A session on the tip at Rivington

A change of scenery today, and a pretty early start as myself and Alan headed off to Upper Rivington for the day. We arrived around 5am still dark enough to be setting up with our head torches. Along with my tip rod I also fished 2 ledger rods on alarms, the results on the ledger rods were rather disappointing, I caught one Roach the whole session, there was a heart stopping moment though, when one of my alarms signalled a strong take - I was in! But into what? Seemingly a Skimmer had taken a liking to my double corn offering, not being strong enough to pull the line, had lay tethered until a snack hungry Pike had spotted it, all was revealed when the Pike let go of the bait and pulled out of the fight, the ill fated Skimmer floated to the surface and I was left with a thumping heart and a bemused look to match. Thankfully the tip fishing was much better, catching my first fish on my first cast within around 20 seconds pointed to the possibility of a decent session. It was quite literally a bite a chuck, bites sometimes coming as soon as my bait hit the water. I had a mixed bag of fish, Rudd, Roach, Perch, Hybrids and Skimmers. I have to say that the Rudd in this water are stunning, completely fin perfect, no monsters caught on this session but a good selection of Hybrids of around a pound were plentiful. So a good session then, I'm really looking forward to getting around to Piking on this water, so much so I may go back again tomorrow morning

A fine Rudd
Interesting!
Al looking for those big Bream

Tail end of a Hurricane and I must be going soft

As the tail end of Hurricane Bill descended upon the northwest coast, and bringing with it some pretty strong winds and very heavy showers. I in my infinite wisdom decided to once again pack the rods into the van and descend upon the Sluice for a spot of fishing. (I just can't seem to keep away from the place, most normal people after looking out of the window would have gone back to bed) We hadn't been there too long and Mo who had decided to join me on this session was in the process of setting up when the mother of all showers opened up and unleashed it's wrath. I though tucked away quite nicely in my JRC shelter was perfectly fine, Mo on the other hand got a good soaking. "I'm packing up mate" were the words he mumbled as he climbed into my dry sanctuary. These of course were the last words that I wanted to hear, who could blame him though as he was only wearing a fleece and combat trousers. Of course I did the decent thing and refused his request and made him stick it out until I was ready to pack up, according to my iphone weather report, the worse of the storm had passed through and after 9am the forecast was given to be a bit better, it was right, the showers pretty much died away but we were constantly battered by relentless winds. I kindly offered mo a fishing lifeline by setting up one of my Pike rods, It was left to me then to bag some live baits, not an easy task, I managed to catch around half a dozen Roach the whole session. Despite the conditions, I was still confident that if we could get a bait in the water we'd hook into a Pike, and indeed we did, well Mo did, as in a completely unselfish act (Unlike me and it did cross my mind as to what my reaction may have been if it had been a big lump, images of me pushing him in were playing through my head.) I stepped aside and let Mo take the fish. "It's only a little one" he proclaimed, "Nonsense! It's swimming towards you mate" was my reply, then you guessed it, it was showtime. A respectible Pike of around 8 and a half pounds was duly photographed and released. So my stubborness in not packing up had paid off, and if I told Mo once that "I bet you're glad we stayed now" I must have told him a dozen times. The moral of this story is this, it doesn't matter how bad the weather is as long as you're prepared for it!

Worth getting wet for mate?

A sample of the weather

No fishing today but......

I feel the urge to write about the impending Pike season that is upon us. Although I have had some great sport on Pike this summer, I have refrained from casting a dead bait into the water, I have struggled to hold back this last month I can tell you. But as from September 1st I'll consider it open season for Pike, namely I'll be fishing one live bait rod and one perhaps two dead bait rods. A conversation with Ben today has got us thinking of a new and exciting challenge. We have declared that this season we will try a few different waters, the target is to try 10 new venues this season. Exciting times ahead, my target is to land at least one 20lb + on the bank. Roll on September

It's just good to be there

Wednesday:


Rain, rain, rain, and a little more rain, was today's weather, so only one thing for it then, time to go fishing. Now I must admit although the thought of getting wet through when out fishing isn't too appealing, I'd much favour these conditions too a red hot day. It's a 2 minute job to erect my JRC shelter, after that's up I'm not bothered what the weather is doing. I would say though that my least favoured weather conditions would have to be wind, mostly because the match length is very open with no cover from trees whatsoever. Give me an overcast rainy day any day. So to the fishing, as the fishing has been rather quiet of late I thought I'd up the chances a bit so I fished 2 tip rods, one of the tip rods exclusively baited with worm and the other on artificial corn. The worm rod paid dividends as I caught a ruck of Perch, as for the corn, I had a couple of half pulls but no fish. The Pike rod saw some action, but no fish on the bank, I had my bait pinched by one Pike and I pulled out of another, must have been a day for ambitious Jacks. Nonetheless I had a good afternoon solo session, sometimes it's just good to be there, if you know what I mean?

Biggest Pike of the season.......So far

I made my way down to the match length and to one of my favourite pegs. I was pretty late in setting off and was only rods in by 11ish. I fished for Pike and Tench, I also fished on the tip. I really struggled to get a bite on the tip, I think I had maybe half a dozen or so fish the whole session, word from other anglers has it that they were struggling too, so I wasn't on my own. I did have better luck on the Pike and Tench rods. I had two Tench, one of around 2 and a half pounds which fell to hair rigged corn, the other at 3lb 6oz which interestingly came on double fake corn. This is the first Tench that I have caught on an artificial bait, I'd wager that I would have caught a few more Tench on this session but at around 5pm the Sluice started to pump, a constant tow brought with it a load of weed and other debris, it was a right pain as it kept wrapping itself around my line, I was constantly having to recast. Now to the Pike rods, I had 3 Pike in total, the first around 4lb's the second around 2lb's and would you believe it just like Thursday (No I didn't fall in) I had another take just as I was packing up, the result one angry Pike that went ballistic the fight made all the harder because of the amount of weed that it collected around itself, It tail walked all over the place, an impressive sight to say the least, I didn't know how big it was until I slipped her into the net, which I may add was a struggle as she pretty much filled it. I unhooked her, and slipped her into the weigh sling, 15lb 10oz is where the needle on the scales finished, that'll do for me. So from what looked like a terrible session turned out to be a pretty good one in the end.

15lb 10oz
Same fish, different angle

Back to the Sluice with a splash!

Well what a return to the Sluice for me tonight, I've been away for a week and I was itching to get the rods back out. I couldn't believe how windy it was down there, it was blowing an absolute hooly. I fished the tip and a Pike rod, not too much action on the tip rod apart from the odd Skimmer and Roach. The night was drawing in and I was contemplating packing up when I saw a commotion by my Pike float a Pike had struck at my bait but it missed (Should have gone to Specsavers) expecting the Pike to come back and have another go I stood by my rod and waited for the inevitable, as quick as a flash she was back but didn't miss this time. I struck into the take and felt a good lump on the end. I was very disappointed with the fight as she swam towards me. However just as I was about to net her she decided to fight like the devil, brilliant fight. I didn't bother to weigh it but I'd say she was around 11 to 12 pounds. I made my way down the bank to put her back in the water, when 'Kasploosh!' I managed to slip and fall in, not just my feet I was tits deep in the drink. :( I was absolutely soaking, the water thankfully was nice and warm. The worst thing of all was that I had my iphone in my pocket, needless to say it's knackered :( thankfully though it's insured

Early start and a red hot day

I arrived nice and early to my swim this morning, early enough for the sun just starting to peek over the horizon, and early enough to catch the mist that covered the Sluice like a blanket. It was far too hot today though, these days are no good for fishing on the Sluice, I'd much prefer a dull overcast rainy day over a scorchio. So to the fishing... I had quite a few bits on the tip, I had a fair amount of Hybrids some small roach and the odd Perch. I did catch 2 Tench one of around 3 pounds and the other around 2 pounds. A most welcome site though was the Bream of 3lb's. This is only the second Bream that I have caught from the Sluice this season, have their numbers declined or are they shoaling up?

Early morning mist, how enticing
A rare sight these days
I'm getting pretty good at this self take business

Plagued by bait robbers

Early signs tonight pointed to the possibility of a great nights fishing. Noticeably there were lots of fish topping, Pike were causing a commotion as they broke through the surface of the water striking at their prey, the area I'd chosen to fish was indeed full of life. My first fish on the tip was sacrificed by the jaws of a passing Pike. My confidence of landing some decent fish was at an all time high. I should though have known better.... I had a screaming run on my corn rod, which produced nothing, this happened time and time again, it turned out that I was being robbed, more than likely by some opportunist Roach that were not quite big enough to hook themselves on my cunning hair rig, however they were certainly cunning enough to suck the bait from the hair. My Pike bait went the whole session completely unnoticed. It wasn't all bad news though as I did land a decent Tench of 3lb 8oz. I can't help feeling though that I may have had a decent session if it wasn't for the bait robbers....... Alan who was unable to fish tonight, decided to pay me a surprise visit, he walked to where he thought I'd be fishing but he couldn't find me, he then decided to walk around a mile in the opposite direction to see if I was there, I wasn't! He'd been only 4 pegs away from me but somehow failed to spot me, I estimate that he probably walked around 3 miles in total. Hahahaha thanks for the laugh mate :)

The nights are drawing in

I fished the same area of the Sluice that I fished last Monday. Single red maggot on the tip produced a fair amount of small fish. My Pike rod saw no action at all this session, the Tench rod fared a little better, producing two Tench, one just over 2lb's and one just over 3lbs. Both Tench came late on. I also caught a Hybrid of around a pound. Alan caught a decent sized Perch weighing dead on 1lb a new PB for Al. He perhaps would rather I didn't mention that he pulled out of a Pike and also lost a Tench whilst playing it. GOOD! :) It was rather noticeable tonight that the nights are drawing in, it was getting dark by 9.30 and was pretty much pitch black by 10 O'clock. This is a sign though, that it will soon be time for dusting down the dead bait rods.

PB Perch for Alan weighing 1lb