Kennet quest part6

Another few short sessions - got talking to a local bloke who said big chub and a few barbel had come from the stretch - he recommended i try the weir on paste/pellet - next session i will oblige.

Tues evening 1 hr - 1 chublet, 2 roach

remarks: did a couple of swims at the back of the cricket ground & recreation centre - saw a nice chub follow the bread downstream.

Weds morn - 2hrs - 2 roach, 1 chublet, 1 bream 3lb 12oz

remarks : did the town centre only 2 roach, lots of knocks but no bigger fish, got the bream on a swim full of swans - didnt expect that!!!.

Whats the size of this Wye pike......

Could you post a comment with what you think it weighs and i will go with the consensus. JUST CLICK THE COMMENTS LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POSTING AND LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS!!!!


A mate of mine Geoff (pictured) is lucky enough to live near the Wye and although he works away he loves attacking the barbel and pike when he can.

He caught this fish last w/e and borrowed someone's scales - they fish weighed about 14lb - but a later smaller fish weighed about the same.... he's about 6.1 and has an athletic build (if that helps you with proportions).

I thought it was a 20 at first but i will settle for 17lb.

Whats your guess!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pics in Angling Times

yes it finally happened - but not for me!!!

sent in pics to AT to be published of my grandson chris with his first Irwell roach and my dad's near 6lb blackleach tench.

waited about 3-4 weeks but they got published this week.

i cant wait to show my grandson - he has been asking when will he be in the "fishing paper"

hope it spurs him on for more angling success.

Kennet Quest part5

Another few hours on the town centre to recreation ground stretch.

Maybe i have set to high an expectation after taking good fish at the beginning of my quest - but i will keep up the challenge - in a swim a monster will be lurking and its upto me to find it so more of a roving approach from now on!!!!

Tues evening 1hr 50mins
Car park swim - 17 fish , chublet, raoch , dace , perch, gudgeon
Remarks : decided to attack this with maggot on a size16 to 4lb hook length to prove that with the right approach the fish abeit small can be caught - had 14 in the first hour but changed to bread - not quite as effective.

Thurs morning 2.5hrs
Town Centre swim - 1 roach in 1.5 hrs
Car park swim - 2 roach, 1 chublet
remarks - had to sort a reel/line problem before i set up so ended up kicking off at 6am - on 6lb hooklength - size 10 hook - hit a good chub that managed to shed hook to a snag (again) and then hit a good bream of about 3lb - kept pressure on but hook pull as i got it to the surface. Lots of pluck/pulls - but that was the only sign of good fish - you can tell with the bite as they are more positive.

River Irwell - again

After reading Manchesterfishingfiend blog on the Irwell barbel quest i thought it time to give the Irwell some effort again after leaving the M/cr centre stretches some weeks ago - between this river and Blackleach res i have 2 of the hardest waters in the Manchester area on my list.

Verdict - am i mad or ........

Anyway Sunday was bright when we hit the river at 6am - it looked great which is the kiss of death and i am told clear water does nothing for the fishing - one rod feeder one float for the small bits - but after 2.5hrs we didnt have a single bite nor see the usual minnows attack the maggotts/bread.

Spoke to a guy who fishes the water regulary and he gave me a few tips.... i will have to wait to see if these work out or not but for now this session was a blank.

River Kennet Quest part 4

This follows the trail and trials on my quest to catch big fish from a small part of the river using float tacfics only.
The sessions were 2 hrs long - first 2 hrs and last two hours of the day.
Tues evening :
Result : 1 chublet, 1 roach - both on bread on a size 10 hook.
Remarks: got both fish from the car park swim, the weather was terrible - it rained all night - lots of plucks - loads of small fish in the swim - they couldn’t take the size 10 confidently though to get a sail away bite,
Weds morn :
Result : 2 bream(one 2.5lb+ and the other 3lb+) , 1 roach approx 12oz and 1 gudgeon.
Remarks : the weather was fine and I expected more from the town centre swim, got the smaller bream and the roach there, the bigger bream was a surprise on the first cast in the car park swim - lots of plucks on both swims - just thought that the bigger chub were not about - couldn’t get the floating bread working in the TC swim because there was too many ducks/swans.
Weds evening:
Result : 1 chublet, 1 dace
Remarks : fished the car park swim for the 2 hrs - to get to other swims I have to pass through the cricket pitch and there was a game on. Lots of plucks/quick bites from the offset but I couldn’t hook them, decided to swap to a 16 with 30 mins to go and hit the dace - which was about 6 oz so a nice surprise - no big fish though and I swapped from large breadflake to very small to see if it could induce a more postive bite from either big or small fish. Think maggotts would have hammered this swim but I was hoping for the bigger fish

Why Blackleach???

Why is it called Blackleach - I have always wondered ? Was it to do with the surname of any of the previous landowners - as with Phillips Park in Whitefield(where the Irwell runs near by), or is it to do with these little critters - I found one while walking back to the car after a morning pike fishing last Sunday.
A classic catch making its way across the path away from the Res, - looked a full blighter - like it had just fed….
Anyway dad caught a few perch, 2 other anglers on the lake both into perch - I lost a pike on sink/draw lamprey - it was only a jack about 7lb.
Another light hearted report when really I am gutted at blanking on two pike rods with my dad on float and alarm.
I will keep trying - rumour has it one of the other anglers (a Dutch lad I think) got into a good tench once I had left (conspiracy - even the tench don’t feed when I am on-site).