Pike Fishing: A Session of Memories, A Session where Rumours of Monsters become reality....

Saturday, a day of the week I would normally be setting out on another river adventure with my uncle chasing the elusive shoals of dace, roach and chub that reside in the north west corner of England.  A phone call the night before and my uncle sounded like death warmed up.  Fishing was off the agenda and for my uncle Saturday morning, this week at least, the heady smell of lemon from his lemsip’s would be replacing the usual fermented unmistakable smell of the hempseed that lay beside his fishing box.

The past few weeks my uncles lad Harry had been on the bank with me learning to pike fish so we agreed to another session chasing the mysterious esox Luscious. To this point he had done fantastic in learning to handle pike on the bank and what it involved in catching them.  This learning curve had seen him bag a 3lb and a 7lb pike in his last two trips.

5am and as I made my way downstairs for a strong brew to wake me from my pre fishing trip restless slumber I could hear the rain tapping onto the windowsill from a hole in the gutter, its repetitive rhythm of drips alerting me to damp conditions awaiting my venture outside.  The kettle groaning as if bemoaning my request for a warm beverage i glanced out of the kitchen window at the pitch black darkness in which only the outline of a large fern tree could be seen arching in the breeze.

If possession is 9 tenths of the law then preparation is certainly 9 tenths of the art of fishing and rightly so I had little to do with the mornings prep bar choosing which fish to offer Mrs Esox from my bait freezer.  A session earlier on that week had left me with a few open packets of smelts and herring jacks so I loaded the bottom of the bait cooler with some fresh unopened smelts and sardines and placed the old opened smelts and herrings on top. 

The old fish mobile loaded I began to make my journey to pick up our Harry, my windows misted up I wound down my drivers side to allow me to safely leave the street.  Blob...Blob.Blob as I pulled off could only mean on thing that overnight drop in temperatures has seen the pressure in one of my tyres drop.  Like a  dog that has just stood on a thorn I ambled and plodded my way to the garage pleading with the fishing gods the Air Machine was still alive, to my delight she was and then tyre was given a quenching boost! Such fine lines can see sessions called off, only at the end of this fisherman’s tale will this become important.

The journey to the venue with our Baz in tow the radio politely alerted all normal people in the world to probably stay in doors as storm Brian was due to hit the North West.  Like all fisherman the urge to keep going is much stronger than worrying about such things as storms and further into the dark we plodded, the headlamps on the car almost Hansel and Gretel like illuminating the bread crumbs to the water.

The session was all about continuing our Harrys development, I had shown him the basics of piking, it was now time for him to make decisions himself and learn from decisions he would make.  A float ledger rod had been set up for him and on this session he would be baiting it up and deciding the placement of his bait in the swim.  I was in super lazy mode so out went a ledger rig on a bite alarm with a fox back bite arm, bait wise it was a whole herring from one of the opened packs.  Yellow, shriveled and still possessing the hook marks from a previous session where it had been out for a few hours.  My other rod was on a pencil float fished float ledger style and on this I would be presenting the humble smelt.

The baits out and the dark angry skies over head we awaited the arrival of a pike at the dinner table.  An early few knocks on Harrys float alerted us to a pike in the area and two dropped runs only went to confirm a pike was in the area.  A cast over the area and jagging the smelt around the swim would either entice the pike to confidently take the bait or spook it completely.

Thankfully the latter was not the case and a few minutes later his float confidently sailed away.  A huge lesson in how cruel piking can be was played out as the pike spat the bait after a few moments playing the fish.  We replaced the bait and an air of that float being the epicentre of all our focus did follow as we eagerly anticipated the hungry pike return.  The vigil was soon broken by the piercing sound of a delkim alarm and a pike that had come across my herring dead bait.

A countdown and a hard strike and I was connected with a pike that was not happy at its meal being disturbed.  Aggressive head shakes it was a relief to slide the net under the first pike of the session, a nice upper single with a full set of gnashers.

The pike blogged and released we sat back and put a brew on, an act that was surly to entice a pike to dine.  The steam rising from a whistling kettle was like music to my ears on a damp windy morning. The calmness that comes with a pike on the bank is quite surreal as the excitement and sense of anticipation before its capture almost lifts.  A calmness that was soon broke by baz running to his rod as his float trundled confidently across the surface before disappearing into the gloomy depths. 

Learning from the mistakes on the previous take he set the hooks and played the fish, a fish that angrily kept deep.  I knew inside he was into a PB and a potential double figure pike and talking him through the fight we slipped the net under a double figure pike.  The question now was just how big his new PB would be. 

13lb on the scales and a beaming smile looking at them he was proper made up, if a little cold.  We places the pike I the net to rest and so we could get prepared for a few pictures for him to remember the day by.  Our celebrations where short lived as my delkim alarm broke up out chatter, a screaming run so violent the rod tip was bouncing away. 

With a fish in the keep net I decided there and then I would have to hand in the pike.  A hard strike and my 2.75lb test curve rod hooped over solid as a decent fish stayed deep.  Plenty of head shaking I knew I had a fragile hook hold at best, a thought that sent shivers down my spine the longer the rod stayed bent over and the fish kept deep.  Long hard runs as the fish realised the predicament it was in.  I loosened the drag and tried to coax the fish closer in and it worked as the fish glided in under my feet.  In the semi clear water I caught a glimpse of her, a big fish she was long with a huge head!

I knew there and then I was in a bit of a predicament, I had a fish in the net that under normal circumstance I would have just released to land this one but that fish I knew held a special value, Harrys first double and a fish I knew we had no pictures of for him to remember the day by.  A long hard battle was played out with the fish going on long hard powerful runs that just ate line from the spool I eventually got her up to the top and quickly I took my chance, sliding my hand under her chin I had a solid grip and lifted out a huge fish.  Lightly hooked she was soon unhooked and placed in the net to rest before a quick weigh, 19lb on the nose!! A fish of a lifetime from the venue I was on and braving storm Brian had paid off with over 30lb of pike in the net resting.

On the mat they looked amazing, both in fantastic condition and been feeding well.  The 19 had a huge head and was certainly a fish that in February will be over 20lb mark.  A quick photo and video for the blog and she was returned back.  I had heard many rumours of these fish, many claiming to have caught them but no pictures to back them up.  I knew there and then I had returned one of the true ghostly monsters, a true fish of a lifetime.

The session was not over there with a first for me late on with me getting a run on the wobble rod, a good 2 hours later and our harry’s 13 had recovered and was back on the feed!! Madness and a first for me as I have never caught the same pike twice in the same session, crazy.

The session coming to and end it was a pleasure to share this session with our Harry, a session we will talk about for years to come no doubt.  It showed everything that is so magical about fishing for pike, that float goes or that alarm starts ringing you just never know what monster could be on the other end,  a session of memories a session where stories and rumours of monster fish became reality.....

till next time

tight lines

Danny

Barbel Blues and Sneaking on the Pike Shoes...

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  Pike, Pike, Pike and more pike has all that's been flowing through my mind the past week.  The excitement to get out there and catch them is there, even if it only seems seconds ago the season finished, but the weather at the moment is making it really difficult to imagine casting out a dead bait in earnest for these fish.

In this weeks blog i look a little more at my ideas and thought for the upcoming season and incorporated in this will be a little bit or reason as to why i decided to hit the bank with the idea of catching a pike this weekend.  The other fishing is a session on the river for barbel, a species i have not really given enough time and attention to if i am honest over the past month or two.

Lets get into the update..

Piker with a Plan

So we stand on the cusp of another pike season and with it a whole host of memories are waiting to be created and lived and i can not wait to find out what this season has to hold for me.  The past few seasons we have always had a numeric target for the three of us to aim.  Past seasons have proved this idea to be a fun target to aim for but needing numbers of pike it does put you off trying those areas for quality rather than quantity so this year i wont be getting involved in chasing a numeric total of individual pike.

Last season i did set myself a target of 10 double figure pike and i think given the venues i fished last season this 10 doubles was an obtainable and nice target to go at so again this season i will be setting myself a personal goal of 10 double figure pike.  A target I hit last season and a target i actually enjoyed chasing.  In my piking i think as the season goes on it gives you that push to keep on getting out trying for pike even on the days where it seems a complete waste of time.

10 doubles will be a nice target to chase and I'm hoping will also fit in with my change of direction with my piking this season.  The past two and a half seasons i have been very lucky to share the bank with anglers who have been piking a good number of years and there is no escaping that hours spent on the bank with experienced pikers has seen my learning and understanding of pike fishing drastically truncated.  Although my main focus of going fishing with other pikers is for the laugh, chin wag and hopefully catch the odd pike while there you can not go fishing with someone who has been piking over 20 years and not learn and improve yourself as an angler.

This season i hope to start on a new adventure on a bigger waterway and take some of the lessons learnt and try and adapt them for fishing for pike on my own.  Using my water craft mixed with my determination to put the hours in i'm hoping i will find some success.  Last season i tried a new area of water and managed to bank some small pike and a few doubles so i would  ecstatic to replicate those results but as with all fishing you don't know until you get out there with a bait in the water, right now? I am chomping at the bit to get out, lets hope the pike are as veracious.

On to this weeks fishing...

Barbel Blues...

So far i have done two evening trips for barbel fishing into dark with two eels and a lost barbel to show for my efforts.  I say efforts loosely as in all honesty i do not deserve to put a barbel on the bank right now, i have put minimal effort into it and the time just has not been there to travel to the river to try for these fish.  I think there are a number of factors surrounding why the effort hasn't been there but mainly it just hasn't grabbed me like new adventures normally do and i don't think it has helped that i have enjoyed and had success in my carp fishing adventures this summer.  A venue a lot closer than the river as well.

That said recently we decided to go back and try the river again.  My uncle on the stick float and myself sitting it out for a barbel or chub.  My bait for the day was luncheon meat that had been cut at home and frozen in a food bag that contained a mixture of chili flakes, hot chili powder and garlic granules and i planned to fish this over a big bed of hemp seed so i boiled up 3 pints of chili flavoured hemp.

The day was going to be a warm one so i picked a swim that on paper looked a dream.  It had bags of cover and a good depth, in fact it would make a cracking winter swim i reckon.  Settled back in the swim i made my first cast of the day and sat back.  No action for two hours but i continued to drip feed hemp into the swim and a good hand full of hemp every 30 minutes.

Out of the blue with no warning the tip walloped round and striking i expected to feel the reistance of a fish but the rig just come back at me.  Casting back in i fed hemp again and sat back in my seat waiting for a second chance.  The chance came sooner than i thought around 15 mins after casting in the tip again went round but again nothing was on the end.

A change of tactics to a bigger hook, size 4 instead of a size 6, i was back into the swim.  A long wait till our midday pack up saw the tip go round again with the same result.  A frustrating day on the bank to say the least, i would say at least one was a barbel judging by the how hard the tip went round but not knowing barbel fishing i don't really know where i went wrong.  I upped the size of hook which was buried in the meat i can only think maybe increasing the weight of the lead maybe bit all the books say fish with enough to hold bottom and my one ounce lead was doing that easily.

All part of the learning curve and with piking coming up soon i think the barbel may well have to wait for next summer now and a rethink on tactics as it seems location is nailed in me getting bites.  This update should please those followers who believe we catch every visit we go out lol.

Sneaking on the Pike Shoes....

I have been doing my homework for some time now with regards the upcoming pike season.  I have been scouring Google earth and printings out maps of my destinations for the coming months whilst making the odd visit to plumb the depths of the areas in want to fish.

Baring rain fall and the water being up and coloured i have earmarked one location for a visit come Saturday 1st October.  It has a nice summer depth and a few features on top and beneath the water that really interests me with regards pike and with that in mind we decided to visit it for a day session on the pole recently.

My plan for the day was simple, fish the pole for silvers and put a rod out to the side on a live bait paternoster for a pike. Prepping the Paternoster rig the night before it felt weird prepping a pike rig as it only feels like 5 minutes since i packed the pike gear away.

My main focus on the day was to fish the pole to the best of my ability and as such preparation for the pole was as in depth as the preparation for the piking.  I must admit though i got some really really funny looks this week collecting my molehill soil.  I knew rain was coming in the evening so it was on my way home from work i decided it best to collect the dry soil form the molehill.  There i was, dressing in my work shirt and pants, at the side of the road at rush hour riddling molehill soil into a bucket.  All in the name of fishing, some of the looks where priceless.

The preparation done it was time to see the next morning if the location had any legs in it from a pike point of view.  I know this should really be the session on the 1st of october but excitement got to much for me.  The first fish caught won the prize as a live bait and the pike rig held up well in the water as it allowed the fish to move freely around a centre point and the bigger float was enough to hold it there with a weak bit of 5lb line as a rotten bottom to a lead.

The whole process of adding molehill soil to my ground bait is new to me but i am learning a few lessons and will be posting a in depth blog about this in the coming weeks.  The ground bait mixed i added the soil till i got the mix i was looking for.  I was aiming for a 50/50 mix as i wanted there to be feed as well as colour in the mix and i think i achieved that.

The bites where steady on the pole line bit there where not many better fish showing on the line.  The swim as producing mainly roach and the odd perch at around 5 metres.  I was hoping for the odd bream to show and as i fished the pole line i kept one eye on my pike rod and on the water for signs of pike striking.

It was becoming clear that the area held a decent number of silver fish at this time of year and with one predator in the perch already here in numbers i knew the apex predator would not be far behind.  It took around a hour and half but eventually one found the bait and the paternoster float began to move off into the deeper water.  Temperatures warm it was a quick strike, in fact it was an instant strike, trying my best to avoid foul hooking the pike.

Worth remembering here i was not really out pike fishing i just wanted to gauge if the area was any good for pike come october.  A nice pike around 6lb was soon on the bank and one treble right on the tip of its mouth it was soon unhooked and back int he water to rest.  A quick lift out for a picture and back in till he was fully recovered and ready to go.

A fantastic result so far with plenty of bait fish and a lovely marked pike showing.  The fish continued to bite on the pole line till our midday pack up.  The ground bait did not bring any bream in but the perch did muscle the roach out in the end and it was a perch a chuck for the final hour or so of the session.

I decided to try a perch as a live bait just to prove to myself that pike will take these fish as well as roach and this plodded away on the paternoster that again showed itself to be a great rig and one i will certainly be using come october, especially if the temperatures are still high.

The final net showed a great number of bait fish in this area.

This was proved when the pike rod went again while we where drying our nets in the sun.

All in all a worthwhile exercise and one that sets me up nicely for october 1st.  I now know the area holds pike and come that opening days session i am going to be hitting the bank confident in this area and if i get the same result then i will be over the moon.

Till next time

tight lines

Danny

Acolyte River Fun, Margin Carp Stalking and Canal Roach.....

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  It has been a mad week or so in work so finding time to blog has proven difficult to come by.  Again plenty of content to catch up means i have no end of trips to choose from and rather than write an introduction around topics in the angling world that have taken my fancy i have gone with a different update this week, all out fishing trips.

So in this updates its fishing trips from start to end and i still do not think i am going to be anywhere near up to date.  I guess with the car in for a job for the next two days and the idea i might not make it out this weekend if the job is not done then this is not such a bad situation to be in at all.  All i will say before we get into this update is my fishing at the moment is some of the most exciting fishing i have done.  Searching out new rivers, carp on the top, carp on the bottom, canal session and of course a cheeky few trips out for barbel.  Its been a great adventure.

So on with the update, we start on the banks of a river in search of anything that swims, any fish would be a bonus on the new drennan acolyte rod.  We follow this up with a one cast one fish carp session where stealth was the order of the day and we finish up with a trip to the canal on the pole.

A New Stretch A New Challenge....

We hit the banks as always at the crack of dawn hoping to find out normal haunt on the river at a nice level to fish.  We was met with a river in spate and totally un fishable on the stick float.  We had a back up option and this was to try a new stretch much further up the system where we hoped to find some clear water.

We arrived at the stretch and made the long walk to the bank expecting to find head high balsam and nettles.  What we found was quite well walked in paths and some nicely positioned swims, a luxury for us considering the past few months making our own swims with shovels before fishing.  Back to the car to collect the gear, again i traveled light with my octoplus box and minimal gear in my holdall, contained within the holdall was my new 14ft Drennan Acolyte Ultra rod and i could not wait to get out and give it a go.

The swim a gentle run with a sunken tree on the far bank it screamed fish and although it can be the wrong thing to do before you plumb up and run through i couldn't resist feeding the swim as i set up.  Holding the new rod in my hand it lived up to its name it was so light! Adding the shimano reel just balanced it perfectly!  The line threaded through the eyes it was clear that care was going to be needed with the ultra light tip section of this rod.  Red maggot and hemp where the baits of choice and i was soon ready to make my first cast in earnest.

A small river but plumbed up i found around 6ft depth in front of me and on a hot day was glad of it.  The first trot through brought a small chublet.

Trotting right down the middle of the river i soon found out that there was some streamer weed or a snag right on where i thought my hemp was settling.  Always the way eh.  A quick change of line and i found around the same depth at rod tip so i began feeding this line.  It was a harder trot involving me to hold back to get over what i think was a rock in the swim but doing so saw me picking up small roach and chublets at a steady pace.

The swim then died completely and i knew it was either big fish or a predator had moved in.  Till i see signs of predator activity i am always reluctant to try for the pike so i worked on the assumption it was a bigger fish in the area.  I then bumped a better fish right on my hemp before then striking and making contact with a better fish the very next trot down.

The acolyte i have to be honest felt light weight in power during this battle but being so light it might have been down to the fact i didn't know at this stage just how much strain i could impart on the fish.  A long tussle later a nice perch was in the net and surely this was the reason the "snack sized " roach had decided to vacate the area.

After the perch was caught i settled into a steady routine of trotting and feeding the swim and i caught steady but in spells if you get me? Long periods with no bite was followed by a good spell of steady bites fishing down the inside line.

The final net will not set any records but as first sessions go it provided something to build on and with my uncle hitting a nice bream on the feeder it provided plenty of food for thought.

Margin Carp Stalker...

A deluge of rain over a three day period saw me travelling to the lake not knowing that the level had rose a good few feet and the pegs where now under water.  Luckily for me i had donned my usual wellingtons so i was well equipped for the situation.  Access to many pegs was almost impossible so i set up on the banks of the first peg and contemplated whether or not to even set up.

Scanning the water for signs of fish i noticed movement right on the edge of the peg, carp being inquisitive they had obviously moved into the margins and onto the grassy areas looking for worms and insects caught out by the rise.

Feeding some corn and micro pellets close in i soon saw the water close in look agitated and what i call nervous water.  It was clear a carp had moved ting under my rod tips onto the bait.  A tail then come clean out of the water as a decent carp tipped up on the bait.

A method feeder loaded with micro pellets and corn on the hook all sprayed in Bubblecream Stinky stuff was carefully lowered onto the spot.  Short steps into the flooded peg the operation of placing the bait on the spot with little disturbance was achieved and the rod placed on the rod rest it was a waiting game.

It took a while but eventually the rod hooped over as the carp bolted out of the swim heading straight for a margin Lilly bed!  Straight onto the peg and into the water i went to apply side strain on this fish.  All my battles with the better carp in here had been played out mostly in the middle of the lake with a bit of a scrap under the rod tip, this was far different,  huge hard lunges for snags tested my gear to the max and it was pure power each time the fish went.  I can remember early on in this fight my arm aching and we thinking i was in trouble on more than one occasion.

The fish eventually began to tire and taking a huge breath of air i knew the time was close for netting,  Into the carp net she went and thank god for the flooded margin to me left as i left her in the net in the shallows while i got my breath back.

A nice carp of 13lb 8oz was on the mat and what a lovely prize she was...

She turned out to be my only fish of my 1 hour short session but i left grinning like the cheshire cat as i headed off to work for overtime.

MAP 101 2G Pole First trip on Bridgewater Canal...

The day previous i had been on the river using my new drennan acolyte but with a good pint of maggots left i just had to give the local canal a go early doors on the Sunday.  A early rise i was soon on the short drive to my peg and for some time now i had my sights set on fishing this bit of canal but with only half a pole i felt it not worth while as i always like to fish a line well over out of the boat lane.  With this new pole i could not do that and what a fantastic canal swim i had chose to christen the pole in.

A lot of reasons you hear fro people not fishing the canal is accessibility and where as this can be true on some canals on the bridgewater canal if you do your homework you can get close to the water and in this session i was closer than you would get on most commercials.

I only had a few hours and with only one match kit set up i decided to go all out right across the canal up near the boat.  I fed some ground bait and a good bed of red maggot via my new cupping kit, what a revelation this is, but i admit i had made a cardinal sin.  I fed right away without first fishing the swim for a bit and i could not for the life of me get the float to settle.  I knew it was shotted to go down to the tip but it would settle on one put in and not the next and others i would go solid then pull off.  After a hour or so of messing around i had put a few small roach in the keep net.

Not long after a guy come along, thank god he did, as he mentioned that it was good that they had been along and cut the weed back.  Apparently the weed on the far bank had covered a third of the canal recently and it seemed a lot of it had been left under the water.  All the float not settling made sense now but luckily it was not to late to re plumb up down the middle and feed the deeper line with ground bait and maggot.  On the session i found feeding two large jaffa sized balls from the off then little nuggets here and there was the way to go, a clear canal i think the colour in the water really helped and as the swim grew so the better roach showed.

Feeding lightly with hemp seed seemed to get them going again when the bites died but i was really impressed with the average stamp of roach on the day and fantastic to see such silvers are there to be caught if only people would go out and fish for them.  I continued to pick up roach steadily over the ground bait and it was great fun on the new pole.

The pole itself is certainly lighter than the old model and seems a lot stiffer, one thing that i thought would do my head in was the side puller elastic being visible on the side of the top kit in my eye line but i have to say i did not notice it and actually when the elastic was loose after a better fish it was simple to tighten it back up on the side pullet than looking for the internal puller kit on my old one.  The pole i am sure will do me fine for my fishing and i cant wait to get some elastic in the power kits for some fun with the carp.

The final net was a 10.7lb net of silvers and a fantastic few hours on the local canal.

Packing up it was a joy to be joined by a lovely family of swans and their cygnets, fish and wildlife on the local cut...bliss.

till next time i wish you all

tight lines

Danny

Cheshire Fisheries Pool 5 - Bags of Silver And Gold...

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  First of all before we get into the meat and potatoes of this weeks blog update i would like to thank everyone who contacted me or commented on social media around the last blog update.  The comments where really nice and welcome and considering it was a step in a completely new direction for me i was really made up it was so well received.

In all i am very fortunate with the blog on social media as in the years i have wrote the blog i can only remember one occasion having to receive negative comments which is really great to see.  As a person you who updates the page on their you also see the same names liking and sharing the updates and although i try to take the time to comment on all the updates i would like to say a huge thank you to all who read, share and comment on this blog, thank you.

So onto this weeks blog update and in this weeks introduction we look at an update to my tackle i am hoping to make and any possible feed back would be greatly received.  The next part of the introduction is a quick look at my plans for the coming weeks and where i am hoping to wet a line.  The fishing See's me going back to Cheshire Fisheries but this time with a bit more knowledge and a game plan to tackle this venue, a new pool and a new challenge.

On to the Update...

The New Pole Lottery...

So a few years ago i investing in my first ever pole, a margin pole called the white knuckle by Middy, it was a fantastic introduction into the world of fishing and playing fish using elastic.  In that early period i learnt to go from buying ready made rigs to tying my own from scratch and learn the basics or pole fishing.  As any pole angler knows the use of a margin pole soon develops into the purchase of a proper pole.

So then came the purchase of my first proper pole, a MAP TKS 125, a 13 metre pole that come with a few top kits and a good reputation.  This pole has been great to use and has done me well for both silver fishing and for carp.  My time using it has allowed me to build on the middy margin pole knowledge and become more accustomed to which elastics to use and the introduction of puller kits.

This being my first proper pole it has also taught me the hard way about how much care you need to take in looking after a pole.  Grit and mud from fishing the river now being removed each time i shipped out and not cleaning the pole after fishing sessions saw me purchasing a new number 4 section.  Towards the end of last summer season an accident on the canal where my number 8 section rolled in the canal after a gust of wind saw me needing a new section.  Not needing this section in the immediate future i left the purchase of this till this season where i planned to pick up a new number 8 and a number 4 section of pole but unfortunately i have found out the pole is no longer in production and searching on line it is almost impossible to find a replacement number 4 for this pole.

So it now leaves me in the4 situation where in the coming months i will be in the market for a new pole.  All of my fishing to this point has never really seen me needing to go further than 13metres so i am happy with that length of pole and my budget for the pole is probably around the £400.00 mark.  Ideally I'm looking for a package that comes with 2 match kits and 2 power kits and ideally a cupping pot and more importantly i feel is a pole that i can get plenty of spares from or at least interchanges with other poles on the market.

If anyone can point me at a reliable pole in this range i would be most grateful.

So Many Ideas So Little Time

So the weather is really beginning to hot up and with it the fish are really spreading out on the canals and commercials alike and my head is full of all the things i want to cram into this closed season.  Sessions on the canal are calling in my ear but also there is a bit of me that really fancies some old school margin fishing for carp and tench on the centre pin right under the rod tip.  the thought of that float fished over depth right in the margin and seeing the bubbles slowly make their slow path to where your float is and then that moment of extreme excitement as the float begins to sway as the fishes flank pushes against the line and then the piece of corn disappears into the fishes mouth and that zooming bite registering on the float and your connected to an early morning hard fighting carp.

Contrary to popular belief i do actually work a 9-5 job and at times life does completely take over and starting the weekend just gone is an opportunity for two days over time at the weekend, a offer i just can not turn down.  Getting up in the mornings is going to kill me as I'm heading down the motorway with no fishing tackle in the back and the thought of a days work.  It will be worth it in the long run though and its only for a few weeks.  This will of course put hold to any fishing on those weekends as i am not a person who is going to go out for a few hours here and there, least not till the really late nights arrive.

I have been having the odd trip out to the canal with lures with little, well no, success recently but it is something that can see me getting a few minutes on the bank from time to time but i must admit i can not see me developing a love to the point i will be out all day on the lures, it just doesn't do it for me.  This may of course all change if i find lures i like to work rather than just casting and reeling in and of course as soon as that first pike comes thinks might change.

In other good news i found out today that Cheshire Fisheries have extended the use of keep nets till end of April which is great news and i ma looking forward to a few more sessions for the carp and silvers on this venue.  The drive is a bit long but if you can use keep nets then its worth it for me.  So plenty of ideas for the coming weeks so fingers crossed we see a few nice fish on the bank!

On to this weeks fishing..

 Cheshire Fisheries Pool 5 - Silvers and Carp Fishing...

So the bank holiday weekend was here and it was time to make some decisions around what fishing i wanted to do over the next few days.  I decided i was not going to go out more than two times over the 4 days and the rest make the most of some family time so through the week i mulled over a few ideas and by Thursday evening at the bait shop i had it narrowed down.

Friday was to be spend either at Cheshire Fisheries or on the canal so i picked up 2 pints of maggots and a half pint of pinkie for my main bait, a packet of roach ground bait and bag of micro pellets.  With this i could decide that evening whether i wanted to go the fishery of go the canal.  The Sunday i planned a session fishing under my rod tip for carp on bigger baits, this session will not be in this update and that's purely down the fact the car is playing up again and is in the garage this Wednesday, if its off the road then i have a session in the bag for next weeks blog update.

The more i thought about the session the next day the more my head was talking me out of the canal visit.  My heart wanted to be fishing a light pinkie float on the local canal but my head was saying go the Fishery and it came down to a few points.  Going the fishery meant i could fish a swim and build it up over the session with no worry about a regatta of barges turning up at 9am, there was also no need to keep checking for cyclists, walkers and joggers each ship out and more importantly a huge part of me wanted to see just what i could do silver wise if i put my mind to it on this fishery.  The keep net in and my tactics right it could produce a nice net of fish.

So that was my mind made up and i began getting some gear ready for the session the next morning.  A few rigs made up to fish the bottom of the shelf and i was ready for a early start.  I say early it was light when i awoke which for me on a fishing day is odd.  A leisurely breakfast and a quick stop off on the way to the Fishery to pick up some corn and i was off along the A49 to Cheshire Fisheries.

By now i was set on my plan for the day and going along the A49 i began to get it all sorted in my head how i wanted to fish the swim.  I was travelling alone for this session and only had packed the one keep net so i needed to come up with a some sort of plan that would allow me to get a picture of the nets at the end without causing myself all manner of problems with getting a picture.

I decided to fish all out for silvers till 2pm and at this point i would empty my keep net, weigh the silvers, then spend the rest of the session fishing all out for the carp knowing i now had an empty keep net to put them into.  Any big carp over 1lb while fishing for silvers would be put back in and when fishing for the carp if i hooked any silvers i would then put these back to avoid them getting crushed.  I sounded a solid plan in my head and you know what it worked a dream.

Arriving in the car park i unloaded the gear and left it right in the middle of all the pools and decided to go for a walk around the fishery.  A few lads where setting up on the pool i wanted to fish and where already at this early hour making a right racket so that was a no go, i had already fished pool 3 so that was out of the question and even if i had wanted to there was already someone setting up on there, so this left pool 5 or the ones down the bottom of the hill.  Being a bank holiday weekend i decided to fish the corner of pool 5 i had a over grown marginal bank between pool 5 and the pool next to my right that looked like it was a no fishing bank and also some marginal reeds to my left if i fancied to try them.

My plan was simplicity itself and i knew the skill on the day would be feeding the swim so i kept the silvers in the swim but did not put too much in that i ended up with a swim full of carp, how odd does that sound!  A angler fishing a commercial not wanting to catch the carp!  I found the bottom of the shelf at my top kit plus my number 4 section, excellent i thought as this close in i knew if i could get them  going i could get a decent net i also had a plan to feed corn down my right hand margin every half hour right on top of the shelf and this would be my line after 2pm.  A nice quiet corner where i hoped the carp would keep come in and feel safe.

Feeding on the day would be crucial and i decided to mix up a bag of roach ground bait and added a few hand fulls of pinkie to the mix.  This would be over kill on the canal but on here i knew i had to feed the fish to keep them coming.  I was no going to feed any maggots by hand into the swim as this would only draw the silvers up in the water and the noise would certainly attract the attention of the carp.  All feeding of the swim would be by cad pot and eased into the swim silently.

Two big jaffa sized balls of ground bait in and i left the swim to settle while i paid my day ticket and while i did i got speaking to a cracking chap from the Fishing in the North West Page on Facebook.  Turns out he was the angler on pool 3 and after chewing the fat about some pools we both fished we went our separate ways and agreed to meet up around 2pm for a catch up.

The ticket paid i made and straight away the silvers where onto my double maggot on a size 16 hook.  The roach to begin with where only small but i knew better quality fish would move in.  The hope was to catch roach and rudd steady through the session and hopefully try and get some of those skimmer bream into the swim that would boost the weight.  The fishery all around me began to fill up a little but i still had my little corner and all around me it seemed people where all out for the carp.

I was in my head talking to myself to keep concentrated on the fishing and not look around at others and i was surrounded by anglers but for me there was only that float right in front of me.  I fed the line with a ball of pinkie laced ground bait by cad pot so i knew i was right over my bait all the time and after catching well for the first hour the skimmers began to move in and that's when it felt i was putting some serious weight in the net.

The bream moving in the swim was great news and they began to really show up in between the roach at this point.  I had no doubt that if i began feeding by hand i would get the fish competing up in the water.  I also knew though that the extra noise would certainly attract the carp.  The float was not settling long before a bite and to be honest i missed loads of them.  This frantic action i knew was silvers in the swim feeding on the maggots but i knew eventually this amount of feed would attract some attention.

The bites died and the float settled in the swim for longer than a few seconds, lifting the float and dropping it back in again saw the float settle again.  I moved a few extra feet past the feed and picked up some roach that had backed off but thus then died.  I fed a big ball of ground bait and fed my inside line for the carp later on and settled back on my top four line.

Looking back at the session i knew what was happening and i should have made a move there and then to another line.  The inevitable followed and a succession of carp to 6lb came to the bank, a few silvers also but it was clear the carp had bullied their way in.  I had managed a good amount of time though on this line and i was proud how i fed the line and got the most out of it before they did take over.  I felt i fed that swim in a way that i got the maximum out of the silvers.  Could i have used corn to single out the better silvers? Or would i have ended up with the swim i had after 2pm?

It was clear the margins close in where not seeing carp moving along them as although not gin clear i could see the bottom slightly and there was no clouding up.  I made a bold move and found a slight shelf right under my feet on my top section of pole.  I fed this swim by had and mixed my ground bait sloppy so the roach felt confident moving so close in, it was a good move and it was a bite a chuck fishing for the next few hours until the stamp of fish completely went and most of the fish where small rudd like below.

The time 1.30pm i decided enough was enough and having hit some more proper carp close in and returned them i knew the time had come to weigh my net of silvers and return the net ready for a hour or so after carp.  I went to lift my net out and i knew I had made the right choice there and then as had the carp gone in it would have been impossible on my own.  The net in the 30 inch rubber mesh net it was a sight to behold and on the scales went 45lb.

Astonishing fishing and shows how many bites are there if you want some constant action through day, i had set out to see just how i could do if i set my stall out for them and fed in a way to try and just get the silvers, barring a few intruders i had done it.

I fed the line again down my margin and put my keep net back in so there was no disturbance on my return back to the peg.  A stretch of the legs and a good chin wag with the guy i met earlier on, he was also catching well.

A return to my peg at 2pm and i was ready to go all out for carp.  I went straight down the edge on a few 3 sections of pole to a plateau i had fed all day with corn.  The float remained still, i was shocked!  I expected the float to go in an instant but there it remained, stubborn and irritatingly visible.  A look to my side table and i had quite a big amount of maggots left and some ground bait.  I made a change that saw my fortunes change dramatically.

I fed a swim with the cad pot right under my feet on the top section of pole, heavy with maggot and corn.  I then added loads of water to my ground bait so it was close to being water in texture.  I cupped this into the swim causing a huge cloud under my feed and put the corn in over the top.  The float barely settled before it was away and i was into my first carp.

There is not really more i can say here other than over the next hour and half till i packed in a 3.30pm i rinsed and repeated this tactic of heavy feeding and cupping in this watery ground bait over the top.  It was a carp a chuck.  I caught most of them but also lost a few as well but it was fantastic fun.

Calling it a day around 3.30 i weighed the net of carp and again i was shocked at how many you could catch right under your feet.  It was obvious on the day who the anglers where and who the day trippers where on the lake i was on.  Nothing to do with angling skill or technique the anglers who where catching where quietly going about their business where as the ones blanking and sharing sly remarks about the ones catching where loud and stomping along the bank.  They wonder why they don't catch, nothing to do with gear as i proved that i was using my top kit.  Some people just do not know how to be quiet.

All in all i left feeling on top of the world in i had set my goals and stuck to my guns and it had all gone to plan.  A thoroughly enjoyable days fishing.

Till next time

tight lines

Danny

River Dane Fishing: Coppers Show For Twilight Peg Digger

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update.  Thank you to the great reception the two blog updates received on line both on the Forums and on Social media, it is really great that in these that are so dominated with pictures of specimen fish that the effort and time it takes to put together a net of silver fish still gets such a great response.

Fridays travels with the dog and my mate from work saw us plodding along the Bridgewater canal.  At this time of the evening it was great to see a few anglers out on the bank although i didn't agree with one group we bumped into who were dead baiting for pike, not the right time of the year in my opinion and speaking to a accomplished piker afterwards the risks of deep hooking a pike at this time of year are greatly increased so a big no no.

Angling is never far from my thoughts on these trips and walking the banks i am always on the lookout for any fishy activity or spots that look worthy of the long walk to fish.  I came across a few swims i did not know about and some really great looking pike spots for winter in a small turning bay i never knew existed.  Aside from the fishing distraction it was a lovely warm summers evening on the canal and it was great to see all manner of wildlife from swallows, blackbirds and a chance sighting of a common buzzard to the more serene sight of a family of rabbits emerging from the cover for an evenings foraging and trying to escape the jaws of the foxes that must inhabit the rich area.

Our walk took us along the road to Moore and i decided to take a detour and have a quick drop in on the Warrington Anglers water, Moore Quarry.  There were signs us on all the swims saying no fishing due to the carp spawning and on our walk round the quarry we were treated to some fantastic sights of the carp in the margins and from our high vantage spot we watched quietly as they went about their business not knowing of our presence.  The quarry is a fishery i have not visited for a number of years and last time i went there were a few swims built in and it was nice to see that this place has got a good working team on there as nearly all the swims had study built proper swims in them for the anglers.  It is great to see on one hand but n the other i had to think of the fact yet more money was being spent, on top of the cost of the carp that went into stocking these waters, while /Franks column again for the 4th year running mentioned the state of the track at Worthenbury on the river Dee, good enough for a mention on his blog but not worthy of the clubs pennies it seems,.  The fact that there is a pile of hardcore purchased by the club in the car park of Moore quarry goes to prove they can afford it and even if only half of this was purchased it would be enough to sort out the very worst of the holes in this road, not a lot to ask for but hey ho.

Away from that the actual venue of Moore as you can see form the picture below looked fantastic in the late evening sun and its high banks giving a great angle for a picture.

The discovering did not end there as on Tuesday i took a sneaky early dart from work to go out exploring the River Dane with my uncle.  We set off armed with bank sticks and in the soaring heat we walked and walked and walked looking for those out of the way swims on the river that we think could provide us with the quality fishing and the peace and quiet we have come to love with out river trips.

We walked a fair amount of the river and as we did i tracked on my phone the areas of the river we had explored.  In reality we found very few bits of the river that had much depth to it and found the banks in some areas to be very very wild, now we expected this from the outset but i don't think we expected them to be as wild and overgrown as we found them.  In all we covered all the bits of the river we wanted to scout out and the beauty of this is we have only scratched the surface and we left having made 3 or 4 swims for us to try in the coming weeks.   The beauty of this is now we have a steady area we can drop back on if these new areas don't produce with the added bonus if they do that we will have these areas to ourselves.   out what you put in as i always say and we certainly put it in. 

These past two weeks on the Dane has shown me just what this river can produce and support, in the lower reaches the river is alive with life and fish or all age brackets showing a healthy and sustainable fishery.  I put this is comparison to the middle reaches where WAA have their stretch and I look back on my recommendations that the club should look into stocking or the EA to stock some silver fish in the river here.  This stocking would reduce the hordes of minnows in the river and mean an angler could expect a steady days action on the float rather than just fishing for chub, imagine how good it would be to have a nice mixed net and the odd 3-5lb chub thrown in.  I was of course laughed at and shot down for moaning but this proves what is possible with this river and as much as it is OK the leave it to nature the reality is that these fish in the lower reaches are never going to spread up the river as they are locked down stream by at least 3 weirs.  Man made these barriers so man should take responsibility for the biodiversity problems they cause in my opinion.

On to this weeks fishing:

River Dane Fishing: Coppers Show for Twilight Peg Digger

As regular readers will now we are very very early birds on the bank often arriving before the dawn chorus to set up in any lights we can find, car headlamps, torches, lamps and street lights all taken advantage of and often we time it just right to be ready for first light.  Saturday was no different and as we knew the area we wanted to fish would need pegs both putting in and also one peg digging back a bit to fit a box on we hit the bank slightly earlier.

The gear in the car we set of along the bank with out lamps and spades to set to work on the pegs, in the pitch black we clambered down the banks and began our work.  We were a good 30-40 yards apart down our banks when at the top of my peg arrived a man shining a bright torch in my direction "Hey, What you up to he shouted"  without hesitation, shovel in hand,  my reply was instant "Fishing".  I tell a lie i had brought with my my holdall with my rods and umbrella in and it was at the mans feet so quickly realising this i climber up the bank and looking to the side of the torch light i realised he was a Police officer, "Sorry mate didn't realise you was a copper" was my instinctive reply.  Not convinced with my answer he was soon on the radio as i noticed down the path two more coppers heading to my uncles swim, i explained what i was doing and even with my fishing gear at his feet he was not convinced so all my details where taken and put through to the office for checking.  In my eyes i was not worried at all as i knew what i was doing was legit but it was a nervy 20 mins while they ran my name, uncles name and my car reg through the computers. 

peg before(taken on recce):

Peg After

After 20 mins of chatting and explaining they were happy but could not for the life of them understand our madness at being out so early "fishing" well in my comfort zone at this point i mentioned the blog in the hope of a selfie for the page but the eyes rolling at the mention of fishing blogs put pay to my question.  I really should learn to think before i speak as well and walking back to my peg and the coppers car my comment "So can i get on with burying this body now" was not met with any humour!

The peg in the light of day was a good effort and although looks a bit muddy and a mess now as the grass grows again around it will become part of the bank and will be a place where you can always get a basket down for a comfy swim.

The rest of the river is generally around 5-8ft in depth where the obvious deep runs and swims are between shallower fast rapid sections and for a few weeks now i have said to a friend of mine you will find an area where its an even 3-5 ft and get a bite a chuck right on your hemp.  This peg i was in today looked just as deep to look at as the other pegs but it is really hard to tell as the river here is quite coloured and you can rarely see the bottom in any of the deeper runs hence why you can get a lot of bites through day even in bright conditions.

Plumbing the swim i found an even depth of around 4ft all the way along its short length down to s inside tree.  Against the far bank i had a line of trees i could trot along if i needed to later on in the day.  My uncle always taught me go easy to begin with and only go onto s harder line if the bites stop coming as he says you will eventually draw the fish on your inside easy line if there having it.   It is a lesson that has always put me in good stead and as i threaded the 8 number 4 Dave Harrell stick float through the rubbers on my line i began to drip feed the line i wanted to fish with maggots.  If it is a swim i know and have fished a lot i will also at this point commit to putting some hemp in but with not knowing the topography of the bottom or any potential snags i did not want to commit to putting this bait in, maggots in my opinion will trundle down and out of the swim quite quickly so putting these in will only benefit me getting fish on that line where as the hemp as a bait that is used to hold the fish takes a lot longer to move out of the swim and of course there is a lot more in each pouch full.

Hemp seed is a very interesting talking point and i am going to be writing in a upcoming blog introduction a bit about all things hemp related, why i use it, how i prepare it and what i think it gives me and my river fishing so keep an eye out for that in the coming weeks blogs.  Back to the fishing and with my light hook length attached it was time to make a start.  First trot down, well i say trot the float had only just settled and it was under and the first fish was on the bank, a small roach and a great start, nothing is more exciting than a fish first cast.   The fish in the net it was back in, float in and then maggots to follow followed by a pinch of hemp in an area where i thought all the bait would meet and again the float buried instantly and this time it was a chublet, two half runs through and two fish.

The fishing for the next hour was out of this world and i have to say that being an angler who float fishes for dace a lot i have been fortunate to be in the scenario where its a bite a chuck every run through but i don't ever think i have been in a swim where i have had so many bites before i have got to my hemp, crazy fishing.  A sign of how frantic the fishing was on the day was the fact i called my uncle further down the bank, who i could hear from the striking and splashing was having a similar start, to say that i don't think i have got enough bait if this continues to be like this as it was unbelievable fishing.

Eventually the swim seemed to settle and the fish moved down the run over the hemp and i had a few runs through with no bites, this normally co insides with the sun coming up above the trees and shining on the river but we were a good hour or so away from that.  A few mazy trots down and holding the bait back hard on the hemp saw the float zip under and i was into a better fish that was instantly recognisable as a chub by the fact it stuck hard in the swim on the strike and then went hard for the sunken tree on my inside.  Some hard side strain saw the fish coming back out into the flow and once you see those white lips gulping air in you know its game over and i slid the net under the best fish on the session.

As the morning wore on the sun came over the trees and shining down on the swim marked a stern and very abrupt end in the action that i can only liken to a light being turned off as time and time again the float trundled through the swim with no interest at all, had anyone been watching at this point they would have found it hard to believe the swim as it was a hour or so earlier.

I always knew i had the option or the line against the far trees to trot down and i had been feeding some bait down this line in case the swim died.  A quick plumb up found the same depth i had been fishing which again was ideal.  First trot down the float buried and i struck into something solid, too solid in fact as the taught line straight down the the bottom of the river added extra weight to the fact i had hit a snag and pulling the rod back towards me saw the hook length part with the main line, a sure sign it was a solid snag.  I retied my rig and cast a bit further down stream hoping to miss the snag but again the float slowly slid away and with that another hook length.  I can only think it is a sunken tree given how long the sang was and for the fishing it meant not fishing more than 3/4 of the way across the river.  I picked up a few fishing in the remaining hours of the session but nothing like the rate we had earlier, had there been a trot down the far tree line things might have been different but alas that is fishing isn't it and i left with a nice net of 11.5lb and my uncle put together a lovely net mixed net of 10lb and like mine the bulk of the weight came early on.

my net

uncles net

Sunday - 4 hours, 7.5lb of fish throws thinking on head

Sunday morning and with a good pint and half of maggots in the fridge and around a pint of hemp i was all set for a short session on the river.  I set my alarm for a barmy 5am hoping to get out on the bank, catch a few fish and get back home in time for no one to realise i had left, that was the plan.  The reality was far different as the alarm failed to go off and i was awoken by my little girl at 9am, this time i thought i was not going to bother as i knew the best time of the day was behind me and i really did not have the motivation in me to get all the gear ready, very unlike me at all but hey i just wasn't feeling it.

A hour or so passed and with my shreddies still swishing in my belly i got a new lease of life and thought you know what lets get out there and do it and off i set in my car driving to the river in bright sunlight and going on past trips i could not see why i was bothering as surely the river would be dead now like the previous day at this time.

Setting up in swim my uncle had cleared the previous day it offered some shelter from the sun but also offered the luxury of parking my car right behind the peg and also with the low branches offered me the opportunity of using my 13ft rod so all those excuses people offer up of river fishing being massive long walks and involve specialist tackle are not valid on this stretch of river, its about as luxurious and easy as river fishing gets.

The time was 11am by the time i made my first cast and from the first cast to the last i was treated to a steady days fishing with some fantastic roach dominating a nice net of fish.  Mixed in with these was the odd chublet but the majority of the catch was roach like the one above and below.

All in all i spend 4 hours on the bank, only the lure if my missus's Sunday dinner luring me away at 3.30pm.  In that time i put together a net of 7.5lb of fish and i left happy with the catch but also questioning how you can catch such a nice net through the day but struggle previous day time in a swim that started so well.  This river surely is posing us with a great challenge and although it is enjoyable catching double figure nets most times we hit the bank the challenge will be unlocking the code to catching an extraordinary net of over 20lb.

till next time, watch out for those coppers on the bank and remember to think before cracking a joke to them,

tight lines

Danny