Bluemoon Angling Thread

There's a new tackle shop in town and I've made pals with the owner and he's given me some good leads for the mythical 3lb Calder perch.

Changed a plan to go barbel fishing at the last minute due to a big overnight rise on the Ribble which would have had clumps of fresh weed making fishing a nightmare. Insstead I was on the banks of the river at dawn trying to cure the perch obsession. Different tactics: lobworm on the hook in 12 feet of water, feeding balls containing chopped worm.

First cast a perch but not a big one but a good start. Second cast and I was connected to a zoo creature on 4lb line and a light rod. It took me all over the river and the bursts of speed told me this was no perch. Then something launched itself out of the water and I knew what it was. I eventually landed it - a 5lb wild brown trout, an absolutely stunning fish but not quite the same on a lob for perch as it would have been on Saddleworth's gear.

From then on as the sun got up my worms were getting hammered by small fish. I stuck on a maggot feeder and landed several dace. Stuck a small one on a single hook livebait rig and let it swim around for an hour then was home for bacon butties by 11am.

Tried a new tributary river in the afternoon, a little one, just to have a play with the waders and centre pin. Got dace after dace but legged it home after an hour or so as the second thunderstorm of the day rolled in.

It's barbeltastic out there right now after the rain. I shall be out this week.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
There's a new tackle shop in town and I've made pals with the owner and he's given me some good leads for the mythical 3lb Calder perch.

Changed a plan to go barbel fishing at the last minute due to a big overnight rise on the Ribble which would have had clumps of fresh weed making fishing a nightmare. Insstead I was on the banks of the river at dawn trying to cure the perch obsession. Different tactics: lobworm on the hook in 12 feet of water, feeding balls containing chopped worm.

First cast a perch but not a big one but a good start. Second cast and I was connected to a zoo creature on 4lb line and a light rod. It took me all over the river and the bursts of speed told me this was no perch. Then something launched itself out of the water and I knew what it was. I eventually landed it - a 5lb wild brown trout, an absolutely stunning fish but not quite the same on a lob for perch as it would have been on Saddleworth's gear.

From then on as the sun got up my worms were getting hammered by small fish. I stuck on a maggot feeder and landed several dace. Stuck a small one on a single hook livebait rig and let it swim around for an hour then was home for bacon butties by 11am.

Tried a new tributary river in the afternoon, a little one, just to have a play with the waders and centre pin. Got dace after dace but legged it home after an hour or so as the second thunderstorm of the day rolled in.

It's barbeltastic out there right now after the rain. I shall be out this week.
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5lb wild Brownie is a hell of a fish mate. Are you trotting the lob through 12ft of water or feeder / leger fishing?
 
Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese said:
5lb wild Brownie is a hell of a fish mate. Are you trotting the lob through 12ft of water or feeder / leger fishing?
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I used a 1oz bomb, straight through to a size 4 hook, stationary on the bottom. Balls of a hard groundbait going in by hand upstream packed full of chopped worm. The river moves fairly sedately here so balled in groundbait was fine rather than a feeder. I think the groundbait attracted hoards of dace/roach, though, so if I fish this stretch again I'll maybe just use a bait dropper with chopped worm only. I must admit I'm not a massive fan of chopping the poor little bastards up either but a perch is a perch.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
There's a new tackle shop in town and I've made pals with the owner and he's given me some good leads for the mythical 3lb Calder perch.

Changed a plan to go barbel fishing at the last minute due to a big overnight rise on the Ribble which would have had clumps of fresh weed making fishing a nightmare. Insstead I was on the banks of the river at dawn trying to cure the perch obsession. Different tactics: lobworm on the hook in 12 feet of water, feeding balls containing chopped worm.

First cast a perch but not a big one but a good start. Second cast and I was connected to a zoo creature on 4lb line and a light rod. It took me all over the river and the bursts of speed told me this was no perch. Then something launched itself out of the water and I knew what it was. I eventually landed it - a 5lb wild brown trout, an absolutely stunning fish but not quite the same on a lob for perch as it would have been on Saddleworth's gear.

From then on as the sun got up my worms were getting hammered by small fish. I stuck on a maggot feeder and landed several dace. Stuck a small one on a single hook livebait rig and let it swim around for an hour then was home for bacon butties by 11am.

Tried a new tributary river in the afternoon, a little one, just to have a play with the waders and centre pin. Got dace after dace but legged it home after an hour or so as the second thunderstorm of the day rolled in.

It's barbeltastic out there right now after the rain. I shall be out this week.
Click to expand...
A 5lb wild brown trout is a specimen fish mate and few will have experienced catching one in a river (I certainly haven't). Pity you didn't get a photo of it, Ill bet it was stunning. Good angling!
 
Saddleworth2 said:
A 5lb wild brown trout is a specimen fish mate and few will have experienced catching one in a river (I certainly haven't). Pity you didn't get a photo of it, Ill bet it was stunning. Good angling!
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I got the whole montage on film from bite through to release actually as I set up a camera on a tripod behind me. It's currently downloading to the cloud so I'll grab a still when it's sorted if you want. This is all part of my forthcoming Youtube film!

I've had a few on The Calder in the 3-5lb range over the last year whilst lure fishing. Big, toothy, ferox fuckers these are. One I didn't weigh but was pure silver, like a salmon and was probably even bigger than this one.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
I got the whole montage on film from bite through to release actually as I set up a camera on a tripod behind me. It's currently downloading to the cloud so I'll grab a still when it's sorted if you want. This is all part of my forthcoming Youtube film!

I've had a few on The Calder in the 3-5lb range over the last year whilst lure fishing. Big, toothy, ferox fuckers these are. One I didn't weigh but was pure silver, like a salmon and was probably even bigger than this one.
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Wow. I had no idea the Calder held fish like that. So their main natural food is other trout (and worms obv). I knew the wharfe held lumps that can be caught on streamers when fly fishing. The biggest wild brown I have caught so far would struggle to reach 4lb. I took one off Linlithgow Loch a few years back that was a lovely fish. Yeah, would appreciate an image f you have the time. This is going to be some film!
 
Saddleworth2 said:
Wow. I had no idea the Calder held fish like that. So their main natural food is other trout (and worms obv). I knew the wharfe held lumps that can be caught on streamers when fly fishing. The biggest wild brown I have caught so far would struggle to reach 4lb. I took one off Linlithgow Loch a few years back that was a lovely fish. Yeah, would appreciate an image f you have the time. This is going to be some film!
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The Calder has some superb fish. in the winter I do a bit of trotting in the upper reaches for grayling and catch tons of trout, plenty in the 1-2lb range. There are apparently wild rainbows too which breed in one of the tribs. These big ones are down the river where you wouldn't expect them, alongside the coarse fish. There are no small ones, just the big ferox ones. One I had to kill once as it had swallowed a pike lure and was in a mess. It tasted extremely bland and disappointing and I really felt guilty for "dispatching" it.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
The Calder has some superb fish. in the winter I do a bit of trotting in the upper reaches for grayling and catch tons of trout, plenty in the 1-2lb range. There are apparently wild rainbows too which breed in one of the tribs. These big ones are down the river where you wouldn't expect them, alongside the coarse fish. There are no small ones, just the big ferox ones. One I had to kill once as it had swallowed a pike lure and was in a mess. It tasted extremely bland and disappointing and I really felt guilty for "dispatching" it.
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Trout are not my favourite eating fish. They need additional help like spices and herbs. I keep meaning to smoke some as I have a few rainbow fillets in the freezer. Shame you can’t catch Turbot or Halibut on dry fly.
 
Scareye said:
Had a week at Docklow pools last week. Never had the experience of fishing a multi lake commercial complex before and I really enjoyed it. Jammed packed with Silvers and a good head of what I consider decent carp. Great week, drank too much, fished every day and ate like a pig.
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Ah, you went at last! Glad you enjoyed it mate.

Had three great holidays there where I just bivvvied up on the top lake. Nice little pub/restaurant and lovely people.
 
Newman Noggs said:
Yeee haaa ! Day 1 of my Shropshire tour and a PB roach of 2lbs 3ozs. Waited many years for this and more than makes up for the tench I bumped off at the net earlier. Reading this thead, it look like things are hotting up lads.

View attachment 20684
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Cracking specimen.

And the roach ain't bad either; )

Seriously, well done noggsy, cracking looking fish: )
 
Newman Noggs said:
Yeee haaa ! Day 1 of my Shropshire tour and a PB roach of 2lbs 3ozs. Waited many years for this and more than makes up for the tench I bumped off at the net earlier. Reading this thead, it look like things are hotting up lads.

View attachment 20684
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Biggest I've ever seen - nice one!
 
Saddleworth2 said:
Trout are not my favourite eating fish. They need additional help like spices and herbs. I keep meaning to smoke some as I have a few rainbow fillets in the freezer. Shame you can’t catch Turbot or Halibut on dry fly.
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Smoking definitely the way to go with trout unless you have a fire going and some tin foil and you can eat them there and then
 
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