Bluemoon Angling Thread

[goatinho]

I started lure fishing during the lockdown, I too was a commercial fisherman, I struggled for months until I finally started catching, now I've sacked commercial off for canals, patience is a virtue, it's harder to catch but a lot more rewarding imo,

i need to get out again

 

[Sir peace frog]

i need to get out again

Weather has been a bit rubbish just lately, unless you're barking mad, like a few on here BMR :) ,have a wander, look for the bait fish scattering, you start picking up little signs ,I'm no expert but on the canals and rivers the hard miles pay, cover as much water as you can, even if you can only get out for an hour or two, I've found it a totally different and more enjoyable experience, and when you hit a decent perch (43cm), wow better than a 15lb carp imo ,I've not had huge fish but the condition of the fish compared to commercials ,they could be different species , not to mention the lady joggers in their tight apparel :)

 

[Newman Noggs]

I think the problem there is that the fish can see your hook and line mate, hence mouthing the maggots and sucking the life out of them, especially in cold clear water. I'd have scaled down to 2.5-3lb bottom and tried an 18s to double maggot, possibly a 20 hook if it was really hard to hit bites.

Did you fish a bomb, maggot or groundbait feeder?

And what do you mean by "very long range"?

It was my mate who was struggling with the chewed maggots. Neither of us were getting a bite at all til I cast that bit further and found them.

"Long range" for me was probably 40 yards or so. Nothing to carpers, of course. Funnily enough, I started on 3lbs hooklength and 18s but geared up once I found the fish. It was the venue where I had that 2lbs 3oz roach last year. Also, because I was fishing that bit further out, for the first time I used one of those orange guru feeders with the hole in the side that you plug with groundbait. I was very impressed.

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

It was my mate who was struggling with the chewed maggots. Neither of us were getting a bite at all til I cast that bit further and found them.

"Long range" for me was probably 40 yards or so. Nothing to carpers, of course. Funnily enough, I started on 3lbs hooklength and 18s but geared up once I found the fish. It was the venue where I had that 2lbs 3oz roach last year. Also, because I was fishing that bit further out, for the first time I used one of those orange guru feeders with the hole in the side that you plug with groundbait. I was very impressed.

It was probably a bit deeper further out where the fish are shoaled up in slightly warmer water than shallower spots closer in, especially on big reservoirs. Well done for adjusting tactics and casting that bit further to find the fish.

Ledgering was once dubbed a 'chuck and chance' method, especially by float anglers. Well it is if an angler justs casts out waiting for a bite, but theres so much more to ledgering, especially at range where accurate casting is essential.

My dad taught me a lot as a kid as he used to love tip fishing, especially the swing-tip, which is a very seldom used method nowadays. He read all the angling books he could and i did too.

Back in the late 50s the swing tip was pioneered by Boston tackle dealer Jack Clayton out of a piece of whittled down whalebone to a 3-4" length of hollow rubber tubing. It was basically a 90° swinging hinge fixed onto the rod tip. He used it on Lincolnshire rivers and drains to fish for the huge Shoals of Bream and Roach beyond float range.

Early 60s it was developed further by Fred Foster, a local Swinton miner. He made a swing-tip from the spine of a long plastic comb and made variations of it in length, sometimes weighting it with a piece of lead flashing to counteract windy conditions. I think he developed 'twitching', where he cast beyond a shoal of bream and would lift the rod and reel in slightly ('twitch' it) a foot a so at a time to entice fish to take the bait.

I remember fishing 50+ peg matches on big featureless reservoirs as a kid. My dad would usually be in the money of at least a section win, sometimes in top 3 or winning the match. We used to go on an old clapped out charabanc of a coach from Crown Point, Denton in the early 70s when i was a youngster to Rudyard lake, Bosley, Coombes, Foulridge, and Ogden, all big open reservoirs where swing tipping was very effective before it was superseded by the fibreglass quiver tip.

We'd also fish on the Trent, Severn and river Weaver several times a season. I always remember old wicker boxes being loaded into the hold of the coach and holdalls would be strewn across the luggage area down the aisle, often with the carrying straps flapping about ready to garrote someone walking down the coach. Big buckets of smelly sweating maggots would be wriggling about on the floor of the aisle combined with the waft of fag smoke and stale beer breath in the air evoke memories of friendly banter and good times: )


Fred Foster. Notice the (then) trendy cagoule and hat.


I like to use the fixed paternoster on big deep reservoirs and running rig on rivers.

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

Weather has been a bit rubbish just lately, unless you're barking mad, like a few on here BMR :) ,have a wander, look for the bait fish scattering, you start picking up little signs ,I'm no expert but on the canals and rivers the hard miles pay, cover as much water as you can, even if you can only get out for an hour or two, I've found it a totally different and more enjoyable experience, and when you hit a decent perch (43cm), wow better than a 15lb carp imo ,I've not had huge fish but the condition of the fish compared to commercials ,they could be different species , not to mention the lady joggers in their tight apparel :)

Lol. Can't argue with "barking mad mate", mad dogs n' Englishman n' all that. I must be for doing a teo nighter in freezing conditions without even getting a bite: )

I'm glad you've ventured out away from easy commercials, nice one. Canals can be rock hard, especially North West canals that don't contain fish in big numbers.

Well done catching a 43cm long perch pal. I can only guestimate it was of specimen size, did you not weigh it?

 

[Newman Noggs]

It was probably a bit deeper further out where the fish are shoaled up in slightly warmer water than shallower spots closer in, especially on big reservoirs. Well done for adjusting tactics and casting that bit further to find the fish.

Ledgering was once dubbed a 'chuck and chance' method, especially by float anglers. Well it is if an angler justs casts out waiting for a bite, but theres so much more to ledgering, especially at range where accurate casting is essential.

My dad taught me a lot as a kid as he used to love tip fishing, especially the swing-tip, which is a very seldom used method nowadays. He read all the angling books he could and i did too.

Back in the late 50s the swing tip was pioneered by Boston tackle dealer Jack Clayton out of a piece of whittled down whalebone to a 3-4" length of hollow rubber tubing. It was basically a 90° swinging hinge fixed onto the rod tip. He used it on Lincolnshire rivers and drains to fish for the huge Shoals of Bream and Roach beyond float range.

Early 60s it was developed further by Fred Foster, a local Swinton miner. He made a swing-tip from the spine of a long plastic comb and made variations of it in length, sometimes weighting it with a piece of lead flashing to counteract windy conditions. I think he developed 'twitching', where he cast beyond a shoal of bream and would lift the rod and reel in slightly ('twitch' it) a foot a so at a time to entice fish to take the bait.

I remember fishing 50+ peg matches on fishing big featureless reservoirs as a kid. My dad would usually be in the money of at least a section win, sometimes in top 3 or winning the match. We used to go on an old clapped out charabanc of a coach from Crown Point, Denton in the early 70s when i was a youngster to Rudyard lake, Bosley, Coombes, Foulridge, and Ogden, all big open reservoirs where swing tipping was very effective before it was superseded by the fibreglass quiver tip.

We'd also fish on the Trent, Severn and river Weaver several times a season. I always remember old wicker boxes being loaded into the hold of the coach and holdalls would be strewn across the luggage area down the aisle, often with the carrying straps flapping about ready to garrote someone walking down the coach. Big buckets of smelly sweating maggots would be wriggling about on the floor of the aisle combined with the waft of fag smoke and stale beer breath in the air evoke memories of friendly banter and good times: )

View attachment 34131
Fred Foster. Notice the (then) trendy cagoule and hat.

View attachment 34133
I like to use the fixed paternoster on big deep reservoirs and running rig on rivers.

Is that your dad ? My dad used to wear a deerstalker and, usually a shirt and Parachute Regiment tie. He only took up fishing at the age of 33, just decided he needed a hobby, rang the Angling Correspondent of the Manchester Guardian and it went from there. Different days.

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

Is that your dad ? My dad used to wear a deerstalker and, usually a shirt and Parachute Regiment tie. He only took up fishing at the age of 33, just decided he needed a hobby, rang the Angling Correspondent of the Manchester Guardian and it went from there. Different days.

No, Fred Foster, mate. I did say; )

My dad took up fishing as a kid in Newton Heath on the nearby Rochdale canal. Said he used a garden twine to a piece of garden cane with worm on a bent pin. He told me there was a big old goldfish swimming in there and all the kids would try an catch it. One day he caught it and reckoned it was about 2lb. He thinks it had been dumped in there from the fair, probably from Daisy Nook.

 

[Newman Noggs]

No, Fred Foster, mate. I did say; )

My dad took up fishing as a kid in Newton Heath on the nearby Rochdale canal. Said he used a garden twine to a piece of garden cane with worm on a bent pin. He told me there was a big old goldfish swimming in there and all the kids would try an catch it. One day he caught it and reckoned it was about 2lb. He thinks it had been dumped in there from the fair, probably from Daisy Nook.

I missed that whole paragraph. I was going to say your dad was well known.

Moving down South, I'm still amazed what a good grounding scratching fish out of Northern canals is, for my sort of fishing anyway.

 

[Sir peace frog]

Lol. Can't argue with "barking mad mate", mad dogs n' Englishman n' all that. I must be for doing a teo nighter in freezing conditions without even getting a bite: )

I'm glad you've ventured out away from easy commercials, nice one. Canals can be rock hard, especially North West canals that don't contain fish in big numbers.

Well done catching a 43cm long perch pal. I can only guestimate it was of specimen size, did you not weigh it?

no, ive been keeping my gear as light as possible, got my little measuring mat :), im going to invest in some small digital scales and one of those mesh weighing slings(christmas money)(in fact im going to invest straight after this post )

on the canals i blank more than i catch ,in fact 3x as much to be honest, but theres so much to see wandering and when you do get one in the net the rewards are so much more satisfying than pulling them out of a commercial, i will carry on with commercials as a social with my fishing mate, but i dont think ive been to a commercial for over a year .

so far my pb canal perch is 43cm
my pike pb is 83cm but it was a skinny sod :)

i get so much pleasure out of buying the different lures,ive got shit loads haha,cant stop buying them, ive got more lures than ive caught fish on the canal :)

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

I missed that whole paragraph. I was going to say your dad was well known.

Moving down South, I'm still amazed what a good grounding scratching fish out of Northern canals is, for my sort of fishing anyway.

I think scratching fish out of Northern canals was a good grounding for many anglers back in the day. I used to scrape my own bloodworm and pole fish canals scratching about for bits in cold and windy conditions. If it was really hard going I'd scale down to a 6 oz Watererqueen(French line) hook length to a 26 long shank fine wire red hook to a Joker.(immature bloodworm)

2lb of small silverfish was often a good catch then in winter caught in the boat channel. And a decent roach or two taken off the far shelf on caster was always a well earned and welcome bonus.

A lot of anglers starting fishing will never experience that type of fishing, unfortunately. And i say unfortunately because there's a lot more to fishing than hauling out 100lb plus bags of ravenous F1 carp on a commercial.

As I've said before that is far too easy and no challenge to me but each to their own as they say.

One thing isfor sure Noggsy and that it's a lot easier to catch in the Midlands and South than it is on a grim Northern canal, pal: )