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

Quiet session on the sluice

Not much to report from today's session, No Pike and No Tench. I did catch a lot of fish on the tip, mostly Skimmers and Roach, most of which were caught on single red maggot.

Surprise Catch on the tip

Rather than have an early start I decided to saunter down to the Sluice today, as last week for all my efforts at turning out early I didn't catch a fish of any kind until gone 11am. With this in mind then - I was rods in by around 10 ish. Once again I had to wait for the bites to come, seemingly it's taking a while for the fish to find my offerings. Once again i fished my favoured method of Tip fishing. With tip fishing it is almost possible to tell what is attached to the hook before you land it, you get used to the way the fish reacts when fighting, a Perch for example with shake it's head from side to side, trying violently to shed the hook, and this action will transmit to the top of the rod, an Eel is easily identifiable by the tip constantly shaking, obviously when you strike into a Tench you feel a good lump on the end, anyway my point is that when I struck into this particular take - it felt different , something I hadn't felt before, and I was right. To my surprise, the fish that had taken a liking to my single red maggot, on an 18's hook was in fact a Pike. I was a little shocked to say the least, I was on 4lb bottom so I gave it plenty of line, and I didn't bully it as I didn't want it to bite me off. After a minute or so I managed to lure it into my net, a Jack Pike of around 2 and a half pounds was swiftly unhooked and returned to the water, not before stopping to have it's photograph taken with it's shocked captor.

The fish were plentiful today, and I had a proper net full of Perch, not that I kept them in a net of course. I'm speaking metaphorically. I also chucked a Pike rod out, I kept a watchful eye on the float, and after around 2 hours it was away. I was into a decent fish too, what a fight it gave me, tail walking all over the place, at one point it was nearly in the swim of the chap that was fishing next to me. She tipped the scales at....... Hang on! A little point I'd like to make here, the guy that was fishing next to me said that "she was around 9lb's" "Nonsense!" I replied she weighs 11lb, and with that and a point to prove I decided to weigh her, the needle showed that she weighed exactly 11lb. I've caught a fair few Pike out of this water, and can pretty much put a weight on any Pike out of there within an ounce or three. I was a bit lazy on today's session and I didn't bother to set up a designated Tench rod. I did however catch a decent sized Tench of 3lb 12oz on a worm.

The maggot muncher

11lb Tail Walker
3lb 12oz Bonus Tench

No Tench at Sluice farm

I fished at Sluice farm tonight, in a word the fishing was dreadful. I had a couple of small fish on my tip rod, my Tench rod, screamed off once but there was no fish on the end. Darkness was fast approaching, and I was slowly packing up, when I noticed my Pike float was travelling towards me. I was in! A hard fighting Pike of around 9 to 10lb's was the result. A good end to what might have otherwise been a terrible session.

Upper Rivington and a trip to the Ribble

Myself and Alan had spoken of a change of scenery, so instead of heading for the Sluice we had a day at Upper Rivington reservoir. I fished on the tip and I also baited up my other rod on double sweetcorn. It was pretty much a fish a chuck on the tip, I caught a lot of skimmer Bream, and the odd Roach and Perch. My sweetcorn rod produced a couple of decent Roach of around 6 to 8oz. A good session, but no fish of any size. I'll be heading back to this water to target Pike in the next month or so.

A trip to the Ribble.....

Ben, Alan and I arranged a night session on the Ribble, our target species was to be Barbel. Ben was the first to catch, a decent sized hard fighting Barbel of 8 and a half pounds, I was getting ready to land it for him, when Al's bait runner was clicking away signalling another take, it would seem that I was to be playing ghillie as I also netted Al's first ever Barbel, weighing in at bang on 6lb, a good start to Al's Barbel career. I though was to be kept waiting for around 4 hours for my fish, it was nearly half two in the morning and we were on the verge of packing up when thankfully my left hand rod was away, justice was done as I too landed a nice Barbel of 6 lb. This is also my new Barbel PB, beating my previous PB by 4oz. A good days fishing then, although a rather long one, as I'd been up for 23 hours before I got to bed. Now is that dedication or stupidity? I'll let you decide!

Ben looking pleased with his 8lb 8oz fish
Alan's first ever Barbel at 6lbI had to wait a while for this 6lb beauty

Pretty quiet session on the Sluice

Not the most productive of sessions for me tonight. I fished on the match length on the Sluice, and I struggled to get a bite, I did have a few Perch, and more interestingly I caught my first Ruff of the season, in fact it's been a couple of years since I have caught a Ruff, certainly the first I have caught since I have been writing my blog. My recent fish producing ledgered sweetcorn rod was very quiet tonight, although I did have 3 fish within the space of half an hour of packing up, 2 Hybrids of around a pound each and a Tench of around 2lb's saved my blushes for the session.

Esox Calling and a trip to the Yarrow

As the weather today was more akin to autumnal day and with the Pike that attacked my fish the other day still well on my mind, I just couldn't resist in taking my Pike rod down to the Sluice. I fished from around 7.30am until 3.00pm. I had a decent take on Pike rod, I struck into the fish and felt a hefty weight, when damn it! I ended up pulling out of it. Upon inspection my bait had gotten tangled around the rotten bottom thus not enabling to set the hooks. I had better luck on my tip rod, a few skimmers, Perch and some tiny Roach kept me entertained. I also had two Tench, the second of which put up such a good fight that I thought perhaps I was into a Carp.


Sneaky trip to the River Yarrow..............

I had a couple of hours spare this afternoon, so I put them to good use by heading down to the River Yarrow. I made my way to a swim which I fished a couple of times last year, the swim was very overgrown, and if I was a betting man, I'd wager that I was the last person to fish there. I hacked my way through the foliage with my bank stick, and made good an area to fish. I fished on the tip and used worm as bait. I had a Chublet of around 8 oz on my first cast, aside from a few nibbles here and there, this was to be the only fish of my quick session.