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Patience Is A Virtue

Patience Is A Virtue

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I took a trip up to the River Ribble yesterday afternoon, to see if i could catch any fish from the “hot” swim which has produced big barbel, chub and sea – trout. On reaching the river bank i really fancied my chances of getting amongst the fish, as the weather was glorious, the river levels perfect and the car park at the end of the main field empty.
As i walked up river, i only saw one other fisherman – who reported catching a sun tan but no fish. Ha – what do these quiver tippers know – armed with my 15ft trotting rod and new centre pin reel i couldnt fail to catch in conditions such as these!
As ever, over confidence is often rewarded by a kick in the nuts, and you guessed it, i didnt get a bite between 3.30pm when i arrived and 8.30pm when i finally gave up and decided to move swim. For some reason the hot swim doesnt like me, as i have struggled yet again, in a swim which i know contains some decent fish.
I was loathe to go home early on such a pleasant evening, so i decided to move downstream a few hundred yards and fish in the more tranquil slower moving water in front of the car park.
I have fished this area only once before with Tony when the river was in flood, and managed to catch half a dozen cracking roach. Yesterday the river levels were at least 3-4 feet lower then my previous time at this swim, and i slid down the steep banks into the river and walked a third of the way out from the bank.
I fed in a constant supply of loose fed maggots, followed by a light stick float with the bait a 3/4 depth. The first run through resulted in a minnow which was a welcome sight as it saved me from a blank!!!.
As the evening drew to a close i enjoyed some great sport catching about 8 chub to over 2lbs, a lovely roach of over a lb and my first sea trout of the season (pictured above).
I fished on until after 10pm enjoying the feed, cast, run through and retrieve sequence that is neccessary. I didnt miss any bites or bump off any fish so things seem to be improving (have changed from kamasan to prestons hooks). I only saw a couple of other guys fishing, and no – one else seemed to have caught any barbel so i was very satisfied with my mixed net of fish.
However the lure of those big fish, from the swim that Tony and Phil have had so much success in is becoming compelling and every time i think about where to go fishing next i am drawn to this swim. I can already visualise myself there on Tuesday evening!

manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout

Fishing In Tenerife

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Despite the title of this post being “fishing in tenerife” i only managed to get out for one short session during the week i spent in Playa de Las Americas. The sun was hot, the beer was cold, the snorkelling fantastic and fishing was soon forgotten about.
I did manage just the one early morning session on the second morning of the holiday, and used my 12 foot telescopic beach caster, together with 15lb line to catch the “monsters “of the deep shown in the photos above. I used a double paternoster and 2oz lead arrangement with prawn from the local supermarket as hookbait. Within 30 seconds of the baits settling the rod tip started twitching like mad, then lay still as the soft prawn bait had been stripped from the hooks by the thousands of small brightly coloured fish that inhabit these waters. I only fished for an hour or so before i ran out of bait and then went back to the apartment for an early breakfast.
Later during the week i bought some squid, thinking it would be a tougher hookbait and last longer on the hook, but the squid never left the fridge as i was having more fun snorkelling than fishing.
The waterpark, jungle park, monkey park, the beach etc. were far more appealing to Lucia and Matthew so for a change i put the fishing gear away and went with the flow.
manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout

Fresh Run

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I spent my usual Tuesday evening fishing with Tony on the river. Things started well with Tony catching the small sea trout in the photo above from Phils favourite swim. It was so fresh that it still had sea lice on, something i have never seen before its amazing how big these lice are.

Tony then took a lovely Barbel from 30yds further upstream whilst i ran my float through what has now become the swim we all want to fish. I quickly hooked into a smallish trout from the tail end of the swim, where i couldnt even see the float, only being able to detect the bite by watching the bend in my rod tip as the line peeled off the reel. The fish shed the hook 3/4 of the way back up the swim, which was a shame as this was the only bite i had from the swim all evening. I swapped swims for the last hour, and moved downstream and immediately hooked into a decent sized fish that i played for 5 minutes before it got its head into the faster water where it snapped me despite using 10lb line!!! Please dont think that i am bullying these fish until the hook pulls, as the rod i use has a very forgiving through action. I am finding that the power the larger fish can generate when using the strong current to their advantage is pretty awesome, a 5lb barbel in strong flow is a far more daunting prospect to land than a 20lb carp or pike on a still water.

I didnt get a sniff other than these two hookups and my dreadful run of hooking and then loosing fish seems to be continuing. However, on the bright side i have been introduced to a great stretch of river that contains a wide variety of swims and fish, its really good fun learning to fish these runs and glides using a stick and pin, a form of fishing that until this summer has been alien to me.

manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout

Fishing With Dad

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I had an evening on the local river with my dad. After recent rains the river was well up and the a very dirty brown colour. I wasnt too hopeful of a good evenings sport, but i had arranged this session with the old fella for a few days now, and it was an opportunity i didnt want to miss as its about 5 years since we last went fishing together.

We started off in the mill race swim, where my dad had a couple of takes on nymphs but no fish landed. I took the opportunity to fish the tail end of the swim with stick float and maggot for the first time, and was rewarded with 5 trout in less than an hours fishing – the largest a cracking 2lber which ran me all over the swim before finally succumbing. Unfortunately the photos of the fish were taken on my mobile and are very blurred. Shame really as it was my best brownie from the river so far.

I offered my dad the use of my rod, but he declined preferring to drop down stream and try out the viaduct pools. Again he had a few takes on a bloody butcher but didnt manage to land any fish. The water in this pool was really steaming through so i didnt really bother with the stick float. As usual for an evening session, we packed up in the gloom and was dark by the time we got back to the car. I have always enjoyed fishing with my dad, tonight was no exception.

manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout

Redfins On Bling

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I bought a new centre pin reel via mail order last week, i couldnt help but laugh when i opened the box to find i had my first piece of fishing “bling”. The reel is supposed to come in a silver/grey colour but i had been sent the special edition gold coloured model instead for the same price. Should i change the name of the blog to “gangsta fisha”? – probably not.
Being keen to try out my new reel, i arranged a trip up to the river with Tony. The weather has been wet for the last few days and it was no surprise to find level up a couple of feet, and the river a dirty brown swirling cauldron. This rendered our usual swims unfishable so we decided to fish the swims closest to the car park for roach and dace.
As i have had a run of bad luck recently it came as no surprise that i lost the first two fish i hooked (both good sized roach) at the net. Funnily enough a change from barbed hooks to a new Kamasan barbless pattern did the trick as i went on to hook and land my next 7 bites which resulted in 6 cracking roach – smallest around 12oz and the largest well over a lb and also my first eel of the year.
It was good to christen my new reel by catching roach, as there are few finer looking fish than a scale perfect big redfin. The new reel worked like a dream, allowing me to hold back and run through in a far steadier and controlled fashion. It beats a fixed spool reel hands down when trotting through a swim.
Its good to fish when conditions are a little more challenging, you unlock a few more of the rivers secrets each time you go, sometimes you find out more when the going is tough than when the fishing is easy – i hope that was the case yesterday.

manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout

Superb

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Congratulations Phil-K, the 4.8lb sea-trout above was the highlight of an extemely enjoyable evening on the river.

I am still unable to shake off my dose of the yips, as i lost two good fish this evening the first with a hook snap off the second to an 8lb hooklength parting.

Whilst i could wallow in self pity – i am instead thinking about how to refine my technique and hope for a change of luck. The loss of these fish certainly didnt spoil a great evening, as Phil caught yet another cracking Barbel from the “hot” swim.
Towards the end of the evening i used Tonys rod and was able to experience for the first time the Rolls Royce performance of his centre pin reel. The smooth peel of line that is the essence of the pin, makes an immeasurable improvement over the jerky movements of a float that is being controlled by a fixed spool reel. This improvement in presentation of the bait became immediately apparent on the first run through the swim using Tonys gear. I had a bite first cast, a fish hooked (but lost) on second cast and another hooked and lost within 2 or 3 casts after tying on a new hook.
Fishing with Phil and Tony is always good fun, and tonight proved no exception. As the light was fading at about 10pm, Phil had returned to his car expecting us to follow shortly. However, Tony was insistant the we fished on despite the fact that the light had gone and i could no longer see the float when it had travelled more than 10yds down the swim. To counter this lack of light, Tony walked half way down the swim so that he could see the float when i couldnt. The shouts of faster, hold back, strike, re-cast echoed through the darkness. I could hardly hold the rod through laughing as i wanted to pack up but could hear Tony through the murky dark shouting “come on 2 more casts” about 5 times. I didnt hook any more fish, which is a good job really as i was crying with laughter. Tonys enthusiasm is infectious.

Again congratulations to Phil, he has taken some cracking fish this summer, i hope he catches many more.
manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout

Return To The Scene Of The Crime

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Having agonised for the last few days over the big trout i lost on the Irwell, i decided to return to the scene of the crime for an evening session with beefed up tackle.
The river was 18inches higher than normal after heavy rain earlier in the day. I have previously called the Irwell Manchester storm drain, as all the run off from the roads, peoples roofs etc all ends up in the river. This means that the river can rise feet in a matter of hours after heavy rain, but also that the water levels can fall nearly as quickly, and whilst i fished for only a couple of hours yesterday evening the river dropped a good 9 inches in height.
However i should have thought about the effect of the cold water flushing through the river system as i endured a poor session, catching only a few small roach and chub.
I am going to blame river conditions for my poor catch rather than the stronger tackle that i have now decided to use.
I used the centre pin reel that Big Dave so kindly bought me for my birthday for the first time, and despite a couple of birds nest tangles i found it quite easy to use. It is most enjoyable to play fish on the pin as every thump and movement of the fish is amplified through the rod and reel to the angler – great fun – now i cant wait to catch a cracker on the pin, as i bet it will be a tremendous experience.
As always i stuck it out till nearly dark in the hope that a better fish might decide to take my bait in the failing light, but it wasnt ment to be.
Big Dave came down to the river to watch me fish for a few hours, and drink my tea and it was a pleasure to have such an experienced angler chatting and giving me tips as i was fishing.
Yet again i had trouble with bumping fish off the hook whilst playing them, size 16 BS520’s have always been a favourite of mine, but i think i am going to start having an experiment with different varieties. Mayber a wider gape hook will be better when fishing double maggot as the bait will be less likely to wrap itself over the point of the hook. I did think that maybe the rod i am using is not forgiving when catching smaller fish, but i use a 15ft Drennan Floatmaster which is designed for using light lines. Again i am going to have to experinment until i come up with a solution.
I hope to get out again on the river bank of Tuesday evening, and if i can get the fish feeding i will have a good mess about with different terminal set ups to see if i can make any improvements.

manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout

Square Lodge

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As i have recently purchased a season ticket for a local club so that i can fish their river beats, i also now have some new still waters to fish.
So as i hadnt caught a crucian carp yet this year i asked Tony which of these new waters would be most likely to produce one. Square Lodge was the reccommended lake but Tony gave the caveat that it was a shallow, weed infested, litter strewn scrote magnet.

In order to minimise the scrote factor i decided to have an early start, and arrived at the water at 5am. The lake was nothing like what Tony had described with no excessive amout of weed, well maintained pegs and no litter, all in all it looked like a really pleasant spot to pass some time in the pursuit of fish.

As well as finding my surroundings agreeable i found that the fishing was absolutely top draw. I caught lovely rudd and roach on the drop, hand sized skimmers from the bottom and a few lovely crucians. I have always enjoyed crucians, with their delicate bites, and nodding fight where the swim around and around in ever decreasing circles. I caught steadily all morning, but in the early afternoon, as the sun came out the bites dropped off so i called it a day.

The low point of the day was again losing a good fish. I hooked a powerfull fish which sped across the lake, again my float pinged back at me with only a large fish scale on the hook – probably a carp.

I try not to dwell on things when i lose a good fish, but i am now getting frustrated as i am hooking decent fish, but have become incapable of landing them.

After the trout fiasco earlier in the week, i have stepped up the strength of my hooklengths from 0.10mm to 0.13mm. The difference in breaking strain has therefore gone from 2.5ls to 4.5lbs. I thought this might have the effect of reducing the number of bites i had ( a throw back to my youth when most of my fishing was done on gin clear canals), but today proved that this step up in hooklength diameter has had little effect on the number of bites i get. In future i will start off strong and only go lighter if desperation strikes.

I found today i was bumping off alot of fish (mostly skimmers), and am worried that i being too heavy handed when playing fish. My goal for next time is to land all the fish i hook – this could result in me having epic 10 minute scraps with even the tiniest minnows!

Tony joined me later on in the morning and used pellet to catch some lovely crucians to well over a pound. He was amazed at the transformation of this little lake since the last time he came,as its so close to his house i am sure he will not be leaving at long between visits.

manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout

So Near Yet So ………………………………Far

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I spent a very enjoyable evening with Phil fishing of the mid-river lengths of our local river, it was especially memorable evening for me as my father who lives only a couple of hundred yards away decided to come and watch us fish for a few hours.
It was my dad got me hooked on angling when i was only 7 years old, so its a pity that he rarely picks up a rod these days. After a couple of hours watching Phil and me catching a chub a chuck he is now raring to go fishing this weekend. Hopefully there will be three generations of my family out fishing together for the first time in ages.
This evening I was the first to arrive and caught a nice wild brownie first cast. However i very nearly packed up in diusgust 20 minutes later when i hooked and then lost the mother of all trout. I hooked into the fish and its initial run bent my rod over like a hoop and stripped 20-25yds of line off the reel. It then performed some acrobatics, and proceded to swim back up river towards me. I felt great as i was gaining line on the fish, but as soon as the fish saw me and the net it turned a ran again this time snapping my 3.5lb hooklength. I was gutted. Even though i saw the fish i am not going to estimate its weight other than to say it was big.

Despite loosing that fish I was getting bites steadily all evening fishing maggots and using my new bait dropper to feed the swim. The swim i had chosed to fish was at the confluence of the main river and a smaller shallower tributary. Where the smaller river joined the main river there was a shelf and drop off so i fished this drop off as it seems as though its a natural fish holding area.
When Phil came he fished slightly upstream of me, and caught steadily too, though he had no luck with the trout he caught chub for fun all evening long.

Midway through the evening i decided to try the swim behind the island to see if i could tempt one of the larger chub that i think might reside there. After only couple of runs through, the float buried and after some more acrobatics i landed another brownie of about half a pound.

My dad was chuffed to bits to watch me catch this lovely little fish, amazed that the river, once so polluted can support a thriving population of oxygen loving fish such as trout and minnows.

As the evening drew to a close i re-joined Phil, and we caught a few more fish together. I didnt fish on until dark as the mosquitos were out in force, ignoring the DEET which i have finally resorted to using.

If i hadnt hooked that big fish in the first place i would be sitting here at home now feeling great after a very enjoyable evenings fishing. Seeing as though i lost the biggest trout i have ever seen from this river i am sitting here wishing i had tied a different knot, used a stronger hooklength, held my rod higher, set my clutch slightly lighter etc etc.
Gutted.
manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout

Ribble Again

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After having spent a couple of days working from home whilst my house has been invaded by builders, plumber, plasterers and electricians it was a welcome respite on Saturday evening to spend a few hours on the banks of the Ribble with Tony.

We were both looking forwards to revisiting the swim in which we had so much success last Monday. When we arrived i was shocked at the numbers of anglers lining the banks. Most of these guys sitting behind quiver tips rods and bite alarms and the scene was more reminiscent of a carp puddle than one of the Norths premier rivers. No matter how hard i try i still cant get the rationale of the bivvy, pellet, bite alarm world. As we walked upstream from the car park to the swims we wanted to fish, the number of anglers thinned out – presumably its too difficult to carry vasts amount of gear over a couple of stiles and 500yds of river bank.

After midweek rains the river had obviously had a good flush through and there was far less blanket weed to contend with. Water levels were up a good couple of feet from Mondays visit and wading was more difficult.

I settled into the swim that had been so productive on Monday, and was soon into a lively chub of about 3/4lb. Despite playing about with my rig, depths, weights and speed of run through i couldnt tempt any other fish into taking my bait. I was a little dissappointed as i thought that this was a cracker of a swim, as had been proved earlier in the week, but i wasnt too surprised as this is only my second visit to the Ribble and its so different to the Irwell where i usually fish.

In contrast to my limited success Tony caught a succession of fish from a swim 100yds downstream of me. He had a couple of lovely chub, the largest 4lb+, some great dace and a wild brownie. I enjoy watching Tony fish, as despite his very simple tactical approach he has a very skilfull technique when searching the drifts, runs and eddies of the swims he fishes in.

On reflection i feel as though i could have done no more in the way i worked the swim with the float and bait, but think i got the feeding completely wrong. I had a bait dropper in my bag but didnt use it, relying on loose feeding instead. The extra flow and pace of the water probably washed my loose feed out of the swim before it even got halfway down through the water column. Using the bait dropper would have got my loose feed down to the river bed and given a reason for fish to feed in the channels i had chosen to fish. By allowing the loose feed to wash down the river in the strong flow i gave the fish a reason to scatter and follow the bait. Hopefully Tony got the benefit of this as the loose feed washed into his swim!!

Phil and Tony swear by the use of a centre pin reel in this form of float fishing as a bait can be held back smoothly through the swim by using pressure from the thumb against the drum of the reel. I was using an open faced fixed spool reel wich results in line being released in an uneven jerky manner. Its small issues such as this which can result in a fish accepting or rejecting a bait and i am finding out the hard way. I am going to have to have a search on ebay and get myself a pin.

We fished on until 10.30pm as the twilight seems to last for ever at this time of year. As we walked back down the banks, the bivvy boys were settling down for the night with beta lights and alarms glowing and primed for action. We asked a few of them if they had been successful, with only one of them reporting having caught a fish – an eel of about half a pound. This made me feel a little better about my limited success, but those of you who know meknow that i am not fazed by a lack of fish as i enjoy fishing just as much as catching fish.

I really enjoyed my evening out, despite the rain the chat in the car is always about venues, tactics and fishing disasters – great fun.
manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout