A warm welcome to
this week’s Blog update and what a glorious week it has been with hot days and
long warm evenings making the whole week really enjoyable and I have to admit
to divulging in one or two extra trips to the bank this week to make the most
of this upturn in the weather.
The warmer weather
has of course brought all the local wildlife into full on feeding mode as all
wildlife from the birds to field mice scurrying round in an endless search for
food to feed their new families. A trip to a local pond this week showed
that the local frog and toad population is not doing too bad judging by the oil
slick of tadpoles in the margins.
Spring watch has
again occupied my evenings and I must say keeps on mesmerising me with the shots
of wildlife they capture in their natural environment and for anyone who is
following this year’s spring watch I am shocked to see the behaviour of the
jackdaws which keep attacking the chicks in the nest of another pair of
jackdaws so they can lay their eggs in there, just shows how cruel nature can
be even amongst the same species.
Moving slowly over
into some Blog news and I am proud to announce I am currently reviewing an App
for iPhone called iFishLocator and I must say my early impressions of using
this app are good so keep an eye out in the coming weeks for the review of this
app on the blog. If anyone reading this blog has a product or service they want
to have reviewed on my blog feel free to contact me on twitter by sending a
message to the blog’s twitter feed @SatonmyPerch or via the blog’s email
address dannysanglingblog@hotmail.co.uk. You can find some of my previous reviews
on the following links:
Dusk till Dawn Lamp: http://www.satonmyperch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/sports-direct-dusk-till-dawn-lamp.html
Calor Grill to Go: http://www.satonmyperch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/calor-grill-to-go-review-and-rixton.html
I am also going to
try and find some time in the next week or so to upload the flushing Meadows
pools into the Commercial page and also thinking of setting up another page to
hold the product reviews for easy access and reading for people who visit the
blog and are interested in some of the products I use along with my primary
fishing gear.
And on that we move
onto this week’s adventures on the bank and boy have I had fun this week.
“Eeeeely”
Good trip to the Sankey Canal
After dipping our toes
into the murky unknown depths of the Sankey Canal in Widnes last week and
finding the sport to be surprisingly good we decided to strike while the iron
was hot and revisit this venue this week for our main weekend session.
Last week’s session provided some really good silver fishing but we both agreed
that we could have done so much better had the local power station not started
pumping the water around midday. So full of optimism and eager to
discover more we set our set off into the night with the cars headlights
pointing towards the Sankey canal and its shoals of silver fish.
As with all our trips
to new venues the homework had been done on the internet the week leading up to
the trip and our eagle eyes had spotted likely looking spot to target but it
was a decent walk along the bank so we commandeered the help of our trusty
trolleys to help us carry our gear to our pegs. The walk to the area was
made easier by the fantastic views of the Mersey Estuary you get at this most
underrated of venues and even at this early hour the birds were out in full
force providing the perfect background music for this most atmospheric of
places, early mornings you just can’t beat them.
The swims we picked
where situated where the canal bottle necks and the reason we chose this was
due to the wind that was already blowing quite hard with the idea being to use
as little pole as possible as none of us wanted to be holding 13 metres of pole
in a gusty wind.
Set up in our chosen
swims only a few yards from each other we soon where both fishing and decided
to fish tight against the far side cover on a few sections of pole. I started off on the trusty poly ball float. In the first part of the session the action
was really slow with me catching only a few small rudd and a sole skimmer. My uncle being the fisherman he is was
already tinkering with his set up to crack the method needed to catch fish from
this place and he was soon picking up fish regular on a middle line.
I was not backward in
coming forward and soon abandoned my far bank line and set up a pole rig to
fish the middle line abandoning the poly ball for a proper float so I could
hold a line in the swim against the tow of the canal.
Feeding is the key
when silver fishing and this is where I feel the none stop bites of commercials
teach you nothing about “real” fishing where your feeding can be the difference
between a few fish and a good day on the bank.
We both continued to pick up bites until my uncle connected with a fish
that was solid and I was straight up off my basket eager to see what he had
caught. I was like a little kid stood
there waiting for the fish to break the surface when my uncle completely killed
the suspense by saying it was definitely an eel.
The fish came to the
surface and was ready to be netted, this is where calamity Danny took over as I
tried to net this eel, try as I must I could not net the eel that kept swimming
backwards out of the net!! My uncle sat on his basket could only laugh as I
tried and tried again to net the eel that was easily the biggest eel I have
seen but the longer I tried the worse I got at my netting attempts. To top the while scenario off my uncle said
he would net it and whilst playing the eel he netted the fish first go.
The eel was thick set
and very strong indeed much more so than I expected it to be and I must say
holding it for the pictures was no mean feat and testament to this was the
amount of pictures I have had to delete from my phone that where no good for
the update.
I returned back to my
swim and almost instantly connected with an eel myself which again punched
above its weight and as soon as I shouted to my uncle I had one on my uncle
struck into one and we both netter two bootlace eels and in true eel fashion we
both then sat for 5 minutes tying up a new rig in short eels have taught me
this saying, GREAT FIGHT BUT KEEP A NEW RIG IN SIGHT.
Luckily that was it
from the eel point of view for the session and I settled into a rhythm of
feeding the swim and catching roach and rudd.
As the swim developed through the day the skimmers got in on the act as
well and these fish went mad on the day for my ground bait laced with pinkies.
One of the better
skimmers.
I was amazed that
none of the big bronze bream showed up during the session as there was more
than enough bait going in to have attracted them in but it just wasn’t to
be. We ended the session with a cracking
net of silvers weighing over 17lb including some fantastic rudd and roach.
This venue is a real
gem of a place and a really underrated water on the card, yes it does hve a
really bad name for trouble and is a venue I would suggest you don’t fish alone
but the fish are there to be caught with plenty of surprise fish to keep you
motivated during a long session you really don’t know what the next fish will
be.
Monday
Afternoon Silver session – Curlston Mere
The sun beaming
through my window in work I could only think of one thing and that was chasing
a net of silvers on a local pool so a cheeky half day leave was booked for the
afternoon and I ran out of the front door at 12am and straight to the bait shop
for half a pint of maggots and half a pink of pinkies, a quick stop off for my
tackle and I was on my way to the bank. With just my box, a few sections of pole and
my net bag I was soon set up and ready to fish I must admit I would take this
seat any day of the week over the one I was sat in a hour earlier.
I used the rig I had
kept from the session on the canal but just reduced the amount of line between
the tip of the pole and the float to help me hit the bites that judging from
the small fish on top where going to be quick.
The fishing was fast and furious with none stop bites for the duration
of the two and half hours I was there.
The fishing was
really enjoyable and I found it hard dragging myself away but there was jobs to
be done and they needed doing ASAP so with a heavy heart I packed away but not
before I checked the shallows of the pool and found a number of small carp
sunning themselves. The next day was a
strike day off work so I vowed to visit the next day if the weather held and I
was in a fit state after a trip to the dentist, my biggest fear!
Tuesday Afternoon – Cheap as chips fishing
free-lining bread for carp
Waking up in the
morning I vowed my trip to the water for the carp would be my reward for
getting some much needed work done at the dentist I just hoped I was in a fit
state to enjoy it. The trip to the
dentist done and with one less tooth I made my way to the Co-op for my bait, a
crusty loaf of bread, price £1.15.
Keeping it as simple
as can be I travelled light to Curlston mere with only a rod and reel a pack of
hooks, landing net, unhooking mat and of course the cheap crusty loaf. The weather was roasting and the carp to my
relief were where I had left them…….GREAT.
Living in England it
is safe to safe chances to fish for carp on the surface with bread are few and
far between what with our damp climate of late so I was in no position to waste
this opportunity but these where carp and we all know just how tough to catch
these wise wild fish can be. Thankfully
this gem of a water sees very little angling pressure and during my 2 hours
chasing these carp I stuck into 9 and landed 6 but as always it was the bigger
carp that got away!
Well that is it for
this week’s update but as normal I leave you with a little something at the end
and this week it’s a video I took while visiting Anglesey on Sunday, just take
a look at this for a fishing opportunity with hundreds of rainbow trout being
fed by the holiday makers.
Also we visited the
Sea World on Anglesey which definitely left me in no doubt our little Abigail
is going to love her fishing as she watched the mullet and sea bass in the
large aquarium.
Till next week its
tight lines
Danny
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