Dace Fishing On The Irwell

27th June 2019 by Mike Duddy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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..