Piking In Manchester City Centre
Tom In Argentina
Bradshaw Hall
I spent the afternoon in the pleasurable company of Matt and Phil at Bradshaw Hall fishery in near Bolton. I have never been a big fan of commercial fisheries but find that in the winter they usually guarantee a good stream of bites. I find these bites invaluable when taking Matt fishing, as it was only 4 degrees this afternoon and the east wind soon stripped us of any warmth we had enjoyed from the cars heater on the drive up. My theory being that he will forget about the cold if he’s catching fish.
We fished lake 7 (the small lake with the square island) for the first time ever, and surprisingly found bites few and far between. I set up with a punch rig over liquidised bread, and Matt with a maggot rig which allowed a free fall of the bait for the last 12 inches. The water in front of us wasn’t deep, only about 3 and a half feet, and we both fish midway to the island in the deepest water we could find (at about 6 metres).
Phil who had a longer pole and could reach the far bank was using casters, he was getting a bite a chuck from chub to about a lb. There are times when size matters as proved by Phil who was catching more fish than Matt and myself combined at a ratio of about 8 to 1 !!! The fish obviously enjoyed the cover of the overhanging branches on island, and didn’t stray that often into more open water. I did swap over to maggot at one point and despite steady loose feeding couldn’t tempt the fish away from their patrol route/cover.
We fished from 12 til 3.30pm and i was glad when it was time to pack up. At least we didn’t blank as both Matt and I had a few small chub and perch between us. Certainly not one of my more memorable winter trips to Bradshaws, and i doubt i shall fish lake 7 again in winter. Phil thinks lake 2 fishes best in Winter as its about 12 feet deep, I normally fish lakes 3, 5 or 6 but i guess if you don’t swap about occasionally you don’t discover anything new. All i discovered today was that i need a longer pole – though I’m loathe to buy one as it won’t be used that often. Maybe i might have a look on Ebay for a cheap second hand one.
Mere Beck
I spent the afternoon at Mere Beck with Phil and Tony. I blanked, as did Phil but Tony had a nice small blue trout. This was my first ever visit to this fishery, and i have to be honest and say that i think its lovely.
The small interlinked lakes are deep, and i think that only having a floating line today was a hindrance. I did get a good bite on a small green ptn late in the afternoon, but a shake of the fishes head threw the hook before i really got connected.
After starting out with all the best intentions, using spiders, buzzers and other imitative flies, as a blank seemed more and more likely i swapped over to a team of three lures (talk about a sign of desperation!).
Even this move didn’t pay dividends – but at least i enjoyed some winter sun in wonderful surroundings. Due to this fisheries proximity to Martin Mere a RSPB reserve, we were treated to huge flying “V”s of geese late on in the afternoon. Some of these flocks must have had upwards of 150 birds – a truly memorable sight.
Addictive
Thanks to everyone for your encouraging comments as your comments often give me food for thought and help me catch more. I have had the pleasure of meeting many readers of my blog this year, its amazing how our sport attracts such great people. For those of you who live nearby but have never got in touch – please do – i might try and nick your swim but i dont bite!
Mini Me
Should I Expect Anything Different?
Grim is the best word to describe both the weather and my weekends fishing. First light Saturday saw me picking up Phil K for a trip to the Mersey at Northenden. We both knew it would be tough as the thermometer in my car showed minus 5. The constant icing of rod rings and a disticnt lack of bites soon saw us packing up and enjoying the delights of a local roadside “butty bar”. I think we managed about an hours fishing in total but spent an enjoyable morning checking out some new swims in different areas of the river.
By this afternoon the weather had started to warm up, and i joined Tony and Pete on their local brook for an afternoons Roach fishing. The last time i visited this bit of water, Tony found a shoal of roach from which he proceeded to catch a succession of fish between 12oz and a lb. Amazing from a stream so small that i can touch the far bank with the tip of my rod.
However, this afternoon only Tony was lucky enough to find the fish. I managed to scratch out four small roach by roving downstream, but never really got into a shoal.
The winter months are always tough with fish difficult to locate. I’d much rather be out on the bank than sitting at home no matter that the odds are stacked against me. This time last year i spent alot of time searching out new swims on my local River Irwell while lure fishing for Pike. Maybe next weekend i shall do the same, at least i should get a bend in my rod (the bottom again).
Stastny Novy Rok
Canoeists Heaven
Its a fact of life that canoeists and anglers often don’t rub along well together. Anglers who pay for the privilege of accessing the riverbanks are regularly disgruntled by the fact that canoeists often flout the law and float down our waterways without a care for who owns or maintains them.
Many angling organisations expend huge amounts of resources in improving habitats so that fish have the opportunity to thrive and so that they have suitable spawning sites. It irks many anglers that canoeists frequently paddle over these sites as fish are spawning, and that they frequently scrape the bottom of their crafts over the redds the fish have prepared to lay their eggs and for the eggs to hatch into fry. Whilst its difficult for anyone to object to someones right to paddle their canoe and enjoy the countryside from the unique viewpoint of lowdown in the centre of a river, its easy to object to the idea that canoeists should have the right to paddle down any river they like without contributing to the upkeep of that river.
My local river is a different story, after nearly two centuries of industrial pollution, the local authorities actively encourage all groups to take advantage of the cleaner water. To this end, they have set aside an area in the upper river valley for canoeists, and have managed the river bed, creating weirs, shutes, rapids, slaloms and other similar features purely for the benefits of the paddler. I have often walked this stretch, and in the summer its fantastic to see so many people enjoying the river.
Fishing is not encouraged by the council in this area, and many a fisherman has been asked to move on by the local park rangers despite their being no signs displayed to the contrary. However i know that the stretch contains big chub, and this morning i decided to give it a try for the first time. My thinking was that there wouldn’t be any paddlers out in the cold water at this time of the year.
My set up was my usual river tackle, trotting rod, centre pin, stick float, and a size 16 drennan forged wire hook and a pint of mixed maggots. I started just as it got light, at the tail end of a weirpool at the top end of the length, and worked my way downstream past the car park, and as far down as the railway bridge. I caught brownies from every pool, but unfortunately couldnt find any chub. It was great fun as the trout were hungry and seemed to be competing to take my bait. Maybe maggots was the wrong choice of bait, bread might have been more selective when targeting chub.
By the time i’d worked my way down the half mile of river, i had taken over 20 trout. Many of the swims where i only spent 10 minutes, looked as though they will produce some tremendous sport on fly tackle next year.
I packed up at about 11.30 and headed off to the office. I think that I’ll be returning for a few early morning or late evening sessions next summer when the days are longer – and hopefully avoid upsetting my paddling friends on their wonderful playground by fishing either when they’re still in bed or when they have finished in the evening – after all i dont want to upset anyone do I.
Bubba Gump Shrimp
I love a good coincidence story. When i started my Salmon quest back in September the water levels on the Ribble were high. I lost more than a few flying C’s on my first couple of trips but always had a hunch that i might be able to recover them. I’m happy to tell you that when the water levels dropped i picked up at least 6 flying c’s at least 3 of which belonged to me.
Whilst searching for my lost flying c’s I also had the good fortune to pick up a superbly tied Salmon/Sea trout fly which was embedded in a weed bed which only became visible when water levels were low. This fly (above) i considered to be an absolute cracker and wondered if it had been bought or tied at home. Sometimes you just have to look at a fly for it to instill you with a sense of inner confidence that it will work.
Well Matts blog looks as though its going to be a cracker, and another one that will be worth reading whenever its updated, so heres a link http://www.afishingblog.blogspot.com
My weekends fishing exploits were limited to a couple of biteless hours on the Irwell in Manchester City Centre. Even though river conditions were far from ideal, the lack of roach is becoming a concern. Last years 40lb bags of roach are nothing but a distant memory. Whilst cormorants may be responsible for splitting the large shoals, it seems as though theres hardly a fish in the river, maybe the fish have found new favoured areas to spend the winter, so i will have a few casts in different spots over Christmas.
Lastly, well done Phil-K for catching your first fish on a fly you tied yourself. I am saving this particular pleasure for the spring when the fly fishing season on rivers opens.