Chubbin..... at your age?

"I walked across an empty land,

I knew pathway like the back of my hand

I felt the earth beneath my feet,

Sat by the river and it made me complete"

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update and I am sure we have all heard or been involved in a conversation about the song that the lyrics above were taken from.  It is of course the Christmas John Lewis advert about the Bear and the Hare, a very sad video and one that does tug on the heartstrings but it was the very first verse of the song, shown above, that stuck in my heart and there is a lot of truth in it for myself as when you are sat beside that river with the sight and sounds that go with such a scene you can sit back, look around, and the worries that go with life drift away like the very leaves passing down the river in front of your eyes, fishing offers so much more than the thrill of catching a fish sometimes.

The River Dane Valley on Sunday, i was all alone, the only one on the bank, perfect time for peace, quiet, relaxation, reflection and contemplation. 

Drifting slowly away from that sombre opening we move onto a subject that was posted on the River Dee facebook page this week which caught my eye, the Welsh Dee Salmon Conservation Fund.  The Fund is trying to raise funds for a Scientific investigation into the current and historical release patterns of water from Llyn Celyn.  The conservation believe that these unnatural releases of water are partly to blame for the decline of salmon spawning in the upper reaches of the River Dee area, an area it is suggested that should be the breeding area for 15-20% of the total breeding stock of salmon in the river dee system.  Money raised for this fund will go towards undertaking studies into the effects of these releases and see if they are in some part to blame for the decline.

You can check the Fund out on the link below and maybe purchase a raffle ticket to help towards this cause.

link: http://www.welshdeesalmonconservationfund.co.uk/

Last weeks Fishy Fact of Fiction drew some great comments both in the comments section on here, Blogs Facebook and Twitter Page and on Maggot Drowners Forum where i have been posting this subject up.  The most funny comment of the week has to go to one of the people who commented on Facebook, Andy Wareham (said you would be in haha) who commented the following to the debate and i quote "Nope, there as thick as s$$t, but smarter than a lot of the anglers that fish for em" Not the most scientific of comments that was posted in relation to this subject this week but the certainly the only one that saw me spewing out a gob full of nescafe gold blend. 

on to this weeks fishy Fact or Fiction:

 "The introduction of Commercial Fisheries Ruined Fishing"

  Commercial fisheries are now firmly part and parcel of our fishing world, like it or not the truth is that you are now normally no more than a few miles away from a heavily stocked pond, snake lake, canal or arena, its the current angling world we live in.  But has the introduction of these fisheries improved or damage fishing?  First of all lets look at the positives that commercials have brought to angling.

There is no doubt that commercial fisheries offer older anglers a chance to go fishing till a much older age the comfort of parking behind your peg so you can literally park behind your peg and your fishing and the same can be said for any disabled anglers out there are some of these fisheries have exceptional fishing platforms and facilities.  The angling industry has dramatically benefited financially from these commercials as well just look at the wide variety of tackle that has exploded thanks to these commercial fisheries, walk in any tackle shop these days and the shelves are stacked with all manner of pellets and infinite gadgets a gizmo's to get that bait into your swim not to mention the money generated by the countless poles on the market.  There is no doubting that had commercials not come about you would not have seen as many poles aimed at carp fishing with extra strong carbon fibre and power kits to tackle the large carp in these pools.  The fishing industry are not the only ones to benefit financially from the angling worlds lust for easy access fishing with plenty of bites, its safe to say the Farming industry has seen great financial benefits from building fishing ponds on their land and the very one i fish, Flushing Meadows, is exactly that, set up by a farmer to supplement their income during what has been a terrible time for farming in this country, these ventures have saved a lot of farms from going under. 

These commercial fisheries also serve as a great place to introduce youngsters and new people to the sport.  The pools are generally stocked to over the recommended level suggested by the EA meaning, in the summer at least, catching is guaranteed, if you can put a rod with a maggot in the water you will catch a fish and this showed when we fished flushing this year when Ricky, who had never ever fished before came along and left catching countless silvers and a few carp.  The bottom of these commercials are generally of the same mould with 3ft margin shelves dropping down to 8-9ft then back up to a shelf on the far bank so they make for quite simple fishing meaning they are a great place for new people to the sport to start and the fact they catch fish can hook them for life.  Many think they offer invaluable places to test out new methods and to learn new techniques but as you will read in a bit i do not necessarily agree with this.  The boom in these fisheries has also seen increased revenue for fish farms that are paid to stock fish into these ventures.  In summary i feel that commercials offer quite a lot of good into our sport both financially and into the grass roots levels.

Of course there are always two sides to the story and i have to say for the good that commercial fisheries have done for angling the bad damage they have done is just as dramatic.  Pre the rise of commercial fisheries the banks of the local rivers where well populated with anglers, my very own local canal the Bridgewater regularly held open matches being fished by a 100 plus anglers, a sight you no linger see.  The river Dee had matches and anglers all along its lengths where now there is no sign they were there at all as nature has completely reclaimed to pegs they made and gaps in the trees that once where there are now thick with shrubs and new trees.  This exodus of people from canal and rivers is definitely down to the rise of commercial fishing, no doubt in my mind about that, as just look at it this way why would anyone, on a cold, wet and overcast day want to walk two or three farmers fields to fish a river or lug their gear along a canal bank where they may only catch 10lb of silver fish when they can pull up at their local commercial, pay 6 quid, park behind their peg and be certain to catch double maybe triple the weight of fish they would have done.  As a country, over the past 20 or so years, have become very lazy look at the introduction of cars now and how people get in a car to go the local shop rather than walk and the same can be said for angling with the introduction of these commercials, walk fields or roll out of your car, many choose the easy option, and on some days who can blame them.  So i would certainly say commercials have had a devastating effect on river fishing in this country and i only think things will improve once people get fed up with the repetitive nature of the different commercial fisheries. 

The general findings are that most commercial fisheries are stocked to around 25% more than what the Environment Agency state is suitable for a water and the only reason this is allowed id the fact that the anglers bait going in regular provides enough food for these fish to survive at such a population, but is this right? should fish be forced to feed so willingly that they lose their natural fear because the need to feed.  Earlier on in the piece i suggested that commercial fisheries offer great places for people to learn fishing and that is correct but what they do not do is teach people anything about proper fishing in this country away from commercials, these people who have only ever learnt to fish a commercial go to a local canal and feed it the same as they would the commercial and soon find the fish away from commercials are not so easy to catch and a lot soon lose interest where as if they learnt the sport the other way round, i.e learnt to fish on a canal they would find that they were a lot more successful in their commercial fishing.  These commercials teach people how to fish but not how to catch fish in my opinion. 

On the final note and this has nothing to do with financial gains to the fishing world, its more personal and emotional to me than that and its the fact that commercials have created this aura that if you are not catching carp on these commercials then its a bad day and the measure of how good a day is going is by how many carp you have caught.  Match weights in this arena of anglers displaying like peacocks are not worth mentioning unless they are over 100lb in weight and they do create a feeling amongst young anglers that silver fish are a nuisance i see it all the time of flushing meadows, a kid gets a bite, strikes and pulls in a big roach approaching a pound, a cracking fish! yet why does he look so upset with this capture? its because its not the carp he was after, meanwhile i am sat there getting funny looks as i am hurriedly looking for my camera to photograph a roach half the size, its a sad sight to see and it kills me every time i see it to the point i feel like going over and taking the lad to a canal to teach him to appreciate all he catches.

Well there is is, more writing than you will probably see in your weekly fishing rag and i haven't even got onto my fishing yet haha.  Over to you guys what do you think?? 

I did have something else to talk about but that will have to wait, on to this weeks fishing:

Saturday 9th November 2013 - Canal Roulette

Speaking to my uncle on the phone late on Friday night as i walked to the local shop i had a fear inside that our panned trip to the canal the next day could well be a tough encounter.  A glance up to the sky revealed a dark blanket of deep blue speckled with all the stars of the solar system in full display, there was not a cloud in sight, this could only mean one thing if it continued into the late evening, an over night frost.   Frosts are a welcome sight for myself as it means the fishing in our rivers is about to come into its own but an over night frost just before a session on a canal is a killer.  Frosts and still water fishing generally follow a set way of thinking that the day after the first frost will be really poor fishing wise but if that frosts continues and the temperature remains low for a few days the fish do get used to it and you can have some really good days fishing once the low temperatures have settled, our session would be the first day after a hard frost, not good.

Our chosen canal was the Sankey Canal in Widnes, we chose this purely because of its depth, it is a lot deeper in general than the Bridgewater and we hoped this would improve our chances of the frost not effecting the fishing.  Walking down the path to our chosen area of the canal the sun rose over the Mersey estuary illuminating it in a warm red glow that turned the sky a deep red colour which was reflected in the rivers watery surface providing us both with a beautiful scene across the estuary.  Most of the country was still in bed and did not knew what they were missing, i have to say that when the day comes that i can no longer get out and wet a line it wont be the fishing i will miss be the beautiful scenery and atmospheres i have experienced during the early morning, it was a privilege to have witnessed such a lovely sunrise.

As we examined our chosen swims we were both amazed by how clear the water was, it was in stark contrast to our trips a few weeks ago where you could not see the bottom clearly at all but now snags and rises in the bottom where plain for all to see and worryingly there was little sign of any fish.  I set up two lines, one straight down the middle and another against the far reeds and to my amazement the depths where very similar, surely there had to be fish holding in water this deep.  My uncle had set up a short distance down the canal but between us there was a whole bank of white crunchy grass that bore the evidence that we had in fact experienced a hard frost.

I fed the swim as lightly as a dared and only introduced a small amount of bait, my ground bait mixed as slop to produce a cloud and colour the water up to try and give the fish confidence to feed but with no substance in the ground bait slop to feed the fish at all.  the bait was a humble white maggot, a sign of the times again was that the local tackle shop did not have and pinkies or squats for sale on Friday.  The short story about this is the only action either of our swims saw was the sight of two swans passing through and in fact i think as one passed through it might of been the only time the top of my float threatened to get wet.

Three hours in and neither of us had had as much as a knock, it was time to stick or twist, stay and maybe the the fishing would pick up or twist and head of straight away to the stretch of the bridgewater we fished last week where we had both caught a decent weight of fish.  We both decided that it was highly unlikely that the fishing where we where was going to improve so we decided to pack up and head off to the Bridgewater Canal.

Its safe to say that autumn is definitely slowly giving way to winter and almost all the trees are know a mixture of the colours of the fall and it was amazing to see such the colours of the end of autumn in the trees on the far bank of the canal when we arrived.  We are on the banks every week and it really does put you in situations where you can see the seasons change and i must say even the most famous of artists can not compare to natures vast palette.

the trees of late autumn, beautiful.

trees pic

The fishing here started off like a house on fire with 3 instant bites and i thought, yes! here we go but the reality was that this brief early flurry would make up the majority of the action as i tinkered and searched around for the remaining few hours picking up another one or two fish.  The two nets from this week and last week put side by side shows just how much a frost effects the fishing, i have no doubt the fish where still there but where just not feeding. I guess that is fishing for you, one week 10lb next week 10 fish.

Sunday 10th November - Chubbin'.........at your age?

The cold still tingling in my finger tips i woke early on Sunday with one intention and that was to get out on a river.  Rivers run cold all year and as the fish are constantly swimming against the flow they are not effected as much by the frosts, in fact on some rivers the frosts are actually the start of the really good fishing.  There are of course fish , like barbel, that's metabolism slows down as the weather cools but I had my heart set on a fish who's veracious appetite is as large as their mouths, the gregarious Chub.

There River Dane was my destination a river that i have not fished as much as i would like to over the past year but as it one of the small rivers i began fishing when i started fishing rivers it holds a special place in my heart.  As i turned off the motorway and start passing along the back roads my heart begins to beat that little bit faster in anticipation of that first glimpse of the Dane Valley.

Arriving at the car park i had the minimum of tackle with me, a ruck sack with my bait and tackle box, feeder rod, trotting rod, landing net, rod rest and a unhooking mat that would double up as something to sit on.  I walked straight to the nearest point i could find where i could see the river and like i had thought she was carrying a good bit of extra water and was really pushing through at some speed but the one thing that that i did notice in this early look at her was that the colour was dropping nicely and the river had that almost tea colour to it, it was not going to be easy but i was in with a shout if i used my head and read the river correctly.

To my amazement, on such a fantastic morning, the car park was empty, i was the only angler and i had the whole two fields to explore.  I was a man with a plan and i quickly set in my mind 4 swims across the two fields that i wanted to fish.  I knew from experience where the different pockets of chub would be so it would be a case of reading the river to work out where i thought they would be in the conditions i was faced with.

I started off in a swim where i have caught many chub in the past its an area with plenty of cover where the main flow kisses some nice snags as it moves through. Normally this is a swim i would trot a float through but that was certainly out of the question today as the float would be in and out in a matter of seconds, it was going to be a day on the feeder for sure.  The rig I use has developed over time and i must say my time chasing carp on the blogs carp quest has seen me develop my rig from a simple running lead stopped by a shot to the rig in the picture below.

my rig

The rig itself is still the simple rig i used when i first started in its principle and the additions are there to improve the functionality and reliability of the rig.  I never add something to a rig if it does not add something substantial for me and every aspect of this rig does.  The lead clip system not only allows me to quickly change the weight of the lead i am using quickly but it is also free running and the reason for this is when the fish takes the bait it feels no resistance from the lead as the line pulls straight through the lead clip yet i get a lot of reaction on the tip as the chub is pulling directly on the tip and not against a fixed lead.  The rig sleeve below the swivel is something that come from the carping and helps to kick the line away from the lead to reduce the chances of the rig tangling as lets face it you do not want to be sitting there watching a tip if below the water your rig is not fishing so this aides that and the quick change link allows me to quickly change the length of my hook length with east should i need too.  You may also notice the hook has no hair rig on it, in my experience chub and hair rigs do not go together all bait for my chub fishing goes directly on the hook which in this case is a size 10 and of course the line is Maxima, old school till the end.

I purchased a bait dropper a few months ago for my fishing on the River dee when the fish are coming up in the water and i feel no bait is getting down so i can introduce some bait on the bottom and get the fish feeding where i want them.  I have since found this to be a invaluable tool in my fishing on smaller rivers, i used it on the session i caught the chub and barbel on another river earlier on in the year to great effect.  It is safe to say my fishing style on these rivers has changed dramatically since i first started out, as my knowledge of rivers has built up i have developed a new found patience, years ago i could not wait to get a bait in the water but time has taught me differently and with that i introduced two bait droppers of maggot, corn and my secret chub bait into the area i thought the chub would be in and i sat back, poured myself a warming cup of hot vimto and admired the beautiful, crisp cold morning as the world around me woke up.

Chub are not really a fish you are going to see topping to give their presence in the swim away and unless it is really clear and you can see the fish in the swim, you have to trust to your judgement that you are doing the right thing.  I lowered my rig into position as to not spook any fish that may have been attracted by the bait, placed the rod on the rod rest and laid the line across my finger waiting for that unmistakable pluck on the tip.  I was confident and sure i was doing the right thing and for once there was no doubts in my head, had read the river and this is where i thought the chub would be.

The river in front of me continued to plough through and along its continuous conveyor belt was an endless stream of autumnal leaves, yellows, browns and reds all fluttering through the swim with the odd one plucking the line as it moved through but to strike at these would be foolish no matter how violent the pulls where they were no chub bite.  When i am roaming the river i normally only give each swim around 30 minutes but i had around 5 hours of fishing time today and as the swim i was in was a swim i knew held a good number of chub i decided early on to give this swim the more time than the others.

The tip danced as the odd bit of extra flow boiled along the crease in the river almost as if it was dancing to the rivers beat and it was just after one of these flows in the rod tip i felt a sharp pluck across my finger and the tip wrap round, it all happens in a split second and to be honest you never really remember the sight of the wrap on your tip as the instinct to strike takes over and you feel the vibrations through the carbon rod.  i struck and was met with solid resistance as the chub held its ground for a split second before making a lunge for the cover, no room for niceties here its time to trust in your knots and keep the rod low and your finger on the spool to not let the fish take any line, if you do its over as if the fish makes the labyrinth of tree roots and branches for sure.  The rod, a drennan heavy feeder was working a treat as it cushioned the lunges really well whilst having the back bone to turn the fish.  The fish in the middle of the river now presented me with another problem and that was moving the fish up to the net against the almighty torrent it was tough going with the fish now beaten and on the top but with my new long handled landing net i was able to net the fish quite far into the river so this really eased the problem and with the fish now resting in the landing net i took a second to catch my breath before wetting the unhooking mat and unhooking the fish.

The fish went 5lb 5oz on the sclales but the net weight 1lb 8oz so that makes this chub 3lb 13oz.

The pictures done and weight taken it was back into the landing net to be fully rested in a slack before releasing the fish back.  I must add here i do normally carry a keep net with me as putting chub back into a swim, if you intend to fish on, is not the best idea as it does spook the shoal  but today i did not want any extra weight to carry that would make me think twice about moving, i wanted to be mobile.

The fish returned i introduced another bait dropper of bait and celebrated my chub with another hot vimto as although i was fully prepared for the cold conditions with my thermal bib and brace, two T shirts, a thick hoodie and my skee tex thermal boots you still need that warm drink inside you.  Testament to how cold it was during the morning was the fact that after these chub pictures where taken my phone had 70% battery, not long after its return i wanted to take a picture of the rig on the box for the blog and i was met with a blank screen and the picture for me to plug my phone into to charge before i could use it again!! The phone made its way into my fleece lined pockets to warm her up whilst i warmed my inside with some good old vimto and after that chub it tasted as sweet as could be.

I spent the next hour or so in this swim with only a tiny grayling as reward for my perseverance although it was a fin perfect example of the species and does show the grayling are breeding in this area, which is good news.

Eventually my expectations for this swim dwindled and the inner explorer in me was itching to try the next swim and my hope was that the fish would be ready and waiting as i had nipped along all the swims with a dropper of bait before fishing.  This next swim was  a tough swim to fish as the area i wanted to fish was on the other side of the flow but i knew it just had to hold a chub or two.  Over went my rig and the rod rest was held high to keep all the line out to the main flow.  This next bit shows the importance of having your finger on the line as it was while i was not looking at the rod tip and replying to Mr Munro's comment on the blogs Facebook page i felt that tell take pluck on my finger tip and instinct took over as i dropped the phone and struck into the fish, had i just been watching the tip and looked away i would of missed the bite for sure.

The fight from this fish was weird to say the least as it did not feel like a chub at all in fact the fight felt more like a roach as it zigged and zagged in the swim.  It had the weight of a nice fish and i did wonder if it was a big trout or grayling at one point but then the fish dropped down into the flow and with it being quite shallow here i could see the tell take big white rubber lips that only chub posses silhouetted against the sandstone bottom of the river.  Again the flow provided me with a problem but the long landing net pole again helped me out.

The chub went 5lb 2oz on the scales so slightly smaller than the previous one.

It is worth mentioning here a bit about safety on the bank and especially on the river banks.  I was alone on the river on Sunday but i had told two members of my family the exact stretch of river i was going and i had made plans to get home for the football in the afternoon so they knew what time to expect me back home.  Safety on the bank is also important, especially when you are alone, as although the river may be shallow enough that if you did go in you would be able to stand up in most places, you turn your ankle on the way down or worse break a leg and you are in serious trouble, those heavy thermals that are there to keep you warm, when wet become your undoing.  One bit of kit, apart from a mobile phone of course, that i have found invaluable on the rivers is my long handled landing net as the picture shows below i could land the fish and rest it in the margins all from the top of the high bank without ever having to go down the bank to land the fish, be safe out there.

This swim and the remaining two swims produced no bites at all for myself but it was not through want of trying i feel i gave every swim my all and maybe the only thing i may have done better was to not have spent as much time on the first swim as i dad and maybe i would have been able to get around a few more swims.  I left one happy angler i really felt i had read the river, in tough conditions and user my watercraft to find the fish, i have no doubt had i been fishing this a year or two ago i would have blanked as i would have gone for the same places i normally fish and not where the fish are.  The dane really is a great river to learn about creases, undercuts and slacks, i am sure the river will be in fine fettle this weekend so why not give it a go and let me know how you got on.

One thing i did notice on my way back to the car was this shallow pond that has been filled by the recent rains.  I remember passing it and having a chuckle to myself as i thought please god do not let Warrington  Anglers committee see this pool as they will have it stocked with 3lb carp in no time at all!! On the upside at least it will mean the road down to the stretch will be kept in pristine condition, maybe we should dig one on the Dee at Worthenbury haha.

Well that is the blog for another week i do hope you enjoy reading about my adventures on the bank.

till next time

Tight lines

Danny

Best Laid Plans On The Sankey Canal

A warm welcome to this week’s blog update, I hope I find you well and your nets brimming with fish. This week there have been some slight but noticeable changes in the weather as we move slightly on from the relentless scorching sunshine into a period of more changeable unsettled weather in the form of heavy showers and periods of really humid weather. This extra water has been a blessing for our rivers and I have been keeping an eye on their levels and although none have flooded all have had a good flush through which will do them no harm at all and should see sport on our rivers improve drastically.

I use a calendar on a daily basis I work but that didn’t prepare myself for the shock that hit me this week that we are already in the month of August, just where have the months gone this year. My weekly fishing trips and subsequent weekly blog do give my life structure but still it doesn’t seem like yesterday that I wrote about my joy for the river season reopening and that most magical of days was two months ago now. I guess it also hits you more when you realise the fact that my little girl is 1 year old next month and time really does fly bye.

With regards my fishing I have been for some time now at a cross roads of uncertainty around what direction I want to take my fishing into as I really do enjoy building up net of silvers but slowly that urge to sit and wait it out for bigger species is creeping into my mind and thoughts of a net of silver darts are slowly being eroded with thoughts of loading the car with just a feeder rod and a few pellets and heading off in search of some chub and barbel, is this just an itch that needs a scratch or is it a sign of things to come? I guess only time will tell but there is certainly a sense of change in the air and I feeling of certainty that trips for species like barbel and pike could be on the card in the coming weeks.

For the time being at least I have been resisting the urge to grab my trust barbel rod of an evening and spending that time walking the local canal to my house, the Sankey canal. I must say with the hustle and bustle of work of late that comes with a new project of work the walks along the canal of an evening have proved to be a great mind clearer and isn’t it amazing how problems that twist our thoughts can be so easily unravelled by some fresh air and a good dose of British wildlife.

Along these trips, being the wildlife enthusiast I am, I of course made a few friends and in true Danny’s Angling Blog fashion they just had to be in white with long necks, the ever featuring swans.

I must say the sight of these swans took my mind back to a breeding pair of swans I used to cross paths with on Almere Ferry every year. Year on year this same two of swans would pair up and breed on a nest constructed in the branches of a half sub-merged tree, great memories and sad to think I will never cross paths with these most proud of parents again, hope they are doing well.

Along my walk I also had the opportunity to witness countless wild flowers in bloom and the swarms of busy bees working tirelessly to relieve the flowers of their sweet nectar. The walk along the Sankey Canal also revealed the vast amount of fish this venue holds it was absolutely alive with fish of all sizes from this year’s fry to some nice sized carp, maybe I should have brought the rod along I cursed as I continued my walk.

As you plod along the path of the Sankey Canal it opens up in a few places to give big wide views of the Mersey estuary and the vast array of birdlife that call this place home. Later on in the week I went for a stroll around a local nature reserve and took this picture of a seat overlooking the Mersey estuary, I wonder how many people have sat in this seat trying to clear their thoughts.

On Thursday night the back-up account on the Warrington Anglers Facebook page was threatening to bear fruit and I was hoping to bring you some news on the new stretch of the River Alyn that WAA has reportedly purchased but it seems that the club has purchased a stretch of river and no one knows where it is!!! The party who led negotiations are saying it is around the Molde area and reports from the higher up members close to the committee suggesting it is around the Weir in Rossett. It really baffles me how you can announce you have purchased rights to a beat and yet not know what water you have bid on. More news on this as and when the club decide which postcode they have purchased rights too. J

Onto this week’s fishing trip

“Best laid Plans”

I like to keep my fishing quite varied and as such I never like to do the same thing more than two weeks on the spin there are of course times when the fishing is just too good not too keep going as for instance the dace fishing on the River Dee in winter time but even then after a few weeks I like to at least change species and target the pike. We have fished the river Dee the past two weeks, same peg and same tactics, so this week I was more than ready for a change of both scenery and direction and not to forget the financial benefits of fishing a local venue on the old petrol tank once in a while.

I really fancied a session on the local Sankey Canal and this feeling was there very early on in the week, I think the introduction to this week’s blog gave that fact away. I grew up a stone’s throw away from the Bridgewater Canal in Runcorn and during my childhood I spent many a weekend fishing with my dad while my mum was out doing the weekend shopping, I never really knew the finer details of why we caught the fish only that if I fished with a small “snatcher” whip and light pound bottom hook lengths I caught my fair share of fish and I guess these childhood memories are why I still have a massive passion for this facet of my angling.

I spent the week looking at tactics for canal fishing and soon came across a cracking video on Youtube featuring the greatest silver angler of all time, Bob Nudd. When you ask most people who their favourite anglers are and why the reason they give for liking them is normally down to the size of fish they have caught or how many big fish they have caught. I really like Bob Nudd because no matter what fish, big or small, he always gives the impression he is over the moon with it and really seems like he appreciates every fish he catches from a small gudgeon to a pound roach.

The video I watched: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5HnljW5LoM

In this video above bob uses two distinct tactics in he fishes a bread line close in and then a maggot and groundbait line across to the far side and I really wanted to try and replicate this approach for my session this week. I ordered half a pint of pinkies, a pint of white maggot and some dynamite silver X ground bait form the bait shop and spent the rest of my Friday evening liquidising some bread for my nearside bread line and making up some delicate rigs.

I only really have one top kit on my main pole for silver fishing in my blue hydro elastic match kit as I see my other match kit that is loaded with white hydro as being too heavy for canal fishing so I was left with a bit of a dilemma as I really didn’t want to be swapping and changing rigs all session when moving between lines. I came up with the idea to utilise my very first pole I purchased in my White knuckle margin pole to fish the bread line and I just hoped it was long enough to reach a decent depth of water as the sankey canal has got really shallow nearside margins.

As is the norm with our fishing we arrived on the banks as the moon was just about departing and I have to say the sky looked terrible and to make things worse my uncle had miss placed his umbrella so all the chat to the pegs was around when not if the rain would arrive.

As mentioned above we normally arrive on the banks under the cover of darkness and depending on how far we have to walk we time our arrival at the pegs to co-inside with first light so we are ready to fish that magical first hour of daylight where you have the feeling that you may hit that special fish at any moment and not only that we fish a fair few new stretches of river during the year and anyone that’s done any exploratory fishing will tell you if you want to find out if there is any fish in a stretch then first light and the hour into dusk is the time you will see any fish if there is any about.

As always there was a beautiful sunrise on the sankey canal and we were treated to a glorious sunrise, some of the pictures we have captured on this venue I am seriously thinking about developing for a big picture in my house as I find them so thought provoking and just make me want to go out fishing.

The rigs where all pre tied so when I arrived at the swim it was all about getting myself comfortable and ready to fish. As soon as my box and bait tray was in place I quickly set up my margin pole and plumbed up and to my joy a found a nice depth at around 7m and I potted in two balls of bread crumb so it was settling and starting to attract some fish while I set about rigging up my long pole and mixing up the ground bait. I took my time and made sure I was happy with all my bait before I began to fish. My bait tray seemed to have a tonne of bait on it compared to my normal canal sessions but I was confident in my plan of attack and fully expected to make full use of the bait at hand.

I potted out three balls of ground bait laced with pinkie over my long line at around 12-13m and the plan was to fish the bread line for the first hour or until the bites dried up whilst topping up the far line with loose fed pinkie and another ball of ground bait every 20 minutes. I would say apart from how I prepare for my dace fishing this is the most rigid I have been with a session and I was determined to stick to the plan.

The far line topped up and settling I set about the bread line and for the first few minutes not a lot happened but I remained confident and like I had seen on the video I began to impart some movement myself on the float and you know what it worked as the float slowly sank away and I lifted into the first fish of the session in a small Rudd, it was a start and I was happy the fish had showed on the bread line and at this stage was thinking that the swim would develop over time and the better fish would move in as the peg matured.

The other reason I chose to fish bread punch was the fact that if the rivers flood come winter we will be looking to fish this as a back-up venue and bread punch will be a vital weapon to have in my armoury. The bread line produced a steady stream of bites but they were all small rudd. I did also notice that I got a lot of small knocks on the float and fast bites that where hard to hit but I put this down to small rudd. I persevered with the bread line and caught steady for the first hour and a quarter of the session before the bites completely dried up, all the fish where rudd and I never really got any signs that anything better had moved into the swim.

While I was fishing the bread line I had been feeding the 13metre line and there were signs that fish where feeding in the form of bubbles in and around the baited area. There are a fair amount of quality bream in this canal as well as a good number of skimmers that could have been responsible for the bubbling but I have noticed on previous sessions that you also get these bubbles when there is an eel about.

Shipping out to the 13 metre line I hadn’t even flicked the line out over the swim before a rudd had taken the bait, not a good sign I thought. Back out and this time I got to the swim and before the float even registered any shot it had zoomed off and I was into another rudd. The only way I can sum how many rudd I caught and how hard it was getting through them was it took an hour and a half before my float settled and I realised I had over shotted my float.

The amount of rudd in the swim didn’t bear thinking about as time and time again a rudd would take the bait on the drop, 3,4,5 maggots on the hook made no difference to these ravenous fish. I began to get into a rhythm and put together countless numbers of these rudd but fishing at 13m it soon became a labour of love so I set up a waggler float and this just speeded up the rate at which I put these fish in the net, below is a video of the bite a chuck action on the waggler.

The session soon became a numbers game and the challenge changed from if I would catch a better fish to a game of how many I could put together. My uncle a few yards up the bank was still getting troubled with rudd but was actually getting through the rudd and getting a bait on the deck and actually picked up some solid roach with the best shown below.

The final nets bore testament to the hard work we had put in, I ended with just under 10lb of rudd and my uncle just over 11lb of rudd and roach, I don’t think I have ever worked so hard for a net of fish, it was a bite a chuck and boy did I know it.

My net:

Uncles net

The session taught me that although you can lay down the best plans possible you can never plan for what is in your swim on the day. The positive I took from the session was that I put some time in on the bread punch fishing and I think I made the best of a bad situation.

Till next time
I wish you all
Tight lines

Danny

"Breaming" Smiles on the Sankey Canal

A warm welcome to this week’s blog update and I am proud to announce that myself and my uncle are now the proud new members of St Helens Angling Club.  This licence acquisition will see us gain access to some still waters but more importantly for us the association waters they have on the River Wyre, River Ribble and the River Severn.  We hope to at least visit all these waters during the next six months to get an idea of what potential these waters have and I cannot wait to make a start.  The purchase of this card will hopefully put me on waters where I can confidently target bigger species like barbel and chub with a realistic chance of picking up a decent fish either way, good or bad, I hope you continue to enjoy following us on this new part of our angling adventure.

In-keeping with the subject of rivers just where have those three months gone? It only seems like yesterday me and my uncle pulled out of the car park on the river Dee after catching a bumper net of dace, people say time flies bye but I have never known a closed season go by so fast, not that I am complaining of course.

The past week I have spent my time sorting my gear out ready for the river season ahead and there are going to be some distinct changes to my river setup this year.  Almere ferry was a popular haunt for me in the past few years it was good fishing and it didn’t involve much of a walk to the bank so in essence it was quite comfortable fishing on my seat box but this will change this year so I am planning to travel light and trot the river stood up so this week I have been separating my gear ready for our first session out to the river on Monday. Another big change is in the strength of line I am using, upgrading in strength from 3lb to 4lb 4oz and this is solely down to use venturing onto the River Ribble where we expect to make contact with chub as well as dace.

This week my mind has been occupied with the thought of that first trip out to the river and I must say in this age where the closed season validity is question I have to say I love the feeling that comes with that first trip to the river it truly is a magical feeling as you stand on the top of the bank and look down to the river it really is like bumping into an old friend.  I do hope this year is a lot kinder to the river man than last year when the constant rain saw the majority of our rivers in flood for most of the year and they never really settled to allow the colour to drop out of the river and allow us to put a decent net together with any regularity.  Ironically I say this as the patter of rain taps against my living room window, fingers and toes crossed the forecast heavy downpours don’t materialise.

Writing this blog not only allows me to share my fishing adventures with many people but allows me to have a detailed record of all my trips over the past 3 years and I have spent a bit of time this past week looking over a trips from the start of the river season, the venues we fished and the results from those trips to try and give me an idea where to start out.  When the season gets in full flow you easily forget some of the sessions you have had and looking back over the trips has gave me some great joy reminiscing about some of the special trips form the past few years, all happy times and I have picked out a few special trips to share on this update I hope you enjoy reading them.

Last year’s opening weekend: http://satonmyperch.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/dad-glows-with-pb-river-mersey-bream.html

Pike session to remember:  http://satonmyperch.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/first-river-pike-session-one-to.html

One other thing I have been looking at this week that has really got my river juices flowing is this following Youtube video which shows Dave Harrell fishing for dace n the River Wye and I have to admit to watching this video more than once this week and no doubt I will probably be watching it again come Sunday evening.

 link to video; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GPHPpENZmQ

On to this week’s trip to the bank,

Saturday 08^th June – “Bream”ing Smiles on the Sankey Canal

Getting the carp quest out of the way has given me the freedom to fall back into my favourite type of fishing and that is fishing ponds and canals for silver fish and one venue in particular has grabbed both mine and my uncles attention and that is the Sankey Canal in Widnes. 

I was brought up fishing my local Bridgewater Canal with my dad and was lucky enough to fish the Bridgewater canal in its hey-day when it held large shoals silver fish and a number of large shoals of bronze bream.  Back then it wasn’t unusual for matches to be held on the canal that were fished by a large number of anglers, a sight you just don’t seem to see anymore.  My uncle also living local to the canal fished it a lot and although I never fished with him back then just listening to the stories he tells of his experiences back then you know the canal was a special place on his heart.

As a kid I always remember fishing the “snatcher”, a small pole with no elastic that was fished really close in, for roach, perch and if you were lucky a big bronze bream.  The smell of Van Der Eynde Ground bait, mixed sloppy of course, stuck in your nostrils and it was always bronze maggot for bait and while my mum was busy shopping of a Saturday me and my dad would be on the canal fishing and I think the similarity of the Sankey Canal to the Bridgewater canal back then when we fished it is what has got me and my uncle hooked on this venue.

We have done three trips now to this venue in the past three weeks and each time we have tried a different area with varying depths, widths of canal and features to try and build a picture of what the different areas of this canal fishes like and this week we kept to that plan and headed to an area we had looked at the previous week but we knew it was a fair walk so again our trusty trolleys were put into action.

The walk along the canal was a joy as we crossed paths with a very protective but lovely family of swans and also shared the tow path with a few of this year’s young rabbits grabbing a last minute meal before the busy crowds arrive and it was already clear from the temperature and clear skies we were in for a scorching hot day. 

The pegs on the canal are numbered but many of the pegs are completely overgrown now so unless you cut in a new peg you are limited to the gaps in the near side marginal reeds, we found two gaps close together and began to set up of course it was the keep net that went in first, always optimistic.

The canal itself is at a guess around 16 metres wide so with a 13 metre pole fishing the far bank is never an option but I had a plan and it was to fish under my feet for the rudd and fish a line around 10 metres out straight down the middle of the canal hoping to pick up roach and skimmers with a secret hope of one of those big bronze bream that call this place home.

Bait for the session was bronze maggot fished over Dynamite Baits Silver x ground bait laced with pinkie with the odd bit of jolly green giant mixed in for good measure.   The rig was quite simple and like my river fishing I tend to stick to one float preferring to learn how one float fishes so you can read bites rather than having a separate float for each situation.  This is probably the wrong way to go about it but it is what works for me.

I started off on my 10 metre line and full of expectation I fed and shipped out and to be honest not a lot happened at all, the place was alive with fish topping all over but the float remained static in the swim, its tip dry as the grass along the banks of the canal.  My uncle also started off on the pole but was having the same luck as me and was first to make a change and set up a waggler on his splice tip rod.

He was instantly into a steady stream of rudd and roach from small ounce fish to the odd bonus fish around 8-10oz.   I was unsure what to do but decided to fish just off the reeds to my left for the shoals of rudd I could see passing bye in front of peg taking small flies off the surface.   The fish were not of any size but I did connect with one really nice rudd that made the effort of ploughing through the smaller rudd worthwhile.

My uncle was finding the bites drying up the further he came off the reeds but instead of recasting and catching the predictable small rudd he left the line to fish and in bared fruit in the first bronze bream of the session and what am impressive fish these bream are, a joy to witness on the bank.

It hit the scales at just under 5lb, not bad for a canal.

The session plodded along nicely with both myself and my uncle picking up fish regular and building up a nice net of fish.  Moving into the last hour or so of the session my uncle moved over onto his pole line and began picking up some really nice roach so I decided to go back in on my pole line and picked up the odd roach but the swim was really quiet and it turned out with good reason as the float lifted slightly and I struck into a decent bream.  The bream in this canal are not like your normal wet lettuce fish you catch elsewhere they do put up a fair scrap and it felt great playing the bream on my blue hydro elastic.

I was over the moon with this capture as it topped off what had been a hard session to that point it is amazing how a bonus fish like that can change your perspective on a session so you can imagine my reaction when next put in the float again sailed away and I was into another bream that felt in the same league as the previous one. 

After this bream the roach and rudd moved back in a claimed the area as their own and I picked up a few smaller fish to round of the session for myself and I was just on the phone to home when my uncle placed a bit far cherry on top of the cake for this session as he landed the biggest bream of the session and what a beauty of a bream it was as well.

This bream marked the end of the session for us and we began to take the pictures of the nets and give them a good half hour to thoroughly dry out, as we all know the smell of a canal keep net is hard to remove! Covered in bream slime we had a slow pack away and made the long walk back to the car.

My net

 Uncle net

The canal has been really nice to us and I am sure on the right day it could produce a really big net of fish.  On the day the skimmer bream did not show up at all in our nets which was a surprise but given the temperature they might have been taking this opportunity to spawn.

The loss of Almere Ferry on the Warrington card will leave a big void in our fishing as it was a good place to go when the river was flooded so I can see us looking to this canal this year for those sessions when we find the rivers unfishable and I am sure it will be getting a few visits in the winter for the pike that must inhabit this fish filled canal.  It is great to see a “natural” waterway so close to a river that is home to many cormorants doing well as we hear so many stories of the damage being done by the avian predators but it looks like there are pockets of water in the North West still thriving and it great to see.

Till next time I leave you with this picture of me and my daughter spending some father and daughter time watching catching the impossible, her apprenticeship continues J

Tight lines

Danny

Eely good session on the Sankey Canal and crusty carping

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