Monday 30 April 2012

Budworth mere blank eased with golden tinca


This week I had a bit of free time on my hands so I sent a bit of time on the blog I have added a new page for the mini blog in pursuit of a 10lb plus carp, a page dedicated to the commercial venues that I fish and I also added a video to the still water venues section containing pictures of this week’s venue, Budworth Mere.

As mentioned above we visited budworth mere this weekend and the title of this week’s blog says it all we blanked spectacularly.  I spent the week researching this venue and I have to say information on the venue was thin on the ground to say the least and what information I did find was more carp related than coarse fish related.  The information all pointed to there being a big drop off around 30 metres out but it was possible to catch a decent amount of silvers on top of the shelf.

We set off on the day and my tactic was to feed a few golf ball sized balls of ground bait laced with maggot and a very small amount of corn with a pole fished maggot on the hook over the top.  I set up my pole to its full 13 metre length and left quite a long length between the float and pole tip as to not spook the fish with my pole over the top of the fish in the shallow gin clear water.



With reports of a few carp in the mere I thought it would do no harm to put out a sneaky sleeper rod baited with a boilie and a few crushed and whole boiles presented in a mesh PVA bag.  I put this rod out as far out as I could cast it and with a few fish showing my hopes were high for a few fish.   For a few pictures of this venue check out the link below where there is a video of the pictures I took on the day.




My sleeper rod out I settled on getting my bait out on my pole line and with 4 cad pots of bait going in I had laid the trap and all that was left was the fish to turn up for dinner.  There were plenty of signs of fish showing on the top of the shelf but all seemed to be two times the length I was fishing.  We both fished from 6am till 11am without so much as a knock but what a place to blank on as we were treated to a whole host of birdlife on the water from a really defensive mute swan to countless numbers of heron’s stalking the margins and also a sign that the warmer months are not too far away with the arrival over my head of a group of aerobatic swallows, the first of the year.

With the arrival of 11am a decision had to be made and it was clear we were not going to catch this close to the bank and the numbers of sticks sticking out of the water around 20 metres out suddenly hit home and this was obviously where anglers had been fishing by wading out to be able to reach the drop off.  We were not armed with any gear to fish up to our waists in water so a change of venue was needed if we were going to catch and we decided to nip to high legh to get a few pictures for the blog and then try our local pond where we were guaranteed some silver action and maybe even a rogue tench.

High legh fishery is situated not five minutes away from budworth and last year suffered a total fish kill when we had the really heavy snow and ice and rumours where before that the cormorants had decimated the silver fish.  Warrington Anglers recently reported they had stocked the fishery with carp purchased from Winsford anglers thinning of one of their lakes.  We arrived surprisingly to see three cormorants on the water which didn’t even spook when we looked around the water.   The pictures I took will be on the Stillwater sections sometime this week along with the cicily mill ones if I can get the old pictures form my other laptop.
We arrived at our local pond around 1pm and was son into some quality silvers on castor and maggot and the fishing was as good as I have experienced on any warrington water and best fo all it was totally free.  We both where catching fish at regular intervals and that’s when my uncle hooked into a fish that in the clear water I was certain was a goldfish but once he got it in revealed itself to be a golden tench!!  This small remote pond never ceases to amaze me in what surprises it throws up and today was no different.  We only spend around 3 hours fishing this pond and as you can see below we caught some quality fish. 

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The plan was to save some of the bait for a trip out on Sunday but I awoke at 6am on Sunday to the trees nearly been blown over outside my house and torrential rain.  I have to say I turned over and enjoyed a well-earned lie in, it’s been a few weeks since I have not gone fishing both days over the weekend so I fully enjoyed a day in with the missus, in life you have to have balance and as much as it may seem I go fishing all the time you have to make time for those in your life that are important.

Till next time I wish you all

Tight lines

Danny

Monday 23 April 2012

The Start Of A New Adventure



Last Thursday saw us visiting the hospital for our babies 21 week scan and I am pleased to announce we are expecting a baby girl towards the end of August and needless to say our house is now full of all things cute and pink!!. It really is looking like 2012 is going to be a big year of change for me and today saw me taking the final step in making a move away from my current job in that I submitted my application form for the job I mentioned in last weeks blog update.  The thought of doing this job day in and day out fills me with excitement just thinking about it so fingers crossed I hear something back in the next week or so about an interview and until then I am going to do my best to try and put it to the back of my mind.

A few weeks back I set myself a target of catching my first ever 10lb plus carp and this week the details of that campaign and how I plan to approach it all came together. As you will see later on in this blog update we visited Rixton Clay Pits on Saturday and had an excellent day for both silvers and tench and that got me thinking about targeting this venue for my 10lb carp.  There are a few venues close to my home that I may also visit as part of this challenge but I will need to visit these before committing to fishing them.

After investigating this venue in more detail both on the internet and from speaking to people on the bank it seems there is a healthy population of carp in this venue as well as a good head of tench.  I am by no means a carp angler and have neither the intention nor funds to kit myself out with a bivvy etc so my sessions on here targeting the tench and carp will be done with my single rod and bite alarm.

Being new to any type of bite alarm fishing I will be using my trusted tactic of keeping things simple and only complicating things if I am not getting the results I am hoping for.  The bait is one thing I don’t have a problem with as I know it works and catches fish on this venue and am confident that if I get my presentation and baiting right I will get a few fish on the bank.

As a result of this new campaign there may be more than one blog update a week as I am planning to write smaller updates within a day of my visit to there which may feature on this front page of the blog or under a newly created page I am undecided as to which way I will go with this one as of yet.

I have already made my first trip of this new adventure last night and that will make up my first post solely dedicated to this challenge so watch this space in the next few days for further information and I hope you all enjoy following me through the highs and lows as I chase this prize.

On to this weeks update:

Monday 16th April:- Evening Session Flushing Meadow Fishery

As was mentioned in last weeks update this fishing session was the reason behind last weeks update on the blog not going live till Tuesday night and for good reason.  I had a few things on my mind and I really don’t like writing the blog if my mind is not fully on the task, I find it difficult to write and the end result is never the best it could be, so with a head full of problems to iron out and a one bait tub of sweet corn and cubed luncheon meat I made my way to my regular haunt of late, flushing meadows fishery.


I arrived to every car park on each pool being empty and I took the opportunity to spend an afternoon on the pool I had caught my first barbell on last week.  The wind was blowing in the opposite direction from last week when it was blowing into the corner I was fishing but I set up on the same peg I fished last week and in my head I knew I was making a big mistake the fish would surely be on the end of this wind picking up and food blown into the far bay.

It was around 2.45-3pm when I set up on the fishery and by 4pm I had not had as much as a knock on the float fishing the same place I did so well in last week but I did have a long fishing conversation with another angler looking to try this venue the next day and it was this angler, who after walking round the pool, pointed out to me that there was a lot of carp on the back of the wind at the other end of the pool.  A quick trot down the pool and there they all where on the top sunning themselves and the margins were alive with signs of carp moving, there was only one thing for it, time to move along there.


Within 10 minutes I was sat in the peg at the other end of the pool and in went one small cad pot of bait and a small piece of meat on the hook and the swim literally erupted with feeding activity and no sooner had the float settled than it buried and after spending over an hour without a bite in the last swim I was into a fish within 20 seconds of fishing the new one and boy did it feel good.


The skies cleared and the wind dropped to a point where it just caused the gentlest of ripples on the waters surface and I was sat in the perfect position to make the most of the warmth provided by the early spring sun. The fishing went from strength to strength although I was getting plenty of bites and I was loosing all the fish due to hook pulls and foul hooking before I noticed my float had actually slipped down the line a few inches and it all became clear why I had not been connecting properly with these fish.  The line altered I was quickly into a fish that was on the other side of the pool before I knew it and straight away I knew this could only be one thing, a barbell.

The bites continued top come thick and fast and I stayed on the venue till around 7.20pm when it became difficult to see the float in the mottled sunlight through the trees but boy did I enjoy myself.  Anyone who wants to introduce a family member or get their children into fishing take them one of these commercials with a pint of maggots and they will catch fish all day long, I know as soon as my child is born and is old enough I will be taking them a venue like this, great fishing.

Here are some picturess of the carp I picked up throughout the evening:





Saturday 21st April 2012 – Rixton Clay Pits Warrington AA card

It is hard to believe over a year has passed since we first visited this venue, back then the sun was shining and the whole country was basking in some early season sun.  Upon stepping back onto the pit this year it was instantly noticeable little had changed in the year we had been away, there has been no further improvement to the pegs around the water and the litter problem we witnessed last year was slightly better on the pegs but still far too many anglers see the car park as a place to dump their waste from their fishing trip please if this is anyone who is reading this blog place the rubbish in the back of your car and take it home it does nothing for the image of the club and  nothing for the image of angling in general especially on a site that is a Site of Special Scientific Importance.  

With that out of the way we can get onto the fishing and it was an early rise for us in Saturday morning arriving at my uncles before 5am to ensure we were on the banks at first light as our chosen quarry has a real reputation for being caught as the early morning dew is rising from the water, this fish is of course the tench and after catching a few on here last year I had high hopes of catching my first teddy bear eyed tinca of the year.


With only four pegs completed on this venue it is very hard getting on a peg that is comfortable as these are understandably normally taken already by overnight carp anglers and let’s face it who can blame them if it where me I would have settled on one of them myself as I can see a night on the other “natural” pegs to be less than enjoyable.  With three of us fishing we were left with two choices either all three of us crammed on the last available completed peg or we fished in swims next to each other further around the pit and we settled on the latter as the first peg was far too cramped for three of us to fish comfortably but as you can see above we were going to struggle to go home clean.

My tactics where to pole fish at around 7m while my dad chose to fish the float rod, the fact my dad was here also allowed me to put out a sleeper rod on a bait runner and bite alarm and knowing what had done so well for me last year on here for both tench and bream I knew exactly what bait was going on the end of that rig, if the tench where feeding I was confident I would get one on it.

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Not long after setting up the heavens opened in what at the time felt like a rain cover that was in for the day, dark skies and rumbles of thunder instantly saw me placing the 7 metre electricity conducting pole to one side and we both patiently waited under our brollies hoping for it to pass us by.  During this prolonged spell of bad weather the sleeper rod bite alarm roared into life and line began dripping of the spool as the fish bolted out of the peg.  Having not done this method of fishing for so long I must admit I froze for a second and I am sure I jumped a little as it sprang into life but I quickly came to my senses and lifted into what felt like a decent fish.  I always keep my fishing simple and keep to tried and trusted terminal tackle if it is not broke why fix it.  All the old favourites where present and working as well as ever, 10lb maxima reel line down to a ESP adjustable lead clip that connects the main line to a 10lb Shimano Antares Silkshock hook length is how I set out and it has done me well so  far and it did again this time as I landed the nice tench above that went 4lb 2oz on the scales and was a great way to get my tench account up and running and I was well chuffed if not a little wet.


The pole line was dreadfully slow, seeing me catch only a handful of really small roach and certainly where not of a standard I expected from this venue.  My dad was next to get in some big fish action as his float slowly slipped away and he struck into another tench which came in really quickly into the margins and fought a dogged dirty fight around the submerged tree roots.  This commotion attracted the attention of my uncle who had seen all the splashing caused by this fish and came over to investigate, I slid the landing net under the water ready to net my dad’s fish and low and behold his fish made one final run which coincided with my sleeper rod roaring off.



Knowing the angle my sleeper rod was fishing at I knew it couldn’t have been the fish my dad was connected to catching on the line so I quickly passed my uncle the landing net and struck into what was certainly another tench by the way it was fighting.  Club rules don’t allow tench to be kept in your keep net so the first tench was unhooked while I played out mine and then my dad carefully scooped up mine with his already in the net.



My fish was ever so lightly hooked I was amazed it stayed on to be honest and we quickly weighed the fish and took some pictures for the blog.  The picture below shows just how bad the pegs are when it rains a change of clothes or overalls are a must here as are a good pair of wellingtons, luckily I was armed with both and the missus is still speaking to me as we still have a clean car!!!


My dad’s fish had some red markings to its belly which were really unusual but one I would remember should I catch it again, this may well be common in tench I have not looked up the subject but a really unusually coloured fish.  With both fish being caught at the same time I thought I would record the fish going back to prove they went back fine.



The day continued and barring a few screaming dropped runs the sleeper rod remained dormant the rest of the day whilst the pole fishing for both me and my uncle really improved and it felt so good building a swim, first came the smaller roach and after a while the skimmers and then the bigger roach made an appearance  and eventually the inevitable zoo creature was connected with and on blue hydro elastic I never really stood a chance it had my elastic stretching across the pit like a washing line before it all came flying back at me. 

The final bags contained nowhere near the weights of silvers we have been catching at flushing meadows but the fact we had both worked so hard for these nets made it feel such an achievement and I was more than happy with my days efforts of two tench and a 10lb 9oz net of silvers and my uncle must have had around the same in his net as well.

My net:


Uncles net

 
We put the nets to dry while we completed the arduous task of packing the gear away and it seemed everything was covered in dry orange clay!! Luckily I had lined the car with a tarp and all was well.  All in all, a beautiful water that holds a good head of silvers and some lovely looking tench and believe me the wildlife is second to none, finches, robins, woodpeckers, herons, Canada geese, ducks and the ever present it seems on our trips lately the native pair of buzzards.

This is my unlces first full year on the Warrington Card so I don’t know whether we will be back on this water together again this year as there are a whole host of other waters I want to show him before the rivers open again but I will be back so you will be seeing plenty of this venue in my quest for that 10lb carp.

If you like reading my weekly angling blog why not follow the blog on twitter and Facebook by clicking the “like” and “follow” buttons in the right hand side of the blog.  I regularly post pictures that don’t make it into the blog and post my adventures as they happen should the location’s proximity to an internet signal allow.

Till next time I wish you all

Tight lines

Danny

Tuesday 17 April 2012

First Ever Still Water Barbel On A Carp Mad Afternoon on FLushing.....

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 This week a job vacancy dropped into my work email inbox and upon reading it my interest was instantly sparked as it was every bit my dream job to the point if I was to write down my dream job it would be exactly this occupation.  There is one downside regarding the tenure of the position and with the imminent arrival of my new family member it’s a decision that I would need to take a bit of time to consider.

Sat in work the job was ticking over in my head and I couldn’t stop thinking about it a job I had waited for so many years to come up was there but there was a risk involved with it and there was only one place I was going to find the answer to this puzzle and that place was the waterside so I quickly booked an early finish in work and was quickly sat beside the banks of my local commercial, Flushing Meadows.  As a result of this afternoon session this weeks blog update was put back to tonight and the action last nights short session will be in next weeks blog update.

Fishing really is a hobby that allows you to get away form it all and be at one with your thoughts, in this hectic world we live in I think we all need these little vices where we can go to where its just you and the world around you whether that be in the form of walking, cycling or photography all these allow the opportunity to find the answers to the dilemmas we face in day to day life and yesterday’s fishing answered all my questions for me and I will be applying for the job.

On to this weeks fishing,

Thursday 12th April – Flushing Meadows Fishery


Thursday seemed to come along really quickly and with a Midwife appointment in the morning I thought I thoroughly had earned an afternoon fishing and with half a pint of maggots a tin of sweet corn and a tin of luncheon meat for bait and a lovely packed lunch made by the missus in tow I was on my way to Flushing meadows for a spot of pole fishing for the carp, silvers and if I was really lucky my first ever still water barbel.



I arrived at the fishery and settled down on the only pool left on the list to fish and took a few pictures of the pool before I started so I can put a venue video together for this venue on the blog.  Within minutes the pole was put together and I was sat staring at the float in the margin and the picture was complete.

The first fish on the bank was a small carp around a pound and a half and this was quickly followed by another around the same stamp and the bites where coming thick and fast but it was the third fish that took me by surprise as unlike the first it shot out of the swim and was already heading for the far bank of the pool in the blink of an eye!! Based on past fights on the fishery I was sure it was a carp around 5-6lb and it took me what seemed an age to tame it to a level where I had it down to my top two sections.

The fish topped and showed it to be a barbel and that’s when the nerves began as I have never caught a still water barbell before and the rest of the fight was fought with feather like pressure applied to the fish and I eventually lifted the net under a pristine barbell of around 2lb, well chuffed I could have packed in there and then and been a happy fisherman.


The day continued to plod along with carp coming thick and fast and when the action died on the carp line I moved over to my top two sections in the margin and the true potential of this water hit home with stunning roach coming every chuck in to my loose fed maggots it really was sublime fishing as the video below shows.



As you can see from the photo below the average stamp of roach is not to be sniffed at:



The carp although not all massive where going between half a pound and 3lb with the biggest carp of the day shown below.



I counted on the day that I caught 66 carp and 23 roach which is an outstanding days fishing in my book considering I arrived at 12ish and packed away just after 7pm.  I normally take pictures of a few fish throughout my fishing trips for the blog and afterwards select the best bits but there where far too many on the day to even take pictures of so I have put the ones I did take a picture of in this short video below to give you an idea of the size of carp you can expect form this small pool on the flushing meadows fishery site.



All in all it was one of the best days I have experienced on this fishery and a day to remember for sure with so many fish caught and my first ever still water barbel and I left a very happy angler indeed. 

One picture I did take on the day was the peg after I left and as yu can see the only sign I was ever there is a few grains of sweetcorn on the ground and this is the way it should be far too many anglers think it is ok to just leave line and rubbish discarded on the peg for others to clear up after them, it is not a good image for our sport at all and we should strive to improve this aspect of our sport.


That was it for my angling for the week barring a trip to the local canal with my dad and uncle on Saturday which proved to be a really tough but enjoyable day on the bank that took me back to my childhood chasing gudgeon and skimmers along the canal towpath. I chose not to blog fully about this trip as some trips you need to keep for yourself for a keepsake of the good times when you look back in life.  I will take many great memories from Saturday of laughs we had and pranks that where pulled.  I will however share one picture with you all and that is the one below of an impeccably marked perch which shows he potential of this old type waterway.


Till next time I wish you all

Tight lines

danny 

Tuesday 10 April 2012

A star is born and Cicely mill, flushing meadows and rixton clay pits all get a visit....

One bit of really good news I received this week is that my good friend in work has finally tracked down a new companion for his walks in a cute German shepherd puppy called Otto and what a cheeky, mischievous ball of fun he looks to be and I can’t wait to read about their adventures on his blog found here: http://northerngoshawk.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Friday 6th April – Cicely Mill

With an extended bank holiday weekend on the cards there was only one place you was going to find me and that was on bank.  Thursday evening saw me finally renewing my Warrington Anglers card which opened up a magnitude of venues to try on the coming the weekend but after a lot of deliberation we decided to visit an old friend in Cicely mill.

Cicely mill was one of the first venues we ever visited on the Warrington Anglers card some three years ago and from the moment we wet a line in its shallow waters we were hooked for the rest of that summer.  Large crucian carp, hard fighting tench, massive carp and countless bream met us at this venue and my dreams on Thursday night where full of these past memories of this venue.


Turning off the main road from Lymm down the windy road down to the fishery past the iconic road sign my heart was pounding and all the excitement I felt on those early morning trips all those years ago came flooding back.  My optimism was dealt a heavy blow as I opened the door of the car in the fishery car park to be met with a bone chilling ice cold blast of wind blowing across the venue and a quick glance at the water revealed that all the green reeds where yet to raise fully form the water and the margins were mainly dominated with the brown colours of winter.  The whole feel of the place had me feeling we were a few weeks to early.



With the water being really shallow so much so you would struggle to find more than 3ft of water anywhere on the whole fishery I knew the overnight drop in temperature would mean we were in for a tough day on the bank but still it was good to be back and I was really impressed with the new pegs that had been created.



With the session looking to be a tough one I set up accordingly with 2lb line down to a 1lb hook length and a size 20 hook and armed with a plan of introducing maggot little and often into both swims.  One swim was straight out in front of me in open water and the second was down my left hand margin the only difference in the two swims was I fed a few grains of corn down the margin swim and by 7am we were both set up and fishing.

Two hours passed without as much as a knock so I decided to take a wander and capture some pictures of the venue to put together a video for the blogs still water section of venues I fish and returned back to the fishing.  Another hour passed and an angler that arrived not long after us called it a day and packed in and was on his way without so much as a tap which was unfortunately being mirrored by all the anglers on the pool including us.  Before we knew it another two hours had passed and it was now getting on for 11am without so much as a tap.  I am an angler that does not blank all that often but when I do I want to leave the water knowing I had done all I could have done to catch and I felt on the day I did that, you can’t get much lighter than pound bottom and a size 22 hook let’s face it. 

We had a regroup and decided that a change of venue was in order as the temperature had in fact dropped on cicely since we had arrived and in all honestly my dad doesn’t get out fishing as much as he used to now and I wanted to make sure he would catch a few fish so we both decided to make the journey down the M56 to flushing meadows where we knew we would be guaranteed a few bites, the only down side for me was the fact I was due to fish this fishery the next day with my uncle.

Don’t let this report put you off visiting this fishery it really is a gem of a venue but is a venue I have only really fished in summer and from this visit it seems it really doesn’t fish well after a cold snap.  I will get the venue video up sometime this week and try and dig out some of my old fish pictures from a few years ago to give you an idea of its potential.

Friday 6th April Afternoon

We took our time on route to Flushing and actually stopped of a Greenwood Fishery to check out there Lagoon pool for a future visit later on in the summer and it looked to be fishing ok with a few anglers catching and will certainly be a venue we will be trying in the coming weeks.  We continued on a way to flushing meadows and arrived dead on 12 noon and decided to fish a pool we hadn’t fished before in the island pool.



The increase in temperature was more than noticeable and so much so it saw us shedding a few layers not long after arriving.  My dad’s rod had been broken down into two pieces from Cicely mill so he was fishing in seconds and contrary to the lack of action on Cicely mill he had a fish on the bank within 10 seconds of casting in.



We caught golden rudd, roach, perch and gudgeon all day long on maggot and corn over the top and had a truly memorable day with us also both taking a carp each, my dad a hard fighting  2lb 15oz carp that gave him a right run around and me taking a 5lb 4oz carp right at the death to even the score out on a truly memorable father and son trip on the bank and I hope it gives my dad the inspiration to get out on the bank a bit more now its warming up a bit.





It is my aim to produce another page on the blog for commercial venues I fish and there is only one pool left to fish on here now before I have wet a line in them all so I will be producing a video for this venue on that page shortly.

Saturday 7th April

We arrived at the fishery at first light and made our way to the canal pool which is renowned for its deep channel down the middle and really undercut far banks and was really surprised to find we were the only car out of the four heading into the fishery to choose to fish this pool.


Being a commercial fishery we parked right behind our pegs and in no time we were both set up and plumbing up the swims we were going fish.  How fast you can go from arriving at your peg to be actually fishing is one aspect of pole fishing I really like and I am really enjoying this aspect of my time away from the rivers.

I began by trying to tempt a early carp with a bigger bait by placing it in some likely looking places around the swim and It was not long before my float, hand made by my uncle was skating across the surface and I lifted into a nice carp that felt good on my white hydro elastic on a pulla bung.  I felt in more control of the fish using this elastic than I had using the black hydro elastic last year and didn’t feel like it put anywhere near as much pressure on my pole.


Knowing how this venue fishes from plenty of visits last year it was straight back out with another bait and within seconds it was off again and I knew instantly this was a better fish as the swim erupted as it bolted out of the swim.  The way the fish was fighting in knew it was a carp and one of the better ones by how easy it came into the middle but how hard it was to move it off the bottom and once down to my top two sections the battle commenced as you can see on the video below.



The fish stayed deep for the whole fight and even managed to snag me up at one point on a snag on the bottom but I managed to persuade it to move away from it but in the ensuing battle it made many attempts for this same snag and I must say I really enjoyed the battle with this carp that went on for an eternity but once I got to grips with how much tension I could Impart on the fish with the pulla kit it began to tire and see my side of the argument.

The fish didn’t half make my arm ache and I was relieved to get the fish on the bank and on the scales which it pulled round to 6lb13oz a decent fish for this venue.



After this fish no more where forthcoming to that tactic so I began to prime up my top four swims for the silvers with the hope of an odd rogue carp.  When I say this venue is prolific for silvers I mean its prolific you could catch silvers all day long on maggot one a chuck but I have started to use these sessions to practice my pole shipping in and out technique and swim building to try and feed a swim so I gradually catch better fish from it and it wasn’t long before the rudd and roach where replaced with skimmers.


My uncle was on the peg next to me and fishing close up to some snags and had been really unlucky with foul hooking a few bigger fish and the hook pulling but was still getting silvers one a chuck and then he hit something altogether different in this pristinely marked perch.


As the day wore on we both continued to pick up fish with great regularity and eventually the carp moved in our swims and we picked up a couple of these fish each to end the session off nicely and two things I love about this venue is how clean the carps mouths are and also as you can see in the background of one of these pictures how easily you can go round the other bank on these waters if you connect with the bank side trees lol.




I also managed to befriend a couple of the local robins with free offerings of white and red maggots and these two fluffy characters kept me company all day long, I really love the wildlife we have in this country and it’s a pleasure to experience moments like these where the wildlife loses all fear of man, the way it should be.



Sunday 8th April

Sunday saw me making the short journey up the m56 to Rixton Clay pits just outside Warrington on the WAA card.  After so much fishing in the previous days it was always only going to be a morning session till midday.  My plan was to target the massive shoals of roach and skimmers that reside in here and also put out a sleeper rod for a cheeky early season tench .


As you can see from the pictures above I had a patch of dead or dormant lilies’ to my right but I chose to ignore them and fish next to a tree to my left and lay my sleeper rod as a trap just off the lilies.  The swim took a while to get going and with the bites being really tentative I missed quite a lot of them.  I also found it very difficult feeding the swim with feeding so heavily the previous day on the commercial it was heard to reign myself in.


I eventually managed to get my shotting pattern right and dotted the float right down and the missed bites where replaced with bars of shimmering silver as roach after roach came steadily to the bank.  I also bumped into the Bailiff who assured me it was ok to use my keep net on the venue so will be some nice nets of fish on the blog come the summer months from here.



I carried on picking up roach at regular intervals all around the same size and I really enjoyed some “real” fishing on a natural venue.  You catch so many big silvers on the commercials but they come so thick and fast you don’t really appreciate them.  I thoroughly enjoyed the morning session on rixton and I cannot wait to get back to this most picturesque of venues.


Till next time

I wish you all tight lines

danny