fishing Tackle Ready For The Morning

hot pink fishing combo — Hot Pink Fly Fishing Combo

Pink & Partridge - a new pattern — Pink & Partridge – a new pattern

My Daughter already has skills, I hope the rain gods are kind overnight and the river is fishable.

Bring on the 15th !

Lets hope the trout are as obliging

Waiting For The Tide To Turn

8th March 2020 by Mike Duddy Leave a Comment

Blank sessions, missed fish, bloody mindedness, bad weather and bad luck.

A bad February rolls on into a poor start to the month of March.

The weather cleared for a day so I managed a session fishing the Mersey Estuary in Liverpool.

Low tide in the morning saw me fishing the low water mark at Perch Rock. Two rods out, one baited up with squid and black lug wraps on a pulley pennel rig, and the other rod a two hook flapper rig with squid heads as bait.

Perch Rock - A good low water mark — Perch Rock – A good low water mark

Nothing – I fished two hours down and an hour back up — not a tap, rap or knock apart from this rogue crab

I’d never fished this spot before, so it was quite an experience being at the mouth of the Mersey fishing as huge ships passed close by.

As the tide rose and pushed me up the beach and off the mark I decided to use up the last of my bait back at Mariners Wharf the scene of a couple of recent blank sessions…. Mariners Wharf lived up to my expectations and I had another bite free hour enjoying the view.

Fishing Mariners Wharf Liverpool — Mariners Wharf Liverpool

I’m sitting here this evening typing this up, I can hear the wind howling through the trees in my back garden and the rain starting to hit the windows…. is this bad weather never going to end ?? Is this run of bite free fishing ever going to end ?

I suppose now that I’m doing a bit more sea fishing I’m going to have to slip in a few more nautical turns of phrase.

So as far as my fishing luck is going – I’m waiting for the tide to turn…

Roll on spring and some good weather.

An Anglers Challenge

29th February 2020 by Mike Duddy 2 Comments

I recently read the great John Wilson autobiography “60 Years A Fisherman” – and at the end of his colourful lifes tale he concludes the book with two last pages consisting of a list of fish that he had caught – both fresh and saltwater.

John had managed to catch 217 species of fish from 22 different countries… an amazing feat.

101 from Freshwater and 116 from Saltwater

It got me thinking about my past challenges of trying to catch as many freshwater species as I could in 12 months (my best is 31 for those who are interested).

I’ve never really recorded sea species before, or logged the weird, wonderful and colourful fish I’ve caught on holiday, so haven’t the first clue as to how many species I’ve actually caught in my fishing life time so far.

And another thing – just how many species are out there to catch ?

Other “Bloggers Challenges” I’ve seen, anglers list various types of rainbow trout (tiger, blue, leopard etc) as different species – also carp – (common, leather, mirror, koi etc) where to me – these are just freaks of cross breeding – and should be just classed as a single species… and in coarse angling I can’t see how anyone can claim various cyprinid hybrids as species too eg, roach/bream/rudd etc.

So I’ve decided to start having bit of fun with a species challenge again. No time limit this time – but I will stick to UK only species – one that are listed by the UK Record Fish Committee. I’ve made a little chart below which I will keep updated and do a little write up on each species as I knock them off the list. I’m going to start recording my holiday fish too on a separate list – just for forms sake.

As it happens – as I am sure you will work your way down the list to see how many of these you have caught – I’ve managed to knock off 59 species in my angling life… how many have you got ? I’ve numbered mine down the list as it goes… I’m resetting to zero – and look forwards to sharing each capture with you in future…

You are welcome to join “The Anglers Challenge” — tight lines !

Freshwater Fish	Latin Name	Date and Location of Capture
Barbel		1
Bitterling		2
Bleak		3
Bream (Common)		4
Bream (Silver)		5
Brown Goldfish		6
Bullhead		7
Catfish – Wels		8
Carp common/mirror/koi		9
Carp – grass		10
Carp – Crucian		11
Carp – F1		12
Chub		13
Dace		14
Eel		15
Gudgeon		16
Ide/Orfe		17
Minnow		18
Motherless Minnow		19
Perch		20
Pike		21
Pumpkinseed		22
Roach		23
Rudd		24
Ruffe		25
Shad Allis	Alosa Alosa
Shad Twaite	Alosa Fallax
Smelt
Spined Loach
Stone Loach		26
Stickleback 3 spined		27
Stickleback 9 spined
Sturgeon
Tench		28
Zander
Game Species	Latin Name	Date and Location of Capture
Arctic Char
Grayling		29
Trout – Brown		30
Trout – Rainbow		31
Trout – Sea		32
Salmon		33
Schelly/Powan		34
Freshwater Species 42
Sea Species	Latin Name	Date and Location of Capture
Almaco Jack	Seriola Rivioliana
Angler Fish	Lophius Piscatorius
Bass	Dicentrarchus Labrax	36
Black Fish	Centrolophus Niger
Bluemouth	Helicolinus Dactylopterus
Blue Runner	Caranx Crysos
Bogue	Boops Boops
Bonito	Sarda Sarda
Bream – Black	Spondyliosoma Cantharus	37
Bream – Couches	Pagrus Pagrus
Bream – Gilthead	Sparus Aurata
Bream – Pandora	Pagellus Erythrinus	38
Bream – Ray’s	Brama Brama
Bream – Red	Pagellus Bogaraveo
Bream – White Sea	Diplous Sargus
Brill	Scophthalmus Rhombus
Bulll Huss	Scyliorhinus Stellaris
Catfish	Anarhichas Lupus
Coalfish	Pollachius Virens
Cod	Gadus Morhua	39
Comber	Serranus Cabrilla	40
Conger	Conger Conger
Dab	Limanda Limanda	41
Dogfish – Blackmouth	Galeus Melastomus
Dogfish – Lesser Spotted	Scyliorhinus Canicula	42
Flounder	Pleuronectes Flesus	43
Forkbeard – Greater	Phycis Blennoides
Garfish	Belone Belone	44
Greater Weever	Trachinus Draco
Greater Amberjack	Seriola Demerili
Guinian Amberjack	Seriola Carpenteri
Gurnard – Grey	Eutrigla Gurnardus
Gurnard – Red	Aspitrigla Cuculus
Gurnard – Streaked	Trigloporus Lastoviza
Gurnard – Yellow or Tub	Trigla Lucerna
Haddock	Melanogrammus Aeglefinus
Haddock – Norway	Sebastes Viviparus
Hake	Merluccius Merluccius
Halibut	Hippoglossus Hippoglossus
Herring	Clupea Harengus
John Dory	Zeus Faber
Ling	Molva Molva
Lumpsucker	Cyclopterus lumpus
Mackerel	Scomber Scombrus	45
Mackerel – Spanish/chub	Scomber Colias
Megrim	Lepidorhombus Whiffiagonis
Monkfish	Squatina Squatina
Mullet – Golden Grey	Liza Aurata
Mullet – Red	Mullus Surmuletus
Mullet – Thick Lipped Grey	Chelon Labrosus
Mullet – Thin Lipped Grey	Liza Ramada	46
Opah	Lampris Guttatus
Pelamid (Bonito)	Sarda Sarda
Perch – Dusky	Epinephelus marginatus
Plaice	Pleuronectes Platessa	47
Pollack	Pollachius Pollachius	48
Pouting	Trisopterus Luscus	49
Puffer fish	Lagocephalus Lagocephalus	50
Ray – Blonde	Raja Brachyura
Ray – Bottle Nosed	Raja Alba
Ray – Cuckoo	Raja Naevus
Ray – Eagle	Myliobatis Aquila
Ray – Electric	Torpedo Nobiliana
Ray – Marbled	Torpedo Marmorata
Ray – Sandy	Raja Circularis
Ray – Small Eyed	Raja Microocellata
Ray – Spotted	Raja Montagui
Ray – Sting	Dasyatis Pastinaca
Ray – Thornback	Raja Clavata	51
Ray – Undulate	Raja Undulata
Rockling – 3 bearded	Gaidropsarus Vulgaris
Rockling – Shore	Gaidropsarus Mediterraneus	52
Scad – Horse Mackerel	Trachurus Trachurus
Sea Scorpion – Short Spined	Myoxocephalus Scorpius	53
Shark (Blue)	Prionace Glauca
Shark (Mako)	Isurus Oxyrhinchus
Shark (Porbeagle)	Lamna Nasus
Shark (Six Gilled)	Hexanchus Griseus
Shark (Thresher)	Alopias Vulpinas
Skate (Common)	Raja Batis
Smoothhound (starry)	Mustelus Asterias
Smoothhound	Mustelus Mustelus
Sole	Solea Solea
Sole (Lemon)	Microstomus Kitt
Spurdog	Squalus Acanthias
Sunfish	Mola Mola
Tadpole-Fish	Raniceps Raninus
Tope	Gaeorhinus Galeus
Tosk	Brosme Brosme
Trigger Fish	Balistes Capriscus
Tunny	Thunnus Thynnus
Tunny (Big Eyed)	Thunnus Obesus
Tunny (Long Finned)	Thunnus Alalunga
Turbot	Scophthalmus Maximus
Whiting	Merlangius Merlangus	54
Whiting (Blue)	Micromestius Poutassou
Witch	Glyptocephalus Cynoglossus
Wrasse (Ballan)	Labrus Bergylta	55
Wrasse (Cuckoo)	Labrus Mixtus
Wreckfish	Polyprion Americanus
100
Mini Sea Species	Latin Name	Date & Location of Capture
Anchovy	Engraulis Encrasicolus
Argentine	Argentina Sphyraena
Barracudina	Paralepis Coregonoides
Black Fish (Cornish)	Schedophilus Medusophagus
Blenny-Black Faced	Triptarygion Delaisi
Blenny (Butterfly)	Blennius Ocellaris
Blenny (Tompot)	Parablennius Gattorugine	56
Blenny (Viviparous)	Zoarces Viviparus
Blenny (Yarrells)	Chirolophis Ascanii
Boar Fish	Capros Aper
Bream (Axillary)	Pagellus Arcane
Bream (Saddled)	Oblada Melanura
Butterfish	Pholis Gunnellus
Connemara Clingfish	Lepadogaster Candolii
Dab (Long Rough)	Hippoglossoides Platessoides
Derbio	Trachinotus Ovatus
Dragonet	Callionymus Lyra
Garfish (Short Beaked)	Belone Svetovidovi
Goby (Black)	Gobius Niger
Goby (Common)	Pomatoschistus Microps	57
Goby (Giant)	Gobius Cobitis
Goby (Leopard Spotted)	Thorogobius Ephippiatus
Goby (Sand)	Ctenolabrus Rupestris
Goby (Rock)	Gobius Paganellus
Pilchard	Sardina Pilchardus	58
Pilot Fish	Naucrates Ductor
Pipefish (Greater)	Syngnathus Acus
Pipefish (Snake)	Entelurus Aequoreus
Pogge	Agonus Cataphractus
Poor Cod	Trisopterus Minutus
Red Band-Fish	Cepola Rubescens
Rockling (5 Beard)	Ciliata Mustela
Rockling (4 Beard)	Enchelyopus Cimbrius
Sandeel (Corbins)	Hyperoplus Immaculatus
Sandeel (Greater)	Hyperoplus Lanceolatus
Sea Scorpion (Long Spined)	Taurulus Bubalis
Shanny	Lipophrys Pholis
Skipper	Scomberesox Saurus
Smelt	Osmerus Eperlanus
Smelt (Sand)	Atherina Presbyter
Smelt (Sand Big Scale)	Atherina Boyeri
Stickleback (15 Spined)	Spinachia Spinachia
Topnot (Common)	Zeugopterus Punctatus
Weever (Lesser)	Echiichthys Vipera
Wrasse (Baillons)	Crenilabrus Bailoni
Wrasse (Corkwing)	Crenilabrus Melops	59
Wrasse(Goldsinney)	Ctenolabrus Rupestris
Wrasse (Rock Cook)	Centrolabrus Exoletus
Wrasse(ScaleRayed)	Acantholabrus Palloni
48
Total Species 190		Fishing Fiend Lifetime 59

Piss Off February

24th February 2020 by Mike Duddy Leave a Comment

Arrgghh – what a month 🙁

My "Not Impressed" look — My “Not Impressed” look

I can’t remember a month like it – rivers high, winds strong, tides all wrong, fish hooked and lost – just piss off February 2020 I hope I never experience another month like it.

It all started to go wrong at the start of the month when I managed to snatch a few hours on the lake behind my house. I had an hours circuit of the lake, flinging out a YoZuri floating minnow and had two pike roll over / attack the lure during the final moments of retrieve but neither time did I get the hooks to hold.

Another hours walk around the same lake the next day saw me change lure to a size 5 Ondex Red Tag – this time I only got one take from an unseen but solid fish. I was with my daughter Kate and thought it would be a good time for her to play and land her first decent pike, but as I turned round to call her over the fish shed the hooks. Gutted wasn’t the word it was a much bigger fish than usual from this prolific “jacks” pond.

Weather and work then put a halt to any further piscatorial activity – but did allow me time to thoroughly research the fishing in and around Minehead which was my half term destination with the family.

Online – it looked idylic – a fishing tackle shop on the harbour, and beaches that regularly produce decent conger, codling and rays during winter months, and a variety of skippered charter boats from Minehead Harbour. – What could go wrong ?? Ha ha..

So – on arrival at Butlins – I found it difficult to extract myself from the bosom of my lovely little family. Until Mrs Fishingfiend noticed my face getting longer and longer as the days passed. So… with spousal consent I was let off the leash for a few hours one afternoon. Tide was all wrong, tackle shop was shut for the day, the pebble beach turned into ankle breaking boulder beach, and using a whole squid on a pulley pennel rig – I launched a 6oz lead out as far as I could into the teeth of a Bristol Channel Force 7 hooley.

Now can you imagine my surprise when after about 45 minutes I got a tap tap tap on my rod tip.

Here’s a few photos of this lovely fishing spot (did I mention it started to chuck it down as I was tackling up ?) and then I’ll continue with the rest of this lack of fishy tale.

Gasworks Beach Fishing — Gasworks Beach Minehead – ankle breaking cobbles

A grand day to be out on the beach fishing

Anyway – thats enough of the view. My rod tip was tapping away so I struck and could immediately feel a good solid resistance. Yessss I’m in. I played the fish for a good 5 minutes and got it in to the surf/boulder zone.. It was a lovely ray, a good fish pushing double figures.. and then it disappeared from view and everything locked up solid. My rig snagged up tight in the rocks. I let the line go slack for a good while but to no avail. The tide was coming in fast so I cut the line and tied it to a rock – hoping that the fish might free itself and I would be able to hand line it in, or in worst case scenario – i could come back as the tide was ebbing and collect both fish and rig. I came back early that evening to check as the tide was going out – and there was no sign of line, rig or fish.

I carried on fishing until my allotted time was up – without any more fish action, but lost another rig at the end of my last cast and was pretty cold and wet by the time I retreated back to the car. All in all it was a pretty crap session.

Next day – the weather improved a little. So I again got the nod to have a few hours on the rods.

It was high tide at 5.30pm as i set up at 3.30pm on Blue Anchor Beach. This location had a flat sandy bay backed by a steep shingle bank – a classic high tide only mark. But with there being only sand in front of me I was safe in the knowledge I wasn’t going to lose much tackle to the sea. Again I used a single rod, squid as bait to a size 4/0 pulley pennel rig.

Lets cut to the chase… there were 4 other anglers on the beach – so I blanked in good company. Not a bite, a twitch or a sniff.

I packed up just after high tide just before yet another squall passed over…

A Squall Is Arriving – A sunset photo is a sure sign of a blogger having a blank !!

A good angler never loses his mojo though – so despite my lack of success I took the opportunity to take my family out for a bit of fresh air and a country walk to help them escape the wonderland that is Butlins at Minehead.

A short trip out to Bossington Beach (another local mark of note) was our destination. The wind took our legs away as we crossed over the top of the shingle beach bar. I took a couple of quick photos as an “aide de memoir” for any future trips to Butlins – but my daughter Kate who was celebrating her 5th birthday (take note of fairy face paint and fairy dress in photo below) soon persuaded Daddy that it was too cold and windy to explore any further.

The Birthday Girl out with Daddy checking out future fishing spots

Bossington Beach – Certainly Worth A Cast Or Two If You Are Nearby

And that was it. Piss off February 2020 – the worst fishing month of my life.

I did of course bag up as all good anglers do – and the kids had a great time catching some new species too

Fishing Fiend Species Hunter 2020

1st February 2020 by Mike Duddy Leave a Comment

In past years I’ve had a lot of fun trying to catch as many freshwater species as I can in a calendar year. I have a list of 46 freshwater species and I think 2014 was my best year when I knocked 33 of them off the list.

As much of my fishing this year is going to be done during family sea side breaks and with the children in tow there’s not much chance me being able to do a targeted species hunt and I will be having to get my fishing in whenever the opportunity arises.

So this year it makes sense to change my targets a little and include sea species… this makes the potentially huge and an impossible task… so my plan for 2020 is to catch as many species as I possibly can – both fresh and saltwater and to have as much fun as I can in doing so.

So far, including the fish I’ve caught on holiday in the Canary Islands I’ve managed to bag 11 species.
9 saltwater and 2 freshwater.
I will keep a running tally at the bottom of each blog post until the end of the year
I wonder what a realistic target is ?? 40 species, 50, who knows?

One thing I do know ,,, is that I’m going to make a great effort to improve my photography skills. Fish are beautiful things, with many of them having surprising hidden colours if you look hard enough… I’m hoping to upgrade my skills from being a snapper to being a photographer too. A busy year !

Bradshaw Hall Fisheries Lake 1 is brilliant for kids — My Little Helpers

Sea Species in Green Freshwater in Blue Ornate Wrasse, Common Comber, Painted Comber, Madeira Rockfish, Anular Bream, Pandora, Dusky Grouper, Rockpool Blenny, Madeira Goby, Roach, Pike (running total 11 species in 2020)

In Search Of Pike

21st January 2020 by Mike Duddy 1 Comment

I caught some lovely small roach from a local canal recently as I’d promised to “bang out” half a dozen live baits for a pike session later that afternoon with a mate.

There hadn’t been a hard frost the night before, but the weather was typical winter Manchester, cold hard and grey. Conditions that a lot of anglers struggle with (noted by their absence from the bank)

So on arrival I set up 4 sections of pole, a 2g pencil shaped float, a size 20 hook – fed an almond sized lump of sloppy liquidised bread and sat back and waited for the fish to wake up for breakfast.

It took longer than I thought as this method of fishing can often produce instant bites – and after 15 bite free minutes I was started to have a bit of a panic that my bravado of “oh don’t worry I’ll bang out a few live baits in double quick time” was going to result in me having egg on my face.

Much to my relief, my float gave a micro dip — so I lifted and brought in a lovely little roach of about half an ounce.

The session then continued as expected with a bite every put in, using my smallest size of bread punch, and within another 15 minutes the larger 3 and 4oz roach had started pushing the micro roach out of the swim. If i had continued fishing for the rest of the morning I would have added a bit of crushed hemp to the liquidised bread and usually within the first half hour or so the roach of 8 to 12oz would again move in and bully out the smaller fish. But this was not to be, I only needed a dozen fish to share between the three of us pike fishing later that day.

The roach were in superb condition – with a lovely iridescent purple/blue sheen to their flanks, a bright red eye and not a scale out of place. Check them out in the pictures below. Small – perfectly formed – absolute beauties.

Roach - a perfect fish — Roach – a perfect fish

So – I took tremendous enjoyment from catching these small roach, but it got me thinking that only through having years of experience did I catch them. Casting my mind back to when I was a youngster I would have been on a certain blank session on a cold January morning like today. The reason why I caught over a dozen fish in less than an hour was quite simple. I used a float and shotting pattern that is incredibly sensitive and a hook length and hook that were a match for a roaches eagle eyes in the gin clear water.

I see so many anglers both young and old with an inch of thick float showing, hook lengths like tow rope and a hook big enough to be fishing paste on a commercial in summer. I with tackle shops would stop selling this stuff – or at least advise the anglers buying these floats on how to set them up properly.

So back to the fishing.. I then drove the 15 minutes further up the canal to our usual haunt to meet up with Phil and his new mate Dean. A new mate ??? is this some sort of piscatorial affair – should I carry on and ignore this turn of events – or demand a fishing divorce ? maybe a period of reflection and mate/marriage guidance is necessary – we obviously need some sort of counselling – probably best done in a pub over half a dozen pints lol

Anyway back to the pike fishing. I know a lot of people think that live baiting is a cruel form of our sport, but its something that’s never really worried me. I stopped using treble hooks many years ago, and when I live bait I used a single circle hook through the top lip of the bait. If I catch I catch…. if not the live bait is released and swims off to fight another day.

I also think that live bait out catches any other pike fishing method – and I’m out to catch fish.

I met up with Phil and Dean further up the canal and set up my my usual rig – see pic below. I’ve started using these Size 2 Sakuma Circle Hooks – and again I caught a nice fish with the hook lodged perfectly in the top of the fishes mouth.

Rochdale Canal Pike — Its a pity the sun wasn’t shining as the gold flecks around a pikes gill plates reflect spectacularly in the suns rays.

My Live Bait Kit is pretty standard – a bung, a weight, a wire trace (essential) and a single size 2 circle hook

As you can see – it didn’t take too long for the canal pike to oblige – and itch had been scratched – and after spending the rest of the morning chatting it was soon time to go home to the family for the rest of the day.

My next few trips out are going to be in search of cod – as its that time of year. There are quite a few marks to try on the West Lancashire Coast – and I’m also going to book myself onto a charter boat out of Fleetwood… looking forwards to sharing a few posts with you soon

Fishing Fuerteventura (again)

12th January 2020 by Mike Duddy Leave a Comment

Over the years I’ve had many happy holidays on the Spanish Island of Feurteventura, but have done very little fishing whilst there. The harbours are full of mullet which grow to huge proportions fed on the bread and pellets thrown to them by tourists, and the harbour walls home to a huge variety of brightly coloured semi tropical fish – but sadly most of these accessible areas are off limits to fishermen.

The only time I’ve ever taken fishing tackle with me to Fuerteventura was on my last visit in 2016 – but despite picking up a little local knowledge as to the hots pots for catching Bonito and Bluefish from the shore – the pressure of having a young family ( 12 months and 3 and a half years old) meant that the suggestion of going fishing for any length of time was met with a death stare from my better half. I did manage half an afternoons fishing (spectacularly unsuccessful) but at least i had the right lure, the right method and the right location – it was just that the time of day, the tides and the wind direction were all not in my favour – you can have a read about it here http://fishingfiend.net/holiday-fishing-fuerteventura/

Of course I ended up catching nothing but a cold, but did learn a lot about what to do and what not to do when restricted to short fishing sessions on holiday. I also had a great time messing about in rock pools with my young son Tommy catching all sorts of little fish, urchins, shrimps etc. Hopefully passing on the fishing bug to him at an early age.

Happy Times - sunshine, rock pools, fishing net — Happy memories from 2016 – sunshine, rock pools, fishing net

So fast forwards to December 2019 – it had been raining (or it felt like this anyway) for months, the weather was miserable, we had been expecting to spend some family cash on a house extension that never happened, and we were fed up. I asked Mrs FishingFiend how she would like to spend her birthday (1st Jan) and her reply was simply “on a beach!”

I didn’t need any more prompting, and with the thoughts of TUNA FROM THE SHORE” pinging about at the back of my head – I suggested that a return to Fuerteventura and a return to the lovely family (FISHING) friendly resort of Caleta De Fuste…. not only does it have everything for a young family it also has a fishing tackle shop with a very friendly owner called Aram who has a full range of tackle, bait and is free with passing on (some) of his local knowledge.

So… a quick online search for a last minute holiday over the New Year period ensued and by very good fortune we found somewhere within budget. Yee Haaa.. A quick chat with the missus about taking some tackle and being set free from family duties and YESSSSSSS space was agreed for two travel rods and a bag of kit.

I played my hand of cards.. no fishing suggested for the first few days of the holiday, and lots of family time… but then a quick nip into the tackle shop to buy a new lure set the agenda for the remainder of the holiday.

The coast around Caleta De Fuste is very rocky, and in places there is deep water very close to shore. These deeper areas mean that Barracuda, Blue Fish and Bonito are within casting distance of the shore – and if you take a look at videos on Youtube like this it really wets the appetite and makes you want to target these fish. The location where this video was taken is actually from the rocks in the centre of the resort. And only a 10 minute walk from where we were staying.

So, with the hope/expectation/ridiculous dream that I was going to catch something special I splashed out 22 euro on an imported Japanese Yo-Zuri heavy sinking minnow from the local tackle shop. It certainly caught the eye… but would it catch any fish ?

Yo-Zuri Minnow — Caught my eye but didn’t catch any fish

Well the answer is that it caught my eye, but not the attention of any fish. I fished this lure for an hour off a rocky point behind the Elba hotel without a touch. I’ll get my excuses in early again – wrong state of tide, wrong time of day lol. However, after being given an hour of peace and quiet the kids turned up and I received the scorn of my family for not catching. Especially when my 4 year old daughter managed to catch a wrasse from a rock pool with her bare hands. Ego shattered – I retired a beaten man to a local bar, bought a beer and watched the kids playing in a park.

To be truthful I was more than a bit peed off that I hadn’t had a touch… especially as there are so many fish on view in and around the harbour (no fishing zone) and on the main beach (another no fishing zone) where there are so many fish that if you chuck in a bit a bread you can have 100s of them swimming around you within minutes.

Caleta Beach Fish - 100s of mullet, bream and derbios — Caleta Beach Fishing – 100s of mullet, bream and derbios

So back to plan B brought a small telescopic travel rod with me, a small reel with 6lb braid, some 3lb flouro and a box of shads, dropshot lures and my secret weapon Isome Worm.

The next day, the family fancied a bus trip down the Island to the next main town called Gran Tarajal – and I stashed some kit away in the family beach bag.

Fishing Fuerteventura Again — An old telescopic rod and my shad kit

After a walk around the rather nice but dull port of Gran Tarajal, we hopped onto another bus to visit another little town called Playitas… Playitas interested me because it has a little pier/wharf where it looks as though fishing would be possible from the end, and also from some of the cliffs nearby.

I was right…. and quite delighted when we got there as it looked like a perfect spot for a bit of light lure fishing. First cast resulted in this little ornate wrasse.

And then came a succession of small fish to a variety of jigs and on the dropshot with Isome Worm

The kids really loved sitting down and catching these pretty fish

Especially when I started to catch a succession of these small Madeira Rock Fish…. which I didn’t realise had poisonous spines until someone told me later… They were pretty though

The best method by far was by using a small piece of Isome Worm on the dropshot rig – the fish absolutely threw themselves at it. I also had some other flavoured worm that was bright red in colour but the fish wouldn’t touch it.

Just sat on the end of the pier… loads of fish

Now that the kids had caught a few fish,, they fancied having a go for some more. So the next day we headed off to Puerto Del Rosario the Islands capital, to spend a bit of time on the beach and also so that Tommy and I could get our Saturday fix of football when we watch Rosario beat another local team 3-1 (2 sendings off, 10 yellow cards, a dodgy ref, and a very poor standard of football) which was great entertainment.

I had a look on Google Maps and it looked like there was good fishing into snag free water at the end of the rock groyne that protected the beach. See pic below

I fished off the end of this rock groyne while the kids played on the beach

Tommy and I had half an hour on the jig head shads me casting and him retrieving but we couldn’t get a touch, but as soon as I swapped over to drop shot Isome worm we quickly caught half a dozen of these small fish which I haven’t a clue what they were but have been told that they are

The rest of the holiday was spent playing with the kids on the beach at Caleta but I did manage an hour off the low rock ledge to the right hand side of the beach and had this lovely fish (again I have been told that it is a Dusky Grouper) on a small shad.

On the last day of the holiday, the kids fancied having a bit more fishing so I thought it would be good fun to have a see what was swimming in some of the bigger rock pools. The area north of the harbour in Caleta De Fuste has some smashing rock pools that are exposed at low tide… though great care needs to be taken with the kids not to let them too close to the sea as there was quite a strong swell.

So with a heavy heart – we went back to the airport, boarded our plane and returned home. I still haven’t managed to catch a large fish from the shores of Fuerteventura but I guess I never will when family time is the priority. Some early morning or late evening sessions would be necessary and plenty of time would need to be devoted to it…. which just doesn’t fit well with a family holiday with young children. Nevertheless it was a great way to start the year and I’m really looking forwards to more fishing adventures both alone and with my little fishing apprentices in 2020

Bringing Things Up To Date

11th January 2020 by Mike Duddy 1 Comment

Life sometimes takes over, and I don’t have as much time or inclination to write about my fishing trips as much I used to… that doesn’t mean to say I’m not going fishing anymore… I most certainly am … just in a slightly different manner than I used to before.

Most of my fishing over the last 6 months has been with family and friends, fitting in with others plans etc… And having a lovely young family I’ve no doubts that these demands on my will continue into the future… work, family life, kids football practice and regular Saturday morning matches, running and other family stuff is limiting my time on the bank.

Anyway enough waffle/excuses – here’s what I’ve been up to since my last proper post in June

In July – I organised a little fish-in on one of my favourite sections of the River Irwell – the river fished well for those who took part – with nearly everyone catching small roach, dace and chublets, and I had a couple of nice trout too – all on trotted stick float maggot.

Wonky Swims Adelphi — The Wonky Building Swims

Duddy Fishing Irwell — A Small Irwell Brown

Towards the end of July, I joined in the celebrations of my mothers 80th Birthday at the Low Wood Hotel at Windermere in the Lake District…. again family time as in the ascendancy but i did manage to have a few casts of the lure rod off the end of the pier outside the hotel, and managed to hook into a perch nearly every other cast. Nothing huge, with the fish all in the 6 to 8oz bracket.

My next trip out was entirely different – at the start of August I had an odd day at work, a mornings meeting in Crewe followed by an evening meeting in Liverpool… so naturally I filled in the gap with a little cheeky session on the Shropshire Union Canal at Audlem… I’d never visited this bit of canal before.. I just had a look on google map and thought I’ll try there….

So i pulled up in the car park of the Bridge Inn, Audlem – payed for a few hours parking and had a nice session using hemp and corn. Sadly there was plenty of boat traffic but happily the roach were obliging – and I managed to catch a dozen or so decent fish up to about 12oz.

Shropshire Union Roach — Shropshire Union Canal Audlem

Shropshire Union Canal Roach — Plenty like this to around 12oz

I packed up after a few hours – some great roach fishing from a new spot for me.

Next up was a long weekend with the family to Holyhead in North Wales.. I only managed a single sort session at the Trearddur Bay flag pole. Using the remnants of a tub of denrobena worms, I set up a simple two hook paternoster rig and cast out into the bay. I was amazed by the results, school bass, pollack and about 3 or 4 species of little wrasse. It was a bite a chuck and I was smashed up twice!. I’d never considered using garden worms before for sea fishing but its quite obvious that the fish don’t mind

Flag Pole Steps Trearddur Bay — A Nice Little Pollack – one of many fish on dendrobenas

Alas family commitments that weekend only allowed for a single short session – I fully intend to come back to this spot next summer with a slightly beefier set up and see if I can hook into the much bigger fish that were smashing me up.

So October half term was spent on a Caravan Break to Devon Cliffs Holiday Park in Devon. As my in-laws were joining us I had free reign to do a bit more fishing. The weather was terrible for most of the time we were there but I managed a couple of good sessions. A nice afternoon on the beach at Budleigh Salterton on lures we caught some mackerel and garfish.

Kate is now 4 and she has loves her fishing with Daddy — Kate is now 4 and she has loves her fishing with Dadddy

Next up was a day trip to Brixham.. and ” I was amazed to find boats offering mackerel trips” lol.. which i suggested to my wife that the kids might like….

Just like a well baited swim and well presented bait… she took it hook line and sinker … so an afternoons mackerel bashing ensued..

I was delighted to catch my first ever pilchard ! – an added bonus

Plus then of course the mackerel arrived and we filled half a bucket full

Using the mackerel we caught – I then had a few sessions fishing into the night off the beach at Budleigh Salterton again…. Using my two 15 foot surf casters, and 2 hook flapper rigs I banged out strips of mackerel into the distance and sat back and waiting to see if anything was biting.

Beach Fishing Budleigh Salterton — A nice evening on the beach

It took about 30 seconds before my rod tips began to rattle, I thought it was crabs at first as the bites were just little rattles rather than more powerful pulls on the rod tips. I soon realised that Budleigh Salterton after dark is Pout city as I caught dozens of the cheeky little bait robbers. I soon gave up using 2 rods as the bites were just too frequent, and I was getting double hookups nearly every cast. And then eventually got fed up of catching Pout themselves, so rigged up a pulley rig with a dead pout on the end to see if could catch anything bigger

And it didnt take long to get a really positive pull on the rod tip. The culprit was of course a bloody dog fish…. not a bad one… but it signaled time to pack up and go home. That was the end of my fishing for this trip

I then managed a few sessions on the Fylde coast at Rossall with my mate Phil, but sea conditions and tides weren’t in our favour and we didn’t catch very much apart from some 3 bearded rockling and a couple of dabs and plaice.

And I finished the year by having a few sessions on Drinkwater Park Lake, but despite using a variety of lures, couldn’t get any takes,, and this despite taking my “lucky charm” with me

So the year ended with weeks of poor weather,, and I just didn’t fancy getting out fishing that much… and the year ended as a pretty damp squib.

To sumarise the year,,, I got out a lot, but mostly with the kids. I caught lots of fish, including a few brand new species (Pout and Pilchard) but other than a HUGE tench which I lost at the net, I didn’t manage any fish of note.

Imagine my delight when Mrs FishingFiend suggested we visit the Canary Islands for New Year …. 🙂

Read all about it soon!

Tackle Shed

26th December 2019 by Mike Duddy Leave a Comment

I wimped out of fishing today. A slight tinge of boxing day hangover, and pissing down rain persuaded me to have a day indoors. (hence this post – and another to come shortly reviewing my fishing in 2019)

Mrs Fishing Fiend has been complaining recently about the smell emanating from my tackle shed so I’ve taken the opportunity to have a mid winter tidy up and to take stock of what I’ve got and whats to go on my shopping list.

I’m very glad to report that I think I need to buy more fishing tackle. My old friend Okuma Interceptor IBF50 has quite a bit of damage now after 17 years of heavy use. The bait runner tab at the back of the reel is half missing/broken and the bail arm spring has given up the ghost. I’ve already ordered a like for like replacement from Ebay as this Okuma is probably one of the best/most reliable reels I’ve ever owned.

I have this reel in both IBF40 and 50 size and have now decided to stock up on both of them before they get harder to source.

I’ve also got an old ABU506 closed face reel that has a slipping clutch and a chipped reel seat – this time to be replaced with the most up to date version. I received some tackle vouchers for Christmas and a new ABU is soon going to be on its way.

Other than that – my hook stocks needs replenishing, and my box of leads needs refilling. I have an over abundance of swim feeders but they should get thinned out over time. I also need to get the rings on my Drennan float master sorted out as there are a few missing through misuse.

Reels now oiled, and old bits of bait chucked in the bin. Am looking forwards to yet another great fishing year in 2020.

The marital disharmony has now been solved by the discovery and disposal of two packets of rotten worm that had been forgotten about at the bottom of my sea fishing box…. urgghhh

The Friendly Anglers Fund

2nd July 2019 by Mike Duddy Leave a Comment

I rarely reference the angling club that I chair, or the other fishing administration stuff that I get up to, as my blog is my online journal of my actual fishing

I try to keep my virtual fishing activities (or as my wife calls is fishing when I’m not fishing) that I get up to with The Salford Friendly Anglers Society, The Mersey Rivers Trust, The Angling Trust and other organisations that I engage with separate from my Fishing Fiend Blog.

However – for a change I would like to share this important development with you from our fishing club.

The Salford Friendly Anglers Society – have launched The Friendly Anglers Fund – an “in perpetuity fund” where all money donated will be ring fenced – and 50% of the interest generated each year will be spent on angling projects, and the other 50% re-invested into the future growth of the fund.

It is hoped that the fund will grow into something that makes a significant difference to angling in the future for our children and grandchildren. Angling as a sport/hobby/pastime is under constant threat from the likes of the anti-brigade and developing an “in perpetuity fund” can only enhance and strengthen the sport we love.

Anyway – click this link to have a read about The Friendly Anglers Fund” – please support it if you can.

Emily James-Bendle – one of the better anglers in our fishing club

Dace Fishing On The Irwell

27th June 2019 by Mike Duddy 1 Comment

After a tough day mulling over financial spreadsheets I wanted nothing more than a few hours of peace and quiet on the river after work. A quick trip to the tackle shop turned into a slog through the traffic, and a swift in and out at home turned into a chat with the wife and kids about their day and me being sucked into sitting down with them for tea.

I didn’t get to the riverbank until 6.30pm but when I finally arrived the excitement rose as it looked spot on.

I set up with 15ft Drennan float rod, my trusty old Abu 506, and a 5bb stick float – bait…. just to see what was there… a single maggot on a size 18 hook. Having fished this swim a few times over the last couple of years I wasn’t really expecting too much as I’ve still never had as much as a bit from it (despite recent reports of chub and dace being caught from the opposite bank). Over the years I’ve been present at the stocking of more than 40,000 fish into the Irwell,, many of them going in at this exact spot… I’ve still to get a bite here,,, but god loves a trier !!

And my luck hadn’t changed from previous visits, as an hour and 15 minutes later I still hadn’t had a bite.

Now in recent times, fishing time has been limited and I didn’t want to be wasting a whole evening on a swim that might be devoid of fish…. so a move was in order…… upstream/downstream decisions decisions….

Downstream was the choice .. and I settled down in a fast pacey swim where I’ve previously caught good nets of roach.

First run through in the new swim resulted in a smashed maggot, second run through a fine plump dace of about 6 ounces.

I had a bite a chuck for the next two hours – packing up on the dot of 10pm – as the bells of Manchester Cathedral tolled in the distant back ground (take that as a hint).

The dace were aggressively but cunningly attacking the single maggot as it ran through the swim… if I let the bait run with the flow, the bites didn’t register and I came back with a smashed maggot…. If I held the bait back to about half the speed of the flow then the fish self hooked themselves, especially as I moved a size 6 shot to within about 4 inches above the hook.

Mixed in with the dace were the usual aggressive trout – I landed two decent fish of about 2lb, and got smashed by one much bigger, that just hurtled off across river like an express train. My light silver fish gear not really being up to the job of hanging on to a big bucking bronco brownie.

I reckon that I had close to 20lb of fish in the last 2 hours – and might go back again in the next week or two with a keepnet and get a nice net of fish and share the picture.

Here’s the smaller of the two browns that I landed – a lovely fat fish.

Happy Times

25th June 2019 by Mike Duddy 1 Comment

Just like the rest of you…. I’ve been in love with fish, fishing, and all things fishy for longer than I care to remember.

To say fishing has been a major factor in my life is something of an understatement.

It’s 10 years since my pal Tony Peet took these two photos of me….. its 12 years since I started reading his blog….. I wonder if he really understands the impact this amazing fisherman has had on my life.

An evening on the Ribble — let the good times roll

Anyway – enough of that sentimental shite… No one call me for the next few days….. I’m off fishing 🙂

Parklife Fishing

9th June 2019 by Mike Duddy 3 Comments

Its Parklife weekend in North Manchester – a huge weekend long outdoor music festival that people 30 years younger than me find enjoyable.

Now that I am a curmudgeonly 50+years old – I just get grumpy at the traffic, the noise and the litter (though the views are not too bad).

So – instead of heading in the direction of Heaton Park where Parklife is held,,,, I turned in the opposite direction and headed towards Drinkwater Park.

I’m glad I did – as Drinkwater Park Lake has been fishing much better than Heaton Park Lake recently.

I’ve been on a couple of times this week – been smashed up a few times by some unseen monsters in the weeds – hooks straightened…. lost a monster tench maybe 8lb+ at the net 🙁 and landed a few nice fish too).

My swim for the day – an alternative view

My set up recently has been pellet waggler rod, hand made float by my mate Mike Cootes, and simple waggler tactics of worm or corn over a bed of hemp and pellets. Nothing fancy but very effective.

Don’t be put off by the weeds,,,, step up your tackle and have some fun, the lake has been fishing really well this year.

Nice chunky little mirror that liked corn

New Kit

6th January 2019 by Mike Duddy Leave a Comment

I’ve just put a bit of new kit together for my daughter who turns 4 years old next month…. she’s as keen as mustard.

Pink 6ft 2 weight, matching pink line and reel….. so now I need some flies to match

We’re lucky to have lots of small streams that are stacked with trout in Greater Manchester which I have no doubts will produce the goods once the new season starts in March.

Now I need to tie up some pink flies to match the rod, reel and line combo.

Any suggestions on patterns that suit hot shocking pink ?

New Kit

A Little Perspective – Pike

30th December 2018 by Mike Duddy Leave a Comment

I’ve been out today on my fishing clubs annual Christmas Pike Social.

Always good fun on the Old River Irwell (a still water created by the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal) in Irlam, which has a tremendous head of small to medium size pike max upper doubles.

I was a late arrival at 8am just as it was getting light. Others had been on since 7am but as yet no one caught any fish…. which was unusual as in previous years the most productive times had been the hour before and after dawn.

I set up a single rod, and had to wait until nearly 11.30am before I caught the first fish of the day. A small fish of no more than 2lbs

Here is is…. believe it or not…. the same fish….. firstly held by my pal Karol…. who pushed it out towards the camera lens and then by me held in towards my body.

Small Pike From The Old River Irlam — The same fish !

A startling difference – and as you can see from the second more honest photo – not really much of a Pike at all.

This year every angler caught a pike, and they were all caught between 12.30 and 1.30pm

By 2.30 we had all had enough and retired to the pub – to continue the more social element of the days “social fish in”

Irwell Barbel Quest – Part 12 – Utter Frustration

23rd December 2018 by Mike Duddy Leave a Comment

Its been a while since I’ve written anything about Barbel Fishing on my local River Irwell. Which is very remiss of me really, as being a local angling club committee member I have been very much involved in recent re-stockings of the river with fish.

Here’s two videos of the latest restocking which took place last week…. December 2018

So you’re quite right in thinking that after these fish were stocked I’d get out there and catch one of these newly stocked fish, and put the capture of my first Irwell Barbel to bed

And then came the rains….. the river is pretty unfishable at anything over 1.20m on the guage…. and since these fish were stocked on Wednesday the weather in Manchester has lived up to its reputation – with the river rising, coloured, full of debris and unfishable.

A rising river – impossible to fish at anywhere over 1.2m

I had a short window of opportunity (wife off work to look after the kids etc) which finished today – as they are now both off school/nursery – and the missus back in work all through the Xmas and New Year holidays….

So its unlikely that I will be able to avail myself of this golden opportunity – and the weather forecast is much improved next week.

I tried yesterday morning for an hour – but the flow was too strong for my rigs, and my line was clogging up with bits of bog roll etc (Irwell Snowflakes).

Lets see if I can sneak out for a fish ……….. even if its after dark – I am determined to bank my first Irwell Barbel after years and years of trying.

It would be great if I could luck out and catch one of the bigger established resident fish…. but I have no shame … Once a stockie basher…. always a……….

An Artists Palette

15th December 2018 by Mike Duddy Leave a Comment

Look at these lovely flecks of gold….. like brush strokes from a classical artists palette.

I will never tire of being surprised by the beauty of fish…. each one a unique Faberge Egg, a priceless gift from nature. I was having a trawl through some old photos – and thought that this deserved sharing again.

A Pike from the Old River Irwell in Irlam – caught on a sunny winters day.

Old River Pike — Pike Glinting In The Sunshine

Isn’t it amazing how these golden flecks reflect the sun. Does this golden colouration serve any purpose I wonder, or is it nature showing off?

Next time you catch old Esox,, take a close look and be amazed.

Hungry Pike

10th December 2018 by Mike Duddy Leave a Comment

Agecroft Pond is a bit of an enigma – it screams fish but it contains very few. The local angling club stocked 200 8″ carp in 2016, and as yet no one has ever caught one. I’ve fished this lake a handful of times, and never had much success other than a few small roach and the odd jack pike.

So last weekend, I thought I would give the lake a couple of hours of my attention, and because I wasn’t expecting much in the way of sport, invited two friends to join me for a fish and a chat.

I set up using the exact same rig that I’d used on recent successful roach sessions on other local ponds – a very light 0.3g pole float, a size 20 Kamasan B511, and a 0.08mm hook length. Again bait was punch bread on the hook, and liquidised bread (a very small amount) as feed. But as it was a cold day I used my pole at 13m to access the deepest water in the lake (6 feet) where I expected the fish to be lying up.

I’ve become used to my float sailing away immediately, but on this lake it was ages before I caught anything and with afternoon daylight being short at this time of the year, it was soon time to think about returning home.

To satisfy a theory about the pond I saved the 3 roach i caught in a bucket, and at the end of the afternoon set up a pike rod, and used the roach as bait..

It took less than 5 minutes before my old fashioned pike bung did the old fashioned thing……….. it slipped away – and a nice little jack graced my net.

In 3 casts…. I caught 3 jacks from different pegs……. good luck?

It made me think about a few things….. where had the carp gone ? why was it so hard to catch small silver fish? was the lake over populated with pike? or have all their prey been eaten by the black death?

I don’t have any answers but there appears to be a real imbalance in the fish population of this lake thats becoming evident over the years

Word on the street is that the angling club are currently looking at a significant restocking with roach, rudd, bream, tench and crucians and carp…. lets hope this brings the place back to life.

The 2 Hour Rule

3rd December 2018 by Mike Duddy Leave a Comment

I have a self imposed two hour rule when I got out pleasure fishing.

Very simply if I don’t get a bite within two hours – I move swim or move venue. I’m out fishing for fun and whilst being outdoors and on the bank is important — so is catching a few fish.

This weekend I had a few hours free before my day was taken over by the kids. So I thought that an hour or two/three on one of my local lakes would be an ideal way to spend a few hours on Sunday morning. I’d taken my daughter fishing here earlier this summer and bagged up on roach and rudd using maggot waggler techniques. For this trip I wanted to brush up on my bread punch tactics, and was hoping that the roach would be obliging again.

I set up at 8.30 and potted in liquidised bread on two lines, 6 and 11 metres. Starting on the short line for the first half hour, I couldn’t buy a bite, despite trying all sorts of variations in depth and shotting patterns. So out to the 11 metre line – expecting a bite first put in seeing as though the fish had been given time to settle in on the bait, and had not been disturbed by the activity on the inside line. You guessed it – not a touch. I spent the first half an hour on the inside line, an hour on the long line, and then another half an hour back inside.

Not a flicker of a bite.

So – I’m quite strict with my two hour rule and was now left with three options. Move to another peg on the same lake. Move to another lake on the same complex (Rhodes Lodges in Middleton). Or move to a completely new venue. The fact that water levels were down on all the lakes on the complex after the long dry summer and autumn that we’ve experienced helped me make the decision to move venues. The lake that I was fishing is usually around 6ft deep – but water levels were over 2ft lower than normal – and maybe the fish had just holed up somewhere in a deeper hole. I wasn’t going to spend the time finding this hole,,,, so a move to another venue was the best option.

Sainsburys Pond in Middleton has always been a banker venue for a few roach…. so that’s where I headed. Only a short drive away, I was back fishing using the exact same tactics within 20 minutes. As I was only had an hour left I fed only 1 line. Again the water levels were down by nearly – so using a bit of local knowledge I set up in what I know is the deepest swim in the lake – however this was only 4ft !! (I am worried that these venues might really suffer if we have a long cold winter, and extended ice cover on our lakes).

A small nugget of sloppy liquidised bread, a small size 20 B511 hook, 0.08mm hooklength, a map 4×14 pencil float, 4 no 8 stotz as bulk with a single 10 stotz as dropper and I was away.

Kamasan B511 - my favourite hook for small roach — Kamasan B511 – my favourite hook for small roach

I like to use make feed nice and sloppy and feed it via pole cup

First put in, the float didn’t event settle before it slipped away and I was into my first small roach. I didn’t catch anything over 4oz but had a brisk hours fishing catching plenty of small roach and rudd before I reluctantly packed up. The fish were hungry, and if didn’t keep the bread feed going in, the bites soon died off. As you can see from the photo above they ate all the feed I had.

I’m hoping to have a canal session this week – again on the punch bread/sloppy feed..

Black Death On The Irwell

30th November 2018 by Mike Duddy Leave a Comment

Here are the observations of a North Manchester Angler written in 2009 – it gives a great insight as to the impact Cormorants have made on my local River Irwell. (and I’ve added a few observations of my own to conclude)

“I’ve run Wickenhall bottom lake in Newhey for around 8 years now. It was a chance remark by one of the regular anglers about fishing the river Irwell in Manchester. loads of roach, most of them between 6 ounces and a pound he said, and on some days we get maybe 8 or nine chub up to 3lb or so, we’ve even had a couple of bream too.

After probing the said angler on areas to fish, he said ,”don’t go on your own cos it can be a bit rough, and swims are hard to find but worth the effort if you find the roach shoals”.

a couple of months later and after talking my daughter into a pre Xmas shopping trip, (on the condition that we have an hour looking at the river for possible access points, I was stood high over the Irwell on the impressive Trinity bridge, fish were regularly topping a few hundred yards upstream, nothing massive, but definitely fish. Anyway plans were made for me and Pete Healy, to go and have a go the following Sunday.

We arrived 30mins or so before first light. Fish were topping everywhere. We both started on maggot feeder. My first bite came before I put the rod down, a perfect roach of 10 ounces. I turned to tell Pete, who was fifty feet further upstream, only to find him with a similar fish in the landing net.

The next few hours were ridiculous. Fish after fish came to the double maggot baits. In fact at one stage we both stopped fishing for half an hour to have a brew and a butty.

Without going through every session we had in a period of 4 years, I’ll just say that the place was incredible. On numerous occasions, Pete, my daughter Abbie (9 to 13 years old at the time)on many, and I mean many days had at least 50 or sixty pounds of roach, chub, perch and dace. we only ever saw another four or five lads fishing over all that time and all of us kept it pretty quiet. Stickfloat was probably the best method with maggot, caster and hemp. But we caught on big baits like bread and meat too.

You’ll have noticed by now a lot of this article is written in the past tense.

These glory days of the Irwell have now sadly passed. After speaking to one of the regulars last year and finding out the fishing had gone downhill we decided to have a couple of sessions in the old swims,(we hadn’t been down for over 10 months). I can tell you it was a total waste of time, conditions were spot on for trotting, the water was perfect, but not a single bite in four trips.

now it’s quite normal for shoals of silver fish to hold up all winter in city centre rivers. whether it’s the lights or maybe due to it being a tad warmer I don’t know, but it happens in lots of rivers in the UK.

It’s also normal for fish to suddenly not be there one year for apparently no reason, quite often though they won’t be that far away. So with that in mind we took my small rowing boat (normally used for piking) to have a look around with a fish finder. We did find fish quarter of a mile downstream in a couple of places and caught some on trotted maggot from the boat. These were mainly roach but we only had about six each.

There’s a word I’ve deliberately missed out in this article up to yet, well here it comes……

……..CORMORANTS………

In the last two years of fishing we saw a huge increase in the numbers of these birds, starting with one or two at first and then going up to dozens in the end. We saw them many times taking big roach, chub and dace all day long on some days.

It was heartbreaking to see and is the main reason we stopped fishing there. Previously unmarked, pristine fish, were now very badly marked indeed and the fishing dropped dramatically. The reason I decided to submit this article was to let the lads in the Manchester area, who fished the Irwell now or in the past, know about the situation.

2008 between Xmas and new year we took the boat onto the Irwell. At this time of year, centre of town should be solid with fish….. we spent ALL DAY looking in every nook and cranny from M.E.N arena all the way to Salford quays.

WE DID NOT SEE ANY FISH AT ALL IN MILES OF RIVER, OR ANY OF THE BASINS, ETC, THAT CAN’T BE ACCESSED FROM THE BANK.

So what’s happened to all those beautiful fish? Pollution would have turned some up for all to see but no one has reported any. Maybe they migrated further than we looked, but I doubt it, I think the black death is back in the country……..only this time it can fly.

As a footnote we caught from six swims in the centre of town. (are you ready for this):

ROACH TO OVER 2LB
BREAM TO 6LB
PERCH TO 3LB
SEATROUT TO 3LB
BROWNIES TO 2LB
PIKE TO 23LBS
TENCH TO 3LB
GRAYLING TO 1LB
DACE TO 12OZ
CHUB TO OVER 5LB
GUDGEON,RUFFE, AND I EVEN CAUGHT A BLUE ORFE ABOUT 2LB ONE DAY.”

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Fishing Fiends Opinion Below

Coming to the end of 2018 now – its interesting to see how the Irwell has changed – the roach have all but disappeared despite regular restocking by the Environment Agency.

The bream in the lower river have grown on to near double figures, carp started to show – some of them nudging 30lbs

Sea trout ??? do they really exist ?? or are they just smolted up brownies – which now grow to nearly 13lbs. The three huge locks on the Manchester Ship Canal are an effective barrier to migratory fish (though plans are being put in place to enable fish passage in the future)

Pike — well they are still present throughout the river from Bury down to Manchester, with lots of small jacks but the occasional big girl to 20lb.

Tench – I’ve never seen one from the Irwell.

Grayling – a recent stocking by the EA of 3000 tiddlers but an odd fish to 12 inches being caught in the Bury area. Dace are present but not prolific.

Chub to 6lbs,

Plenty of Gudgeon.

A smattering of Perch but they are not prolific.

200 Barbel were stocked at the waters meet of the Irwell and Croal in the early 90s by Farnworth Anglers – and the odd fish has turned up between Bury and Manchester to 13lb – however these fish are as rare as hens teeth, and its a real achievement to catch the mythical Irwell Barbel. The EA stocked 500 fingerlings in 2014, and again with 500 slightly bigger fish in 2017 and another 500 in winter 2018. However they don’t appear to thrive in Irwell waters and are still the Holy Grail for Irwell anglers.

As water quality improves – the fishing has without doubt declined from the halcyon days of the early late 90s and early 2000s. I too can remember catching 50lb+ nets of roach on hemp and maggot – but these events are now a thing of the past.

However,the trout fishing goes from strength to strength as water quality improves, and their fry are better suited to fast flowing water.

Without doubt the Gooseander which so effectively predate on fish fry, the Cormorants which so effectively predate on adult fish, mink and frequent pollution incidents have decimated our river.

I wonder what the future holds..