Winter Fishing - Bring it on!!!

For once I was really glad to miss this weekend fishing, although the virus was not welcome the time to reflect certainly was,  this got me to thinking of past captures and future targets, then a realisation set in  that over the past few years I really have wimped out in winter. 

“So what” I hear all the fair weather fisherman say, well for an angler that combines pleasure with a bit of specimen fishing albeit to catch the biggest of the type I am after on the water concerned. Indeed so what. 

In winter it all slows down and catches are worse right….. 

In reflection, no !!! 

So for Tench and bream ok.... I have always targeted them in May onwards thus not focusing on anything else, ok so hard waters have taken catch rates down but a 7lb tench and 7lb bream pb from Blackleach Res, not many can say that (cos not that many can catch there these days).

 

Carp are associated with summer, but I have rarely gone for these by design, there crucian cousins yes, and taking fish to 2.4lb from Fir Tree Flash which is more of a park type lake  this going back some 5 years ago was  great,  Many crucians and tench albeit smaller than the Blackleach variety. Note to self, i must find the crucian photos in the garage, time before digi cameras.

Barbel and chub, I have targeted far less than I would have liked, down to once a year, 7 years ago on a day ticket stretch in middlewich I would drop in once a week and then do a Sunday session, taking barbs to 7lb in late summer and autumn, and I have had a few good last hours dropping off the m6 on my way home from a meeting to target chub into the dark, best of 4lb. 

A big surprise for me was getting to the bank at 5am on the River Glaze in winter  with Dad to catch his favourite, 5am would get the last peg on the 100m stretch, pole to pole tempting roach to 1lb though I now they went bigger than 2lb and some say upto 3lb, it was a dream 2 years winter fishing, until the new bank work killed the annual route of the silvers. I would get 8-10 lb roach in 2 hours before work, and some locals would say that was bad fishing….. they haven’t been to Blackleach then, again i must find the photos....... 

The cold January day would see an annual trip to the River Ure, piking, where my biggest went to 15.5(main blog photo) In freezing temperatures, not massive and I am sure my local rivers hold a new pb for me this winter, but it was while I went to check on a friend that the Red Letter day thoughts sprang to mind. With me asking whats that in the water near the bushes and him saying, dunno not got my contacts in I thought it was twigs.. In fact they were rows of decent size perch in formation largest at the front, though it was near dark a couple of 2lbers were taken with freelined worm, on return saw my “last hour” fishing this to get a fish at the head of the shoal weighing 3.5oz(this blog opening pic), non were feeding, this was aggressive response to food dancing by.  A few months later that very tree was washed into the river in a storm, moving those perch on to find new habitat, damn...

that’s the only reason to stop me driving for 4 hours roundtrip each week during the winter.

While we all enjoy warm days at the bank dreams can come true in winter

So bring it on!!!

 

Old River Predator hunt

I think it was Martin Bowler who said he treats a blank as step closer to his next big catch and that he learns more blanking than he ever does when catching....

that said then i should be the most knowledgable angler in Salford.......... 2 more attempts predator fishing at my dads favourite water, and blank...

last weekend, weather ok but bright, peg 5th from the pub, tactics 1 deadbait  and 1 floatfish prawn, worm for the perch, dad was just maggot fishing, nothing between us in 2 hours,
the pole anger on the first peg had a few bits, assume it is getting peggy with the change in temperature,

today out at first light for 3 hours, we managed the first peg, same tactics as above but dad put in a deadbait rod too....

well dad had nothing on the mags, i mean i do not expect him to catch as much as a pole angler, for obvious presentation and catch effectiveness of the pole, but i would have expected a bit or two on the mags...... he was on 2.5lb bottom, so maybe he could go down to 1lb,

then at 10,30, i saw a good double size pike nose out of the water near dads float by some lillypads, "give it 20mins" i said, and sure enough, a take.... the float did not go under as he was fishing on the bottom and fish had maybe moved upwards.... for a few seconds the flost travelled then stop (which i took to be the point where the predator is turning the half of herring), then it moved off again, "go on dad strike" - he did and he was in, but five or six second later it was off..... dad blamed me for telling him to strike and not letting it swallow the bait.. but i would rather take it early and loose it than risk deep hooking.... anyway it could have been a mouth hook up and a good shake of the head could have pulled free from the front treble.

But in terms of general fishing, it was poor......maybe the cold nights have turned the fish off until they get used to the lower temperatures, maybe dads presentation and line diamater wasnt ideal to tease these silvers.... or maybe the fish were frequenting other pegs..... i do not know this water that well so do not know the winter shoaling behavior or if there are other influences like a hot water pipe or some other attractor.

Well Mr Bowler what would you have learnt from todays blank???

Predators - the Old River

Each water has its own stories, some will be true, others not so, i have done a number of short sessions on this water of late and heard stories of huge pike, 6lb eels and 3lb plus perch.

This water could hold a truly massive pike or two, but i would doubt there are too many due to the high number of jacks, usually if there are many 20+ fish they would regulate the numbers of small jacks, and this water is overun with them.

It certainly has potential for big eels, land locked to a degree, deep, plenty of food, i look forward to having a go next year,

Big perch, an immediate target of mine, i have had 2 fish over 3lb from rivers and i can tell you they are truly stunning.

But big perch normally thrive when they are top of the food chain, but with all these jacks i was surprised when i heard these stories until i banked 2 over 1,5lb, but that does not mean there are many of them.

So my next attempt piking and perching, weather was glorious for Oct, but on this water my experience tells me silvers switch off on bright days, and when they do so do the pike.

That and the other 8 anglers on the water of which 5 were piking so added to me and dad that was 7 using about 10 rods, had they heard the stories too??

I lost a jack about 5lb in a snag in the first hour, i had it on surface but bent down to get my net when it pulled me into a snag juts under the water which i couldnt see,

So while the 2 pole anglers near me did get a few roach and perch it was not a good day, dad managed 2silvers and 2 also dropped off as he was bringing them in , me well,  i got a another decent perch on prawn at 1.5lb, i had 3 great bites in a row, the third and i was into this fish in the pic.

Overall, pike did not come out, 2 jacks caught between all these rods on the water all day plus the one i had on and lost not a good return....especially with the number of rods nearly every swim was fished at somepoint.

FAS - taking the "young en" piking

After missing the weekend session, i could not wait to take my gandson for a quick hour and half on Irlam old course

this will probably be my last session here until the weather really gets cold and takes a grip, action was a bit slower for dad on mags tonight 4 bites and 2 fish banked one a decent roach and the other the pike livebait,

My second rod had worms and prawn, baited over dead mags, hoping for the large perch to switch on, espcially as dusk would be approaching, but alas no action,

Well on the pike rod, we started with a dead perch, nothing, then within 20min of putting the roach livebait on we had a run, a definate jack bite...... we struck into the fish and my grandson with my support got it to the net with a tail walk or two,

A nice 3lber was his first ever pike, he was a bit scared on the handling thus the not so good pic, for me i enjoyed getting the hooks out without incident, but it wasnt easy

due to the size of the roach i had to lip hook and flank, now the lip was hooked with the single, so the fish would be deeper down the throat than a tail hook up, again i was surprised to see the single did not have a hook hold and the single had reversed out of its mouth, strange eh the back hook is in but the front hook is not, unless it was taken tail first???

i will keep my eye on this, the other theory is the single hook does not get hold on strike at all?,

Small Jacks in my view are more difficult to unhook if it is lower down the mouth/throat - holding under the gills and moving the mouth towards you does not open the mouth automatically,

Now i have used gags and will not again now i understand the danger to the pike, but to keep the mouth open i used small pliers reversed,just the keep it open without pressure - the gag puts far too much pressure on the jaw it doesnt hold open it forces it open, that is dangerous,

so i snipped the single hook off so it wasnt flying around, with a little help from the reversed pliers  the treble was removed and fish went back safely,

so far so good.

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"......