FAS - Irlam Old Course....again.

Second session piking on this water, just 2 hours again on Sunday....

I have never been a regular pike angler, not because i prefer other types of fishing but because of a little bit of fear, of course i have taken a few pike before but i have always been wary of the big girls....

This is such an exhilarating type of fishing that i cant believe i do not do more fishing for them around this time of year....

Today was no different from last weeks session, same duration, 2hrs, same venue and swim, same tatics, even same number of silvers and bites....

But no pike, i had one quick drag and upon inspection the roach had scale redness as if something without sharp teeth had grabbed it, maybe a perch...

Then at 10am as i was just about to pack up after the swim had been dead for 30mins or so and then action!!!!    i had dropped the depth to be just touching bottom, so the float was cocking and weight on the bottom, the bait was a small perch which had only been in the water 20mins... drag drag and then under.   I struck early,

A great fight persued, the fish was very active, it even tried to tail walk but i kept it in the water and within a few mins it was in the net. I was shaking, first pike of the campaign and it looked 17lb plus....  my dad said a 20...... but after weighing on two sets of scales it was just a few onces short of 14lb, it was a big fish to those roach and perch but in pike terms i do not think it was as that long.

Just shows you how you can quite easily over eastimate a fishes size, especially if you do not see the size and type regurlarly.
I had been doing research on how to unhook pike and well while the pike did try its best to thrash on the mat i followed what the experts said..... put it on his back, kneel down and with my legs straddle it to stop it moving, left hand take hold of right hand side of pike under the gills, move head forward to open the mouth and there was the treble. just inside the middle of the mouth.

The strange thing was the single hook which was in the perch mouth did not take hold..... its was the back trable that had.The perch and single size 4 was outside the mouth of the pike.

Was this because the hook potential of the single is less, it would have gone down the pikes mouth first so you would have thought this hook would be the deeper one, that exactly why i set up the rig that way....

well i need to catch more to find out!!!

and maybe get a better camera so dad can get all of the fish....

Fishing Around Salford - Old River Irlam

Well after the good work SFA club did restoring pegs and clearing rubbish i thought that i would give it a go for 2 hours as part of my FAS quest.

Me and Dad took two of the first pegs, float fishing with maggots, i had a sleeper rod with a livebait which i had hoped would give me some action, because while i enjoy catching in general as do we all, small bits are not normally my thing.

The weather was colder and i knew it would not be "bite a chuck" but i was pleasently surprised as my last outing there in April also brought very cold weather which completley turned the fishing off.

Well we got bites from the start, the stamp of roach was 4-6oz which was very pleasing but what was more pleasing was the action on the pike rod, 3 runs and only 1 was from a pike,

I think you can tell the difference between a big perch and a jack pike run, the first within 5mins was a drag not a float under, the run was dropped so i sent the rig back in again which instantly bought a drag type run, big perch,

After a short battle a 2lb fish was in the net...... it was a great start.

I had a new rig in use, i decided that a single hook and a treble, would be more safe than a standard 2 trebles, i felt that the single would not only be easier to hook the lip of the bait fish but when a pike takes the bait it usually goes head first which would mean the single hook would go first, thus if deeper hooked, then its a single and not a treble which could be fatal for the fish,

Then within 10mins another run, on a 6oz roach, this time the bite was more deliverate and gave the usual float under signals, the strike took me straight into a nice fish and 2mins later the landing net was put in position but then, ahhh..... hook pull.

It was then 30mins before action again, just like the first run it was a drag , i had a tiny 2oz perch on as bait and well i did expect it to be a perch again, well i let the run develop when i struck it was a miss.
I havent worked out yet if the two missed runs were down to me or the rig or just the situation,

Well an enjoyable session all round and i will definate be back, i mean while piking you have a chance of hitting a 2lbplus perch..... bonus.

i like this place.......

Fishing around Salford Part1

Since the broads trip end of June i have only done one major session and that was a day trip to the Severn in Aug on Barbel alley which saw the river in flood and me with just one lost run, Dad found it so difficult he scaled down to nail the silvers and well at least he enjoyed it, catching nearly every species, including gudgeon,ruffe and dace as well as cublets, roach and perch and a good one at 1,12oz

Back to the Salford Fishing, well all short sessions, and not too many over the two and a half months, 2 sessions on the Duchy Ponds with my grandson and Dad, nothing special just what you would expect, silvers and perch.

So the main focus has been the Irwell, on the Agecroft stretch to the back of the Cemetary, we even pre baited this stretch but with all the extra water seen this year it was diffuclt to get the conditions just right... anyway just one fish to show for this, dad again nailing a trout  (pic below) on worms,

then we tried further down to the weir, again too much flow and coloured water.... nothing in two hours.

so whats next - well i really do want to try the back of the Racecourse but with september running out and only a short trip to Irlam old course planned this week then i will have to delay another visit...

in favour of a few bream sessions on the irwell ,MSC area near Salford Quay..... next stop pre-baiting and see what happens.

But all in all Dad is killing me this year on "fish caught"......