River Season End, Cheshire Fishery and Xchange Landing Net Review

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  Its safe to say that spring is well and truly here now and its fantastic to see all the little changes i spotted a week or two ago no bursting into full life and all around it seems like the world is coming to life.

Recent trips to the bank have seen the ducks starting to pair of and "do their thing" if you get me and a recent trip for an evening session on a a pond i was greeted to the margins alive with toads all preparing to spawn.  The morning commute to work is now done to the back drop of bird song and i know i always say that i love winter as the best time of year for myself enjoying my time on the bank but i think the reality is i love all the seasons for the little bits of magic they bring.

It is at this time of the year i find myself just heading out with just my camera on my phone to take some shots of nature and leave the rods tucked away at home.  The venues are always water related in some way but its just good to be out in the fresh air.  The Monday to Friday job as i have always said is simply just a means to an end to putting food on the table and pay the bills.  Its 4 walls and 5 windows do get you down so time is needed alone out in the wilderness with your thoughts or just by a river to wash away those stagnating days in the dungeon.

There have been some good changes recently in work and one of them has been the introduction of a late shift every week till 6.30pm.  The late is not great news but with a late finish comes a late start so it has meant i can take my time and after dropping the kids off at nursery i have a hour or two to burn.  This week i am writing this piece for my main blog but last week i took a leisurely walk along the local canal.

The walk was on a warm Wednesday morning the sun on my back and my camera in my hand it was a great start to my day.  Daffodils lines the path and fish where topping on the end of the wind i was heading into work in the next half hour but that was firmly at the back of my mind.

A lovely spring day

On to the update...

Time To Spring Into Life....

This week my next article for my role at Warrington Angling Centre went live.  I always try to keep these articles in a different style to this blog with them being more about the how i fish than the fishing as such.  I have always tried to keep this written blog about the experience of my fishing and not so much about the diameter of the line used.

In this latest blog i look at how i prepare away from actually fishing a session as spring arrives.  How and why i travel to the venues before i even wet a lone and the best times i have found for visiting that water you are looking forward to fishing in the coming weeks.

Here is a link the the article: http://www.warringtonangling.com/time-to-spring-into-life/

There are links at the bottom of the article to rate it out of 5 stars and to share it on your social media platforms.  It would be great if you could suport the articles in any way.

Xchange Landing Net Review

Product Info:
Price: £20.00
Link to product: https://www.tincafishing.co.uk/xchange--interchangeable-landing-net

Product description:
The XChange Interchangeable Landing Net Head is a landing net with a difference because you can change between different mesh sizes, depths and materials with ease.  It comes supplied with a set of 3 different varieties of mesh, and two more can be purchased separately.  Not only does this provide you with an all-round net, that is more cost effective, but it also means that if one mesh was to break or get a hole in it, you could easily put on a new one without having to buy a whole new frame!

Review: 
A few weeks ago i was contacted by a company asking if i was interested in reviewing one of their products.  A landing net that allowed you to change the mesh to either a deeper one or a rubber one depending on the size or species you where fishing for.  It looked a really exciting product so i agreed to take a look.  What came really did capture myself as i think it is a fantastic bit of thinking outside the box and innovation.

Like with all things the best ideas are almost always the most simple and this one i no different.  A cut in the metal allows you to slide off the widget on the landing net mesh and pull it completely off the metal rim.  Attaching the new net is a simple as sliding the next net onto the gap into the metal.

I found this net really useful on a a recent session on Cheshire Fishery where i knew the carp had woken up so i wanted a deeper net in case some of the carp showed.  Luckily i  did as in the last hour 27lb of carp appeared under my feet.

The net offers fantastic versatility whilst only carrying the one net.  The rubber net will certainly come into its own for predator anglers fishing for perch who want a lightweight net with some depth in case an esox makes an appearance.

All in all a great product and below is it up close on the bank with my first ever video review.

Cheshire Fishery Silvers On Pole...

The river season in truth came to a drab and wet conclusion with most of the rivers carrying a good amount of water as we moved into the closed season.  At times like this it can be hard to decide what to do as the natural still waters are still slowly waking from their winter hibernation.  It can mean we are left with a period of quite hard fishing and this is when i firmly turn my attention to the commercials for some action.

A fishery we headed to last year was Cheshire Fishing in Tattenhall and it served us well for both silvers and the odd rod bending carp.  We decided to again head there again in search of the fantastic roach that reside in this venue please check out the session below.

The plan for the session was to fish two lines, one on caster and hemp for the silvers and the other for carp on a heavier elastic and bigger bait in corn.  The first few hours we sat in a cold corner of the complex struggling for bites and we soon decided to have a move onto one of the other pools on the lake.  It was a move that would remind me just how mad fishing can be.  Two pools on the same complex with the same conditions and same water depth yet one was dead and the other was alive.

With only 3 hours of the session left it did feel like it was only a case of hoping to get a few bites if we moves.  I set up on pool 5 and literally went down to one line on castor and Cheshire Particle Hempseed.  My plan was to try and make the most of the time we had left and just enjoy getting a few bites.

The rig was a simple light float that took 3 number 8 weights and i spread them evenly down the line to allow me to target fish in all the water layers as the bait fell.  The bait was introduced via a Preston soft pot. 

The fish where soon coming regular to the hemp and caster and with this type of fishing you really do get into a rythm.  I find each session is different with how the fish want you to feed, sometimes it is better to lay your rig in and feed over the top and others its best to feed and then follow it in with your rig.  On this session feeding first was certainly better.

The fish in the swim in good numbers i knew competition for the bait would son see the fish coming up in the water to the castors so i quickly set my rig to half depth and i certainly saw the quality of the silvers improve.  Testament to the competition i started to even get the odd skimmer on the drop.

Why is it with this type of fishing that when its good the time flies bye.  As the session came to an end the fishing went from strength to strength as the swim built up and the dusk set in.  I knew i had caught well but i was not ready for the final net to go over the 20lb mark!!

My first session out with the Cheshire particle hem seed and hemp oil, more on that in the coming weeks blogs but as first outing s go, well 20lb of roach in 3 hours speaks for itself!

Just a quick update this one really but there is some exciting news coming in the next update along with the regular videos on youtube.

Till next time

Tight Lines

Danny

End February Update - Chub Session and Simple Pike Rig

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets are wet.  Talking of wet just how wet has the passed two weeks been in the UK it has made fishing very very difficult indeed.  Old Dorris swept through causing endless chaos on the roads and no doubt on the rivers as well as i am sure she will have created a few more snags for those chub to hide from us anglers in.

Looking Forward To March 2017.....

so i thought with this new way of blogging it would be good for the last blog of each month to have a little look at my plans, as always weather permitting , for the upcoming month.  March is always a month of mixed emotions as we say good bye to the rivers and normally the pike fishing as well fades away during this month also.

"As One Door Closes So Another Opens"

In life i always refer to the saying "as one door closes so another opens" and it is never more true than in fishing.  The river and piking doors close and it opens up opportunities on the canals and lakes for some silver, tench and carp fishing.  Planning is always essential of course so with bad weather this weekend i spent most of Sunday driving round some waters just getting a feel for them for future trips.

So March, i have been lucky enough to be invited to fish a pike match towards the middle of march so i am looking forward to that and even if i dont catch it will be an experience to remember i am sure.  The first two weeks of march i am hoping to get out on the rivers for at least one session for roach and dace and of course some more chub fishing

.

If the weather continues as the rivers are high and coloured then my attention will turn to a bit of piking or carp fishing to see if we can winkle out one or two fish but all being well i am remaining positive and expecting to be out on the river.

My Simple Pike Rig...

So it has been around 3 years since the term deadbaiting appeared in my blogs and over that time i have had so many adventures chasing these beautiful creatures.  It has been hard going this season for them but asking around it seems to have been hard for all with pike being quite absent from their normal haunts.

Over that time i have tried many rigs for pike and although the choice of rig is determined by the venue m ore than anything else there is one rig that i would take anywhere.  In my recent article for Warrington Angling Centre i share my simple but effective float rig, a rig you can use for dead baiting and live baiting and a rig that offers no end of versatility in presentation on and off the bottom.

link to article: http://www.warringtonangling.com/deadbait-pencils-the-stealth-item-in-your-box/

On To The Fishing..

Chub Fishing - Effort Equals Success....

As mentioned above it has been a typically wet February and with it it has meant the rivers have generally been up above their fishable levels and for some of the bigger rivers in the fields.  When the weather is like this we look to the spate rivers and tributaries as these will generally fall and drop quite quickly.

When fishing a river you do need to spend time learning the river and how she behaves, most rivers you can work out how long they will take to drop and more importantly at what level they will be fishable.  It is also important not to be too put off by colour in the river as most river fish will be hard on the feed in the coloured water looking for insects and grubs washed in and often the only factor to consider is the pace of the river as to whether or not to fish it.

When you get to grips with your river you can then travel to their banks with confidence rather than hope and can actually make the most of small windows of opportunity where the river is fishable.  This window might only be a few hours before the next rain in the hills sends the river back into spate but for that window you can at least get a pull oin your string.

On this session i spotted the river was dropping fast and was fishable in the morning on the EA, i knew i might only have a hour and the fishing would be hard but if i located a shoal i would have a chance.  I traveled a good mile of river before i landed in a swim that held some chub and the action was frantic with chub and a rogue trout coming thick and fast

The second week was a complete write off with rain pouring down all week and flooded rivers meeting us at the weekend.  I decided to make the most of this gap and go for a look around some waters i fancy fishing in the coming weeks and it was certainly time well spent.

pic flowers

till next time i wish you all 

tight lines

Danny