Cheshire Particle, Bailiff Role and Some Pond Fishing :-)

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope find you all well and your nets wet.  Two blogs in short succession it finally feels like i am getting stuck into this routine and finding the time to fit it all in.  I am on top of the extra additional duties and sticking to my promise to be more proactive in my fishing this year.

Recent trips out on the bank have seen me bump into loads of people who read the blog, like buses you don't have many people mention it then all of a sudden you get people coming over for a chat everywhere you go.  I love this side of the blog and if you do ever see me on the bank please do come over and have a chat its great to hear your fishing stories.

The past two weekends has seen me targeting carp for a product review i have got coming up for a carp sling and it was great to bump into a regular blog reader on the bank and share a moment that saw him catch his first ever chub! A keen predator angler it was good to hear his stories from the same canal we fish, share some of my hot spots i have come across for perch and then sat back and waited for a run whilst watching his roach swim get stalked by a small jack pike.  We spend all winter chasing them on dedicated gear and how typical if fishing when you set up a roach rod and leave the pike gear at home, mr esox then finds you.  Who would be a fishermen eh?

I can honestly say i am loving my fishing at the moment and in that i mean all aspects of it.  The challenge of the fishing, different challenges with the writing and then the extreme challenge that is the youtube channel.  Challenge is good in any part of life not just fishing it keeps you on your toes and makes the journey one to remember.

Cheshire Particle...

Cheshire Particle is a North West bait company run by Mark.  Working from home to produce his own blends and mixes of particles he, in a short space of time, has gained a reputation for producing quality baits.  The 2016 sponsor of the wales carp fishing is a testament to the hard work put in by mark and his team of anglers.

link to cheshire particle: https://cheshireparticle.com/

The range of products on offer is fantastic ranging from parti-mixes, pellets, nut mixes to his new range of snail boilies and of course his particle mixes with hemp tares and maize, it is a range where anyone can find a bait that fits into their fishing.  I always like it when i come across anglers with an obvious passion for their sport and products and even more so when they are local, long term blog readers will remember me working with Beechwood baits a few years ago.

Of course this blog does stray into the world of carp fishing from time to time but when i was asked to work with Cheshire Particle i wanted to of course use items that compliment my fishing and dovetail nicely into my methods and ideas.  The stand out was of course hemp seed and i was also very interested in the hemp oil the company produced and the different ways i could incorporate that into my fishing.  A review of these two products will bin the coming blogs but here is a little taste of what this hemp and hemp oil can be used to catch.

Lymm Anglers Bailiff Role...

The world of fishing can be at times a world of gripes and discontent, certainly if you frequent facebook groups a lot you will certainly be open to this world.  I, at times, have also been guilty of having a lot to say on certain subjects but offering little in the way of a solution to the problem but like i said earlier 2017 i made a resolution to be more positive and more proactive in my angling,  April is fast approaching and i think i have been true to that word.

In the past 2 years i have seen the banks of my local canal, the bridge water, (Northern One) become a place i dont like, a place where you worry about its long term future and the effects certain types of behavior are having on the water.  In the past two years i have seen the pike fishing be reduced to a shadow of its former self and increasingly in that time i was catching pike with large sea hooks in their mouths and trailing tackle where the angler had been snapped on really light lines with no traces.

More and more i was seeing anglers mistreating fish when handling them and after getting chatting to  few anglers an ever increasing number of anglers with no licence.  This year i got chatting to another bailiff and i decided to put my name down to join a team of dedicated bailiffs and as a group we are now completing checks on the canal and in only a short amount of time have i think got a message that the canal is now in safe hands and being well bailiffed.

For me a bailiff role does not just confine to the boundary of checking cards and i want it to become the canal i remember as a kid, i want to see anglers back on the banks fishing the canal,  The lads and dads getting out and about to wet a line and create memories together on the local cut.    To achieve this is going to take time and a lot of effort and hard work.  I will certainly be covering in detail my sessions on there in the form of my youtube videos and on here and if you are local to the Cheshire area come and give this canal a go, you will not be disappointed.

You can acquire a licence here: https://www.lymmanglingclub.com/join-us

On to the Fishing:

Welcome to my...Pond Life...

So with a few product reviews in the past few weeks my fishing for once has been mainly dictated by the blog, not my normal way of doing things but some times it has to be done and carp fishing has been the area i have been spending most of mt time in recently.

As with all aspect of life it is always good to break away and  spend a few hours doing something completely different, an evening on a local small pond with my uncle offered such an opportunity and it was away with the carp rods and out with the maggotts and hemp.

A small secluded pond situated in the ruins of an old monastery it holds a wealth of history and the pond itself is part of that with it being a stock pond for the monks when they inhabited the local area.  How times change now someone taking carp from this pond for the pot would be seen in such a different light.

This pond is also quite sentimental to myself as both me and my dad helped to create the fishing pegs many years ago and s reward we where both granted with a fishing licence for life to fish the pond, a reward we drop in on from time to time, but in all honesty a place i fish quite infrequently.  A place, like the local canal, that holds so many special memories of mine and my dads fishing trips.

So with only a few hours in the evening we decided to give this little pond a go. The margins lined with toads in quite a amorous mood it was one of those typical early spring evenings, a warm breeze and intermittent sun and cloud, i was interested to see how the fishing had changed.

Feeding red maggot via the catty over the top of my light pole float soon saw some roach coming on the drop.  A decent pouch of hemp from the off would guarantee some feed on the bottom when the maggot arrived.  A deep swim for a pond at 10ft i fished a rig full depth with little shot to catch in all the layers as the bait fell.  Roach where soon coming steady on the drop.

As with all truly wild fish that need not our baits to sustain their existence their natural instincts soon kick in and caution outweighs the need to feed.  Changing feed and depths can fool the stranglers but keeping the fish coming can really be a game of cat and mouse.  My uncle was also getting steady bites and had actually landed a few small carp, distant ancestors of the very fish this pond was created for, the history of this place as i have said makes it so special.

A solemn silence soon came over my peg and it all felt very atmospheric as the float sat lazily dancing to the ponds tune as the slight ripple lapped up against the float.  A rhythm soon interrupted by the slightest of line bites, a fish moving on the bottom was the obvious culprit and when the float finally gave in the ever excited angler on the other end of the pole and sunk into to depths i knew little of what was going to be on the other end.

A hard fight seeing the drennan aqua elastic oozing from the end of the pole it was a good while before the fishes identity was certified especially with the severe depth of this pond.  Eventually through the surface came the shimmer of dark olive green and that most iconic of spring fish was slid into the landing net.  A teddy bear eye and a paint brush tail she was by far the fish of the session and a sign spring had finally sprung.

As the session wore on to its end and we reached that most mysterious time in any session, the last hour, the witching hour, a hour when you know those wise old fish are starting their hunt for food and if you get lucky maybe they will slip up and allow you to admire their beauty.

The last hour as the oily sun dropped below the horizon my palm was graced with bars of gold time and time again as some lovely crucian carp moved in over the bed of hemp seed.  A sight that brought those childhood memories flooding straight back.

A session end came in just as fast as the darkness began to fall and a cool mist began to creed over the pond, many say the morning mist is the ghost of anglers past then surely this mist rolling in just had the be the ghosts of the monks moving in to protect their pool through the hours of darkness.

Two nets that held so many memories.

Till next time enjoy you fishing and creating those special memories that will last a lifetime.

Danny

23lb of River Roach On Bolo & Canal Tinca......

A war welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  A few days booked off work last weekend and to start it off was a session on the river.  We knew little about whether the fish would be shoaled up on the spots but after a few hard weeks we knew it was time to go all out and see what was on offer and what a session awaited us.

The second part of the blog is a session i did recently on the canal where i decided to target an area with the idea of maximising the fish i could catch.  More on my thought processes and reasons in the update but lets just say one fish had me walking up and down the bank.  We start this update off thought with a bit of an introduction chat on the upcoming pike season that is well and truly in my thoughts right now.

On with the update..

Piking Just round the Corner...

So chilling out this week i get a message of my piking buddy Garry asking if i wanted in on our usual annual bait order and i have to say the text had me checking the calendar and low and behold we are just over a month away from the start of the pike season.  My god this has sneaked up on my and to be honest it just does not feel right just now to be even thinking about pike, least not on days where the mercury is creeping up to 90 degrees.

The order does need doing though and after two years pike fishing i think i am starting to develop confidence in certain baits as this years order, without the value back,  does only really contain around 3-5 species of dead baits. I will of course go more into the bait order when it arrives in a future blog but i thought i would just touch base with it here to let the blog know that piking is well and truly starting to weigh heavy in my thoughts.

Of course last years pike season was well documented in this week by week round up here: http://satonmyperch.blogspot.co.uk/p/201516-pike-seaon.html

One thing is for sure in this pike season and that is the fact there will be new adventures on new waters to me and with some big pike under my belt and nothing to really aim for the pressure is off and its time to build on past seasons and take this to brand new areas to see if i can tempt the odd big girl.  As mentioned previous more on my hopes and aspirations closer to the start of the season.

23lb River Roach On The Bolo....

The passed few weeks have been really tough for me and my uncle on the rivers with low clear conditions on one river seeing the bites die as soon as the sun come up and the other river we fished being a bite a chuck but swims begin ravaged by pike and killing any sport.  In short i had a choice to make i could either be selfish and go back the smaller river and try all out for barbel knowing i would be in for a shout but my uncle would be enduring a pike ridden time in a swim or we could go all out on a whim and try a completely different river all together and see if the fish had arrived in their summer and autumn haunts, we decided on the later.

The above paragraph illustrates just how fishing together you have to be a team and think of each others fishing.  The river was a good walk from the parking spot and involved the odd hilly climb and a short section of dense brambles, it was clear no one was fishing these spots recently, just our cup of tea.  We finally arrived in the swims and we decided to both fish the same swim, i was on the bolo and my uncle was going to try and fish the pole and stick float.  The ultimate aim of the session was to get the odd bite and be close enough have a natter.

I shocks me when people email me saying they live near a river but are unsure how to fish it as it looks complicated when the truth is river fishing is so basic and simple in its design and the true learning of the art form comes form repetition and putting the time in to learn how to read a river and run a float through. A quick look at my side tray shows how simple the gear is i use, 1.7lb bayer perlon line for hook lengths, size 16 hooks 3 gram bolo float and some everyday weights.  This in its entirety covers everything that goes on the line from top to bottom.

To those interested in fishing a bolo and wondering how you set it up i plum the depth with no weights at all on the line to get a true depth and then fishing a hook length around a foot long i place 3 number 8 droppers evenly spaced on the hook length.  Above all these i put most of the weight in a bulk to cock the float so only the red of the float shows, doing this you leave enough weight to place a small number 8 weight beneath your float.  This weight servers two purposes in of course stopping the float sliding on the line and i find it begins the settle the float as soon as it hits the water meaning its easier to pick up those bites on the drop.

Catching a lot on the river does not have to be expensive at all, you can make it expensive when you go down the ground bait line, but in general i take 2 pints of maggot and a pint of hemp for most of my river fishing, a great days fishing can be had on around 6 quids worth of bait it really can.

 The swim was around 8 feet deep and was of a similar depth along its length till it felt like it shallowed up at its tail.  Plumbing up a bit further out it did drop away again by a couple of inches but my initial thought was to see what i could catch on the deck and then see if the fish further out would have it just off bottom.  It is sort of killing two birds with one stone way of working out how they are feeding better.

The first few trots down went by without a tap but then slowly the odd bite started to develop with a small billy perch and the odd small roach.  A severe upstream wind was meaning the float was holding back lovely in the swim and on the day i think this certainly helped the swim.

Bites then started to come thick and fast as it was clear a big shoal of roach had moved into the swim.  It seemed bites from smaller roach where hard to hit and i missed loads of bites on the day but when the float buried with a proper roach there was no missing the bite and on some occasions i cast in, fed with the catapult, saw the float go under and still had time to grab the rod and strike.

After the first hour the swim was alive with roach as time and time again the bolo would slide away.  I knew with so much prey about a pike would soon be attracted and no sooner had i mentioned this fact to my uncle than a flash of green appeared under the surface as a small jack nailed a nice roach.  I could see the jack pike and it was no bigger than the roach.

On the day it shocked me how the swim recovered after the pike attacks, this pike would nail the odd fish but being too big to swallow it would let go and in would come a roach with a small half moon crescent bite on it.  He was on me all day but thankfully it didn't seem to bother the swim.

As the session wore on a pattern began to emerge and i started to notice that the bigger roach where holding just that bite further out than i was feeding my hemp.  A few of the better ones below.

You would nail a couple on the bounce and then a move back into the nearside line would see you pickling up an average stamp roach of a few ounces.  As the session wore on i could feel i was putting a decent net of roach together and chatting to my uncle he was sure i had over 15lb in the net as the average size of the fish was steady.

I actually ran out of hemp on the session but kindly my uncle provided me with a nice top up for the last hour.  I did think about changing over to corn but in my head i was thinking "why change anything? i am catching steady and a nice stamp"  I guess a bigger bait like corn might have picked out these better roach time and time again but given i was a bite a chuck i felt i needed not to change anything in my approach.

As with all memorable river sessions it all went by too fast and before i knew it the sun had come over and it was time to pack in.  It is always a killer packing in when the fish are still having it and i am sure had i fished on into the evening the fish would have come on even more and we would possibly have been looking at a very special net indeed.

The final net went 23lb 8oz! and was mainly made up of roach with the odd chublet, hybrid and 1 dace!

All in all a very special session on the river and although as i write this now terrible weather is battering at the window i can not wait to get out tomorrow morning back on the river and this time armed with more bait i pray i find the fish hungry, although in these conditions a fish might be a result.

Bridgewater Canal Fishing Session - Battles with a Tinca.....

A warm day previous saw me arriving on the canal to be met by one of the most beautiful red skies i have ever seen.  When people ask what will you miss most about fishing if you packed in tomorrow i would certainly say the special moments you experience like this when you know the world around you is asleep and there in that moment you are completely worry free and in ore of mother natures beauty.

First things first and it was as always mixing up the ground bait so by the time i had set up it was ready to be riddled.  Swim choice on the day was a bit factor for me, in the stretch there is no shortage of cover and fishy looking spots but on this session i was a man with a plan.

I walked the length till i found what i was looking for and i found it just after a boating dock.  A canal boat on the far side and the fact the canal narrowed slightly here meant i could fish a line on only a few sections of pole and be right by the boat and i could also fish another line on the 2m whip under feet.  My hopes for the session where to really be aggressive and attack the swim to see how much i could catch before the boats started up.

Over the far bank line went 3 big balls of ground bait laced with hemp and red maggot and i left this to settle while i fished the whip close in.  Feeding small balls of slop i was soon picking up roach a chuck under my feet and i would say in that first hour i picked up a steady weight of fish with the odd better roach.

The swim under my feet began to slow down, this is normal for the canal it seems, so it was time to try over my far bank line.  The float slid away straight away with a nice skimmer so i straight away went in with another big ball of ground bait.  My hope was for the better bronze bream to settle in the swim and the extra feed to keep them there.

Fishing maggot i knew i would be picking up anything that swims and it was literally a bite a chuck on the far bank line as the float slid away each time it settled.  For a canal it was fantastic fishing and thoroughly enjoyed the early exchanges.  The swim did die momentarily and with fish up in the net i am sure i was visited by a toothy visitor but never actually saw any signs.

The far bank line then again come alive and it felt like the swim had breathed a huge sigh of relief.  Steady bites continued and you can imagine my surprise when i lifted into a fish and it all went sold and then the elastic went zooming down the canal, a carp i was sure.  The fish went right into the thick week and all went solid, shipping back to my top kit i felt sure i was about to be ducking out of the way of a float and hook coming back at me but then something gave and the fish came free, it was still on!

Up and down the canal i walked trying to tire the fish out on a light elastic till eventually i managed to slip my net under a beautiful tench.  A perfect sight on a perfect morning.

The tench in the net i settled back into catching the silvers and it was good fishing till the boats revved up around 9am, one at first and you can cope with them when they come every 10 to 15 minutes one at a time but when they where coming along in threes and fours every five minutes i knew time was called.

A cracking 16lb canal net was my reward.

I think my only regret on this session was not taking corn as i think a bigger bait might have nailed more bream and maybe more tench but still 16lb in only a few hours on the cut i left a happy angler.

tight lines if you are out this weekend and stay safe,

till next time

Danny

Pole Fishing the Bridgewater Canal - What Tackle To Use

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  I start this weeks update by again saying how well it has been getting such great feedback to these canal blogs.  This week i have received quite a few messages and emails saying that the previous two blogs have really helped them out in tackling the canal.  Feedback like this is like a big boost in the arm when writing blogs as there is no better feeling than someone letting you know that your writings have in some way helped them.

The previous two updates are listed here:

WHERE TO FISH ON A CANAL - Canals roots dating back to the industrial times can look quite featureless places and as such we have to take advantage of any features we find.  This blog shows how i go about picking out places to fish on the Canal and it also crosses over to my river exploration.

WHAT BAITS I USE FOR CANALS - This blog update covers all the baits i use on canal fishing sessions from the tiny pinkie through to corn.  This update also includes a small video on how i mix my ground bait for canals.  The session is an in depth look at how i use different baits to figure out my approach for waters.

This weeks blog update See's me looking at the tackle i use for fishing the canal and a simple rig i use for fishing the canal.  A look forward to this weekends bank holiday and my plans and the introduction finishes with a look at the upcoming river season.  The fishing is a session on the Bridgewater Canal where i have a play round with a few baits in preparation for a big hit session the next weekend.

On with the Update-

Tackle To Use For Fishing A Canal -

In this part i will try and share how i fish the local canal and i will break it down into two sub headings.  The first will cover the pole top kits i use and the second i will cover the terminal tackle with the current rig I'm using.

Top Kits For Fishing The Canal -

Number 6 Elastic - Pinkie/squatt line mainly - I have one pole kit fitted with really light elastic which is so soft you need to net every fish basically you catch it is so fine.  This is the first elastic i use when fishing a new section as you can hook and not bump every fish you strike into as it is so soft.  This i use mainly on my pinkie and squatt line as generally the fish you catch are smaller roach and skimmers.  A great place to start when wanting to judge what fish are in the section.

Blue Hydro Elastic - All Lines - This is probably my favourite elastic to use out of them all as it is soft enough for you to catch most silvers but also gives you a chance if you hit a bream, tench or big perch.  The elastic does have a lot of stretch in it so i find it lacks the back bone to ease fish like perch, tench and bream away from snaggy swims like reeds etc if you are fishing near them.  A great all round elastic for open water and my normal far bank maggot and castor top kit.

White Hydro Fitted with Puller - Castor/maggot/corn line - This elastic only comes out when i know there is a high chance of catching better fish and if i am hitting fish regular on the other elastics but either not getting them in or it being a real struggle.  I use this elastic mainly when i go all out for better fish on castor and hemp.  My though here are that in know i will bump some smaller fish but if i do i work on the mentality that if i did bump it, it was probably not a stamp of fish i am targeting any way.  As strong as i go on the canal and an elastic you should get most fish in on a canal barring big carp.  Probably the most exciting fishing is when i use this as i know i am going all out for bigger fish.

Terminal Tackle I Use For Canal Fishing -

There is no doubting that when fishing a canal our approach has to be more refined than fishing any other type of water.  In summer the canal is more coloured than winter so you can get away with the rigs i am using at the moment but come October to winter you will have to really refine right down sometimes to tiny size 22 hooks and one pound breaking strain hook lengths for bites.  The main thinking here is that summer and winter fishing on a canal are two completely different animals all together.

Canal Floats - 12x 4 floats
To be honest this is an area i am completely lost on and there are so many different weights of floats which just confuse anglers i think.  I go into the shop and i pick a float that looks light with a nice long bristle.  If i am looking at weights along the side i normally go for a 12x4 float.  I don't really look at this in to finer detail as i know when it comes to fishing with it i will have the weight shotted so the bristle is a mere pin prick.

Line - Bayer Perlon 1.7lb or 2lb1oz -

At this time of year i will fish my line straight through on 1lb 7oz line.  I find this line is fine enough to get bites all day along and catch small and big fish alike.  A lot of anglers use hook lengths but with tench around i work on the mind set that i don't want any breaks in the line that will create a weak point.  On the far bank line and when using a bigger hook like a 18 or 16 hook i will up to 2lb1oz line.

Hooks - B525 size 20 or 18 hook

On the canal i rarely go above a 18 hook unless i am using a bait like worm of corn.  Fishing rivers for chub has taught me that hook size does not necessarily equate to increased chances of getting a

fish in.  I regularly fish the river with a size 20 or 18 hook and even with the pressure of the river you find the hook well in the lips of the fish and not going any where.  Hooks i have ultimate confidence in and catching all the fish you see in my blog for the past few years.  Be prepared in winter though to tie up a few rigs at home with size 22 or even 24 hooks.

Weights -
 Probably the most important item of tackle behind the plummet shown in the picture for me.  You would be amazed how a weight pinging off your line can change how your float behaves and fishes.  When you get on the canal the first thing is do is plum up then set my use the shots to set the float.  This where your smaller shots like number 12, 11 shots can be the difference between a full bristle showing and a sensitive rig to just the tip of the bristle showing and a ultra sensitive rig.  Little difference like that make a huge difference.

My Current Rig Setup -
I always set up a few rigs at home as it saves so much time on the bank.  Tie the hook on using your favourite knott, i use a Palomar.  Then spool off enough line for the swim you are going to fish, you will find most will be covered by your top two sections. Slide on your float and pole rubbers to attach the float to the line and tie a overhand loop in the top to attach the rig yo your pole.  Set the float about the depth you are going to fish and add a bulk shot half way down the rig, for me its normally 2 to three number 8 then attach two number 12 shots equal distant apart form the bulk shot down to the hook.  One pole rig made and ready to go, it is a simple as that.

Well that's tackle covered next weeks update will cover where i fish my lines on the canal and why i fish there.

Bank Holiday Circus

In fishing you are always learning that goes without saying but i also think you have to also learn from past experiences and that is so true when it comes to Bank Holiday weekends.  They are always very appetising to me as an angler, what with 3 whole days to go at and the high chance in May of warm sunny weather.  Experience has taught me to think other wise though.

Bank holidays are a great time to go fishing but picking your right venue is a must and taking time to make sure you have chosen well is essential.  time has taught me to avoid places like canals, club waters and commercials as major hot spots for instance.  The weather and bank holidays seems to mix together to encourage all types of idiots to emerge from winter hiding and converge on waterways in the hope of either exploring the outside world of going fishing.

One example that springs to mind is a trip a few years ago on Flushing meadows fishery.  I arrived as the gates opened and enjoyed a good half an hour of peace and quiet before it happened, an idiot arrived.  A few lads spread evenly round the pool i was fishing a margin line on big pieces of meat, minimal feed, you don't need it on here when after the carp.  A whole bank to set up on he pegs in 7 maybe 8 yards up the bank.  So scene set picture this, he then opens a whole tin of sweetcorn, the big tins, then proceeds to hand full by hand full lob in the whole tin of corn.  To my amazement he then picks up another big tin of corn out of his box and begins fishing.  I just shook my head in shock at first but i must admit it was funny seeing his swim like a Jacuzzi of bubbles as the bream had a feast while he sat without a bite all day watching me catching fish in the margin.  By midday he was over asking questions and i helped him out but it just shows what it can be like had he fished the margin and put that in none of us would have caught! 

Canals avoided for the obvious regatta of boats that will be out in force come the weekend and on most canals they start quite early on compared to normal weekends out.   This weekend i am planning on getting some decorating done although i do have a pint of maggots so i might get out for one of two.

River Season Round The Corner

Where has the time gone it seems only yesterday we wrapped up the pike season and the river season and now its only just over 20 days till we will be back on the banks of the river.  Personally i have enjoyed the challenge the canals have brought me this closed season.  Working out a new stretch and then it all coming good has been a great achievement for me and i have also enjoyed writing theses blogs.

It has also been a time of great change for me both with two children under three and moving into a new house that needs decorating head to toe it has meant fishing has really been an as and when affair.  My plans for the early season are to explore the places we found chub last year and see if the warm weather brings in other species like roach and dace so that is something i am really looking forward too.  The new river season is certainly on my mind a lot now and that will only increase as we get closer.  I might run a small series in the introductions of my favourite sessions on the river as we draw close as i think that would be fun so look out for that.

On to this weeks update

Mixing It Up On The Bridgewater...

Sometimes in angling i think you have those moment where your head is full if that many ideas on what you want to do on a session you end up not giving your all to one particular plan and not getting the best from that scenario but on the other hand i also feel you need to have sessions where you try new things because if you don't how will you ever know the reaction of the fish to another bait?

The previous session i went with a game plan of fishing caster over the far side and this worked really well but i was yet to settle on a set game plan for the big hit session i had planned for this venue before the rivers opened again.  This bit hit i was hoping would be a Nice round off to the canal sessions but before i committed and drew up a final game plan for that session i needed to explore all possibilities and i think this shown in my bait tray.

As you can see it contains almost all the baits mentioned in last weeks blog with Castor, hemp, maggot, pinkie, ground bait and pellet all on show.  To gauge the reaction to the baits from the fish i fed two short lines down the shelf, one on maggot ground bait and one on pinkie and ground bait.  I also fed a line on the far shelf base and one  right over on the shallow far shelf.

Fishing 4 lines is never easy and it involves a lot of feeding and topping up of these lines and i knew concentration was the key and i also knew mine would drop as i caught fish so i set myself a short window to fish and was to be packed in for 11am. 

The conditions on the day looked perfect with a cool day planned with plenty of cloud cover i expected the middle lines to produce well early on and the far bank lines to also benefit as the fish do seem to spook on that far shelf in the sun.  Both lines fed on the near shelf with two balls of ground bait on each one laced with pinkie and one with maggot.

I started over my pinkie line and was straight into fish.

This line was providing plenty of bites but all seemed to be of this stamp or smaller so i fed one more ball of ground bait and went over to my maggot line.  The fish on the maggot line where noticeably bigger and by a good way with some nice skimmers mixed in to boot.

This in my eyes was showing me that maggot might just be the way to go down the track for the slightly better fish and this was proved even more when i moved back onto the pinkie line and picked up another small roach.  The maggot was picking up better fish but i was still picking up some of the smaller ones as well.   While messing around on these lines i was flicking the odd few casters over my far bank line whilst also stopping in between to feed the bottom of the far bank shelf line with castor and hemp.

I have to admit it was hard work juggling 4 swims while trying to concentrate on fishing the swim i was in at the moment.  I fished the inside line till bites dried up and knowing that boat traffic may hamper my chances on the 3/4 line i went over this first on castor.  The bite took me by surprise as it was quite quickly i was into a fish and as i expected the castor was picking out a better stamp of fish on a consistent basis.

On this line i expected it to be quite an unknown as it is a line i really don't fish when on the canal so it was a great discovery for me as better fish after better skimmer kept coming to the net and the session was really coming together to show me some new stuff about canal fishing.  It was then the bites died completely so i went over the far bank line as surely there would be fish waiting but no nothing at all.  I went round all three lines again down the middle but nothing, you could say big fish moved in but on all three lines at the same time? Not a chance and i knew that i had a pike in my area and it was on the hunt.

This was confirmed by the fish in my keep net all coming up to the top as if there only chance of survival was to get out of that keep net.  As with all my sessions i had a pike rod to hand so i reached over for it and put it together and readied it for action.  Eventually i managed to catch a fish on the pole and bringing it in resulted in the normal bow wave behind the fish, this pike was only small but certainly on the feed.  The fish i was bringing in had been grabbed and had a deep laceration down its flank so it was on the hooks he went.  It didn't take long before the pike claimed its meal and was having its picture taken before being released away from the swim.

It always amazes me how silver fish know a pike is on the feed and it is still quite surprising to me how quickly they settle into feeding again once the pike has gone.  Swims that hadn't produced a fish 10 minutes ago now alive with bites and this is the reason i take the pike rod as you could literally be waiting ages for the pike to move non otherwise.

I went over the far bank line as i hit the pike down the middle so i guessed it would be best to rest the lines.  The fish over the far side where OK fish but not as good as down the shelf where the better bream seemed to be.  I settled down back on my castor line down the middle and after a few bream i hit into a real bonus fish in a 4 1/2lb tench which really showed the benefit of castor.

To be honest i stuck on this line for the remainder of the session as i was intrigued as to how it would fish and learn from it.  It fished well all the way till 11am and the quality of fish coming on this line went from strength to strength with some really nice roach showing as well.

I called it a day as a load of boats trundled right through the swim.  It also felt like the right time to call it a day as i had learnt a good lesson fishing a new line and had something to build on.  A 10lb8oz net in only a few hours i was made up.

Well that sums up another blog update i hope this weekend is kind to you all,

till next time

tight lines

Danny

Day to forget and Danny Fairbrass New Organisation...

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update and after a week trying to sort out the camera for last weeks update and me being laid up in bed all this weekend with a bug i thought it best to just recap the past two weeks in one update which gets everything nicely up to date and in order.

I normally start with an introduction and then move onto the fishing but this week i am going to be a little different and get the fishing out of the way first and then move onto a few topics i wanted to discuss.  The only time i have been out fishing in the past week or so was a Sunday morning trip to Little billinge where i was hoping to connect with a tench or two.  It always great to see a friendly face on the bank and Sunday was no different and i was really pleased to bump into Ade Green who had chosen Little billinge as his destination on this fine morning as well.

The fishing on this venue has been slow to say the least of late and those anglers targeting tench and bream have saw bites hard to come by.  The morning session brought a solitary bream for Ade and a lost tench, for myself I had a screamer of a run on my left hand rod, so violent it had the rod bent in half and pulled off the rest, lifting the rod i was met with nothing at all, how is that even possible?  The rod reset it was not long before it was off again and i was connected with a hard fighting tench that had me all over the place, under and over my other rod and then back into the middle, eventually it came into the edge and just about ready when the hook pulled, again it baffles how a fish can be on for so long and fight so hard all over the place for a good 2 minutes to then part the hook at the last minute.

Come 1pm the action had ceased completely to the point there were 7-8 anglers all staring lazily at floats or tips that stubbornly remained inactive.  I decided to call it a day and head off to the small pond for some roach action hoping to spend the rest of the afternoon bagging up on fat roach.  A quick nip home to change set ups i was on my way armed with my seatbox and pole and half a pint of maggots and corn for bait.

The seat box positioned and a new rig made up i took my time to make sure i was comfortable and ready.   My aim was to put together a net of quality roach so i started off on corn.  The float settled and no sooner had the bait hit the bottom the float was under, i lifted and the float stayed in the water and my pole lifted, using blue hydro i was perplexed, the bottom? then the bottom realised it was hooked and with that a strong solid run to the heavy weed in the middle of the lake where all became solid, on light elastic there was literally nothing i could do to stop it.  Some may say it was careless angling but from my point of view i was fishing a pond where i had only ever caught roach, rudd, perch and bream so my elastic was perfect in my opinion for the quarry.  This was almost certainly a carp or big tench in the way it went solidly to the weed and really shocked me.

Left connected with weed i managed to get hold of the elastic and began to pull for a break and eventually back came the elastic, only problem was it came back with no connector! Great, could this day get any worse, 2 lost fish and my only top kit i had brought roach fishing left useless by a big fish.  Tail between legs i wrapped in and headed back home, my dad amazed to see me so quickly.  Maybe i should have quit while i was behind, hey ho that is fishing.

Well that's the way my fishing seems to be going at the moment and as i have said many times on here before, you fish every week of the year, you take the highs and you suffer the lows but its all part of this blogging diary of an angler.

Danny  Fairbrass's New Venture

  Without doubt the biggest news of recent times in the angling world has been the announcement by Danny Fairbrass around him setting up an organisation to protect waters all across the UK and help preserve fishing from otters for generations to come so they can enjoy a sport he loves so much.  First of all I think we need to take our hats off to Danny for using his own money to get this project off the ground as to begin with this project will have no way of making money to pay the people he needs to, to complete the work.   I also think it is refreshing to see someone come up with an idea to tackle the issue of otters in this country that doesn't involve anglers being stood outside the houses of Parliament trying to get laws bypassed to cull 'problem' species like otters and cormorants.  I think these, as much as they are well intended, do nothing to promote angling in any better light than the mindless barbarians who recently gained a right to deal with a TB problem by culling countless numbers of badgers and look how well that has sorted out this initial problem, so from that point of view i think his idea is a really refreshing.

Now in the past week or so Danny has come in for some flack from some quarters and i have to think that he must have expected this when he first decided to go public with the idea.  The main areas he has come under scrutiny from are:

- The purchasing of waters, fencing them all off will see many waters across the country out of the reach of many anglers and will turn them into venues for Fairbrass and his mates ala fairbrass mere. 

- This is just a publicity stunt to generate more money for his company Korda in the way that more waters across the country that are associated with Danny means more people look at what he sells which means bigger profit margins for Korda. 

- This is all about Carp and preserving carp fishing and does nothing for coarse anglers and this will just mean the protection of waters that contain many silver fish being out of the reach of silver anglers as they become overrun with carp anglers sighed up to the this organisation in that area. 

These are the main points being aired against Danny at this moment in time, some of them i feel are unjust as lets face it the fact Korda will see an increase in profits from this in the long term is inevitable.  Part of this vision is to offer fishing to the next generation of anglers in this country, this will no doubt involve tuition's being held on these waters and lets face it anyone working for Danny Fairbrass is not going to be using Fox products in their tuition's.  I feel this point is null and void in the fact that i feel profit margins of Korda are the least of his worries i would imagine that company makes vast amounts of money already and as said its inevitable that he will see further increased profits as a result of this for the company, his own personal finances in the short term may even take a hit if as he says it is self funded by himself.

Some of the points do hold some validity though,  Danny has made no attempt to hide the fact that although this organisation wants to help clubs by educating them on how to protect waters and also help out with fencing them off that a big part of his plan is to bid on waters where the leases are coming to an end.  We only need to look at the buying power of clubs like Prince Albert to see how a club with the right backing can basically buy a huge proportion of waters from other clubs as they become available and even they have a massive waiting list given the huge portfolio of waters they own.  If this club does get off the ground and leases are bought as they come up we could see a lot of clubs that rely on there one or two prime carp waters for members being left with little to attract anglers to their club.

Put it like this, for arguments sake Warrington Anglers don't own any of their waters and the lease on Sandiway (a jewel of a carp water for any carp anglers and currently open to otters) and Grey mist mere (a venue with massive history in carping) come up for lease and the club loses these waters to this new venture.  The club if in a good financial state could probably take the hit and try to buy other waters but good carp waters are hard to find, especially with the ever increasing competition form this bigger venture as it snowballs.  I think we would see a huge reduction in membership, its a scenario that is not impossible for many clubs and could soon become a reality.  This purchasing of leases and waters makes it impossible for this venture not to become a Danny fairbrass angling club that you have to join to fish waters that has the added benefit that your money goes towards preserving the fish in its waters with the club and some of the money goes towards fighting predation in the court.

"This Dannys' Problems with it and concerns.."

Now i will move onto a point that has not even been mentioned at all in any shape or form in any of the discussions i have seen and this is around where the otter problem originated, our rivers.  This club promises to fight otter predation and preserve fishing in this country for generations to come, surly this involves protecting our most delicate of ecosystems, our rivers and i am sorry Danny but this problem cannot be solved with fencing.  The idea of fencing off waters in my opinion could be all well and good for preserving stocks in the waters his team fence but i think it could speed up the problems on our rivers, how is that possible you say well...

Lets take for example the River Weaver, a good example as it holds numerous carp stocks, is currently having a otter nature reserve built on its banks and also has a few carp waters along its length.   For arguments sake we will say the river is in a state where like many rivers the fish stocks are just enough to sustain the growing otter population but the otters also dip in and out of the local carp lakes along its length as their easy prey.  The organisation then fence off the five large carp waters along its length completely meaning there is no access to the stocks by the otters.  These otters are not going to just keel over and die over night from starvation, what will happen initially is you will put more pressure on their main source of food which is the river.  Now on the weaver we are blessed with high numbers of silvers but on other river like the ones down south where barbel stocks are being decimated you put even more pressure on these stocks thus speeding up the process of these fish numbers being reduced. 

This speeding up of the process in some eyes might be seen as a good thing, the quicker they starve the quicker their numbers drop and that would be the case if all waters where lakes that you could fence off but we are dealing with rivers here so what you will see is the speeding up of the spread of otters through our rivers as the species spreads along their lengths for food.  The rivers are the arteries of the country as are our canals as such and this pushing of the otters away from still waters simply puts more pressure on rivers and pushes them away from the protected waters but what does it hold for the rivers and the other unprotected waters along their lengths??  

Rivers by their nature are wild and free the anglers that fish them love them for the fact but its this fact that will provide this new venture with the biggest problem.  That is if they even intend to deal with the otter problem on rivers as there has been no mention of rivers so far,  I look forward to hearing their plans for this as it is not as simple as fencing them.  His venture will certainly not loose any momentum or backing by not having a plan for rivers but i do feel it faces loosing credibility by not including them. 

Anyhow thank you for reading this weeks angling blog i hope it all came across on paper how i wanted it to sound and i look forward to hearing you points of view.

till next time 

tight lines 

Danny

Hardest fishing trip of the year so far...........

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update in a week that saw the England team win the Fisho-mania Home nations match at Cudmore Fisheries for the second year in succession.  I didn’t watch the Fisho-mania Final as I mentioned last week’s update I was out on the bank while that was on but I made sure I was free the following day to watch the Home nations match.

I really think the commentators did a great job over the course of the event to keep it interesting and informative as lets face it live match fishing does not have great prospects of being spectator sport for television viewers but as I have said I thought they all did a great job and I picked up loads of little hints and tips from listening to what Tommy and Keith had to say during the match.  I could think of only one idea to improve what sky sports do in this event and it is to have a few anglers available on the Red button where you can just watch that angler for the entire duration and see exactly how they feed and go about fishing a match of this calibre.

Match fishing is not something that has ever interested me to the extent where I would want to take part in one but I do love seeing these anglers applying their trade and it was great to see that a lot of the anglers on the commercial scene actually started their fishing on rivers with one of the Welsh lads holding the River match record of over 300lb of chub!!! What a haul that is a catch of unimaginable proportions.  I look forward already to next years fisho-mania final as it’s a great event to have in the calendar.

On to this weeks fishing:

To be honest this weeks fishing was really tough, there where times where I just felt like knocking it on the head and heading home to watch the fishomania final and writing the fishing off completely, it was tough both mentally and physically the toughest days fishing ive experienced since writing the blog.

All week the river had been running off nicely down to a level that would finally see us on the better stretches of the river fishing some of the lovely dace glides we discovered last year.  All week the texts where full of the joys of last years trips where we bagged up on fat dace and stream lined grayling and our thoughts turned to this years tactics and trying to lure some of the chub shoals we know also live there, in our minds we were already there on the bank, our plan was set and with only Friday to go we knew our day on the river wasn’t far away.

Friday morning and I set off from my house with that Friday feeling we all get that there is only one more day till two days of freedom. A joy that was cut short abruptly 10 minutes from work when from no where the heavens opened and it started raining quite heavily.  I at first just thought it would be a shower but it rained and it rained and it rained and before I knew it, it was 4pm and I was leaving work with the soul wrenching persistent tip tap of rain hitting my umbrella, each drop making that trip to the river even more and more unlikely.

The EA river level site was my constant companion all through Friday and it wasn’t till gone 1pm that the River Dee showed the levels increasing and that was only a minimal increase at that.  Work finished and with another update in levels due around 5pm it was off to buy the bait bought in the form of a pint of castor and maggot, that done and I was all set baring the task of cooking my hemp seed.

The next few updates showed an increase to around 5.8m and a quick check of other levels on local tributaries showed them all to be flooded so a fair amount of water was entering the system, the next morning we set off into the gloom not knowing what we was heading too.

We arrived at the tributary we fished 2 weeks ago to find the river running through fast and the colour of chocolate but we decided to set up and give it a hour or so to see what it fished like, in hindsight we should never of entertained the idea the flow was far too fast and although the levels where fishable with the river rising the flow was ferocious and after a hour or so we decided to move to the much wider and deeper part of the river hoping to find some slower water or a slack where the fish might be holding up out of the flow.

I quickly set up on a peg I had done well on in winter that I knew was relatively shallow but the flow could be relied on to be steady as it is situated between two trees with the flow running gently down to a tree at the bottom of the trot.  As you can see from the picture above the levels where up and rising with the peg already under a few inches of water.

The river as I imagined was quite shallow compared to the deeper sections and the trot was delightful with the float going down and a lovely pace that just screamed bites, as you can see on the picture above a dream of a trot but what it made up fro in looks it lacked in fish.

What became noticeable from the off was the river was rising and it was rising at an alarming rate with it almost now reaching my footplate, this was certainly not going to be a swim I could fish all day.  I continued to persevere hoping to pick up a few fish and both me and my uncle did pick up some small roach holding in the slack like the one shown below but was certainly nothing to make it worthwhile fishing a river that was certainly on the rise and we decided to call it a day and pick a still water venue for the rest of the day.

As you can see from the picture above the river had rose significantly since my arrival and with my uncle fishing an even more precarious swim upstream we decided to admit defeat on the river and headed for High Legh Fishery on the Warrington Anglers Card for the rest of the session, no one can say we don’t try!!

When you arrive at high legh you go thorough a farmer’s gate and the fishery is in the middle of the field, there is a gravel track covering half of the field and the rest is across rough ground.  The rough ground is exactly that and we decided to park the car half way to the fishery and not risk the path.  Anyone who wants a true idea what to expect from access tracks to Warrington anglers waters need look no further than this picture below, deep ruts that would certainly see your car stuck and need pushing or pulling out, no wonder the fishery was empty.

We walked the small distance to the fishery and I decided to set up and fish a method I had not fished in a long time in the waggler and my uncle fished the pole to some reeds in the margin.  Feeding castors regularly over the top via the catapult with the odd pouch of hemp I was straight away into rudd both on the drop and on the bottom.

The greedy rudd kept me busy for the whole day greedily hovering up my free offerings as they kit the surface.  As the swim progressed I began catching some lovely small tench and I fully expected the swim to keep developing and for the carp to move in but alas it just never materialised for me but I thoroughly enjoyed my dad fishing for bits on the waggler.  The one strange thing was I didn’t catch one roach or bream all the silver fish where rudd.

My uncle, also on maggot and castor, was picking up small fish but was also hitting the odd carp which, on his light gear was making short work of his hook lengths so he stepped it up with impressive results with him taking 6 carp in total with the best ones shown below.

That was it for the day really and I have to be honest one of the hardest days on the bank for me I really cannot wait to get back trotting on the river I just hope this weekend we have a change of luck and we can get into those dace shoals on the River Dee.

Till next week

I wish you all tight lines

Danny