Bluemoon Angling Thread

Didsbury Dave said:
My plans to get a photo of a grayling in the snow this morning were scuppered when I got up because it had melted. Never mind, I was on the River Calder about 10am with my centre pin, waders and stick float. I searched for deep, steady water because with snowmelt in the river I knew the grayling would be shoaled up as deep as they could be.

I hit the jackpot in the very first swim and was catching grayling from the off, of all sizes, with several big ones that I didn’t weigh. After an hour or so it was quieting down so I moved downstream. First cast here and I had a big one which I weighed at 1lb 9oz. Next cast was bigger at 1lb 10oz and is a new PB. I had plenty of others from this swim all between about a pound and a pound and a half.

I must have had 20 fish but had to leave about 12.45pm to give myself time for a bacon butty and a shower before the match. Very pleased with this session and it’s a PB I wanted to beat this winter after never really focussing much on grayling. I think I’ll stick at it a bit this winter to see if I can crack the 2lb benchmark, but I’m hearing the call of the predators again as it gets milder.
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Great fish. They fight like mad too when they get that dorsal fin up.
 
Newman Noggs said:
Bloody hell ! Watching City and fishing at the same time. Pleasure overload. Just one bite so far and one very large chub. After bragging last week about carrying two sets of scales I decided to "travel light" today and jettisoned both sets. Typical. My mate and I agreed it's bigger than the 5lb chub I had the other week but couldn't get a photo that does it justice. This one gives some idea though.View attachment 8061
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Didsbury Dave said:
My plans to get a photo of a grayling in the snow this morning were scuppered when I got up because it had melted. Never mind, I was on the River Calder about 10am with my centre pin, waders and stick float. I searched for deep, steady water because with snowmelt in the river I knew the grayling would be shoaled up as deep as they could be.

I hit the jackpot in the very first swim and was catching grayling from the off, of all sizes, with several big ones that I didn’t weigh. After an hour or so it was quieting down so I moved downstream. First cast here and I had a big one which I weighed at 1lb 9oz. Next cast was bigger at 1lb 10oz and is a new PB. I had plenty of others from this swim all between about a pound and a pound and a half.

I must have had 20 fish but had to leave about 12.45pm to give myself time for a bacon butty and a shower before the match. Very pleased with this session and it’s a PB I wanted to beat this winter after never really focussing much on grayling. I think I’ll stick at it a bit this winter to see if I can crack the 2lb benchmark, but I’m hearing the call of the predators again as it gets milder.
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Well in guys, nice fish.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Just be be clear, when I said “log” I don’t mean write down. I just meant to try to recognise them. But I wouldn’t be the first person to do that. Yates already has but I can’t remember which book. He describes and compares the aroma of all fish in the way a wine buff would. It’s classic Yates and is what made me more aware of the smell of fish.

Fishing is an assault on the senses. Other noticeable and incomparable smells are: an unemptied maggot box from last season, your sleeping bag after a five day summer carp session, a rucksack where you cracked your bottle of Lamprey Oil. The most evocative of them all for me is a car which has spent a week trawling around Ireland in hot weather containing keepnets full of bream slime. Oh my word, that takes me back to the early 90s.
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Going down to the lower decks and opening your car doors on the ferry after two weeks bream fishing in Ireland in the late 70's/early 80's. Jeez. Still to this day never smelt anything worse :-)
 
Didsbury Dave said:
My plans to get a photo of a grayling in the snow this morning were scuppered when I got up because it had melted. Never mind, I was on the River Calder about 10am with my centre pin, waders and stick float. I searched for deep, steady water because with snowmelt in the river I knew the grayling would be shoaled up as deep as they could be.

I hit the jackpot in the very first swim and was catching grayling from the off, of all sizes, with several big ones that I didn’t weigh. After an hour or so it was quieting down so I moved downstream. First cast here and I had a big one which I weighed at 1lb 9oz. Next cast was bigger at 1lb 10oz and is a new PB. I had plenty of others from this swim all between about a pound and a pound and a half.

I must have had 20 fish but had to leave about 12.45pm to give myself time for a bacon butty and a shower before the match. Very pleased with this session and it’s a PB I wanted to beat this winter after never really focussing much on grayling. I think I’ll stick at it a bit this winter to see if I can crack the 2lb benchmark, but I’m hearing the call of the predators again as it gets milder.
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Nice one. Where on the Calder where you mate?
 
Bloody hell these pics put my childhood fishing with my grandad on the Broadheath canal to shame. I loved those Sundays though. A flask of coffee and egg mayonnaise butties, we used to catch the bus from Wythenshawe near the Royal Thorn pub to Altrincham, then I think it was the 99 to the Navigation pub, before going down the stairs to the canal path, walking a short while and setting up our tackle. I still remember the excitement when my float disappeared and I had a bite. Only roach and perch which we threw back but great memories. I think some warden bloke used to check our fishing licences as well. My grandad was looking forward to teaching retirement age so he could have a free licence but sadly he never made it.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
Bloody hell, I used to commute there from Edinburgh on a weekly basis. Taxi from Manchester airport up the M62 and back was fun. I didn't realise that the Calder was such a good Grayling river.
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It’s as good for trout. I’ve had them to 5lb by accident, and plenty of 2s and 3s when lure fishing.

if the trees weren’t festooned with carrier bags and tampax and the backdrop was rural Dorset and not industrial West Yorkshire they’d charge you £50 a day.
 
Well I was mad enough to go out at the weekend. With the lockdown restrictions and the conditions it would have been difficult to pick a worse situation. We had heavy snow on Thursday and Friday followed by a thaw on Saturday. this meant that the rivers were flooded with snowmelt. This is commonly known as the worst-case-scenario on all rivers for all species and the local canal system, which is fed by the river, had turned chocolate brown too.

Grayling and Chub were off limits then and lure fishing in freezing cold murky canal water would surely have been a waste of time. The canal banks are packed with walkers at the moment too which does my head in. There was only one option: stillwater pike. I was up at a local reservoir late Sunday morning and immediately knew how tough it was going to be: the feeder stream had coloured the res up with snowmelt. Did an hour and a half on this res with two deadbaits but my confidence was close to zero so I packed up and drove to a nearby canal marina. Same here, not a touch and not really any hope of a touch.

Got home for food and football wondering why I bothered.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Well I was mad enough to go out at the weekend. With the lockdown restrictions and the conditions it would have been difficult to pick a worse situation. We had heavy snow on Thursday and Friday followed by a thaw on Saturday. this meant that the rivers were flooded with snowmelt. This is commonly known as the worst-case-scenario on all rivers for all species and the local canal system, which is fed by the river, had turned chocolate brown too.

Grayling and Chub were off limits then and lure fishing in freezing cold murky canal water would surely have been a waste of time. The canal banks are packed with walkers at the moment too which does my head in. There was only one option: stillwater pike. I was up at a local reservoir late Sunday morning and immediately knew how tough it was going to be: the feeder stream had coloured the res up with snowmelt. Did an hour and a half on this res with two deadbaits but my confidence was close to zero so I packed up and drove to a nearby canal marina. Same here, not a touch and not really any hope of a touch.

Got home for food and football wondering why I bothered.
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cos you love it, going out with the daughter this afternoon, weve been in isolation for what seems years, my new rod and reel have arrived and are all spooled up, daughter is now the proud owner of my old set up, going more for the out and about, and hoping for a cheeky perch or two, and hoping the dortz doesn't smash me out of the park with a giant perch again, as i said more about getting out and about, but fingers crossed
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Well I was mad enough to go out at the weekend. With the lockdown restrictions and the conditions it would have been difficult to pick a worse situation. We had heavy snow on Thursday and Friday followed by a thaw on Saturday. this meant that the rivers were flooded with snowmelt. This is commonly known as the worst-case-scenario on all rivers for all species and the local canal system, which is fed by the river, had turned chocolate brown too.

Grayling and Chub were off limits then and lure fishing in freezing cold murky canal water would surely have been a waste of time. The canal banks are packed with walkers at the moment too which does my head in. There was only one option: stillwater pike. I was up at a local reservoir late Sunday morning and immediately knew how tough it was going to be: the feeder stream had coloured the res up with snowmelt. Did an hour and a half on this res with two deadbaits but my confidence was close to zero so I packed up and drove to a nearby canal marina. Same here, not a touch and not really any hope of a touch.

Got home for food and football wondering why I bothered.
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Hardcore mate. Not quite as harsh as me freezing my spuds of in Dowry though; )

I was going to go last Monday as it was sunny and a rise in temperature but I rang my local tackle shop and he said he had no frozen deadbait packs left. Couldn't be bothered driving to Edgeley sports for some so didn't bother. I'll keep an eye on the weather forecast and go later in the week. I fancy another bash in Lymn dam as there are big pike in there, and pleasant surroundings to look at whilst blanking : )
 
BlueMoonRisin' said:
Hardcore mate. Not quite as harsh as me freezing my spuds of in Dowry though; )

I was going to go last Monday as it was sunny and a rise in temperature but I rang my local tackle shop and he said he had no frozen deadbait packs left. Couldn't be bothered driving to Edgeley sports for some so didn't bother. I'll keep an eye on the weather forecast and go later in the week. I fancy another bash in Lymn dam as there are big pike in there, and pleasant surroundings to look at whilst blanking : )
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take your wellies, we went for a walk round there and it was ankle deep in sludge
 
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