Bluemoon Angling Thread

[BlueMoonRisin’]

Fair comments mate and i agree with you . Its just seemed that you dismissed commercial anglers as all one trick ponys which judging by your reply you dont . I wouldnt fancy many river anglers chances against , say , Andy May on the Dane but i get your point

Andy May(ex Stockport fed iirc) is a very experienced angler and I agree, he'd certainly hold his own on a river against most.

I take it you love match fishing commercial waters, if so fair play. I can't stand fishing them TBH. Full of tackle tarts with the latest gear and my older tackle would not impress many. But having up to the minute top brand gear often catches more anglers than it does fish. I've seen several who have fancy tackle who can't really use it. But I'm not knocking these anglers, it's just that they most probably won't venture on a river as you can't fluke fish like you can on a hole in the ground, filled with water and tons of ravenous F1 carp queuing up to be caught. And sadly this is how angling has fast become since anglers switched from rivers lakes and canals to fish stuffed modern day commercials.

Serving an angling apprenticeship fishing many different waters using different methods is something of a rarity nowadays. Many modern anglers are bereft of stickfloat and waggler fishing skills and couldn't cast a feeder accurately at 60m or scratch for bites on the Ashton Hyde and Rochdale canals in winter as I have. After all, when fine tuning ones skills to catch fish all day on an easy commercial, not many anglers would want to sit there freezing holding a pole in winter in the wind all day. I don't do that myself anymore TBH. Infact I don't get on the bank much at all nowadays, I'm rusty and apathetic, lost the fishing bug I once had when I'd spend almost every spare hour I had fishing.

Like I said previously, I intend to join a local club and go fishing with my mates who pleasure fish and fish matches regularly. I'm looking forward to the banter and competing in matches. I'll just be pools fodder at first until I get my angling eye in, then I hope it brings the competitive edge out in me like I once had when fishing matches. But for now I'm rusty and not up to the minute on modern techniques of presentation. I think the best thing I can do is go back to basics of trotting a float on a river, waggler fishing at range, and feeder fishing.

But after several trips fishing on the Ebro in Spain, and a single catfish trip on the mighty River Po in Italy, catching several 100lb+ cats I'm not too enthusiastic about going back to basics fishing hard waters in shite weather. Also been ruined fishing for big barbel and chub on snorky's salmon syndicate stretch on the Wye.
That truly is fishing heaven surrounded by beautiful countryside, absolutely as good as it gets for me fishing in England. Fishing there or fishing a shopping trolley filled Rochdale canal in winter. Let me think about it. Lol.

But back to basics it's gonna be as the Wye is 150 mile away and I am privileged to get to fish that magical salmon beat only once a year unfortunately. I need to get my gear together and get on the bank, and stop making shit excuses on not getting out fishing with my fishing mates: )

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Get yourself along to one of the big English reservoirs - Rutland, Eyebrook, Chew, Draycote, they will be opening within days I would have thought. They will still be well stocked and without fishing pressure for the last few months those bad boys will tear your arm off.

Esthwaite Water opens tomorrow. No pike fishing except fly though, disappointingly. I had 2 days booked just as lockdown started.

It’s going to be chaos on the banks. I fancy a few day’s carp fishing but I’d rather stay at home than sit on a packed lake with leads crashing all around me. I need to think this through carefully.

 

[Saddleworth2]

Esthwaite Water opens tomorrow. No pike fishing except fly though, disappointingly. I had 2 days booked just as lockdown started.

It’s going to be chaos on the banks. I fancy a few day’s carp fishing but I’d rather stay at home than sit on a packed lake with leads crashing all around me. I need to think this through carefully.

yeah, bound to be busy mate. Boat fishing on a big reservoir is the way though. 50 boats on 2000 acres of water = er, 40 acres per boat. A day on the south arm of rutland would be bliss. If only.

 

[Newman Noggs]

Esthwaite Water opens tomorrow. No pike fishing except fly though, disappointingly. I had 2 days booked just as lockdown started.

It’s going to be chaos on the banks. I fancy a few day’s carp fishing but I’d rather stay at home than sit on a packed lake with leads crashing all around me. I need to think this through carefully.

Ha ha ! I've been wrestling with this dilemma. Do I go out tomorrow when I suspect it will be like the fucking gold rush or do I go Thursday ? Or will everyone think the same and it will be deserted tomorrow ? Fuck it, I'll do some work and go next week. Or will I... ?

 

[heatonblue]

Andy May(ex Stockport fed iirc) is a very experienced angler and I agree, he'd certainly hold his own on a river against most.

I take it you love match fishing commercial waters, if so fair play. I can't stand fishing them TBH. Full of tackle tarts with the latest gear and my older tackle would not impress many. But having up to the minute top brand gear often catches more anglers than it does fish. I've seen several who have fancy tackle who can't really use it. But I'm not knocking these anglers, it's just that they most probably won't venture on a river as you can't fluke fish like you can on a hole in the ground, filled with water and tons of ravenous F1 carp queuing up to be caught. And sadly this is how angling has fast become since anglers switched from rivers lakes and canals to fish stuffed modern day commercials.

Serving an angling apprenticeship fishing many different waters using different methods is something of a rarity nowadays. Many modern anglers are bereft of stickfloat and waggler fishing skills and couldn't cast a feeder accurately at 60m or scratch for bites on the Ashton Hyde and Rochdale canals in winter as I have. After all, when fine tuning ones skills to catch fish all day on an easy commercial, not many anglers would want to sit there freezing holding a pole in winter in the wind all day. I don't do that myself anymore TBH. Infact I don't get on the bank much at all nowadays, I'm rusty and apathetic, lost the fishing bug I once had when I'd spend almost every spare hour I had fishing.

Like I said previously, I intend to join a local club and go fishing with my mates who pleasure fish and fish matches regularly. I'm looking forward to the banter and competing in matches. I'll just be pools fodder at first until I get my angling eye in, then I hope it brings the competitive edge out in me like I once had when fishing matches. But for now I'm rusty and not up to the minute on modern techniques of presentation. I think the best thing I can do is go back to basics of trotting a float on a river, waggler fishing at range, and feeder fishing.

But after several trips fishing on the Ebro in Spain, and a single catfish trip on the mighty River Po in Italy, catching several 100lb+ cats I'm not too enthusiastic about going back to basics fishing hard waters in shite weather. Also been ruined fishing for big barbel and chub on snorky's salmon syndicate stretch on the Wye.
That truly is fishing heaven surrounded by beautiful countryside, absolutely as good as it gets for me fishing in England. Fishing there or fishing a shopping trolley filled Rochdale canal in winter. Let me think about it. Lol.

But back to basics it's gonna be as the Wye is 150 mile away and I am privileged to get to fish that magical salmon beat only once a year unfortunately. I need to get my gear together and get on the bank, and stop making shit excuses on not getting out fishing with my fishing mates: )

Yeah i do enjoy commercials and i get why some dont. When i started matches all i did was fish the tip for skimmers . Rudyard , Carr Mill , Compstall etc but that scene has pretty much gone now . I did move across to commercials but dont match fish any more . Google pools fodder and it will be a picture of me

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Ha ha ! I've been wrestling with this dilemma. Do I go out tomorrow when I suspect it will be like the fucking gold rush or do I go Thursday ? Or will everyone think the same and it will be deserted tomorrow ? Fuck it, I'll do some work and go next week. Or will I... ?

It’s a tough call. I suspect quite a few people won’t have bait etc. I’m thinking a couple of shortish sessions over the next few days and a longer carp session on an unpopular/hard water next week.

 

[Newman Noggs]

I've been fishing 50 years from being 6 and have done many many hours fishing rock hard canals in winter scratching for bites. Now if you know canal fishing it often means fining down end tackle, and when I say that I'm talking using a size 26 fine wire red bloodworm hook hand tied to a 6oz bottom, with a single joker(small bloodworm) as bait! Thin bristle pole float carefully shotted to just have 1cm of tip showing. Pole in hand down boat channel, then changing to single caster trying to outwit a wily roach on far shelf. Fishing all day to be lucky to catch half a dozen bits. Sometimes I'd blank, not even a bite but dedication and angling obsession meant there's always another day.

As you may have gathered, I'm a serial blanker so I don't have any axe to grind when it comes to commercials v natural waters but a couple of comments if I may.

Firstly, the truth of the above comment really came home to me when I moved to the Midlands. Having scratched around for fish on the Bridgewater between Sale and Timperley all my youth, I found that I was catching fish down here when seasoned local anglers were struggling.

Secondly, the variety of angling available pleases and frustrates me in equal measure. The wider the variety, the more room there is for each individual so, as you say, I'm alone on the river when the commercials will be full. So each to their own as far as I'm concerned. On the other hand I'd have liked to have tried pole fishing and I'd like to learn how to fly fish properly but life is so short. I've a long way to go before I master float and feeder fishing soI guess I never will. Next April, all being well, I'm off to Colombia fly-fishing for giant trevally so I've got to get my head round that, at least to a basic level, in the next 11 months.

The Leamington Anglers stillwaters are "semi-commercial" I think. To my mind, they are ever-so-slightly over-stocked which means they fish well in Winter which is an absolute godsend when you just need to see your tip go round or your float go under in January.

It's not a competition as to which is the best. Unless you are a matchman I guess.

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

Yeah i do enjoy commercials and i get why some dont. When i started matches all i did was fish the tip for skimmers . Rudyard , Carr Mill , Compstall etc but that scene has pretty much gone now . I did move across to commercials but dont match fish any more . Google pools fodder and it will be a picture of me

Blimey, Rudyard lake. I cut my feeder fishing teeth on there as a kid mate. My dad was a fine swing and quiver tip angler and I remember fishing the roadside near the shallow end aged about 8. He taught me how to tie a double hook paternoster rig to catch roach perch and silver bream that were once common there. Was fun catching two fish at once and I remember as I was reeling in a 2.5lb jack pike grabbed a small roach I was reeling in. I was in panic rod arched over playing a frisky jack that was jumping out of the water, my dad was laughing at my panic. But he showed me to adjust the clutch and carefully play it in. I did and felt well chuffed I'd just caught my first pike. He said we could take it home to eat and we did. I think he soaked it in brine for a day to help mask it's earthy course flavour. I remember it being quite tasty but full of bones.

Compstall is another water I've spent many hours on as a kid. Held some real nice perch and were fairly easy to catch against the overhanging bushes.
I once sat behind ex world champ Ian Heaps and picked his fishing brain. He was friendly and really helpful and let me net a 20lb carp, a then lake record. Was such a scruffy bugger though, his tackle box was full of broken floats dead casters and spilled shot lol.

But compstall was a hard water for me to crack for the bream in there that averaged 3-5lb. I'd often feeder fish there and winkle the odd one out but that was it until I sat behind a pair of very experienced old codgers. They must have both been in their 80s and would catch a bag of big bream on a regular basis. But they were both secretive and didn't want to reveal their methods or bait to a nosey teenager, and both used to keep their bait covered up! One of them had an arching bite on the tip and I said "strike".... "I'll wait for the bite to develop first lad!"... Lol. The wily old bugger didn't want to reel in as he knew I'd see his rig he wanted to keep a secret. He eventually lifted the rod to catch another big bream. They were old and dark fish in there and definitely not easy to catch, for me at least. Their killing method turned out to be a 3-6 foot tail of 1.1lb Bayer Perlon with a fine wire 16s hook perfectly hidden inside a single caster. But they had a secretive groundbait mix they eventually revealed to me. Once I knew their methods I fine tuned them slightly and would offen catch 30lb plus of bream on there, even in winter. Best pegs used to be on far side near that green shed. That was many years ago now and I doubt the bream shoals are still in there, and the amount of silverfish that was once abundant. I'm guessing it's still good for big carp though.

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

Get yourself along to one of the big English reservoirs - Rutland, Eyebrook, Chew, Draycote, they will be opening within days I would have thought. They will still be well stocked and without fishing pressure for the last few months those bad boys will tear your arm off.

A good mate of mine is an experienced 'fluff chucker' as I call 'em. Said he'd take me on Pennine trout fishery and convert me in to fly fishing. Snorky tried teaching me the basics on the Wye and I wasn't interested. He was in stitches watching me try and Spey cast, I must have looked a right clueless twat: )

Course and a bit of sea fishing is all I'm interested in, although I will take my mate up on his offer and give Pennine a bash I suppose to see what all his fuss is about. No chance I'll be converted though catching big stocked fish on what I think is most probably a trout fishing commercial reservoir. .

 

[heatonblue]

Blimey, Rudyard lake. I cut my feeder fishing teeth on there as a kid mate. My dad was a fine swing and quiver tip angler and I remember fishing the roadside near the shallow end aged about 8. He taught me how to tie a double hook paternoster rig to catch roach perch and silver bream that were once common there. Was fun catching two fish at once and I remember as I was reeling in a 2.5lb jack pike grabbed a small roach I was reeling in. I was in panic rod arched over playing a frisky jack that was jumping out of the water, my dad was laughing at my panic. But he showed me to adjust the clutch and carefully play it in. I did and felt well chuffed I'd just caught my first pike. He said we could take it home to eat and we did. I think he soaked it in brine for a day to help mask it's earthy course flavour. I remember it being quite tasty but full of bones.

Compstall is another water I've spent many hours on as a kid. Held some real nice perch and were fairly easy to catch against the overhanging bushes.
I once sat behind ex world champ Ian Heaps and picked his fishing brain. He was friendly and really helpful and let me net a 20lb carp, a then lake record. Was such a scruffy bugger though, his tackle box was full of broken floats dead casters and spilled shot lol.

But compstall was a hard water for me to crack for the bream in there that averaged 3-5lb. I'd often feeder fish there and winkle the odd one out but that was it until I sat behind a pair of very experienced old codgers. They must have both been in their 80s and would catch a bag of big bream on a regular basis. But they were both secretive and didn't want to reveal their methods or bait to a nosey teenager, and both used to keep their bait covered up! One of them had an arching bite on the tip and I said "strike".... "I'll wait for the bite to develop first lad!"... Lol. The wily old bugger didn't want to reel in as he knew I'd see his rig he wanted to keep a secret. He eventually lifted the rod to catch another big bream. They were old and dark fish in there and definitely not easy to catch, for me at least. Their killing method turned out to be a 3-6 foot tail of 1.1lb Bayer Perlon with a fine wire 16s hook perfectly hidden inside a single caster. But they had a secretive groundbait mix they eventually revealed to me. Once I knew their methods I fine tuned them slightly and would offen catch 30lb plus of bream on there, even in winter. Best pegs used to be on far side near that green shed. That was many years ago now and I doubt the bream shoals are still in there, and the amount of silverfish that was once abundant. I'm guessing it's still good for big carp though.

Yeah pike taking hooked silvers was rife on coombs too. They didnt count in the matches they could really boost weight ! Compstall was full of big skimmers and bream 20 years or so ago but now like you say they have gone all carp there now. The best pegs for me allways seemed to be on the backwater side (carpark ) You could catch well on the pole aswell at only 11 mtrs . Double red over balled in crumb and caster . Deep tho even on that line . Often wasnt worth the hassle on the pole because of walkers behind you so bit of a non starter in the warmer months a bit like the canals really . Never used double hook on rudyard had no confidence in it although they were allowed in the matches. All the edgeley sports lads used to use them if i remember and they were always framing

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

As you may have gathered, I'm a serial blanker so I don't have any axe to grind when it comes to commercials v natural waters but a couple of comments if I may.

Firstly, the truth of the above comment really came home to me when I moved to the Midlands. Having scratched around for fish on the Bridgewater between Sale and Timperley all my youth, I found that I was catching fish down here when seasoned local anglers were struggling.

Secondly, the variety of angling available pleases and frustrates me in equal measure. The wider the variety, the more room there is for each individual so, as you say, I'm alone on the river when the commercials will be full. So each to their own as far as I'm concerned. On the other hand I'd have liked to have tried pole fishing and I'd like to learn how to fly fish properly but life is so short. I've a long way to go before I master float and feeder fishing soI guess I never will. Next April, all being well, I'm off to Colombia fly-fishing for giant trevally so I've got to get my head round that, at least to a basic level, in the next 11 months.

The Leamington Anglers stillwaters are "semi-commercial" I think. To my mind, they are ever-so-slightly over-stocked which means they fish well in Winter which is an absolute godsend when you just need to see your tip go round or your float go under in January.

It's not a competition as to which is the best. Unless you are a matchman I guess.

I like reading your blanking tales of woe mate, i admire your unwaivering enthusiasm.

Fishing hard waters up north against warmer temperature southern waters is no contest. Most of the record fish in England are caught on southern waters. The Bridgewater canal used to be a mecca for match anglers in it's heyday, but that was sadly about 30 years ago when there was regularly 100+ peg open matches on them almost every weekend. I've pleasure fished it myself and it doesn't reveal it's fish easily, especially to a novice angler.

Fishing hard northern waters has(IMO) helped to produce some very good anglers in the past. Lancashire and Yorkshire anglers especially, and there was once fierce cross Pennine rivalry amongst anglers such as Kevin Ashurst, Ian Heaps, Dennis white and Tommy Pickering(amongst several others) Wigan AA and Barnsley Blacks were top of the angling tree rivalled mainly by Diawa Dorking from the south. But that was well before commercials existed and rod and line was mainly king on natural unstocked waters.

Reading your posts I get you like fishing remote canals and rivers for escapism and solitude, not just to catch fish but to be surrounded by nature. I do too. Birds like kingfishers flashing past and dragonflies landing on the rod are something I really appreciate seeing, especially now I'm older and more at peace and appreciative seeing nature close up.

Fishing to me is about escapism from the pressures of living in the modern world and catching fish is secondary to me nowadays. I've spent a few sessions geared up for big barbel on my local river Tame, blanking so far with just a few twitches of barbel enquiry on the tip. I know they're in there and will eventually catch a 10lb + specimen as I know they're in there. But being amongst nature so close to traffic noise and in a built up surrounding area is something I like.

And you are so right Noggs, it isn't a competition and I'm not a match angler anymore. I'm hardly an angler of any sort nowadays as I don't get on the bank anywhere near the amount of time I should do. But I intend to try and get my mojo back that has deserted me from when I was a keen angler. Here's hoping I do mate.

If you want any tips or advice on pole and tip fishing I'll gladly help you or any angler.

Been thinking I should help organise an alternative BM fishing meet up for those wanting to try their hand fishing.
I don't mind coaching posters off here the basics of catching fish. It's a great hobby I'm sure several would like to try but don't know where to start...

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

Yeah pike taking hooked silvers was rife on coombs too. They didnt count in the matches they could really boost weight ! Compstall was full of big skimmers and bream 20 years or so ago but now like you say they have gone all carp there now. The best pegs for me allways seemed to be on the backwater side (carpark ) You could catch well on the pole aswell at only 11 mtrs . Double red over balled in crumb and caster . Deep tho even on that line . Often wasnt worth the hassle on the pole because of walkers behind you so bit of a non starter in the warmer months a bit like the canals really . Never used double hook on rudyard had no confidence in it although they were allowed in the matches. All the edgeley sports lads used to use them if i remember and they were always framing

Coombes resi, wow remember fishing on there for jack's and pike upto 10lb. Was farlly easy to catch but I didn't catch as many as a couple of my mates did.

I remember the time on there when my mate Gaz found a rotting dead jack pike he in the margins. Unbeknown to me I didn't realise he slid it into one of my rod tubes in my holdall. Must have been a week or two later we were fishing on a local lake on a hot summers day that I got an obnoxious wiffy fish smell I couldn't suss out where it was lingering from.

"What's that fuckin' awful smell lads".... "What smell?" One of them quipped! "That fuckin' awful smell that's making me feel sick!".... A wry smile from my mate Ian soon cracked into tittering laughter like a bunch of deranged hyenas..... "Ok, one of you has done something, where's the smell coming from lads?"..... By this time all four of my mates were pissing themselves laughing at my misery. I sussed out it was coming from my rod holdall and tipped it upside down and my eyes were met with a sight of repugnant fish slush oozing out of a rod tube. I eventually forgave Gaz as we were often on the wind up between ourselves.

Rotten bastards: /


And I too fished the towpath side on a banana like 11m pole. As you say it was the killing method mate on either maggot or caster.

 

[Saddleworth2]

A good mate of mine is an experienced 'fluff chucker' as I call 'em. Said he'd take me on Pennine trout fishery and convert me in to fly fishing. Snorky tried teaching me the basics on the Wye and I wasn't interested. He was in stitches watching me try and Spey cast, I must have looked a right clueless twat: )

Course and a bit of sea fishing is all I'm interested in, although I will take my mate up on his offer and give Pennine a bash I suppose to see what all his fuss is about. No chance I'll be converted though catching big stocked fish on what I think is most probably a trout fishing commercial reservoir. .

I partially agree. You quickly tire of the smaller fisheries however its the big stuff I was talking about where the trout quickly become 'naturalised'. After a couple of months their tails will be perfect with silver rays, they will have packed on weight through natural feeding. Rutland is over 2000 acres, you could fish it all your life and never get bored. Have a look:

 

[heatonblue]

Coombes resi, wow remember fishing on there for jack's and pike upto 10lb. Was farlly easy to catch but I didn't catch as many as a couple of my mates did.

I remember the time on there when my mate Gaz found a rotting dead jack pike he in the margins. Unbeknown to me I didn't realise he slid it into one of my rod tubes in my holdall. Must have been a week or two later we were fishing on a local lake on a hot summers day that I got an obnoxious wiffy fish smell I couldn't suss out where it was lingering from.

"What's that fuckin' awful smell lads".... "What smell?" One of them quipped! "That fuckin' awful smell that's making me feel sick!".... A wry smile from my mate Ian soon cracked into tittering laughter like a bunch of deranged hyenas..... "Ok, one of you has done something, where's the smell coming from lads?"..... By this time all four of my mates were pissing themselves laughing at my misery. I sussed out it was coming from my rod holdall and tipped it upside down and my eyes were met with a sight of repugnant fish slush oozing out of a rod tube. I eventually forgave Gaz as we were often on the wind up between ourselves.

Rotten bastards: /

Nice !
Going back to your previous post your right Yorkshire produced some top lads
Tommy Pickering is still going strong if you didnt allready know . Brand ambassador for Maver and previously Preston Innovations hes all about commercials now which is the way you have to go i suppose if you want to keep up and earn a living from angling . Diawa Dorking were and still are a top outfit. Jimmy Bullard did or still fishes for them .Dont forget Essex Van de Eynde back in the day . Bob Nudd , Mark Pollard amongst others . Talking of NW teams not many could get near Tricast Highfield on the bridgy around stretford if you remember them ?

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

Nice !
Going back to your previous post your right Yorkshire produced some top lads
Tommy Pickering is still going strong if you didnt allready know . Brand ambassador for Maver and previously Preston Innovations hes all about commercials now which is the way you have to go i suppose if you want to keep up and earn a living from angling . Diawa Dorking were and still are a top outfit. Dont forget Essex Van de Eynde back in the day . Bob Nudd , Mark Pollard amongst others . Talking of NW teams not many could get near Tricast Highfield on the bridgy around stretford if you remember them ?

I'm not well up on latest brands and angling teams mate but I've heard of all the names mentioned and all are indeed top anglers. I forgot about Essex, yeah they were a crack match squad too. once met 'Nuddy' at Chatsworth House where he was doing angling exhibition on a water there. He was like a well oiled machine and made pole fishing look so easy, which it is most definitely isn't. I became quite a decent pole and whip angler myself back in the day but nowhere near his standard!

A mate of mine Ian Hirst was(IIRC) in Tricast squad and became a far better angler through practice and dedication than I'll ever be. Ian is the best all round angler I know of, equally adept pole fishing fishing a hard winter canal as he is catching specimen carp on hard venues containing a small head of fish.

Tricast superceded the then defunct Fothergill & Harvey who made innovative carbon blanks in Littleborough. I still have a 40 yr old 13ft F&H match rod that I bought second hand for £80 in 1980 off Don Thewlis, who ran Don's tackle near Ashton train station. That rod was a superb blank in it's time fitted with 20 airlight guides. Caught 100s of lbs using it mostly with a Mitchell match(440A) or an Abu 506 reel. My finest memory of using that magnificent rod was on the river Severn at Monkmore trotting a stickfloat. I kept getting finicky bites from barbel and chub so had to fine down to get a proper bite. I caught 12 barbel to 4lb and 3 good sized chub on a 1lb Maxima hooklength to a 22s bronze hook on single bronze maggot. My old fella couldn't believe his eyes when I emptied my net. "Bloody hell son, you caught them on that rod"... But the rod had a fine spliced tip and reel clutch was set light. Fishing balanced tackle is such a pleasure but those barbel had my heart in my mouth several times, especially on their first run of being hooked.

I must use that rod again coupled to an Abu closed face and get on my local river Tame: )

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

I partially agree. You quickly tire of the smaller fisheries however its the big stuff I was talking about where the trout quickly become 'naturalised'. After a couple of months their tails will be perfect with silver rays, they will have packed on weight through natural feeding. Rutland is over 2000 acres, you could fish it all your life and never get bored. Have a look:

I'll have a look mate. Thing is I can't possibly take up trout fishing as I have plenty of course fishing tackle I want to get some more use out of. The majority of my future fishing time I'll spend in persuit of big barbel and chub on rivers. Rest of it I'll go back to basics (like I said) and fish stickfloat waggler pole and tip fishing for big bream.

 

[heatonblue]

I'm not well up on latest brands and angling teams mate but I've heard of all the names mentioned and all are indeed top anglers. I forgot about Essex, yeah they were a crack match squad too. once met 'Nuddy' at Chatsworth House where he was doing angling exhibition on a water there. He was like a well oiled machine and made pole fishing look so easy, which it is most definitely isn't. I became quite a decent pole and whip angler myself back in the day but nowhere near his standard!

A mate of mine Ian Hirst was(IIRC) in Tricast squad and became a far better angler through practice and dedication than I'll ever be. Ian is the best all round angler I know of, equally adept pole fishing fishing a hard winter canal as he is catching specimen carp on hard venues containing a small head of fish.

Tricast superceded the then defunct Fothergill & Harvey who made innovative carbon blanks in Littleborough. I still have a 40 yr old 13ft F&H match rod that I bought second hand for £80 in 1980 off Don Thewlis, who ran Don's tackle near Ashton train station. That rod was a superb blank in it's time fitted with 20 airlight guides. Caught 100s of lbs using it mostly with a Mitchell match(440A) or an Abu 506 reel. My finest memory of using that magnificent rod was on the river Severn at Monkmore trotting a stickfloat. I kept getting finicky bites from barbel and chub so had to fine down to get a proper bite. I caught 12 barbel to 4lb and 3 good sized chub on a 1lb Maxima hooklength to a 22s bronze hook on single bronze maggot. My old fella couldn't believe his eyes when I emptied my net. "Bloody hell son, you caught them on that rod"... But the rod had a fine spliced tip and reel clutch was set light. Fishing balanced tackle is such a pleasure but those barbel had my heart in my mouth several times, especially on their first run of being hooked.

I must use that rod again coupled to an Abu closed face and get on my local river Tame: )

Great stories mate. I can count on one hand the number of times ive fished a river but always fancied it now im more of a pleasure angler. Where abouts do you fish the Tame mate ?

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

Great stories mate. I can count on one hand the number of times ive fished a river but always fancied it now im more of a pleasure angler. Where abouts do you fish the Tame mate ?

Cheers pal. Reminiscing tales is great but I need to create some more fishing memories before I pop my clogs: )

I've fished the Tame much of it's entire length from it's source above Uppermill to its confluence at Stockport. Uppermill used to be fun trotting a light stickfloat down under the train viaduct catching brown trout upto 1 lb, I bet they're still in there. Used to fish a spot known locally as 'Blackrock' just below Mossley. Caught a 1.5lb chub there in '80 iirc that I didn't know was in there as back then the Tame was often polluted and running a strange colour from the toxic chemicals entering it from former mills. Also caught a few decent trout, big roach, perch dace, gudgeon and bullheads, even had a few skimmer bream. Heyrod used to be a good stretch too, Stalybridge tricky to get down to and decent bank access was and still is limited. Dukinfield Ashton Hyde Denton Reddish vale, and Brinnington to Stockport town centre all have good areas to fish. Good pegs aren't easy to come across but if you fancy a bash, look for signs of bank wear, and litter is a dead giveaway to anglers fishing there. I hate seeing litter strewn pegs anywhere. If you lazy litter lout anglers can be arsed fishing, make sure you clean up your mess when you pack up you scruffy cunts! : /

I can't reveal where I go to try and catch barbel mate, sorry but the hot pegs don't need any more pressure than they currently get. Stockport Fed once controlled parts of the Tame and stocked it with barbel so they are spread out and still in there.

Going back to commercial anglers v natural anglers. I once fished on there with an old mate of mine Jimmy. He developed 'pole-itus'(I called it) which meant he fished the pole at least 90% of the time. Said he'd whip my arse on the Tame fishing a short pole with a long line trotting a pole float against me fishing a traditional 13ft rod and reel on stickfloat. Think we had a small bet on it and fished a 5 hour match between us. Now I was catching steadily and I noticed Jimmy winkle a few decent fish out. We drew straws (or twigs) for best peg and he chose below me which is often the better peg as my feed got down to where he started fishing, and he'd entice some fish to follow his bait down to where his strike zone was on the bottom of his swim. I was confident I'd done him when we pulled our nets in. Jimmy insisted I weighed my mixed bag of some decent fish first. Chest cockily puffed out as I saw the scales stop at 18lb for my efforts. He drew his keepnet rings together as craftily and deadpan as a good poker player heaving a thrashing bag of fish that looked heavier. The wily old bastard slammed the scales down to just over 20lb, and I was almost certain I'd beat him!

But as good a pole angler Jimmy was he too had spent many hours stickfloat fishing rivers and out and out commercial anglers simply don't have river fishing experience and rivercraft, which is the ability to read a rivers surface and hidden features. That is what I meant by saying I'd beat an out and out commercial water angler with no river experience. Not every time of course, but 9 times out of 10 most probably.

 

[snorky]

Spey casting practice on the Wye thursday. No water so no chance of a salmon... and I don't care! :)

 

[heatonblue]

Cheers pal. Reminiscing tales is great but I need to create some more fishing memories before I pop my clogs: )

I've fished the Tame much of it's entire length from it's source above Uppermill to its confluence at Stockport. Uppermill used to be fun trotting a light stickfloat down under the train viaduct catching brown trout upto 1 lb, I bet they're still in there. Used to fish a spot known locally as 'Blackrock' just below Mossley. Caught a 1.5lb chub there in '80 iirc that I didn't know was in there as back then the Tame was often polluted and running a strange colour from the toxic chemicals entering it from former mills. Also caught a few decent trout, big roach, perch dace, gudgeon and bullheads, even had a few skimmer bream. Heyrod used to be a good stretch too, Stalybridge tricky to get down to and decent bank access was and still is limited. Dukinfield Ashton Hyde Denton Brinnington to Stockport all have good areas to fish. Good pegs aren't easy to come across but if you fancy a bash, look for signs of bank wear, and litter is a dead giveaway to anglers fishing there. I hate seeing litter strewn pegs anywhere. If you lazy litter lout anglers can be arsed fishing, make sure you clean up your mess when you pack up you scruffy cunts! : /

I can't reveal where I go to try and catch barbel mate, sorry but the hot pegs don't need any more pressure than they currently get. Stockport fed once controlled parts of the Tame and stocked it with barbel so they are spread out and still in there.

Going back to commercial anglers v natural anglers. I once fished on there with an old mate of mine Jimmy. He developed 'pole-itus'(I called it) which meant he fished the pole at least 90% of the time. Said he'd whip my arse on the Tame fishing a short pole with a long line trotting a pole float against me fishing a traditional 13ft rod and reel on stickfloat. Think we had a small bet on it and fished a 5 hour match between us. Now I was catching steadily and I noticed Jimmy winkle a few decent fish out. We drew straws (or twigs) for best peg and he chose below me which is often the better peg as my feed got down to where he started fishing, and he'd entice some fish to follow his bait down to where his strike zone was on the bottom of his swim. I was confident I'd done him when we pulled our nets in. Jimmy insisted I weighed my mixed bag of some decent fish first. Chest cockily puffed out as I saw the scales stop at 18lb for my efforts. He drew his keepnet rings together as craftily and deadpan as a good poker player heaving a thrashing bag of fish that looked heavier. The wily old bastard slammed the scales down to just over 20lb, and I was almost certain I'd beat him!

But as good a pole angler Jimmy was he too had spent many hours stickfloat fishing rivers and out and out commercial anglers simply don't have river fishing experience and rivercraft which is the ability to read a rivers surface and hidden features. That is what I meant by saying I'd beat an out and out commercial water angler with no river experience. Not every time of course, but 9 times out of 10 most probably.

Yeah often thought about having a go round tesco area in stockport but never got round to it i believe its fishable in a few areas round there. I live about a 5 min drive from there. Not sure who controls it or the ins and outs but think i will look into it