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).
Should I Expect Anything Different?
manchester fishing Irwell Ribble Trout
It was just a case of finding them today , the lite hooks and hiding it in the bait is a big improvement .
Sure you will soon get back into them.
Me and my mate had a go on the mersey between stockport and parrs wood with lures yesterday. too cold and too low although as you metioned it was betfer than sitting about the house. The highlight was curing those blank blues with some retail therapy at hazel grove angling.
Phil and I are going to get our mountain bikes out soon, and see how much of the river we can explore. One of the swims we saw at the entrance of northenden golf club on ford lane looked like an absolute cracker.
Its a great problem we have – so many places to fish/explpore – so little time to fish!
The bit i was talking about between stockport and parrs wood has some great spots and i’ve only ever seen a handfull of people fishing. What i love about this time of year as well is there are new promising swims that were completely inaccessible in the summer due to the vegetation. Take a look for yourselves. The section between parrs wood and kingsway is cheadle anglers. My dads a member and he says he bags up on the chub there all the time.