Tench Heaven
Irwell Barbel Quest Part 2 – An Impossible Dream
Irwell Barbel Quest Pt 1
Over the years there have been persistent murmurings that people have been catching Barbel from the Irwell, and it seems to be an accpeted fact that 500 of them were stocked into the river in the early 1990’s. Despite having fished the river on a regular basis over the last few years i have still yet to see one even though i am assured by some very reliable sources that they are there.
So – rather than continuing roach fishing down near the city centre i have decided to make a concerted effort to catch one of these mythical whiskered beasts.
Because i have been told in strictest confidence the location of swims from which Barbel have reputedly been caught in the past i am not going to post any photos during my Irwell Barbel Quest.
Tuesday evening saw me on the river, tackled up with an avon rod, bait runner reel, big lead and a bucket of 10mm halibut pellets. As this was my first ever trip using this type of gear, i set off in hope rather than expectation.
I dont often use baits this big so having no idea of how to fish in this style i chucked in two or three handfulls of pellets and then gently lobbed in my hokbait over the top.
I was only using one rod – so i had to ask myself basic stuff like how long i should leave my bait in the river before re-casting, should i band the pellet or hair rig it, is the lead too heavey, should i cast into the central flow or on the edges of the main flow, how far will my loose fed pellets carry downstream before hitting the bottom etc etc etc?
It was only to be a short session, 6.30pm til 9.15.
At 8.30 my rod tip hooped over and the bait runner screeched as line was ripped off the reel. Heart in mouth i struck into a fish which continued to streak off down the river making the main clutch on the reel sing.
I realised that this wasn’t a chub as the fish made run after run after run. I thought that i couldn’t be this jammy to hook into a barbel on my first trip out – and i was right. I wasn’t that jammy -it turned out to be a lovely Irwell brownie of 3lb 4oz (I’ve rediscovered my digital scales).
Alas it jumped ship between weighing and photographing so i cant show it to you – however its tail was enormous – as is the case with most big Irwell trout.
After that i had no more bites or twitches on the tip. Hopefully I will get out again one evening next week for another crack. This weekend there are pb’s to be broken as I’m off to “tench heaven” with Phil K.
Fishing In Wroxham
As you can see from this photo above – my accommodation for the week was an anglers dream. I would love to go back one day for a weeks fishing with the guys and really investigate properly the great fishing that this region offers. I shall add the pike photos once i find out who took them.
An Angling Hiatus
I fished one of the swims near the old Boddingtons Brewery (above) using stick float and maggots. All i could catch was small chublets and the occasional roach. As dusk fell i moved upstream to find some deeper water and was rewarded by catching this 2lbish chub.
It was an enjoyable evening with the usual the usual fish a chuck – despite the less than salubrious surroundings I really enjoy fishing this area of river.
Irwell Roach
Ribble Chub
As the river was low and slow, Tony and I decided to fish swims higher upstream which had a bit of pace in them, and also a bit more oxygen in the water. Tony who knows the river like the back of his hand predicted that we would catch some nice chub, and he wasnt wrong – we had a dozen between between 3 and 6lbs.
Mixed Fortunes
Pissed & Stoned
This post is nothing to do with my student days but an accurate description of last Sunday evenings fishing trip in downtown Salford.
I set up my usual trotting gear and waded out underneath a footbridge from which i had seen a shoal of bumper sized roach. Just as i struck into a lb+ fish i heard a shower of liquid hitting the water behind me. Distracted i looked up and saw three teenagers pissing off the bridge at me. Thinking that they couldn’t pee so far i moved slightly downstream and out of range. After a brief exchange of Anglo Saxon the little blighters started to throw fist size rocks at me from their vantage point high above me on the bridge. This resulted in me having to wade quickly back up towards the bridge so i could take shelter from their increasingly accurate barrage. By the time I had climbed the banks so i could get a grip of them the little sods had buggered off, laughingly giving me the one fingered salute.
Despite having fed the swim with hemp and having a shoal of 50plus big roach queueing up to be caught I decided to remove myself from the local youths firing line and fish a safer swim 100yds upstream.
I caught steadily, roach, skimmers and chub – none of which were any size. I continued to have trouble with line sticking in my closed face reel and lost my first big brownie of the season which snapped my 4lb hooklength like cotton as it went aerial soon after i hooked it. I will fish that swim again one day though, but will make sure its early in the morning before the little sods get out of bed.
Rites Of Passage
As we walked back to the car in darkness Tony was a little disappointed that it wasn’t a big double, but Matthew was enthused by the lengthy battle and capture of this magnificent fish – it has certainly fired him up and I hope that one day soon he can have the pleasure of landing his first Barbel.