Three hours trotting red maggots over hemp, not a bite. Used a float that took 7 grams to cock, but still couldn’t hold back against the flow effectively.Its difficult to fish this river in the winter as the fish seem to want the bait held back hard which is difficult when you consider the strength […]

Am having a torrid time on the river this February.I went down to the river this afternoon for an hour after work to see if i could put into practice what i had learnt earlier in the week.However overnight rain resulted in an extra 3 feet of water and the river was running through hard. […]

Rays net of Roach – about 20lb by lunchtime. Salmon Parr? Brrrrr minus 6.5c I am at my best fishing still waters on the pole, tip or waggler and i am still relatively inexperienced at river fishing This being only my second year of attempting to catch on the Irwell. Whilst its easy on the […]

Bought a new trotting rod on Wednesday, so i went fishing before work on Thursday morning. I fished the Irwell at Mocha Parade in downtown Salford, got there at dawn and fished till 10am without getting a bite. Tried the Irwell again on Sunday afternoon 2.30 – 5.30 without getting a touch. I was in […]

The lure of sun on my face in February made me leave the office early this afternoon and get in a couple of hours bit bashing in Phillips Park.I am not at my best fishing then pole but wanted to catch some small fish to use as deadbaits this weekend.I bumped off more fish than […]

I woke up one morning just before Christmas and discovered a visitor at end of the garden. As i live less than 3 miles from the city centre of Manchester i was stunned at the sight of this deer. My sister still doesnt believe it and thinks i have set this photo up with a […]

Big smiles after a great afternoons fishing from Dave and Matt. We spent the afternoon on a stretch of the river we have never tried before near the centre of Manchester. It was a HUGE shock to us to see other people fishing on the Irwell – at one point there were six fishermen in […]

Started at lunchtime and fished til dusk at 5pm. Caught nothing, no takes, no follows nothing. Freezing cold, blue hands, lost 3 spinners and the will to live. Maybe i should know better by now than to fish the river the day after half an inch of snow has melted. Next weekend i am going […]

I woke early and saw the sun shining, i just had to go fishing for an hour before work. So i decided to try out a new stretch of the river where i had previously walked the banks but never fished. This stretch consists of lots of shallow broken riffles but also 3 deep pools. […]

I decided to try the River Irwell for the first time this year as the river levels were slowly returning to normal after the recent heavy rains. The water clarity wasnt great but was no longer dirty brown. As there are so many snags in the river (cars,tyres,motorbikes shopping trolleys etc) i use very cheap […]