Woodshaw Reservoir and Signs of Spring..........

  This weekend we decided to visit Woodshaw Reservoir in Wigan,  having had alot of success here last year when we visited with the tench and the crusian carp we decided to give it a go.  It felt from the outset that it was going to be a long shot with the tench as the temperature was below 10 degrees but if it was anything like last year we knew there would always be the Roach and Rudd to fall back on.

Woodshaw Reservoir

  We arrived at woodshaw at around 09.30 to find a few anglers already there and made our way to the swims we above we had both fished last year, passing the water bailiff on the way who informed us there had been some problems over winter with cormorants,  in my head i was thinking is there anywhere that hasn't had this problem lately,  i know there has been a problem on Cicily mill for a few years and this year on the River Dee i have noticed them more than any other year.
  I set up my float rod and ledger rod and my plan of attack was to try close in with maggot and corn and later on try for a bream or nice roach out in the middle on the feeder.   The fishing was very slow but we both managed to winkle out a few Roach and Rudd but nothing at all on corn,  with the reeds being so low you could see all the other anglers where struggling and speaking to them on the way out it seemed everyone had had the same stamp of fish.

Typical fish on the day:

  Around 3pm we decided to call it a day and I suggested we take a look at the other wigan waters on the card in the area, after a short trip in the car we were at the mowpin pool, looks a lovely water and can see it being a belter in summer although a few pegs will be un-fishable as there is weed in front of them already, we spent the next hour catching Rudd after Rudd on maggot, when we go next time i think we will fish the first pond as we were advised as i was packing up that's the deeper side.

Picture of Mowpin Pool

  As we were travelling through Wigan the signs of spring arriving were everywhere with daffodils lining all the main roads and there was an even bigger sign in the margins on the Mowpin pool, frogspawn.

Next weekend will see us either fishing Rixton or weather depending may see our first visit of the year to Cicily mill pool.

tight lines

Danny