5 Tench and 2 Pike, oh and a Hybrid, not a bad session then

I practised what I preached today, and I tried a different section of the Sluice, I walked a fair way, far enough to enjoy a big stretch of river to myself, now that's what it's all about isn't it? Time on the bank with only myself and the local wildlife to keep me company. Why people bother with commercials just baffles me? A Pike rod and a Tench rod were to be my weapons of choice. I tried something a little different to try and tempt the Tench today, and I had what can only be described as devastating results. I fished sweetcorn, and instead of hooking it straight to the hook as I'd normally fish, I made a hair rig. I ledgered on an alarm, rather than fishing the tip as this way I can keep a constant eye on my Pike rod. I still used the 2oz section though, as you get a cracking fight on lighter tackle. I was soon into some rod bending action, in fact on both rods, I'd just landed a decent Pike when my ledger rod was away like a good un! The result was my first Tench of the day, in total I had 2 Pike to 9.15oz and 5 Tench to 3lb 12oz. I also had a Hybrid of about a pound. I was soon joined by Alan and although he was on the peg next to me, he wasn't on the receiving end of much action, spare 2 hybrids around a pound each, incidentally both of which were caught on hair rigged corn. A little tip..... my baiting needle for hair rigs was found at the bottom of my tackle box broken, what to do? I used a treble hook from my Pike tackle and found the barb most useful in assisting the corn up the hair. I'll certainly be using a hair rig for Tench again

I'm laughing at Al because he's being grumpy at the amount of Tench I've caught :)

Hooked by the hair in the same place everytime

Nice Tench! Tinca's! The Doctor fish! You can tell it's a male! Paint brush tail!

Are all cliches that you hear when referring to Tench, in fact the next time someone tells you they have caught a Tench, pay attention! The word Tench is almost always preceded by the word Nice. Anyway back to the fishing, I fished The Sluice, and walked a bit of a distance to fish a different area than my usual haunts, although I do favour some areas, as I have caught some decent fish from my favoured pegs over the years, I fear that I could become a bit of a creature of habit, and I may add that my 2 biggest Pike from the Southport drains 17lb 10oz and 16lb have both been caught by me moving about to areas that I haven't fished before, with this in mind, I intend to move about a bit over the coming weeks. I fished with Alan, and he landed a Pike of around 8lb's at the same time I landed a Tench of round 3lb's. (I'm still looking for a Tench over 5lb) I caught 2 Tench in total and I had quite a few bits on my Whip, alas not so much as an enquiry on my Pike rod

Nice Tench :)

Gone in 60 seconds....

I arranged to take Mo to the Sluice, it would be the first time in about a year since Mo has fished the water. We arrived just after 7am, and I set about trying to catch some bait, now you'd think that this wouldn't be too difficult, but believe me sometimes trying to catch so much as a fingerling off the Sluice can be a very hard task indeed, in fact it was Mo who turned up with a rather gammy looking Perch - it looked like it was on it's last legs, perfect for the task in mind, I cast over to the far reed bed and set the float, incredibly within around 25/30 seconds I was in! A very hard fighting Pike of around 8lb's provided me with some great sport.

Now apart from a Hybrid of around a pound and a half caught on my tip rod, the rest of the day was pretty dead, it was a great struggle to get a bite today, I wish I knew what it was that switches off this water, I would think that it could have something to do with the scorching weather that we have been having this week.

I have of late being mentoring Allan, a fellow fisherman equally as keen as myself that I have come to know from fishing at Sollom. I have shown him how to fish on his tip rod and today he joined me in the hope of catching his first drain Pike and Tench, my student did well, landing a Pike of 8lb 2oz and a Tench of 2lb 12oz. Good fishing mate, ob1 has taught you well :).

As for Mo, well apparently he fished a rubbish peg, it was my fault that he only caught 2 fish all day, including the Perch that he gave me, and that he also hates the match length as he never catches fish in there. To add insult to injury as he was packing up I went over to his peg and chucked my Micro Rooter around his swim, he was most distressed to see me catch a small jack from under his nose. :) You have to love the Micro Rooter!

The fast catch

Piking on the Sluice

Another session on the Sluice today, I targeted Pike on one rod and I also fished the tip. I was to be kept waiting for my first fish, but it was certainly worth the wait. I cast a decent sized Perch to the far reed bed, it was soon under and away, I struck hard into the take and I felt a hefty lump on the other end. I played the fish hard and soon had her under control and in the net, I didn't see the need to weigh the fish but I put the weight at around 12 to 13lb's, my biggest fish of the new season so far.

The Fox Micro Rooter

I fished the Sluice for a few hours with my Jerkbait rod. I covered a big area with various lures without any takes, until I switched to an old faithful lure of mine. I switched to a Fox Micro Rooter and I was soon into fish, the first fish wasn't much bigger than the Rooter itself, the second fish was around 8lb's a decent fish off the Sluice on a lure, and I'm pretty sure this is the biggest fish I've caught on a lure from the drains to date. I also had another fish of around 1 and a half pounds, all fish came late on as the sun was setting and they were all caught within half an hour of each other. The Fox Micro Rooter is a brilliant lure for the drains, best used on a straight retrieve or by imparting short sharp twitches, a solid body and a rubber tail which flutters enticingly, it's little wonder then that it catches it's fair share of Pike.

The Micro Rooter strikes again

and again :)

June the 16th and the opening day of the season

It was finally here, the first day of the season was upon us, and myself and Ben sure were going to make the most of it. I set my alarm for 3am and met Ben at the car park at 4am. We were greeted to a lovely early morning mist that made the water look so enticing. Amazingly we were not the first there, there were around another 4 anglers rods in by the time we arrived. I fished one live bait rod and fished my tip rod for Tench. The live bait rod was soon into some action, within 30 minutes I had lost a big Pike on the fight, and landed a decent Perch of 1lb 4oz, this is the biggest Perch I have caught from the drains. My tip rod had a couple of pulls but I didn't land any fish from it, I did catch a few livies from my whip I was also snapped off three times by Tench, I did catch a Bream of 3lb 10oz and a Tench of around 2 lb's, which was rather strange looking as it was covered in red spots, and that was it, as soon as the sun had risen and burned off the mist, the fishing came to an end, it was like someone had flicked a switch. I spoke to a few anglers, and a lot of them had struggle to get so much as a bite never mind a fish! As for Ben he fished on the tip and dead baited 2 rods, he had no action from his tip rod but had three takes from his dead bait rod, he landed one of them, a Pike of around 9lb's. We stayed until last light but in hindsight we should have packed up at dinner. I did think that the fishing would switch on again at dusk alas it didn't, compared to some though we had a great day's fishing.

Early morning mist on the Sluice

Sunrise
1lb 4oz Perch
3lb 10oz Bream (Notice damage from a possible encounter with a Pike)
Unusual markings on a Tench
Ben's Pike and his first of the season

Carping at Heapy

Time for another carp session. Myself and Ben decided to set up Friday night rather than early Saturday morning. Our reasoning behind this was to secure a decent peg. I had no runs in the night and infact I didn't get a run until 1.20am the following morning, a Carp of around 8 to 9lb's that fancied a pineapple pop-up that I'd cast into the margin was the only fish that I caught the whole session. Ben (Damn him) had a much better session than me catching 6 Carp in total. However I did take great delight at his misfortune from his first catch covering him from head to toe in Carp spawn :) a sight that I shall never forget Hahahaha!

Reacquainted with an old friend

I fished on the Leeds Liverpool canal today, Mo for the first time in about a year decided to join me. I fished on the pole and also fished ledgered lob worms on my tip rod. The canal had quite a tow on it today, and there was quite a lot of boat traffic, which didn't help the fishing. I caught a dozen fish mostly Perch of a couple of ounces. My tip rod did pick me up a bonus fish though, and I was reacquainted with an old friend of mine..... An Eel! However it was a decent size and at 15oz another Eel PB within a week.

In search of Tench from the Leeds Liverpool canal

As mentioned in my previous post, I fancied a change this week, and in particular I wanted to target Tench on the Leeds Liverpool Canal. I fished on my tip rod and used Lob Worms as bait. The bites were slow, in fact around 3 hours went by without so much as a nibble. I wasn't to be left disappointed though as my rod hooked over and I was in, and what a fight I was given, I knew I was into a Tench as I was being pulled all over the place, I was on light gear so I didn't rush it, after around 5 minutes my first Canal Tench slipped into the net. It weighed 3lb 3oz, not a bad start, I had a couple more fish but no more Tench. I had a small Skimmer and a decent sized Hybrid of 1lb 14oz. What was pleasing for me was that I didn't catch any Eels. I'll be heading back to this swim later this week. Catching this Tench has whetted my appetite for the Fishing season that starts next week, I'll be looking forward to catching some of The Sluice Tench over the coming weeks.

Getting Sniggy with it!

I fished on the pole at Sollom today, the weather was glorious and was so hot that I decided to fish from 5 O'clock onwards. I stayed until the edge of dark, I had a few fish but broke no records. I had my usual bag of Eels, I decided to weigh the biggest one of the session and I was surprised that it only weighed 14oz, it would appear that I have been over estimating some of my previous Eel weights. This has prompted me to start a list of record catches of all species, although I've caught a lot of bigger fish in the past, I'm going to start the list from scratch. Except my Pike record as from a personal point of view that is going to take some beating. I've also decided that next week I'm going to have a few sessions on the Leeds Liverpool Canal, I'm told that there are some decent Tench in there, and I quite fancy a good old scrap on the tip rod.