Its been a while since i last blogged, partly because my fishing has been restricted since sept and partly because i need a usb lead for mobile phone camera to download the pics and i keep putting off buying one.

In general my session from Sept - Nov have been:

3 short sessions at the WDAA stretch of the Ribble : No beasts to note, some chublets, a stoneloach or is it a bullhead, i cant remember which is which (on 3 mags) and a few trout around a 1lb,

Blackleach - in desperation i fancied a piking session, quick 3 hours no sign of fish, too much weed (mid Oct)

Birkacre (Oct) - desperate for one last attach at the bream, with mild weather i decided to give it a go, the place was full of pikers - looks like this place is off my pike venue list, far too much pressure, Any a few roach aside, no bream.

I have been suffering from a lack of enthusiasm lately - i think Manchesterfishinfiend latest post shows you dont know what really is happening under the surface and with skill, perseverance and a little luck anything is possible - as i lack the first i will focus on the last two and see what happens.

First Ribble Barbel

After missing a trip due to a stag do i couldnt wait to get to the swim i had tried last time out,

3 rods between the two of us, 2 feeder/method and one maggot feeder - i was ready for some chub /barbs

The trip started well with bites on the light maggot feeder - but after hitting a small chub about 8oz(well i thought it might be a dace see pic below) all went quiet.

the swim looked perfect but it was shallow (about 2ft at its deepest) and weedy in places - which meant if i didnt avoid it on the cast then i had no chance of catching,

Time moved on with nothing but i kept plugging away at the channel - then in the last 30mins of the 4 hr session i was into a small chub (about 1lb or so), then as my wife was on the phone telling me politely (not) that i would be late for a pm wedding (not mine), my rod bent over.

It was a good fish and straight away i thought barbel !!! - 10 mins later and as it went over the frame of the net i thought yes!!!!

a 6.5lber - not massive but my first ribble barbel

dad finished off with a small chub to avoid a blank - feeding spells eh?

Ribble return

tried the other farm, far busier but many good pegs where its was easy to get to waters edge, lots of nice fish topping but we struggled for a bite of the barb rod,

dad had loads of sliver knocks on the feeder and managed to hit a chub - a guy passed and told us if we wanted good silvers to get on the float - he did and in 30mins we saw him nail a fair few.

so not a great session but a good lesson learnt

at the waters edge!!!

well after the last post i did a 2 hour session on the basingstoke canal - anglers were struggling when i set up at 7pm

a quick chat to a walker got me to up sticks and go nearly 1 mile in the opposite direction - there i saw more fish on the surface than i every expected to see in this section of the canal

shoals and shoals of roach, upto 1lb, bream rolling and carp, many of them

i only had corn so i was fishing the bottom - i had loads of knocks from small roach and 2 good bites - 2 bream around the 1.5lb mark, and a roach which must have nudged 12oz.

I went back to my initial peg next to the road side, which i had baited up - with 10 minutes light left - i saw this carp swim up to my float and my god it must have been a 20+ - on my lite tackle never before had i hoped a fish would not take my bait.

Next - Ribble at Elston

i went to the top(left) farm - it was a recce really but we managed 2+ hours in one swim - my thoughts - excellent!!!

dad had bite a chuck on maggot but only managed to land 2 chublets about 8oz

i had one good bite on the corn/pellets approach for a 2.5lb chub (main pic)

i did change to maggot last 15mins and had a chublet with a few bites thrown in .



Missed this w/e cos of a stag do - but will be back at w/e - 5am.

more of the same

Last weeks fishing.

A quick few hours on the Kennet saw me take the usual chublet/roach - with no whackers showing on the town centre stretch - bread was the bait (as usual).

Another attempt at the Birkacre tench sunday morning saw me hit 1 for 5plus - the odd thing was the action on the spare float rod, dad and i chucked it out with maggot on and saw constant action.

We gave it about 1hrs attention out of the 4 hrs fishing and i think we got about 10 roach/perch/skimmers between us.

probably the last time i visit Birkacre this year - one for next year - one young lad i spoke to had a red letter day this season, of 30+ tench in a session, - so they are there -waiting for me.

Next week will see my Ribble @ Elston campaign get underway!!!

Variety is the spice of life

Its the same with fishing :

After a couple of frustrating sessions at Birkacre where bad luck and (bad) skills cost me good fish i wanted to sample some fun!!!

Middlebrook - a quick session to fellow bloggers fav little stream with my grandson soon saw him into the roach/perch/trout on maggot using a 5 ft woolworth type rod great fun to see him smile.

Birkacre - then its is back on the clock, a quick 3hr session saw me with two fish on the bank, not the best session, but enough to keep me humgry for more and for the moment its keeping me away from the Ribble.

Kennet Town Centre - saw me attach it for 1.5hrs after work, small roach and a fair chub were all i could muster, had the predators taken all the better fish? whoknows,

its a great sport but it can be frustrating

i have done a couple 0f short sessions lately and however well you do (or dont) you always think

if only - hindsight eh?

BASINGSTOKE CANAL

A two hour session on bread saw me anticipating a few pulls from the resident small carp that were protrolling the surface but in 2 hrs i had 3 quick bites all bream around 12 oz

BIRKACRE

I visited the lake on sunday 13th with the intent to follow the fish - light tackle and rod saw me fish the bottom end where most of the fish especially carp were showing.

After a disasterous start losing a rig / float caused by a duck (and a concerning moment until the duck got free) i decided to but the float away and use the method & feed bread.

although i had to wait for bites - probably 1 per 45 mins i managed to hook 5 tench in the 4 hrs - the sizes well who knows but on 4lb hook length and a light kevler feeder rod with thick weed in front of me (i didnt know this when i brought very light gear) i was totally bullied by the tench through the weed.

I lost all but one in the weed - was any big fish - i dont know but i couldnt stop the runs, the one i did kited to the left and i managed to get it through a channel - its weighed £5lb+

god know what the others would have been

Dad had a stronger rod but spent 3 hours failing on maggot before switching to bread and missing a couple of pulls before hitting a 5lber.(main picture).

I was mega frustrated at not taking advantage of the tench feeding - i have had to wait 2 weeks (on hols) to get back ,

i will be there on the soon - come on the tench

WELL DONE DAD - great tench

BIRKACRE
I decided to go back as soon as possible as I was hoping to get into the bream again - so we ended up going on the tues for 3 hrs - same peg same tactics
It was a lovely evening and I was surprised we struggled for bites - I had 2 and hit the first fish within 20 mins of getting my float fished bread in the water - a lovely tench of 6lb graced my net.

Again the weekend came and i was struggling with a cold but I managed to get myself out of bed at first light and off to Birkacre - this time we moved around the lake - I wanted to target the margin tench but needed to get towards the main body of the lake hoping to intercept the bream.
With my dad and myself feeder/method fished corn/meat to the far side with little success - the only bite before the sun started to beat down was on the shared float rod on the nearside margin on bread again - dad then went on bread and fished the near side and spent 2 hours missing a few bites - I was convinced these were roach.
I brought my feeder rod in only to hit resistance - I thought that’s it I am snagged - a little tlc saw me free it and wow a lovely 4.12 bream

I then decided to have a got on the nearside float rod - dad was missing a couple of bites on this and his feeder both on the bread.
I missed a bite and immediately put fresh bread on and sent it straight out - and the float went straight down - I was desperate to hit the bite and prove to my dad he was missing fast roach bites when I was into something a bit bigger - a lovely 4lb bream came to the surface and my dad was getting mad by know.

on his very last cast he got another bite and well he finally struck into a fish - it roared off - a great fight saw us slip the net under a lovely 6lb tench.(main picture)
What a way to finish - well done dad
Maybe if you would have hit all those bites you would have bagged up on tench - who knows

Birkacre magic

After a couple of unsuccessful short sessions i decided to give it a 4 hour morning session on the float - something many dont do on this water.

Dad and i were kitted up with a 12ft rod, reel with 6lb mainline, 4lb hooklink and bread/corn for me / dad was on maggott/worm

.

Bites wasnt exactly one a cast but when the float went under it was usually a good fish.

I hit all fish on bread but missed a few bites on corn!!! probably because it wasnt hair rigged.

I ended up with 1 tench and 5 bream to over 4lb - dad have 1 roach and 5 bream to nearly 4lb.

A great session and i cant wait to get back.

its been a bad april

I havent done any fishing since my last blog

went on hols to the Algarve and got stuck there because of the volcano issue - disaster

anyway went to Birkacre last weekend of a couple of hours really just so i could join

so with season ticket in hand i will be there this weekend to have a go for the resident tench/bream

i will update the blog on monday hopefully pictures of many a good fish

Tenching at Birkacre

Again words of wisdom from manchesterfishingfiend had me onto this water and deliberating a season ticket on Wigan AA.

I had a look at the venue on the Saturday and a few tench and bream had been coming out - a bit of internet reseach and a recce got me onto the hot pegs and back i went with my kit and dad on the Monday morning.

We got the flyer peg and dad and i set up a feeder rod each and shared the peg - dad on bread crumb/groundbait with worm/corn on the hook - i started on a large method with scalded pellet and a 22mm pellet on the hook.

Dad had a bit of activity - and finally was into a roach about 6-8 oz - he also missed a few bites and lost one playing it in - but all these were either silvers or the smaller bream - the guys either side had bream - one to 5lb and a tench a similar size.

Me well in the 4 hrs i have a few twitches and 3 bites - i didnt have to hit these they were arm wrenchers - they only came when i changed down the size of the method feeder and put corn on a hair rig - i think the scalded halibuts really got the tench searching around and definatley outscored the different groundbaits that were being used around me.

3 cracking fish and i am hooked on the place - i may still buy a season ticket if i can find the time to give the Wigan waters at least one visit a week - work is hectic at present.

The other angler couldnt believe i had to pack up and get home while i was in the middle of a purple patch - but family life eh? its a balance and sometimes its doesnt favour the brave....

The largest and last one at 6lb 6oz

the middle one at 5.2

the first estimated at 5.5

slivers on Kingfisher

After a bit of research, a history lesson from Sam and help from Mike (manchesterfishingfiend) i decided i would take my dad and give it a go.

After a good mile walk from the car park to the water i was hopeful of some good action - my dad on the float and i was on a maggot feeder.

My dad was straight into a roach of about 3oz followed by a few bites - i had one on the feeder and missed a good rench round (from a roach???),

all in all a good 2 hours a few fish on the bank and my dad was happy - except for the walk back up the hill,

he was knackered!!!

until next post - my session at Birkacre

Always what you dont expect

After several weeks of go/no go fishing restricted by the weather, work and the family i finaly got a few hours to wet a line.

After reading about a Brook on blogsites and my dad's desire to get on the silvers i have been dabbling the odd hour on this venue trying to no avail to learn its secrets - not once finding its decent roach!!!

I persuaded my dad to give it a few hours and after giving a few swims a go and missing a few very quick bites we ended at the golf course swims deciding to turn back and have a go nearer the car.

In the last 40 mins i was trotting bread flake - and whack i was into a fish..... a lovely trout at just under 1.5lb.

At the next swim i had a hectic 15 mins - hit a bite and lost a trout , second bite into a nice fish and hook length gave way (only 1.5lb), third bite (and could have been the same fish ) and i was in, another nice trout a little bigger this time at just over 1.5lb - got my dad to show it off!!!!.

a great half hour made up for the difficult few hours of unsuccessful roach hunting....

where are those 1lb plus roach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll be back (as the saying goes)

At last a fish................

After a number of 1-2 hr sessions on canals & rivers near home and work i was getting somewhat dispondant especially after a session on the Basingstoke canal before work where i discovered the carcass of my target pike around 7lb - been filletted by someone.

I kept persevering and on a 1hr trotting session on the Kennet town centre stretch before work i managed to get a good bite on maggotts and low and behold....... a chub.

Its all about finding the fish in winter - something i have not managed to do too well of late

Hopefully things will pick up from here

Bad Venue choice hampers results

We have all done it - gone against our instincts - but me - i did it twice.

first time on 17th -after the initial thaw - i went to the river irwell - didnt want to get to the lake and find it still iced-over.

what a mistake - it was chocolate brown and racing through - looked up a few foot as well.

one deadbait and one spinning rod didnt bring anything - i was even trying monster sized jigs is bright colours - as in the pic

then on the 24th my dad wanted to catch a few silvers - and wanted to be next to the car - as we were only going for 2hrs or so we went to the local canal.

normally good for a few skimmers and a decent 3lber or so especially on bread - but nothing - even the pike deadbait and spinning rod drew a blank.

it also felt colder than during the big freeze!!!

So lesson here is 1 hour in the right place better than 1 day in the wrong place oh and dont be lazy and take the easy option.

piking over Xmas

With the weather so bad over Xmas i like many others had to accept reduced hours on the bank - i probably wouldnt have gone at all if i hadnt promised my mate Geoff who is posted in Afghan a Xmas cracker of the pike kind.

The first venture out was on the 27th - got to Blackleach res only to find it iced over solid - there wasnt even a hole i could wet a line.

1st - decided to play safe and go to a local river - Irwell behind clifton marina - spent 1.5hrs in minus 4 with my dad - 1 rod spinning the other float fish deads - in this weather 1 rod each is enough if we are to try and hit a fish and go!!! alas nothing

3rd - Irwell behind Adelphi Weir - same tactics, same duration - thought it might be safe from being attacked as no-one but the foolhardy would be out in minus 2 degrees, within 10mins i had a hit on a rapala shad - a good fight led to this nice 7lb ish fish.

One for you Geoff.