This year has been a huge time of change for me and my family and only now does it seem to be calming down a little so in this weeks introduction we look at what my plans are for the coming months with the blog, some good news around me getting some of my fishing gear replaced and fixed and then we look at plans to drastically change a local water to me as the concrete jungle closes in. As mentioned above the session is a quick morning on the canal fishing the Waggler.
On to the update.
Getting Back Into The Swing...
The passed few months i have been really struggling balancing moving house, work, devoting my time to my family and also keeping my standards up with regards the how in depth my blogs on here are, you then add to that other commitments to companies like Pondip its been a real strain. It may not seem like much has been going on as i think the last few weeks blogs have been some of the best i have wrote but it really has been hard work finding the time to put them together and to be honest there have been times when i have thought about just putting the blog to one side for a few weeks and coming back to it when the river season opens.
I am so glad i stuck at it and stayed up late at night making sure i got the weekly blog out as you really do get out of the swing of blogging when you take a gap, it can be really hard to get back going again. This past week or so though as we have moved into June i really am beginning to feel like the new routine is falling into place and it is so far so good with this week already getting out my monthly blog for Pondip and also a little surprise that might be coming in the next few months with Pondip so keep an eye open for that.
So all in all there is a lot to look forward too in the coming weeks and months with both things settling down and the new river season opening and then beyond that the start of the pike season.
Replacing Some Gear...
As i said above i am just coming out a mad few months and during that time money has been really tight indeed, canal trips have really helped with the saving on petrol with them being local and the bait costs being really cheap. With that it has meant any accidents that happen can not just be as simple to remedy as just going online when you come home and buy a new one as with a house to decorate you can not justify £60.00 on a replacement section of rod.
In the past 3 months i have manged to snap the tip off my 17ft trotting rod and also seen my number 8 section of pole go rolling into the drink on the canal so its not been a great time for me trying to keep costs down and look after my gear. These two items will both send me back over £60.00 so when i chance of two days overtime came up- last weekend i jumped at the opportunity, both days battered it meant no fishing but as it has meant i have been shattered all this week so that session on Saturday can not come soon enough on the canal.
The Ever Encrouching Concrete Jungle...
I logged into my own personal facebook this week to be met with the news that a local water is being ear marked for further land development. The venue is Pheonix Park on the Warrington Anglers Card and although it is already situated in the middle of a densely populated suburb these plans show development will be right up to the waters edge.
Looking at this it is going to almost certainly mean more development all around this lake till the whole bank is houses and although there is huge demand for housing it just seems that the little oasis's among towns are now being eroded away.
There is of course always two sides to the story and i can also see that these houses are needed on a national level and maybe it is better to build within the town boundary than encroach further out into the countryside. There is also a part of me that looks at theses and thinks. well they are getting built anyway what a house it would be for an angler as you could literally fish on your front door step! Deep down though i would much prefer it to be the green area it is now.
On to this weeks fishing..
Waggler Fishing on the Bridgewater Canal
Fishing the canal as a kid with my dad all our fishing was done on either a small whip we called a "snatcher" or on the float rod. Poles where in angling at this time but where a far cry from the poles we see today that are built for taming big carp. The modern day poles we see today actually hold their origins in the match fishing scene where they where built for catching roach on the canal and this is where they got their name "roach pole". A few anglers around our area had poles but they where very expensive and me and my dad certainly never fished on the pole.
This session i decided to go back to the old ways and leave the pole in the holdall and go all out for a session on the waggler. I knew results would not be as good as on the pole as you lose all the accuracy you get with the pole as you can feed right on the same spot every time and then lay your bait right in the middle of that small patch of feed every time and this just is not possible with the waggle where feeding is a lot more spread out and you certainly lose accuracy in where you fish each cast.
Casting in with the float meant a move of swim for this session for a section that was a lot wider which allowed me to cast right against a far wall between a willow and a overhanging tree and then quickly sink the line and fish right up on the far bank shelf. The bait for the day was maggots left over from last weeks session and in all honestly this session was a spare of the moment session on the bank that i only settled on the night before. Like all previous sessions it was a early morning session from sunrise till around 10am.
As you can see from the swim pic above the canal was in top condition with just a tinge of colour and i was hopeful for a few bites i did however know from experience that the overhanging willow was a magnet for small jack pike in the 1-3lb bracket so i expected a few visitors during the morning. As always the early exchanges where dominated by smaller fish and it seemed a good while the roach fed in the swim
I was catching steady over the far bank but the quality of fish just was not there. I was not expecting monsters as i was fishing maggot but some of the fish i was catching were the stamp i would expect on a pinkie line and not a far bank maggot line. I began to feed right far over against the wall almost and the stamp of fish improved. It was really hard fishing as it meant casting right over tight and then quickly mending the line and winding hard to sink the line. It seemed the better roach and odd bream where right over tight and when i got it right i was rewarded.
The session was no where near as prolific weight wise as previous pole sessions but in all honesty this session was not about that. This session was a session back watching a self cocker float dotted right down shoot under and strike into a fish, on some occasions. It served its purpose as well and while the net dried i managed to get a few shots for a upcoming blog for Pondip so i left the bank a happy angler.
A typical mixed canal net that fed my angling addiction for that weekend and the weekend just gone where i was on overtime. I hope this blog shows you don't always need a pole to catch a few fish on the canal.
Till next week its tight lines from me,
Danny
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