Crocs from the swamp

We travelled up to Warrington to fish for Pike this weekend, at a venue called Longbarn pool or "the brick pits" as it is know locally. It is a small water set between a housing estate and a main road, at only 4ft at its deepest with lots of islands, over hanging trees and reed beds, it has some great features to fish to.

Starting off with float ledgered dead baits, I cast to little island just to my left in about 2ft of water and wasn't long before my float started to twitch and then rip off towards some reeds, and I was connected to small be lively jack, who gave a really good account of himself, tail walking and pulling off line before eventually coming to the net, my first Longbarn Pike just a shade under 4lb.

My next run came around lunch time and was a bigger Pike of around 4.5lb, Toby however was not doing so well, a couple of good runs but still no Esox on the bank. Just before I caught my second Toby had one on only to lose him at the net. We also met fellow BMAC member Michael who had a good day, banking three pike the biggest of which was somewhere between  6-7lb.
I had another couple of nice Jacks to 3.5lb and three or four good runs , but the Pike evaded my old mate Toby all day, despite loads of runs he just couldn't get one on the bank, fish crashing in the reeds all over, cruelly mocking him. That place its absolutely crawling with jack Pike, seven fish banked over three rods in day is great pike fishing, and we will definitely be back so that Toby can catch the big old girl that must rule the swamp.

For more information on rigs, set ups, bait and tackle please have a look at our brother blog

On The Bank Technical specs

3.15lb Pike

3.15lb Pike, a photo by On The Bank Pictures on Flickr.

6lb Pike

6lb Pike , a photo by On The Bank Pictures on Flickr.

New PB Perch

This weekends plan of action was to finally get up to Lymm Dam to fish for Pike, last time we tried to fish Lymm it had a lid on it. 
A much milder week hear in the North West meant that everywhere was now fish-able again and there was a match on The Bay Cliff side of the Dam, so Toby and I fished the church side. The Bream in Lymm Dam are said to run to double figures so with that in mind we had a rod each set up for bin lids and another with float ledgered dead baits.
Using a large maggot feeder I tried to build up a nice carpet of the grubs for the bream to come and munch on, while working round with the float rig for the pike trying to find some features to fish to.

 Then the heavens opened and we were battered by torrential rain for what seamed like forever. I had to fight with my brolly continually, as it turned inside out with every gust of wind, when I did manage to keep it upright the rain still soaked the left hand side of my so called waterproofs!
In the mean time Toby who was much drier in his bivvy was becoming increasing agitated by the lack of any form of bite or indication on either rod, I too had not had so much as a knock. But that was really the last of my worries I was soaked and pretty fed up.
I made a quick phone call to our friend Liam who was fishing with his son at Border to find out how the weather was closer to home, the weather was ok and so was the fishing, he was bagging up on Roach and Rudd and Michael had lost a good Carp.
Without further ado we packed up and headed to join the fun on Robbie's pool, I had my first Roach in just under an hour after packing up at Lymm.

Single Maggot under a waggle was doing the damage and we  had a merry hour or so finally catching fish again after such slack couple of weeks.
We had the Canal style water behind us, and a move again would mean we could spend the last hour with the wind off our backs comfortably under our umbrellas and have an impromptu little match.
All armed with a waggler and maggots we more or less took it in turns catching nice little silvers with Toby gaining the edge with his swim hold the slightly bigger fish, as Toby and Liam continued to chalk up fish after fish, I couldn't get a bite again.

Liam had decided to call it a day and was walking past me as my float suddenly disappeared again, asking was it a good fish? I replied I thinks its a bit bigger than my 2lb nylon hook-link. From the dogged fight I wondered weather it was maybe a Barbel or Chub as it tried to get into the inside margin, but once it got near to the surface, I could see those red stripes that are unmistakable.
Once landed and quickly weighed I could sit back well and truly chuffed with a new personal best Perch of 2.6lb

For more information on rigs, set ups, bait and tackle please have a look at our brother blog

On The Bank Technical specs

Winter Barbel on The Dane

Having had a brief and unsuccessful trip to the Dane last week, We were back hoping to bag a winter Barbel, much more prepared for a river fishing session this time out, we had even brought re-enforcements. Our friend Liam was to be our guide, as he has fished the Dane for years.  
We set off along the Bay malton Manor farm stretch travelling light, settling into a suitable looking peg on a nice bend, I tried ledgering a couple of pellets to the far bank, Toby and Liam using similar tactics with variations on bait. We sat on what was a quite chilly morning bite-less for about an hour before moving on, yet again I was experiencing problems with the eyes on my rod freezing.

Finding another nice looking set of pegs down stream, that the three of us could all get on, we tried again, this time I opted to try a couple of maggots and a small maggot feeder. Liam sticking with meat, while Toby was trotting a couple of maggots down stream. Starting to get a little frustrated by the lack of fish, some light hearted ribbing of Liam ensued, claiming the pictures I have seen of him with some lovely look river Barbel, were obliviously the work of Photoshop!
We carried on down stream trying various pegs and slightly different methods and baits with very little success.
Fishing the Dane is a very different beast than my local River the Weaver, where the weaver is deep and plodding, the much shallower Dane pushes through a fair rate, I was finding it difficult to hold bottom with a 14g flat ledger, the biggest I had in my box.

Finishing the day off on a sandy bend which the fallen tree above dominated, I tried ledgered meat again and still couldn't buy a take. My first river Barbel will have to wait until the summer now, when I hope the Mink we saw dashing up the fallen tree, has saved some fish for us!

For more information on rigs, set ups, bait and tackle please have a look at our brother blog

On The Bank Technical specs

Snow Joke!

We set off on Saturday with the intention Pike fishing Lymm Dam, the weather reports for the day did not look to promising but undeterred we were out before dawn. After about 40 minuets drive we arrived at the Dam or the rink as I could call it! Ducks were huddled round a six foot square of water by the Dam wall the only area that wasn't frozen solid. Now as I had no saw in my tackle box, ice fishing wasn't an option.

The River Dane just so happens to be on the way back from Lymm, so having never seen it before, let alone fished it, I quite fancied taking a wander down and wetting a line, despite the worsening weather. As we had intended to have a go for some of the double figure Bream whilst at Lymm, we had some tackle suitable for a spot of river fishing.  So arriving at Bay Malton Angling club's stretch of The Dane at Holmes Chapel, we decanted our limited supply of river tackle and bait, then set of with a roving approach hoping to winkle out a cheeky Chub or even my first river Barbel.
We chose a really nice looking corner swim to start at, with a fallen tree over hanging the far bank slightly, normally I would have probably opted to trot bread or casters under a small float, but unfortunately I had to make do with a small cage feeder and a nice fat lob worm on a running rig to 10lb main line on a 7" quiver rod. Toby set himself up a similar rig with some luncheon meat. We sat and admired the scenery on what was a really cold and frosty morning, pretty much bite less for an hour or so before we moved on down steam. 
As we past the car on the walk to find a suitable swim further down stream I thought we must be quite mad, we were now treated to some vary nasty sleet and hail.
The move didn't pay dividends we faired no better in any of the other swims we tried, even with slight variations on terminal tackle and bait. To give you an idea of how cold it was, as we moved swim, the worm that I was using as hook bait would become solid if kept out of the water to long!

Heading back to the car it became very apparent that the hill that we had no problems earlier descending was going to be quite the challenge to ascend and get home. The sleet and freezing conditions had covered the slope with a quite thick layer of ice, which Toby's family saloon was having great difficulty getting any traction on. If it wasn't for a tow by some friendly chaps with there 4x4 that had been dirt bike riding near by, we may very well have still been there now.

For more information on rigs, set ups, bait and tackle please have a look at our brother blog

On The Bank Technical specs