River Dee Fishing and First Pondip Article Published

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update I hope i find you well and your nets full.  In this weeks update we travel to the banks of the River Dee hoping to find the shoals of dace we found on our previous trips but things don't always go to plan so with a big decision to stick or move to be made will our choice pay off?? 

First Pondip Blog Published!!

Link to Article: http://blog.pondiptacklebox.com/2014/tips-and-tricks/5-top-tips-canal-fishing/

This week marked a huge milestone in my angling life away from the bank as my first ever piece of writing for another site apart from my own went live.  The long term sufferers of my blog know my stlye on here is very much a "as i would say it to your face" style with very little in the way of the normal This is how to catch fish or this is how you should be fishing information in there.  This is on purpose as I like my blog to be something that  comes across as relaxed and a blog people can read that is reflects myself as one everyday angler who likes to go fishing and share his experiences of the day and the fishing. 

The brief for some of the blogs i am going to be writing for Pondip is very different as they blogs are going to be more around my techniques and tips for actually catching fish and for me this presented a huge step away from my normal blog.   I decided to write the article on a type of fishing i have done all my life and where it all began for me, my local canal. I nervously submitted the piece last month and at the time i was unsure if the piece would be of a standard for them to publish so i have kept quiet about it on the blog and Social Media through fear it would fall flat on its face but early last week i received an email saying the piece had been published on their blog and they were really happy with it, i was over the moon and the day it went live was a really proud day for myself, i was over the moon and hopefully there will be more to come.

Royal Mail Problems!!

With the Pike fishing fast approaching my evenings when not fishing or writing my blog have been spent bidding on Pike terminal tackle on EBay and i have managed to snare the odd bargain.  Last week i mentioned that some of the tackle i have been ordering had arrived but the most important parcel had still not arrived in my possession and it was quite possibly the most important parcel of the lot as it contained the Crimps, Crimp Pliers and hooks to construct my pike rigs.  The Parcel reference entered into the Royal Mail order tracker revealed it had been posted fine and dandy on the 28th August and was in the Royal Mails possession.  Tuesday the 10th September i received the phone call the package had arrived at my home and about time it was too and although it was being delivered from Ireland in the past i have ordered stuff from China that has arrived in 2 days!! 

At this point i was just glad it has arrived and its contents where all as should be..

The Pike Trace Building Begins.....

All the component's ready and waiting I was like a kid in a sweet shop as late on Tuesday night after publishing the midweek blog update i say down at the table and laid all the different items of tackle purchased over the past few weeks out on the table.

Two items of the tackle have nothing to do with the construction of the rigs and are born from watching how a fellow piker, Garry, went about his piking last year and little tips picked up to make life easier.  Firstly a Rig Bin to store all my traces in, my god the amount of times i cut myself on rigs in those plastic packaging's or put my hand inside my tackle box for my forceps to be met with the tip of a stray treble!  Lesson leaned all my traces will now being stored in a spacious Fox Rig bin.  The next is the quick change swivels, a huge part of the appeal with pike fishing is how quick you can be fishing and i am an angler that loves leaving as much of the rod set up as possible and last year that included the trebles placed on an eye and the rod split in two, again loose trebles find everything especially when unloading from a car boot at home so this quick change link means i can easily unclip the treble at the end of the session and fold the rod up happy there are not hooks to catch anything and also on the plus side when setting up its a quick put together of the rod, attach trace and bait and I'm away.

 On a really short evening session after work that may only be a hour or hour and half this can make a huge difference.

My second ever attempt at a pike trace as i din one last year on the bank but this is my first on my own and apart form the trebles being just a bit too far apart i am happy with that as a first attempt and certainly a solid base to build from.

Mid-week Blog Goes Live...

The past few months i have been really fortunate to have not only got out on the bank quite a bit but also been lucky enough to have some really memorable trips along the way.  As such i have been in a situation where i have a lot of trips to write about but to put them all on a Fridays blog and it not be pages long would be difficult and as these trips where so different i wanted to try and capture the sesisons in full by writing an update for each.

These updates going live midweek some times go under the radar as they are only live for two or three days so i thought from now on i would include a link in the following Friday.  This midweek one was a trip to the River Dane where we hoped for a nice net of silvers, what we found was very different and more sinister........but great fun!!!

Link: http://satonmyperch.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/first-river-dane-pike-as-fish-go-crazy.html

And with that its on to this weeks fishing.........

River Dee: Being Prepared to move...

Heading out to the river we had a fair idea of where we wanted to fish and arrived well before sunrise to make sure we were all ready for setting up in the headlamps of the car.  We had travelled to the same are i had fished recently and done well for a double figure net of dace.  My uncle set up in a swim i had fished in the evening a few weeks ago and had trouble with line across the river and i set up in the swim below a bridge on a fast bend where i knew i would find it difficult but if the fish where around i could get a few.  

My uncle fishes a stick different to myself and also feeds his swim differently so he was confident of not having to risk snagging on the line as he hoped to get the fish where he wanted them under his feet.  The dawn breaking i made my first cast of the session and almost as to fit with the beautiful scenery a kingfisher shimmered upstream just as my float came to rest. 

The light barely enough to make out a float i under shot the float so i could see quite a bit of the tip and began trotting hoping that the fast flow would induce a violent bite that would see the float bury.  The first few trots down all that came back was a snotted maggot and not a sign of a bite.  As the light improved i shot the float right down to a mere pimple and i began to see the bites and they where like lightning a swift dip on the float and that was all you got, reeling in revealed a bait with just the tip taken, a sure sign of small fish.

I did hit the odd bite and was proved right with really small dace coming to the net and in the space of 2 hours of a bite a chuck trotting i had converted it to around 10 fish in the keep net with one proper dace.

net of fish

The nature of river fishing means that you can sometimes be out of sight of the person you are fishing with and only see them two or three times during a session as you visit each others peg for a brew.  The first trip to each others pegs is always a litmus test for how the session is going for the other person, if the fishing is going well it can be a few hours as the with trotting you never want to leave a feeding peg.  It also works the other way and looking up the river form my peg i noticed my uncles peg was vacant ans i could hear the swishing of his waterproof pants as he approached my peg, i knew then he was having the same poor start as me.

My uncle had hit the snag twice and was also getting the same fast bites and hitting the odd small dace like myself.  It was decision time, do we stay and hope the better fish come or do we move to a new area of river all together?  A quick look in the margins at the hoards of fry answered the question for us as they devoured maggots, if that was going on in the river and we had a big head of fry in front of us we were going to struggle and neither of us had enough bait to feed them off so we decided on a a change of venue. 

A quick chat in the car and we set off for a new venue on the River Dee and settled for some crazy mad idea we settled on Eccleston Ferry.  It may sound silly me saying its a mad idea but i have to say before this session here it was certainly mine and my uncles bogey venue where i think we could count the amount if fish caught on one hand between the pair of us. 

We left the car in the car park and walked the bank and the first thing that we noticed was the fact the pegs had been taken out, a walker told us and i don't know how true it is but an angler slipped on them in the ice and sued the land owner!if true the so called angler needs his or her head testing this is fishing and you are not on a commercial now you are at your own risk, so thank you for ruining some very rare comfortable river fishing, idiot., you cant blame the land owner for taking that action and a classic case of the minority ruining it for the majority, a common theme on the dee it seems with the loss of almere being linked to idiots being abusive. 

Walking the bank we finally found a few signs of fish topping and they were in a tight 100 yard length it seemed.  I set up in the margins with my box in the water while my uncle set up down stream on a small tuft.  I had just folded my 13ft rod in half when leaving the previous area but plumbing up i instantly hit a problem as with my float as deep as it would do i still could not fish on the bottom, a very deep area. 

After all the messing around in the morning the last thing i felt like doing was setting up from scratch but it had to be done so it was away with the 13ft rod and out with the 17ft rod.  I also changed floats at this point from a 8 number 4 to a 3 gram bolo float simply due to the depth.  Around a hour and half into the fishing my uncle popped a long and he had been doing quite well with around 2o dace in his net with steady bites to boot.  I at this point had around 4 fish in the net but what i was catching was roach and nice ones to boot but just not as prolifically as my uncle was catching.

while my uncle was at my peg i connected with a better fish and my uncle clocked me playing it up straight away but it was certainly pulling back and although i made it look bigger than it was we were both happy to see a nice chublet grace the landing net.

After discussing the choice to set up in the main boating channel on the River dee we returned to the fishing and after messing around with my shotting to get the float to settle so just the tip of the bristle was showing i began to put together a few fish in succession and it was obvious that there was a decent shoal of roach in the swim and it must have been a shoal of just roach as this was the only fish i was connecting with.

The general stamp of roach i was catching was quite impressive, not massive fish but put up a great fight in the depth of water.

At around noon to 12.30 my uncle nipped along for another brew and at this point i had gone a hour without a bite and so had my uncle.  The normal reason on the Dee for this is a pike moving in your swim but in such a depth of water presenting a bait to them down deep was something i was not tackled up for so i continued to persevere with the feeding and slow trot through the swim.  The odd cast further out did bring one or two fish but it was a good two hours till i connected with my next flurry of bites as three fish came in three casts.  The magic and wonder of river fishing is how quickly you go from nothing to catching it can be like turning a light switch one.

Again the fish were roach but with the fourth fish in as many casts splashing on the surface there was a swirl over the bait and there was extra weight on the line, a pike had taken the fish, as the fish was up on top i could quite clearly see the pike and it was only slightly bigger than the roach it had taken and had in its mouth.  I continued to reel in but at the last moment it spat out the roach. 

The picture below shows what damage even a small pike can do to a fish and looking at the bigger picture it could have been this pike in hunting mode in the swim why the swim dies for 2 hours.  The damage done by this small pike to this roach was terminal and shows just how veracious pike can be and more than likely the pike would have returned to claim the fish after it has died.

Nature in its most raw and brutal form.

I mentioned above that it might have been the pike that killed the swim and the rest of the session went to prove it as no sooner had i cast back out the swim was alive with roach and i got into a rhythm of catching steadily and thoroughly enjoyed a good hour and half's fantastic roach fishing culminating in this plump yet oddly shaped roach that put up a great fight.

On our fishing session me and my uncle normally pack in at the same time but on this occasion i admit to indulging in some roach fishing as i fished on for another 20 minutes.

my net

The final net was one of the best nets of fish i have had from the dee of 10lb 5oz, i say its one of the best as for me fishing the river my nets are normally made up entirely of dace with the odd roach.  This entire net was roach apart from one dace and one chub and maybe the odd gudgeon.

My uncles net was the opposite and was entirely dace with a few roach and a small chub and just shows how one stretch of river can have such different results.

uncle net

till next time i hope you enjoyed my write up of my fishing and let me know if you like the new layout with the introduction and how its more broken up.

tight lines

Danny

Stickfloat Fishing the River Dane: New Area Explored

A warm welcome to a midweek blog update on the second session of the season.  The rivers have been in fine fettle and i hope they have been as kind to you as they have to me.  Lets get straight into it.

The River Dane: 17th June: New But Challenging Swim Produces

With the excitement of the opening session on the Monday behind me I woke up a little later than usual on Tuesday. for most it would be a normal  time to go fishing but for me 8am in the morning feels like I have missed out on the best bit and quite often if i wake this late i don't even bother going.

I arrived on the river and checked in on a mate i knew was on her banks from first light to see how he was getting on.  He was in the swim i had fished the previous day and by all accounts had got of to a great start but the swim had died a bit like mine had the previous day and when i arrived was going through a bit of a lull.  As always i spent far too much time gassing in the swim and it was gone 10am by the time i got back in the car and headed to find a swim. 

I always say on my blog that there is no substitute for preparation and having walked the banks a number of times in the closed season I had a fair idea of what swims where available.  There were no end of easy to fish and simple end of rod tip trotting swims to choose from but since seeing the river all those weeks ago i had my heart set on trying a swim that in all senses of the word was a feeder swim but i knew given the right set up had the potential to be exceptional on the float.

The swim coming of a straight onto a wide bend has a massive slack on the inside and a slack on the far bank with the main flow keeping much to the far side and the trot sweeps round the outside of the bend and down into a tree.  It had all the features to say it would hold some fish and the cover to hold some better chub in my opinion.  Most of the dane you will get away with a 6 to 10 number 4 float and a 13ft rod but in this swim i knew my 17ft float rod would come into its own and my main priority would be to keep any line from the inside slack as this would drag the float in and ruin the presentation.

Float choice was also important and it may seem silly to some my choice in float but i went with a 4 gram bolo float as i knew the extra weight this provides would help me keep the float and bait going down what was quite a narrow line on the far side.  My bait for the day was 2 pints of maggot and pint of hemp seed.  The gear ready i was all set to make a start.

The first few trots down the float was riding high in the water giving away a shallow depth change which saw me altering the depth accordingly.  You then always get that one trot where the float goes down proper and about 10-15 yards down the trot the float went from being up in the water to settling nicely and within seconds it buried and the first fish was on its way in, a nice roach to start off.

It became obvious as the session went on that there were two deep holes along the run as the float would ride up in the water and then settle for 5-10 yards then back up again before settling into another deep hole and in each of these i had a chance of a bite, getting the float down the line at this point was a bit hit and miss though and feeding as well with the catapult made it just that little bit more difficult.

With all days trotting a swim on the float you learn so much more about the swim than on the feeder after a few trots down you can almost map the bottom and as time progresses the amount of times you get it right increases, it really is all about practise and years of fishing the River Dee had put me in good stead for fishing this swim and it wasn't long before i was into a rhythm of casting into the far slack, feeding and then pulling the float back into the float, bite a chuck at some points with some nice dace mixed in with the roach.

As the session progressed the quality of fish increased with the odd skimmer and better Chublet showing.  I get asked quite a lot on emails about how much to feed when trotting and it is always a tough one to answer as it all hangs on that swim on that day and how the fish are feeding.  I was always taught little and often to begin with as you are not there to feed the fish but to catch them so you put in just enough to keep them lined up, unless you think their having it.  I guess that is where the skill in stick float fishing comes in, not only being able to control a float through a swim but also feeding the swim correctly.

The swim at this point i was feeding a pouch of maggots every other trot down and a pouch of hemp every few trots down and it was evident that there was a decent head of fish in the swim as the bites here instant over the hemp and deep holes. Chublets spewing up mouth fulls of maggots got me thinking just how much bait was getting down so i began to up the feed to see it it brought on the better fish, a pouch of mag every put in was now my feeding pattern.

Around this time i was visited by Scott who had packed in and was off for an evening session on a local pond, he spent a good hour at the peg during the period where i was getting to grips with the swim and began to put together fish with regularity, i have no idea on weights but while he was at peg i was getting fish most trots down, roach and dace.

It was after he left they really came on and the introducing more feed certainly was the right call as the better roach like the one above and a better stamp of chublet started coming to the net.  The session culminated in a cracking bite right down the swim when in the final hole the float buried and i was into a fish that in the flow put up a great fight making hard runs for the far bank cover, a good 40 years down the swim it was a great fight and i was more than made up when i slid the net under a nice chub around 1lb to 1.5lb, certainly the best chub so far and proof the better boys are around.

As the session grew to a close it was only the fact i ran out of bait that saw me pack in as the fish were still having it as i packed in, i did manage to get three chublets on my last maggot haha. The final net weighed just under 16lb and considering it was caught in the middle of the day is testament to how well this river is fishing.

In all it was a session that gave me so much joy as i had picked a swim and gone at it with a plan, had confidence to go heavier and in my choice of feeding and end tackle and had put together a decent net of fish from such a small river.  I was soon on the phone to my uncle letting him know how the session had gone and ho happy i was in my own efforts on the day.

till next time

tight lines

Danny

Evening Roach Fishing and Little Billinge Tench

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update.  I read with interest many reports on Facebook and angling forums about the problems people have been having in receiving their Environment Agency licence this year with some having ordered it over a month ago now and yet to receive their licence and some have also reported that their licence did not come away from the letter cleanly leaving white paper on the front of the licence.  I was very late ordering mine this year and it was midday on the Friday before the end of March I finally ordered mine and I have to I did not experience any problems in receiving my licence which arrived the following Wednesday but I did experience the problem with the front being left slightly defaced as the licence did not come cleanly from the letter.  The Environment Agency have issued a statement assuring all anglers who have received an on line confirmation email or had a receipt from the Post Office will receive a licence by the end of May and anglers should continue to use these in the meantime to prove they have purchased a rod licence.  The statement also confirmed the delay is down to a problem with printing.

Right now the opening of the river season officially is next month and although still around 6 weeks away just saying next month makes it seem a lot closer and as such over the passed few days I have allowed my thoughts to drift to that magical opening day.  I have of course booked the day off work,well i tell a lie my boss had already booked it in the diary this year before i even asked and i do have a trip planned for the opening day.  The next river season will see me fish the River Weaver and River Dane a lot more where i hope to connect with some of the better silvers in this river and in winter do battle with some River Weaver pike.  As always I am excited for the season to come and I cant wait for the new season to arrive.

Trips like this one a few weeks ago now just wet the appetite enough to make you start dreaming of silver darts and fat chub.

link: http://satonmyperch.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/stick-float-fishing-river-dane-chub.html

This passed week or two I have made a concious effort to get completely away from the Carp quest, clear my mind and just do some other fishing and that has taken the form of some pond fishing and tench fishing.  The decision to take a break was one that was hard to make as in my heart i wanted to be at the water side as many hours as i could but it is not till you step aside you realise you are just ploughing time and effort in the wrong areas and with tactics that are not working, you sometimes only realise this when you take a step away and allow yourself time to think and summarise where you are up to with it.  The break as you will read below proved to be just the tonic i needed and was certainly the right decision.

Moving on and looking forward to this bank holiday weekend and i am hoping to get out on the bank for at least two sessions.  One thing i normally do when wanting to target just bigger fish isto spend the morning on one venue and then drop back onto another for silvers around midday giving me the best of both worlds so over the two days i will almost certainly be fitting in some silver fishing and  some hours in pursuit of Mr cap and tench.  If your out this weekend then tight lines for your session and why not drop in on  the blogs Facebook page and let us know how you got on with your trip.

blogs facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dannys-Angling-Blog/282860255069146

on to the fishing:

Thursday Evening 5pm-7.20pm - Pond Fishing: Dog Roach on Corn..

After having only limited time the previous week at this pond i was eager to try and get a few more hours in there after work.  Now on the last trip i mentioned that the roach were strangely absent on that trip so i was eager to try and connect with a few of them.  I had hoped to try and get a full day on this water but to date i have not really had time to dedicate to this place.  I am quite an organised person when it comes to my fishing and although the exact location on the river trips may change on the night before the type of fishing i am doing is normally set in stone and this week i knew i wanted to devote a few hours on Sunday to my tench fishing.

I managed to winkle another early dart from work and as with the carp fishing, pole fishing, can be such a time forgiving vein of our sport as in not time at all i was at the side of a pond, pole put together and a pre tied rig loped to the end of the elastic and ready for my first put in.  I came armed with only the remains of the half pint of maggots from the weekend that where mainly casters by this point and a half tin of sweetcorn.  My plan was to start off on maggot and feed the odd bit of corn hoping to attract the better roach in and then fish corn for the last hour of the session.  The first put in on maggot resulted in a tiny perch, not the start i was after but my worries where soon put aside as the very next put in the float slid away confidently and a swift strike resulted in elastic melting from the tip, my prize? a plump roach above.

In all angling i believe the key to catching fish consistently, especially silvers, is feeding and you can get it so wrong.  My uncle is very good at trotting a float down  a river and catching fish but it is his feeding of the swim that keeps the fish coming.  I have sat there many a time and got off to a flyer when fishing but not fed the swim well and before i have realised it the swim is ruined or I have fed too heavily and the fish have moved up in the swim, its exactly the same on still waters, you need to keep the fish where you are fishing and feed to keep them there. A good way of thinking about it is to always be thinking in your mind you are there to catch the fish not to feed them.

I began drip feeding 2 or 3 maggots and the odd grain of corn, waiting for bites to dry up before feeding again to draw the fish from the safety of the cover.  The fishing in that first hour was patchy with one decent roach followed by a wait for a small perch, I knew the better fish where about as past experience of this venue has taught me that they really do shoal on here and once you hit one nice roach your in for a decent number of them.  I made one change at this point and it still amazes me each time how little changes can have such dramatic results.  A move over to a tiny piece of corn on a size 18 hook saw roach after roach come to the bank.

The quality and quantity of the fish even shocked me and i have fished this pond for many years now and this session put this tiny spit of a pond in a different league for me as roach and rudd between 6oz to a pound came with great regularity and yet another surprise came in the last few put ins with this roach bream hybrid below.

I really am going to have to dedicate a full day to this pond sometime to see just what weight i can out together.  Sweetcorn on the night was the killer bait and picked out the better fish time and time again and i would say the majority of the final net came in the last hour of the session.  My eye on the clock it was one of those sessions that passed by all to fast and one i did not want to come to an end.  I left it until as late as i could before calling it a day.  Leaving this secluded intimate venue after catching a nice net of roach i was more than made up with my few hours fishing.

Saturday: Morning Session On Little Billinge for Tench

The past week or so I have been preferring short sessions as opposed to the mammoth 12 hour sessions we do on the river and there is one good reason for this.  I hoped that i would get more out of my fishing if i fished with full concentration for a few hours rather than 12 hours where after around 8 hours of the session sat behind bite alarms i found myself not really enjoying it and actually wanting to go home.

Saturday morning and arriving at Little Billinge on the Northwich card whilst it was covered it a thick blanket of fog was very atmospheric to say the least, especially as the road where you park actually dissects big and little billinge.  I settled down in the swim furthest from the entrance as basically it looked the best swim with a marginally sunken tree and plenty of open water it looked like it screamed tench and carp.  I cast one rod along side the the tree and the other just up the nearside margin hoping to pick up any patrolling fish.

The morning brought all manner of visits from wildlife including herons, kingfishers, woodpeckers, lapwings and wood pigeons the name a few and it was great to take in the world as it awakened from its overnight slumber.  I was amazed to see that i was the only person to visit the lake early that morning and only shared it with a lad that was on a night session, his unhooking mat hooked up to dry giving away some night time captures.  The rods remained silent all morning apart from the odd liner and it was not until around 12 noon when the bailiff arrived i was dropped a few hints on where the carp and tench had been showing of late i decided to move.

With only a hour and half of the session left I deemed it was worth at least a hour or so in this new spot before i called it a day.  Twenty minutes in and the alarm sounded out a short set of bleeps and the bobbin shot to the top, watching a few carp blogs on Youtbube all say this is you getting done over when the fish had sucked in the bait but not got hooked, being an optimist i saw this as a good sign rather than reminiscing on the fact i had not got a fish.  It was certainly more action than I had experienced in the morning.

The time slipped away and in what felt like no time at all i was looking at around 20 minutes of fishing time left before i had to leave.  Another blank was looking to hit the blog until right on last knockings as i stood to bring the first rod in it shot into life the alarm giving a complete one toner i quickly lifted into what felt like a really nice fish that had me in all types of trouble on the far bank as it went under my other rod, its all well and good having two rods in the water but i tell you what soon as you get a run you wish it wasn't there at all!.  The fish away from the bank came in like a wet lettuce with no fight at all to the point i felt like it had come off, very strange i thought as i slipped the net under a pristine looking female tench.

on the scales she went just over 5lb.

It wasn't till i lifted the fish from the weigh sling to put her back in the net for release i noticed her tail, well lack of to be more precise.  The tail had completely gone which must give this fish problems moving around but upon release did not seem to bother her one bit as she shot away.  The injury looked old and healed over and she was obviously feeding well at 5lb and in great condition.  Asking on the Internet the general consensus that this was a injury due to infection or disease that eats away at the tail when its young till the tail flesh is gone, sad really.

Well i leave you with a picture of Nemo the tench and until next week i wish you all

tight lines

Danny

(late blog this week due to problems getting pictures from camera)

Tench Fishing Little Billinge, Carp Quest Blues and Summer Arrivals....

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update.  Well where do I start with this weeks update I really do not know at all,  from a fishing point of view I feel about as low in confidence as I ever have in the whole of my angling life, this carp quest really has taken it out of me both mentally and physically.  I am putting in the hours, too many in fact, resulting in more time away from the house and less time spent on the fishing I normally do like tench and silver fishing.  All time away from this water and the quest not only feels like time wasted but I am not actually enjoying the fishing I am doing when I go for silvers as my mind it locked into this one venue and cracking it.

It begs the question should fishing really be this almost obsessive? I am putting in the time on the lake and leaving each time learning a little bit more about the place but not really feeling any closer to the end goal, not at this moment at least leading into the bank holiday weekend.  Some people will say how can fishing be tiring all you do is sit there all day well I would agree with them a few weeks ago but just try sitting there expectant of a bite all day, I guess some can switch off but I cant and one thing carp fishing gives you in abundance is time to think over your plans and problems time and time and time again and as that time goes on so the hours without a bite rise and with it the puzzles grows.  Like all things I do new on this blog I never do the easy option and yet again have jumped in the deep end starting on a really hard water where most bites come in the night and at the moment at least seem to come from one or two spots that always are taken.  I will of course cover these session on the mini carp quest blog but as this blog is about me and my fishing i thought i would get down in the blog just how I am feeling.

I also can say 100 percent I was not prepared for the nature of some of the people I have had the displeasure to share a lake with on this quest, don't get me wrong I have met some really genuine guys on the lake but as in all cases the minority can leave a place tinged and non more so than a session I did on Saturday.  I arrived at the lake just before first light and as there was two guys night fishing on the main bank i set up on the far bank putting one rod just before half way to a gravel bar and a rod down my left hand margin about 20 yard up the bank.  Anyhow my rods set i settle in to my first brew of the day and with that two guys I met the week before arrive on the other bank on the other side of the lake.  I thought nothing else of it till one of the guys bait in hand walks round the whole lake to drop his bait in my margin just 10 yards up my bank!  I politely said i have got a bait in the margin there mate and you will be over my line.  To this the guy walked round the bank telling his mate I had bait in the margin to which a barrage of "i don't give a "£$% ill cast over his lines" "I'm facing his bank i can fish in a straight line to that bank" and so for the rest of the bay the "whispering" continued (there not the quietest).

Now I see myself as a genuine, nice mannered and decent guy and after years fishing empty banks with my uncle I must say I am not used to feelings of anger and down right frustration on the bank when fishing, especially to other, I was going to say anglers, but i could teach our little girl to walk a bait round the other side of a lake and wait for a bite to be frank.  I must say its left a bad tinge and has really effected my fishing and i know it should not but it does and I am not alone one guy passed me this week who packed in not long after their arrival saying I cant be doing with the noise and constant shouting and he packed in!!.  Anyhow back to the problem I am a fond believer in if you want to fish a certain area so badly or peg then you dam right make sure you get on the bank before anyone else does, I wanted the far bank to discover a new area so I got out of bed and got my back side to the lake.  Any how rant over ha-ha.

I am making this carp quest sound a right doom and gloom but I guess the events above and me knowing i was documenting them in this blog have tinged the introduction with a tinge of upset and well to be frank disappointment. The reality is that a lot of the time spent on this water has been during the change from winter to full on spring and I have to say for the wildlife alone this place is a real mecca.  There are currently a family of grebes on the lake that this week have brought their young out of the nest and onto the main lake, boy do they consume a lot of fish a day!  There is also three families of coots that are constantly at war with one that has a nest right in the bank margin and I know for a fact she is currently on eggs.  To the skies and the recent warm weather has seen the buzzards out soaring above the pit and this week I even saw a kingfisher flash across my swim.  The sad news this week is that the family of swans I wanted to document as they courted, nested and brought up a family have sadly moved on and I think it may have to do with a local predator as there is the skeletal remains of a swan in the wooded part of the pit from a while ago, i fear these swans may have been spooked off by this predator.   Great fun is never to far away and the three bulls in the field behind me brighten up long bite less day on the bank so charismatic and some of the faces they pull crack me up.

Away from angling this time of year has become synonymous with one bird for me and that is the osprey and to be more direct about it the known birds that return each year from Africa to the Dyfi project in Wales.  Long term readers of my blog will remember i covered this project last year and I was really made up recently when Glensi and then Monty returned back to the nest.  Things have quietened down of late as for the passed week or so there has been a monumental battle between Glensi and Blue24 for the rights to the nest which is prime real estate in these parts for sure.  A link is attached below to the Dyfi site so if your interested in Wildlife i am sure you will love this little slice of wildlife bliss that's documented every year.

Dyfi Project website: http://www.dyfiospreyproject.com/

Closer to home I have also seen a few migrants arriving of late arriving in the local area, now i know the lapwing is not so much an immigrant more a gypsy traveller in winter to mainly coastal areas but the arrival of them back in the local fields around the area is a sure sign the weather is set to drastically improve and become more stable and warm.  Along with these arrivals come the long haul travellers in my first swallows skimming the water late in the evening for a lat minute drink and to mop up the first of the fly hatches of this year.  The seasons changing, wildlife and the coming and going of species and being a part of the seasons as they are changing is a magical part of my time on the bank and for me the fishing can be as good or as bad as it wants the wildlife and experiencing nature up close and witnessing such beauties as the first frost or an early morning low lying fog burn from the water or seeing a pair of grebes cautiously coaxing their young from the reeds for the very first time are moments that will live with me forever, truly magical experiences.

And with that its on to this weeks fishing...

Tench Fishing:  Little Billinge the home of Teddy bear eyed monsters???

Another session completed on the carp quest and sat behind silent bite alarms it was time for a change and during the drive home I began to think if what it was I wanted to do so.  Last year I had been quite good at catching tench instead of carp so with that I decided to have a few hours on the Monday afternoon chasing my first tinca of the year.  Sunday evening I began thinking of a plan of attack and rummaging through my old bait in the bait cupboard I cam across two items that had done me well in the passed in a unopened gag of Crab and Garlic monster boilies and a glug pot of the same bait that had been marinating in a glug of hemp oil, korda goo and a secret additive that will remain secret.....forever!.

That night I began making up a few specialised tench rigs for the session ahead, smaller hooks and lighter hook lengths were needed and as I was tying them I began to remember those rod bending runs I was getting on last years carp quest and quite how my results using the same materials could be so different and it was then it struck me something in my set up for the carp water was not right and I needed to begin tweaking in stead of casting out the same set up, any how that is another story.

My tactic for the session was a two pronged approach with a different bait on each rod,  my first rod would of course be on the monster crab and mussel boilie fished with a pva bag of crushed boilie and whole boilies in the bag and the second would be fished with a marine halibut pellet with again a pva bag approach filled with mini pellets hoping to pick up a tench or one of the big bream that live in this lake.

Arriving at the pit around noon I was hoping to sneak in around 6 hours of fishing as I knew I had to be off around 6.30pm to do a few jobs, not exactly the best times for picking up a tench but if i managed to pick up just one fish I would be a happy man.  I set up in a quiet swim towards the far end of the lake presenting one bait along a snaggy margin and the other one into open water to my right

My hope this summer is to get around a document as many waters on the Northwich card as possible to try and get them added to the venues I fish area of the blog, with them being all within a 30 mile radius it should not be a hard task, finding time to fish them may take a little longer though.   The baits set it was time to chill out and relax.

Little billinge sits in the shadow of its bigger brother big billinge, both separated by a road these two pits i believe at one time where connected as one body of water.  Speaking to a number of anglers on the bank over the past weeks it has been common for a few people to repeat the the same story that any tench and big bream the carp anglers catch in big billinge are put into little billinge and given how close these lakes are you can see it happening.  As wrong and i think against the law this is it has left quite a small water in size to be populated with some really special fish with bream to up around double figures and tench again to the same its a place that could really throw up the odd surprise.  The water contains a number of pegs on both banks with the ones as you walk on looking really inviting for the pole angler as the far bank reeds are easily accessible by pole for at least the first 3 pegs after which it becomes wider.

It turned out to be an unplanned social fishing session as Gary and his mate turned up and not long after blog follower scott turned up as well to fish.  Scott had a decent session on the pole taking a few big bream and tench,  Gary and his mate had a steady day on the close in margin line taking countless roach and perch and gudgeon and Gary ended the day with two fantastic tench on the feeder.

I had a few liners giving the presence of fish in the swim away and after around 2 hours the rod screamed away, not used to activity of my new bite alarms panic set in which saw me striking the wrong rod to the amusement of the baying crowd (cant believe i am admitting to this).  Anyhow after realising my comical error I struck to second rod and was into a hard fighting fish that I must admit a played lightly being the first decent fish in ages I had hooked into.  A prolonged battle later the fish was in the net waiting to be unhooked.

This gave me a chance to get some practise in for when I eventually connect with these carp so it was out with the unhooking mat and the weight sling.  I was also using my 42inch landing net which I thought was great as it kept the fish quiet ans secure in the margin and allowed me to unhook and place the tench in the weigh sling in the water.

Like most of my purchases of late they will cross over into my winter pike fishing and I can see the weigh sling being a great bit of kit next season and the large landing net has also got me thinking of picking up a large rubber net for the piking as well.

The tench went exactly 5lb on the scales and being a male bodes well for the possibility the females could go to double figures.

Well packing away at 6.30 i certainly felt like i was leaving at the wrong time of day but needs must and getting out as much as I do I can't really complain.

till next time i wish you all

tight lines

Danny

Wildlife And Childhood Memories of Wiggs Island

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update I hope I find you all full of the joys of spring the fields are awash with all the colours of spring from bright yellow daffodil's to ivory white blossom on the trees its a great time to be out and about in this wonderful country of ours and even better when your wetting a line at the same time.  I passed a field on the way to the water I am fishing for the Carp Quest this year and it was a joy to see a whole field full of early season rape seed a field of bright yellow situated amongst empty barren fields it was a joy to see but alas situated right on a 50mph country road with no lay byes I will have to wait till I spot another opportunity elsewhere to capture a similar image.

In all honesty my time over the past week has been crammed with all things around the Carp Quest 2014, preparing rigs, buying gear, pluming depths and actually fishing the venue have all dominated my time of late with all things angling and as such I was left on Friday night with a decision to make.  Do I go fishing for silvers and put a net together for my normal blog update on a Friday night or do I go "all in" and risk it all to devote a day and a half to just the quest hoping to get a quick result on it, I decided to go with the "all in"  mentality and devoted all weekend to the quest.  Most of my spare time away from family life has been spent putting together the introduction for the Carp Quest 2014 and also beginning to write up the first few sessions i have been fishing on it, as of right now the Introduction is wrote and needs pictures adding and the first two session on the bank are ready to be added in the next day or so.  This weekend I am certainly going to be dividing my time between the quest and I actually feel like doing some fishing for some tench on one of the Northwich Anglers waters.

To keep up with the Carp Quest in more detail you can follow this link here: Carp Quest 2014

Regular readers of my blog will know how much I love my Rivers and trotting them but will also know how much I feel it hinders my ability to capture on film the beautiful sights and special moments I see with regards British wildlife,  many times on the river I will see a kingfisher or a bird of prey but not have time to grab the camera, these few carp sessions already have provided me with so much opportunity to capture some special memorable moments.

The moment I walked onto this new water I instantly fell in love with the wildlife and tranquil nature of the place from its location I knew i was going to be treated to beautiful sunrises over farmers fields and special sunsets as the Sun drops behind the far bank trees I was not let down when the time came to spend some early mornings and late evenings on this water.

Sunrise and the rods are out:-

The sun beams through the trees at sunset.

On my first visit when i was just plumbing depths I was delighted to see a pair of swans that had decided to call this place home, my mind thought back to the pair I had become so attached to over the years on Almere Ferry on the River Dee and it was another piece of the jigsaw that made this place the right place for this Quest.  Over the next few trips either fishing or just drooping in for signs of fish locations a routine emerged where the swans would travel out to the middle of the lake in the middle of the morning and early evening and putting on a display of perfect symmetry.  One one of the following trips I was delighted to capture on camera one of those special pictures that I feel sums up spring time, a time where all wildlife is most certainly 'twitterpated'. (props to anyone who gets that word).

Being such a small water and swans being so territorial it came as no surprise when the male swan became instantly angered by the arrival of any other swan intruders on HIS lake.  On one session on the Saturday I counted 20 individual swans he saw off.  The lake may contain a fair number of king carp but in reality this is where the royalty of the lake reside, i wonder how long it will be before she begins construction of her nest castle.

The next daily arrival on the pool are a pair of Canadian geese, they arrive at 10am and 6pm every day, they land on the lake and then walk to the farmers field along side to water eat and then leave.  I wonder what it is about this grass that appeals to them so much and it left me wondering how many fields they fly over to get to this one patch.  I am almost certain they are the same birds each day.

Wildlife wise I saved the best till last in my opinion and it may surprise you as there are so many of these about but over the few sessions i have managed to befriend a drake.  I have called him Ashley on the grounds of the similarities to the amount of diving both him and his name sake Ashley Young of Manchester United do.

I must say I felt sorry for this guy as there are two pairs on the lake of ducks and drakes and he is literally the gooseberry of both of them, smaller in size than his rivals every time one of the females is ready to mate he takes a right pasting from the other drakes.  Dejected and looking down in the dumps he drifted over to me and I treated him to some of my sweetcorn, it seemed to perk the little fella up and I'm thinking of spiking my next batch with some body building power bulk him up a bit ha ha, poor fella.

More to come on the wildlife on this water and others I visit over the next coming weeks I am sure there will be plenty of arrivals as spring progresses.

The next bit of news I wanted to add is that the competition for blog followers to win a free Canvas of their own design from Canvasdesign.co.uk has gone live on the blogs Facebook Page.  Entering the draw is simple you need to fill the following criteria:

1) Be someone who LIKES Dannys angling blog page on Facebook
2) LIKE and SHARE at least on of the posts advertising this competition over the next few days.

Link to the blogs facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dannys-Angling-Blog/282860255069146

Closing date for entries is midnight Wednesday 16th April and winners will be announced in that weeks blog update and on Facebook. Good luck!!

This week me, my little girl, my dad and brother took the rare opportunity for us all to be together to take our Cocker Spaniel, Pipper Wolfey ey for a long afternoon walk.  We chose Wiggs Island as our destination and it brought back so many childhood memories especially when we reached the lost canal.

As a kid the whole of Wiggs island was open for people to walk on the land and you could walk from Wiggs island to Warrington along the road.  Venturing off the beaten path playing foxes and hounds as a kid you would see plenty of wildlife and also you would come across the lost canal.  A stretch of water that was tinged with a slight bit of colour and was alive with fish from roach, tench and crucian carp it was a childhood dream fishing spot and we spent many a day on its banks.

This all paints a pretty picture of rabbit filled meadows and trees full of birds but the true reality of this places sinister past was highlighted in the 1990's when fencing went up across the path and first field and a gate was erected to only allow waggons through.  As mischievous teenagers we learnt that at low tides you could walk around the gate and come up the wall the other side and we many a time snook in the back route.  What we saw still is clear as a bell to me this day as we came across many blue barrels with corrosive signs on them and many deformed rabbits, may have been myxomatosis looking back.  Venturing to the lost canal i remember it being a vibrant brown copper colour all along its length, it looked dead.

Over the years I have looked into wiggs island's history and it was actually a site in the war called Hush Hush where mustard gas was produced for the World Wars and upon speaking to my dad it turns out that his mother and my grandmother actually worked in hush hush during the war efforts. There is also a landfill site on there that explains why access was still needed by the lorries and also a great amount of the site is owned over the years by I.C.I.  The canal apparently was a testing site for the mustard gas bombs or maybe for the manufacturing process which may explain the unusual colour of it.

In recent years the site has been radically transformed into a nature reserve of all things, paths have been built, bird hives have been erected and the fences taken down.  Its a beautiful place to look at and contains a vast amount of wildlife now and when I visit I always take a second to think whether any of the people walking those paths knew it as I did and its past.  So what of the Lost canal, well it is still there today as you can see and was actually recently stocked with fish again it is now gin clear but if you look towards the far end you can still see the odd sign of brown copper leaking into the canal.

This week I also noticed that the blog had passed the 150,000 views mark, I must say when I started writing these rambles its a situation I never thought I would ever reach but I guess I treat it like I do my fishing, I put 100% into it and try to make a conscious effort to update it whether I catch or not.  I am immensely proud of this blog I publish at thoroughly enjoy thinking up of new ideas for its content each week, where it will lead god only knows but all I can say is so far its been a joy to write it each week and long may the fun continue.

till next week I wish you all,

Tight lines

Danny

River Fishing: River Weaver Roach and River Dane Chub

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update.  I have started in past weeks to upload all the pictures form each weeks blog on to the blogs Facebook page both to help back up the images and also provide a place for all the different types of my fishing to be kept in an organised fashion, all pictures have the blog post they relate to posted beneath them so should you want to see how the session went and the story behind the pictures its just a simple click away.  If you are on Facebook and want to take advantage of this of just want to follow my exploits on the bank as they happen the link is below.

Dannys Angling Blog Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dannys-Angling-Blog/282860255069146

There is a very interesting competition as well coming up in the next few weeks so if you are keen into you photography then its a good place to check out for a exciting competition i will be running in the near future, more of that in the coming weeks.

Dead Baiting for Pike - The Journey And The Lessons Learnt

I like to think of this blog as a honest and frank account of my angling, good times and the bad whilst incorporating my own honest views and opinions on the fishing sessions i do so i thought it would be a good idea in  this weeks introduction to summarise  the past few weeks dead baiting for pike and the lessons i have learnt along the way.

My adventure into the world of dead baiting for pike began only 3 months ago and for the first two weeks it was a steep learning curve with many hours spent on the bank with not a single sign of a run and i must admit i adopted a chuck it and chance it mentality relying on spots i had seen pike activity months earlier and expecting the pike to hunt out my bait no matter where i placed it.

The next week and with two weeks of blanks under my belt and getting close to 20 hours worth of pike fishing into my journey I was determined as ever to accomplish my target of one pike on a dead bait and i guess at this point it would be a time where it would be easier to call it a day and move onto something new but I had the grit between my teeth and I could feel be beginning to fall in love with the mystery of dead baiting for pike.  At this point i did begin to question if my tactics where right and a chance conversation with Garry, a seasoned piker, gave me a great deal of confidence to know that what i was doing was right.

This confidence boost along with a few tips gave me a added sense of expectation on my next trip and it was rewarded with 6 runs and 5 fish on the bank and the next day what i saw as my first proper pike of this dead baiting in a fish of over 8lb.   Returning to this same place the next week i was fortunate enough to land my first double figure stillwater pike of just over 10lb, i was on cloud 9.    The next week saw me struggle for a bit in horrendous winds but using a bit of water craft i winked out a fish to save a blank.

This session led onto what i see as the height of the dead baiting in a social session with Garry and Ste, a session that surpassed all my expectations with us all catching and for myself personally a fish i never thought i would get near this year in a new personal best still water pike of 13lb 8oz.  At this point i was overcome with all things piking it was on my mind 24/7 and it saw me on the bank at every opportunity even of it was just a few hours after work, many of these short session resulting in runs and the odd fish on the bank and it was a great feeling to know i had gone from a angler who did not have a clue to a stage where i was expecting to catch.

So what have i learnt? well these weeks pike fishing have certainly taught me patience as after what has been a good few years trotting for dace and chub waiting hours for a bite i did find hard at first and struggled at times to keep focused.  Time on the bank dedicated to piking has allowed me to judge just how long to give each spot before moving on and what spots have more potential than others for producing pike.  Dedication and putting in the hours is something i feel i never lack but this time has taught me to spend time productively by mapping out depths as finding deeper water or slight depressions can make all the difference with this game and of course always remembering that what is below the water is just as important as the features you can see above it.

Bait wise i have to say i have been very fortunate as i have caught on a wide variety of baits so do not feel attached to one bait in particular which i can see being an easy trap to fall into.  During my time piking this year i have caught fish on Sprats, Mackerel, Sardine, Herring and Smelt.  There are many opinions on the nature of pike but in my opinion they have set feeding spells where all fish in a local area switch on, using two rods i have say there too many times with no action and then had almost simultaneous bites on both rods, i know this is not my own discovery i mean it more as i subscribe to the theory.

Looking towards next year, yes i am already thinking about it, i am certainly looking at refining my approaches and being better equipped on the bank, a bigger deeper landing net is a must have along with a decent weigh sling, aside form these i will certainly be making my own traces next year and with my first attempt not looking too shabby i have to say i am looking forward to catching a pike on my own traces.  Researching piking has got my head full of refinements i want to make and next year i will certainly  be looking to experiment with adding fish oils to my baits but above all else there is one area i need to improve on dramatically and that is converting runs into fish on the bank i have lost as many pike as I have caught and this is something i am hoping refining my own rigs with my choice of hooks will help reduce.

Well i hope you have enjoyed reading about my piking this winter as much as i have enjoyed the challenge of catching the fish and with that we move onto the fishing i have done this week. .

Wednesday 3.30pm-6.30pm - Dead baiting For Pike - End of the Road??

Sat in work i could hear the pike clock ticking down and with a sharp frost hitting for two mornings solid i knew come the evening temperatures would again plummet down towards freezing, an opportunity not to be missed.  A quick text to Garry and a meet up time was arranged to fish from 4pm till dark in the hope of a last gasp end of season pike.  I was first to arrive and had a cheeky chuck in the snag swim hoping to pick up a quick bite but with now action coming in 15 minutes i promptly left the swim for Garry when he arrived, a popular pike hot spot i had fished on our last trip it was only right for him to fish it this time.  I moved along a settled into a deep run along a set of reeds with one herring bait presented on the bottom and another sprat presented off bottom to drift slowly.

There was no action from casting till around 20 minutes later when Garry arrived and settled into the snag swim so it was time for a recast and a quick chat.  The conversation, always fishing related how i like it, was centred around the thought that the fish had moved off to spawn, whilst talking i am always aware of the two rods in the water and i guess watching to pikers chatting you could be forgiving for thinking they don't get on how ignorant they look always looking away when the others talking, it was during one of these glances i noticed a slight dip on my sprat bait rod.

A short stroll along to the swim confirmed the interest which had gone from a few dips to the float beginning to move along the top.  The float never went under instead just bobbed along the top which normally is a sure sign that its a small jack that has taken the bait, i gave it as long as i dared before setting the hooks.  The fish came instantly to the top, a tiny jack around 3lb wet, not the pike i had come for but still it was a fish on the bank.

The baits returned it was a good hour or so of inactivity as we moved into dusk before any more action with my right hand herring bait moving lazily into the middle channel in a very positive way indeed, a strong strike was met with resistance of what felt a nice fish before as soon as the battle had got going the bait came back at me, dam, another lost fish to add to the list and certainly food for thought for next season.

In hindsight i should have changed my hooks there and then but in the heat of the moment i cast straight back out as we was well on the way into dark now and i didn't want to miss a moment as it felt bang on for a bite.  The minutes passed by and Garry moved up from his snag swim for the final 20 minutes of the session, two anglers hooked on their angling sat in the darkness squinting to see the pike floats, its safe to say we stuck it out till the last.   Right on last knockings we were just ready to reel in when i said i am going to give it 10 more minutes as i felt it was going to go, it just felt right and bang on queue the left hand rod slid away.  The bite was again a solid run and i left the float to slide away before setting the hooks, striking hard i was amazed as the rod hooped over and all hell broke loose as the pike jumped clear of the water in the reeds putting up one hell of a fight, moving closer in hugging the bottom it felt a very nice fish indeed, shaking its head in defiance sent shock waves up my arm as it felt like the fish had come off time and time again.  Eventually the fish came to the surface and revealed itself to be a pike between 7-10lb i would estimate coming towards the waiting net he had one final head shake and with that spat the hooks!!, i was absolutely gutted i have to say and as i mentioned above the losing of fish after striking is something i need to look into for next years campaign.

That was it for the fishing as we packed away and walked back to the cars and as i did a strange feeling came over, a strange feeling of the end, as if i knew that was it for the pike fishing and would be the last time i would be visiting this location this season, it felt the right time to call time on the deadbaiitng, for this year. 

Sunday Morning 6am-12am - Pole Fishing The River Weaver

Saturday morning saw us visiting Atomic Baits Angling Shop in Northwich to purchase our Northwich Anglers Licences for the coming year and to pick up some bait for our session the following day, as always my order was 2 pints of white and a bag of uncooked hemp.  After purchasing the licences we headed off to look at some of the stretches on the card, first was the River Dane.  The river dane in general does not receive a great deal of angling pressure and as such a lot of the stretches, barring the popular cotton and manor farm areas around Holmes Chapel, are quite over grown and its a case of making a swim when you arrive, certainly not a place for anyone looking for the luxury of pallet pegs and sausage barms delivered to your peg.  I guess you ever like it or hate it but i guess the fact i love the naturalistic nature of the river dane and river fishing in general is why i love it and walking her banks most would have seen a wall of trees and brambles but to the keen eye it looked like an anglers Paradise of hidden overgrown swims and unpressurised fishing.

We next moved onto the River Weaver to take a look at what this had to offer and was instantly amazed at the organisation of this club as a good mile or so of river had a drivable road and three spacious car parks situated all along its length, a far cry from the roads you see on Warrington Anglers rivers.  Driving to the top end of the stretch i was taken back by how beautiful the place looked, this was enhanced by the fact there was not a breath of wind and their was still reminiscences of a overnight frost to set the scene off nicely.   In truth the weaver is about as cushy as river fishing gets as you could literally fish out of your car window the pegs are that close to the car park, i was dying to wet a line and even more so when i spoke to an angler fishing who had already had a few fish. Below is a picture of the River Weaver all the picture i took on the morning will be uploaded to the Blogs Facebook page tonight.

This seasons river fishing really has been a case of feast or famine as on Saturday morning we sat in my uncles plotting our trip and we were really stuck with what to do, do we go the River Dee for dace and risk the expected tides ruining the session, go the dane to assess the potential for chub and dace or go the Weaver for a real taste of the unknown.  The River Dee was really touch and go as it was already over the ideal level we have set for trips there and the tide coming would only increase these levels, this along with local reports the river was well coloured and debris coming down saw us drop this as an option and we settled on a plan of setting up on the Weaver with a view of packing in midday and heading the Dane for the last few hours, two birds with one stone.  The picture below is a sight and smell i was not expecting to experience again this season as I set about preparing my hemp for the session the following day.

Arriving at the car park on the Weaver we could see the river looked just as beautiful in the dim twilight as she had in all her glory the previous day, walking the banks provided us with our first dilemma in where to fish? the banks and the actual weaver itself to look at lacks any features you associate with other rivers such overhanging trees and snags and eddies as such so it was a case of picking two swims and beginning the journey.

My tactic for the day was to fish maggot and hemp fed in ground bait and run the float over it with the pole while my uncle chose to fish the stick float.  Setting up we found it quite similar to a huge canal in there was a steep drop off a few metres out which seemed to level out around 7-10m.  I fed hemp slightly downstream hoping to spread the bait a little to draw fish over a large area and the groudbait was there as we had heard the venue holds some good bream and skimmers.

This is the first time i have ever really fished a river on the pole barring a few times on the Dee when i tried and failed with an idea to improve my catch rate so i was not confident at all going into the session but was very excited to learn a new way of fishing that if truth be told i will have to learn and learn well as it will make up the majority of my fishing on the weaver for silvers as feeder fishing is not really my thing.

My uncle was first into fish and it was a baby gudgeon that claimed the crown of first weaver fish, not the biggest fish in the river, maybe even the smallest but it was a start.  My uncle had put a few bites together with small roach coming at regular intervals where as i still remained bite less trying to get to grips with feeding the pole and keeping the bait going down in a straight line.  A few tangles and re-rigging ensued from myself but eventually after taking a minute to think over my tactics and feeding i began to catch the odd roach.

Over the next few hours my uncle began to get fish with regularity before they would move out for a while and then move back in again, all fish were small roach.  I had by now got to grips with the pole and was getting bites steady and i was really made up to have gone from not catching to getting bites steady, again all were small roach but this was irrelevant my target for the day was to get some bites and i had achieved that and it gave me a solid base to build on an refine my tactics in the future.  I found fishing the pole exciting and different and i really enjoyed it and i must admit i was a little disappointed when 12am rolled round.

Sunday Afternoon 1pm - 5pm - Stick Float Fishing  on the River Dane

Loading the car on the weaver was a piece of cake as it was literally situated behind my car and in no time at all we was on our way to the River Dane.  This ease of moving was one of the reasons we got the card as you can literally be fishing the Dane and struggling and easily pack in and move on another river in 10 minutes sometimes on the Warrington Anglers River Dane at Holmes chapel you would feel as if you had no option to stick it out if the chub were not having it as there are very few locations to drop back on, river wise.

Arriving at the dane and setting up in my swim there were signs all round that the River season is nearing its end none more so that this patch of daffodils standing proud in the midday sun, a sure sign times are changing.  The dane is different in every way to the weaver what with its intimate secluded swims and steady paced glides its  river that just cries out to have a stick float run down it.  With this in mind i set up my 13ft trotting rod armed with 5lb Drennan float fish line and a 1lb 7oz hook length,  i wouldn't normally go as light as this but i knew this part of the dane held all species of river fish such as dace, perch and roach along with the chub so i set up on the light side to give myself the best chance of a few bites if i started to get snapped i could always go straight through with the 5lb line.

Setting up i had tricked bait into the swim on a line i expected the fish to hold leaving the dangerous run along the snags till later on in the day if bites did not come, my plan was to draw the fish into the middle rather than chasing them, set up ready it was time to make that magical first cast into the unknown on a new section of river, this is what river fishing is all about for me, discovery and the unknown.

First trot down the pre baiting whilst setting up had worked a treat as the float buried and i was met with a stubborn fish that left me in no doubts as to which species i was connected to as it darted for the nearside cover, a chub it just had to be.  Up came a pair of white lips and a chub slid into the net, a chub first cast and being only a pound or so i was optimistic we had a few of these fish around.

The next few casts were filled with optimism and rightly so as the very next cast i suffered a hook pull at the net form another chublet and the very next cast landed a small dace.  This action was not confined to my swim either as my uncle visited my peg early on to say he had been snapped twice and landed 3 chub.  I was catching the odd chub but not with and regularity they were obviously feeding well judging by the mouth full of food in this chubs gob.

The session continued with me picking up the odd fish but my uncle was into a serious shoal and as night fell i could hear him fighting with fish after fish where as my swim seemed to fade with time, my thinking is the fish just followed the line of bait above my peg and this a long with my uncle being really good a trotting and presenting a bait made for an impressive 16lb net of fish come packing up.  I actually felt like i had done better than the final net looked which i guess is a good thing, i think.

uncles net:

my net

We left the bank more than made up with our efforts and it did leave me wondering why we only catch chub from 3lb upwards on the Warring river dane stretch and why we never catch any small chublets.  It is a question that does get you thinking, maybe they reproduce on another stretch and move onto ours when they reach a certain size or maybe the big fish just out compete the small, it does make for an interesting thought though.

till next time i wish you all

tight lines

Danny