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.......