Sharks go to Gingham's :)

This is what it's all about, on the bank with the Sharks and today was my first outing having missed last week's match at Charity. Most of us met up at Reebok McD's this morning for a visit to Gingham's fishery in Horwich, a new venue for us so we were all pretty much going blind. One or two had already had a sneaky chuck and caught well so we were looking forward to a good day.

The mood was jovial and after filling up with bacon, sausage and egg muffins, swilled down with tea and coffee, we headed to the venue, albeit a roundabout kind of route as Paste-'ead must have taken a leaf out of Sat-nav-Dave's book 'cos we got a bit lost, hehe :) But we got there and started to unload the gear and head off up the steep climb to the lake. 

 It's a bit like climbing up a volcano, when you get to the top you then climb down in to the bowl via the rickety steps and on to the stages. Be careful if you ever go in the wet 'cos it's a wee bit dodgy. The stages have also seen better days but once you're set up it's fairly comfy.
Geordie's van had given up the ghost on the way so he and Eppy were running late, Sat-nav-Dave wasn't there, not sure if he got lost or was doing summat else today :) Apart from that it was a full house and we had soon done the draw and were setting up.

 I drew 14 today with the Warrior on my left round the corner and Curly on my right, apparently we had drawn naff but it looked ok to me, ever the optimist. I'd made some top-4 rigs 'cos I was told it was proper deep, like Heapy deep! However we were at the 'shallow' end so I ended up taking line off my rigs as it was probably only about 8 ft at 6 or 7 mtrs. I was facing End-peg and Paste-'ead and as it turned out I spent most of the day watching them. End-peg even had time to do a little jig as you can see from the foto above, not quite sure what that was all about but he was catchin' fish :)
I'd set out to fish the pole, mainly because I was in a corner, but I fancied it for a few.
All-in sounded and we're off. I fed my main pole line for bream and owt else that might happen along, then I had a margin peg in to my left. First chuck was out on the tip, fairly short or else I would cross the Warrior. I gave it ten minutes but nowt so straight on the pole line and it sailed away, a small tench, nice one! Second chuck and I'm netting a clonkin' dog roach, third chuck and another prime redfin. Happy days, looking good.

Ha, that was that, the shoal moved on :) From then on it was a right struggle, especially for us down this end. Not really much else to tell from my peg, I caught a few more silvers and ended up with a massive 4-8-0 and a single, solitary point. Better than nowt I suppose. Across and up the other end of the lake they were catchin' on the pellet wag but if there were any carp at our end they certainly weren't interested. In hindsight I should probably have stuck to the silvers instead of trying to nab a carp but that's fishing. Towards the end of the match the sun shone and there were carp moving at our end but they were just cruising around and not interested in any grub.

Curly tried knocking 'em out with this whopping baggin' wag but he ended the day with one fish. BRy on his right only managed a couple of small carp in his 6 lb and he knows how to fish the pellet wag as well as anybody. We'd just drawn bad on the day and there ain't much you can do about it I'm afraid, at least the weather was more like early summer and the crack was brill as usual :)

So at the end of the day Spadey took the honours with 36-1-0 on the wag chuckin' half way across the lake and across at least three other pegs in the process :) Paste-'ead was runner up with 29-8-0 and next peg to him was End-peg, on an end peg, with 21-14-0. All caught on the pellet waggler. A huge 'well done' to them lot and also Damar who sneaked in fourth with some decent skimmers caught up in the water. We call them bream on t'cut, hehe :) He's now the early league leader but End-peg is sniffing at his heels.

But remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint!

That's all for this week, next week sees us head down Parbold Hill to fish Merlin's pool down Hall Lane. Really looking forward to it.

'Till next time .... tight lines :)

Sharks first match of the season @ Charity :)

It's the long awaited start of the Sharks campaign today and I can't chuffin' be there!
However I've put up this post then maybe Paste-'ead can give us the result later. It's the big lake at Charity so it should be a good match with some decent weights of skimmers.
Look forward to hearing about it, then next week it's a new one for all, except Damar who's been sneaking up there on a regular basis, allegedly, Gingham's fishery in Horwich.
'Till then .... tight lines :)

Spring League, final round, Saracen's y-'ead :)

They think it's all over, well it is now! That's me done on t'cut for the forseeable future, I'll certainly miss the characters like Gorgeous George and the rest of the canal regulars, most of whom will probably keep trudging down the towpath Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, dodging the proverbials, hehe :) Now that the better weather is round the corner I'll try and find time to take a wander down with the mutt maybe on a Sat'day just to keep in touch.
Todays' last match of the series was a proper struggle for most, I've not got the final result yet but Mick said he'd email it me later in the week so I'll stick it up sometime soon. I reckon Sams took the overall title so well done to them and well done to everyone who took part in what was a particularly tough series.
At least today the weather was on our side which was a blessing after the terrible conditions of last week. The sun shone all day and it was t-shirt weather for about ten minutes in the middle of the match. I drew F8 which was the end peg of the match down at Sarry's y-'ead, it can be good but it can also be bad and today it was bad 'cos those bream just didn't turn up. I had Dad Whalley next to me today for the second time in two weeks! Nobody deserves that, hehe :) I ended up with 0-11-4 and Al had a level 0-11-0 so I gave him a tonking. Not much was caught in our section, in fact I don't think much was caught throughout and the best weight I'd heard on my way back to the car was Bolton's Gordon H 'worm master' who had 2 lb. I was left thinking what might have bin after a hiccup early on. I always tell our lads to go 'big' first chuck but for some reason today I decided to have an early look down the track with my light rig for any little tommies or billies that might be around. The old float didn't even bob, it just vanished and I was attached to the mother of all snig! You know a big snig when you hook one, they don't jag around as much as the smaller ones, they tend to swim more and fight almost like a tench. This one never came up off the deck but I knew if I tried to play it I would get snagged up, so I gave it some stick and crossed everything. It didn't last long and when all went slack and I retrieved my rig I saw that it had bit me off. Such is life, that was that pretty much as far as the track was concerned, I had one small billy, missed a good bite which was probably a daddy and had a couple more offers but the rest of my fish were silvers across on the mag. I didn't bother with a squatt rig today 'cos we'd decided to go all out for big fish but there were plenty bits in the swim so I was left wondering 'what if'?
So that was that, I picked the Warrior up, he'd fared worse than me and weighed in a modest 2 oz so there was definitely nowt there.
Just want to end by saying a big 'thanks' to Mick and his Ted Carter lads for organising the event. His team mates pegged out every match and didn't take the pegging money, instead they put it towards the hospice charity. Top blokes! Remember that this league is in memory of one great bloke, Graham Edgerley, so no matter how bad the fishing was it was all in a very good cause.
Next week sees the start of the Sharks campaign and we're all off to Charity Farm to hammer out whopping weights of skimmers, tench and carp. Well, they will, I won't be there 'cos sadly I miss the first match due to other stuff going on :( but I'll be there the following week for the trip to Gingham's at Horwich, can't wait.
So 'till next time .... tight lines one and all :)

Spring League, 3rd Round, Heaton's Bridge :(

This is going to be brief, very brief. I don't think I've ever been as happy to hear the all-out in all my life! The weather men got it spot on and shortly before the match kicked off the rain started to fall, it was already windy but as the day wore on the rain got heavier and the wind got stronger. Eventually it was lashing down and blowing an absolute hoolie! To say it was 'orrible would be an understatement, the match was set to be a lottery. Even the lucky few who had shelter from the gales found it hard going.
After the match me and the Warrior set off for home before the result was ready 'cos we both had stuff to do back at the ranch. Hopefully Mick will email me the result sometime in the week if he has a minute then I can let you know.
I drew to the right of the Piggery bridge, B4, down towards the s-bends on the first set of sticks. I ended up with eight billies, a skimmer, a roach, a gudgeon and a sniggery for a whopping 14 oz summat and 5th in the section. To be honest I don't think many were too bothered about what they'd caught, everybody just wanted to get off the bank, dry off and get warm. The Warrior had 4 points, el nino had 3 then the rest had 6 or more so I'm thinking we probably didn't finish too high up on the day :)
That hot shower and cuppa back home were just the best ever!
Just a quick word to wish Gorgeous George a belated happy birthday from us all. It was last Wednesday and he reckons he's now officially a pensioner but with that all over tan, finely honed body and boyish good looks he could pass for 35, hehe :) That's in the dark, thick fog and lashing rain from a mile away while blind folded :) Best wishes matey!
Not much else to say really, it's the last round next week then it's all over on t'cut for me for ever, well, until the Winter League, possibly, maybe, you never know.
Where has everyone else bin today? Did you have a better day than us? Let us know.
'Till next time .... tight lines, and here comes summer :)

Spring League, round 2, Gorst Lane :)

The second round of this four match series was up at Gorst Lane today, the draw and brekkie was at the Slip as usual. I drew B4 which put me two pegs to the left of the Woodyard basin, not the best in the world but I fancied it for a few. Lo and behold I had Keith Gillett and Gorgeous George to contend with for the second week running, this time I would give them a good slapping, hehe :) After the draw we headed up the road and who should be meandering along but Gorgeous himself so I put my foot down and gave chase. He's quite fleet of foot for one so large and he just managed to escape by leaping on to the pavement, it was close and I nearly had him, next time maybe. He tried to get me back down Gorst lane as I was dropping the Warrior off but I saw his Robin hurtling towards me in plenty time so managed to avoid him quite easily, he must have hit almost 20 mph at one point :)
So to the match and Ant had over 6 lb of prime redfins up at the piggery on the hemp but apart from that there are still very few of them to be seen. At the all-in I went straight in on the big butty as usual but it never moved. In fact it looked like yet another Spring League grueller was on the cards but at least I was picking up odd fish here and there, working all my lines in turn. It was mainly small billies and tommies but at least I was putting summat in the net. Mark E came down for a walk and said that there were a few people catching up and down the length but if you couldn't find a skimmer you were in trouble. Colin had snared a tench in A section and Tommy Fairhurst had a couple of bream in D section, Massey was baggin'.
I kept pluggin' away but then to my left John Atherton of Sams nicked a good bream across, it took him a while to land it on a very light rig but he did so that pretty much wiped out all my bits in one foul swoop. I decided a change of tactic was called for so the butty line was binned and feeding changed. It worked and I had a couple of big skimmers in as many chucks. I was back in with a shout. Me and John enjoyed a good tussle, he would nick a few then it was my turn and I managed a couple of wrigglers on the snig line. I was just about on for a section win when late on John nabbed a good skimmer down the track on his snig rig. That did it and he took the section with 5 lb odd to my big 4 lb. Well done to John but I enjoyed the day for a change and after a heavy shower early on the weather was really good. I was happy with second in the section.
Overall Dave Massey took the honours with 12-7-0 of skimmers from the first peg to the right of the Woodyard swing bridge. Match organiser Sir Mick was second from the Piggery with 12-3-8 then Tabbers was third with 11-2-0 also from the Piggery. Tommy F was fourth with 9-15-0 from the straight length to the right of the log so a big well done to you lot!
On the team front Sams won it with an excellent 15 points which takes them to the top of the league. Some things never change. Our lads had some really naff draws for the second week running and we slipped to 6th on the day. Spare a thought for our Bernard, he landed a whopping bream of 4-2-0 from the wires at the piggery but he was at the wrong end of the section and his superb 5-6-0 total only gave him 6 points! Unbelieveable bad luck.
But there's still lots to play for and next week sees us head to Heaton's Bridge for the penultimate round. There are lots of hard pegs up there so expect another tough one.
End-peg gave us a bell on the way home, he'd been with the Sharks on the match lake at Fir Tree and had a great day coming third with nearly 30 lb of skimmers and crucians, crackin' fishin'!
Any road up, summer's on it's way and the start of the Sharks season is looming.
'Till next time .... tight lines :)

Spring League, round 1, Burscough :)

The sun shone which in turn brought out the boats, bikes, prams and dog walkers and the photo below just about sums up the Spring League on t'cut.
It was the first round of four today up at Burscough and I was quite looking forward to it. The Spring League can be a bit of a lottery, the roach have pretty much vanished and it seems the perch too which means you're really looking for a bonus skimmer or wriggler for good points.
The draw was done at the Slip after a hearty brekkie and I set off to Bursco' Town centre which could be good or could be bad. It was the latter I'm afraid and I drew C2 down on the new houses and C8 was up towards the carp park where the bream live. We were just down at the wrong end of the section. But you never know your luck in a raffle so I set out to do the best I could.

When I arrived at my peg my first job, or jobby, was to clear three big piles of doggy do from where I planned to sit. Not the most pleasant job in the world.
At 10.00 am we were all-in and I set off as usual on the big butty but alas, it never flinched. The little punch didn't fare much better but I did winkle out two tiny roach. Down the track was dire, down the edge was no better so I'm right across on the squatt much sooner than planned. At least it went under, in fact it went under a few times, little perch and gudgeon but nothing to set the world on fire. Not long in to the match and Jimmy Jeffers two up from me is into a bream. A bit later he got another plus a snig so the bit rigs were dumped and it was big stuff or bust for me.
To cut a long story short it just didn't happen. At the end me and the lad on my right both weighed a whopping 0-4-8 with Keith Gillett on my left had 9 oz summat. Out of the other five pegs in the section four had bream and one poor lad in the middle of them had 4 oz dead. Daz Shaw, Maver Red, on the second peg down from the car park weighed over 10 lb, half a dozen skimmers and bream, to win the section and the match fairly easily. Rob Porter, Sams, was second with 6-7-10 and in third was Ste Asworth, also Maver Red, with 6-2-12. Well done you lot!
It was an up and down kinda match summed up by the fact that Maver Red topped the teams on the day with 13 points and Maver White were bottom with 38 points, work that one out if you will :)
I thought we'd be in for a hiding so was pleasantly surprised to hear we'd come third equal with Carters on the day and an envelope! Can't be bad.
I can't finish without mentioning that Gorgeous George was in my section and he thumped me today big style with 2lb odd. He had one big skimmer of about 2lb odd and not much with it, crabby git! He came to my peg before the all-in fartin' and stompin' around telling me all about his new Avon 'body bronzer' and generally trying to scare off any fishes that might be in the vicinity. I'll get you back matey :)
So that's that for the first week, it's not so much a marathon as a middle distance run according to el nino so there's time to pull back but not a lot. Next week we're up at Gorst Lane so I'm thinking it will be more of the same, if you're on 'em, you're on 'em, if you're not then you're gonna struggle and it'll be harder than a billy goat's knee!
'Till next week .... tight lines :)

Sharks Fir Tree Easter Challenge :)

Just before today's report I should mention that I went for a chuck on Catteries 3A, peg 9 on Friday. I had hoped to fish lake 2 but there was a match on. It was pretty tough going and no one was doing much but I did have a decent few hours catching a variety of fish including some good skimmers, just one carp and a couple of clonkin' tench. Saturday saw me bob down to Moron's to see if owt was happening there. They were struggling a bit while I was there but things did improve and Barry Knight won it with 20 lb followed by Mick Davies with 15lb and the Warrior in third with 13lb so it's still fishing pretty well.

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It was the Sharks versus Atherton New Star today on the new Martin's Pool at Fir Tree fishery down in Appley Waz. Although it was supposed to be a bit of a laugh you could tell that both sets of anglers were up for the bragging rights. Unfortunately one of the Atherton lads didn't turn up, probably a heavy night the night before, so that put them straight on the back foot as the match was to be decided on weight. Wouldn't like to be in his shoes when the rest of 'em get hold of him :)

Anyways, we all turned up at the car park to fish this new pool for the first time. It looks pretty good, it's about 16 mtrs wide with 40 pegs and a good 6 to 8 foot down the middle. Remember when we took some pictures of it empty with Damar stood in the middle of it? Access is good with a nice path around it and the pegs are well set out. My only criticism would be that the pegs are a little tight and it's just a touch too wide to comfortably fish across with the pole but apart from that it has good potential and it's another new water on our doorstep which can't be bad.

(River Avon at Pershore)

Derek told me last week that he's stocked it well with mainly small fish including both silvers and carp with a few bigger stamp for interest. Spadey had a chuck after our match last week and he caught loads of small stuff right close in where the depth was only around 18". I just had a sneaky feeling it might not fish the same today 'cos we'd had some rain and the temperatures had dropped off yet again.
But the plan was to fish short, just on or down the first ledge so I set up a couple of rigs which I'd made up the day before, 0.10 and 0.12 lines with 20's B911 hoooks, no need to fish heavy.
Mike shouted 'All-in' bang on 10.00 am and off we went. I had Joney and Twisty either side of me on peg 10. Tk was on 8 and BRy on 12. Word had definitely got out and everyone to a man was fishing short, hehe :) One or two had plumbed up across and fed a bit of stuff but there was no way I was planning on fishing 16 mtrs all day.
My hunch was proved right and it was a struggle. I had a small carp early on followed by a hand sized hybrid then a tiny mirror a bit later. Most were still either blanking at this stage or had an odd fish or two in the net. What to do next?
I noticed BRy was the first to venture across and he started picking off a few. No one was breakin' any pots. Eventually I thought sod it, revert to my favourite, tried and trusted method, worm and caster! I plumbed up at 11.5 mtrs and found a good 8 ft of water. I dumped a pot of stuff in and left it for a bit. Back on the inside and still nowt doing so with half the match gone already I'm out on the chop and shell line. First chuck and I'm into a small skimmer, nice one. Next chuck and I'm into a better skimmer which slipped the hook on the way in. Bother!! But for the next hour and a half I'm catchin' steady, mainly roach but with quite a few chubletts and an odd skimmer chucked in. I was starting to enjoy it. Shame they just vanished during the last hour and try as I might I couldn't get 'em going again.
At the all-out I was happy with the way I'd fished it. I'd done Joney and Tk on my left and almost done Twisty but he'd gone right over and bagged for a short spell, it was tight between us but that last hour cost me dear, Twisty came inside and had 3 or 4 good roach which made a big difference. I weighed a reasonable 7-4-0 and he had 7-14-0. Tk had 5lb odd, Joney 6lb odd and Bry 7lb odd. Nicp and tuck up at our end. How had the rest done?
Well, overall the individual winner on the day was Atherton's Barry Topping with 13-3-0, he had a couple of good carp in his net which helped a bit, second was our own Daktari Martin who worked his socks off for a weight of 11-5-0, all bits down the edge! In third was Ian Barton from Atherton with 8-9-0. A big well done to you lot!
But of course the most important thing was the team result and when the weights were tallied up it showed the Sharks 'maneaters' with a weight of 66-11-0 to the Atherton New Star weight of 53-8-0 so we'd won the team event and took home the magnificent trophy, hehe :) Well done lads! It was close and would have been closer had Atherton had a full turn out but the winning margin of over 13lb was pretty convincing. A good day, good crack with a great bunch of lads, and although Spadey turned up with goggles and a snorkel nobody went for a swim today, hehe :)

I had to dash straight after 'cos we had an Easter tea party to go to. As promised here's me complete with wabbit costume, no comments please, hehe :) Good giggle!

So that's it for this week, I haven't heard how the Catteries fished so maybe Banksy or Damar could drop us a line? Next week it's the start of the Spring League back on t'cut and it's brekkie at the Slip followed by the macth at Burscough. There's only four matches, starting at Burscough and working back to Sarry's y'ead so I'm quite looking forward to it.

Sharks up for a bit of Nookey :)

Haha, April fool Tk, the road to Fir Tree hadn't really subsided resulting in the closure of the fishery but that was my first proper bite of the day, hehe :)

First of all, sorry there was no post last week but I had to go away with work so I just didn't have time. I went down to Devon and Cornwall and got some fotos of a couple of rivers down there which I'll save for another day.

Back nearer to home and last week we were on Nookey and it fished quite well with Paste-'ead the machine taking top spot from peg 17 with 50 odd pound of mainly ghosties. Me and Daktari Martin drew 11 and 13 respectively, the crappest two pegs on the lake, and although we caught plenty silvers carp are few and far between down that end of the lake.

Other news from around the area, well, I did hear that the legend that is Kev Stothers won a Wigan match on t'cut down Leyland Mill Lane with 30 odd pound of bream from a peg near the bridge which is not a noted area for skimmers or big weights. Overall the canal is fishing iffy, if you're on 'em you might have a good day, if not you probably won't. Spring League starts in a few weeks so fingers crossed this weather holds up then at least the wrigglers might just be wriggling.

Moron's Moat has been stocked and me owd mucker the Warrior has been going on the Sat'day opens. It's fished well with 20 lb+ winning a few weeks back followed by Eppy Snr smashing the match record with 35 lb last week. The Warrior himself won it yesterday with 14 lb so it didn't fish quite so well, probably due to that sharp drop in the temperature.

So to today and it was just a Sharks warm up come knock up on Nookey. Guess what? I drew 13 this week so another no hoper. I had Daktari next to me again but he was on the flyer 14 and on my right was End-peg on the peg I was on last week, me and him were in for a struggle.
But you always know that you'll have a giggle with the Sharks numpties and today was no exception. It started with Spadey hooking a duck which promptly flew off with his very expensive top 3 kit firmly attached to it's rear end. It flew past me and settled way out in Daktari's peg where it waddled around quacking and fluttering trying to dislodge said gear. We are a caring bunch if nowt else and at the risk of cocking up Geordie and Daktari's pegs it was agreed that Spadey should get his kit off and wade across to the island and free the poor bird. I think he likes stripping off and jumping in ponds and he does have previous so away he went. Bearing in mind we had quite a sharp frost the night before the water was pretty chilly and once on the island his manhood, which was unashamedly hanging out of his boxers, resembled an acorn, hehe :) Any road up, the upshot was the duck got away scott free and Spadey rescued his gear and almost got hypothermia on the way.

The disturbance didn't seem to put the fishes off however and both Geordie and Daktari carried on catching. But not to be outdone, Geordie, for the umpteenth time, got snagged up across. It's a bit early for his annual bath so he opted for the dingy, oops, forgot to tell Spadey that we had a boat hidden away in the trees, hehe :) Capt Geordie jumped in the dingy and the camera was at the ready hoping, sorry, fearing, that the old sea dog might capsize and give us all a chortle. Sadly he didn't but it did take hime an age to row across 'cos he only had one paddle so kept going in circles. Even after all that kerfuffle the fish still fed and at the all-out Cat-meat-Col did the biz with an awesome 64 lb from guess where? Yep, peg 17. It's solid at the minute with carp, mainly ghosties. But you have to get 'em out and Col did in fine style, well done matey :) BRy was second with 43 lb followed by Paste-'ead with 37 lb, there were a couple of thirties then several 20's, pretty good fishing considering the frosty start to the day.

I quite enjoyed the day really, after a very dodgy start. As I said before there ain't many carp down in the far corner of the lake so I had a look anyway across on the pellet but nowt doin' so down the track with caster for the silvers. Groan, nowt doin' there either so for the first three hours it was a case of chop and change and hope and pray for summat to happen.

But never one to give up and eventually the old caster line lit up and with a couple of hours to go they were really 'avin' it. I ended up with 3 or 4 small carp and a shedfull of silvers, mainly roach, for 22 lb. Makes you wonder what you could do if they fed all day. I was happy with that and although I didn't win owt I'd enjoyed a few hours of brilliant fishing, wouldn't mind a few of them big dog roach in the Spring League, ha, no chance.

So that's that for this week, next week sees us on Martin's Pool at Fir Tree for our inter club challenge match against the Leigh lads. Should be interesting as I don't know anybody who's fished it yet. It'll be good crack if nowt else. Then it's hey lads hey for the Spring League!

Then the Sharks season starts proper, can't wait!

'Till next time .... tight lines and summer's on the way :)

Teams-of-4, Gorst Lane, final round :)

(Spring is in the air)

I bobbed down to watch the Catteries weigh in yesterday afternoon and once again it fished it's head off for most. John Rogers was top weight that I saw and I'm guessing he probably won it which would mean two weeks on the bounce for John. He chose a peg near to where he won it last week, up at the top end of lake 2, and he had a crackin' net of fish including a few carp and loads of clonkin' ide. The Sat'day rovers will carry on for a week or two but then they'll stop 'cos the weather is warming up, Spring is in the air and the pleasure anglers will be turning out in numbers. The matches might carry on but will probably be confined to lake 3 which is no bad thing as it really is kicking in good style. There was another 50lb weight off lake 1, several 30's and plenty 20's dotted around the complex. Some of those barbel are whoppers!

But back to today and it was the final round of the Teams-of-4 league which was a short 4 match series well run and organised yet again by Smiffy, well done mate! I hadn't fished any of the previous rounds but had to be drafted in today because our superstars were off fishing some Sensas Challenge event somewhere, sorry but I haven't a clue where it is or what it's about but it was left to the old original Standish men to step in and see what we could do. So me, the Warrior, Pearl and SteP was our team today and guess what .... ? Yep, we picked up a brown envelope for the first time in the series. We scored a very creditable 14 points to finish third on the day. We kinda went for it really as the team had done naff all in the three previous weeks so there wasn't really much to fish for only pride!
I drew C section, just to the left of the old log peg, once upon a time there were bream to be had here but in recent years it's been pretty crap. Today was no different although there were plenty bits to be caught on bread and squatt.
I started pretty well catching small fish from the off, I was enjoying it but you know me, I soon get bored catching tiddlers and I kept having a toot on the old wazzum line for summat decent. I caught small billies and a few tommies down the track but there didn't seem to be any bonus fish playing ball today. Late on I got a call from the Warrior to say that he'd just snaffled a snig. Well, that was that for me, out went the snig rig and I sat on it hoping for my first wriggler of the year. Sadly it didn't go and I ended up with 1-13 summat and 4 points which was ok. Mark Elle won the section of the next peg with 2-8-0 of bits, I might have done that had I stayed on the small stuff all day but sod it, we had to go for it and it just didn't quite pay off on the day. Pearl ended up with 3, the Warrior had 2 and SteP had 5 from a bad draw up on the piggeries.
Good old Colin Cliffy took top spot in the match from A2(?) on the piggery with 3-12-0, not the biggest winning weight ever but enough to take plenty dosh home with him. He did quietly tell me after the match that he snagged a snig with ten minutes to go and also had a pound and a half billy. It does help, hehe :) Don't worry Col, your secret's safe with me. Utd won 5-0 too so to say he was a happy chappy was an understatement. All in all a pretty good day, and the sun shone, it was t-shirt weather at one stage. Bring on the summer!
Just a final word. You know after a match when you're asked what weight you've got and you always slightly underestimate, well some lads really don't like it while others think it's quite funny. Personally I don't give a toss. A certain T-pot-Max is renowned for it in our club but then again everyone knows he does it just for a giggle.
Let me just clear it up for those that don't understand. A long, long time ago, and I'm going back probably 20 odd years there was quite a kerfuffle on the Wiggin cut circuit with anglers lying about their weights. I remember one match in particular where there were almost fistycuffs. I myself got in bother once and I remember it well. It was a match down at Appley Bridge and I was only in my 20's at the time and didn't really know anything about match fishing etiquette. I was weighing in so I was last to be weighed. One o'wd Wigan Match Group mon asked me what I had and told him about a pound and half. He'd weighed just over 2lb and was winning the section. I eventually chucked 2-9-0 on the scales to win the section but really pee off this other bloke. He and his mates laid in to me big style and after I'd thought about it I realised that it wasn't clever and I would try and be accurate in future. After a few more similar incidents the locals made a real effort to try and be more accurate with their guesses, failing that, say nowt! You won't find many of the owd Wiggin anglers far out with their guesstimates these days.
So there you go, it's a historical thing for those who don't get it. My advice is for those who do it, either try and be more accrate or say you don't know. For those who get upset about it, don't! It's only fishing at the end of the day, for cryin' out loud enjoy it, they're only trying to wind you up. By the way, if Tk ever says he has over 5 lb we know he's lying, hehe :) Sorry matey :)
Just a very final thing, it looks like there's a new tackle shop opening up in Lostock, it's going to be called 'Lancashire Rod and Reel', Paul Burton would have field day with that one, and the legend that is Sir Gary Marchant is going to be working there, nice one mate. It's a couple of doors down from where the old Lostock Tackle Box used to be so if that's your area go down and show a bit of support. Hopefully Gary will let us know when it's opening, apparently there's an opening ceremony with scantily clad dolly birds dishing out free booze and maggots, Gary best watch his ticker and his spare ribs, hehe :) Nor sure about the shop name though in this age of poles and polefishing? Is the new owner an angler? Mind you, 'Lancashire Pole' doesn't really have much of a ring to it does it so he may have a point. Anyhow, we wish 'em luck!
That's it for now, book me on for Fir Tree next week Si please if there's still a place, I don't think there's any boats on there at this time of year?
'Till next time .... tight lines :)

End of the Season :(

The 'not so glorious' 14th of march is upon us. It's officially the last day of the coarse fishing season but I suppose it's not the same as when I were a lad :)
I've not done much recently, mainly due to work, crap weather, tons of stuff to do at home plus a general lack of interest in fishing team matches on t'cut. If you look at Ste's comment on the last post I don't think I'm alone. Maybe it's time for a close season break again?
Any road up, Catteries fished it's wotsits off last Saturday with 64 lb taking top slot off lake 2, there were a few 30's, plenty 20's and the lowest weight I saw was 15 lb odd, not bad really. Partridge fished hard according to the Sharks lads and it sounds like the Teams-of-4 was tough going with just 3 lb odd winning the match.
I popped down to Fir Tree on Sunday morning and the Sharks were on there but surprisingly after the mild weather it was not easy although Paste-'ead on peg 14 was emptying it and at the end of the match his peg was absolutely solid. Mind you, it is his very own peg, rumour has it he leaves his tackle on it 'till next time, hehe :) I had a walk round and a natter, BRy was catchin' a few but Spadey was struggling on the airator next to the bridge. Tk was not a happy bunny. struggling on a naff peg whic he draws as often as Si draws 14, ha! Geordie was next to Tk and he muttered summat about boats coming in but I didn't really catch it so I moved on to Cat-meat-Col who had a smile as wide as t'cut as usual. Something about saving money on a suit? Then it was Sat-nav-Dave who up until this weekend was level top with Si but he was struggling today and as this was the last match it was looking good for Paste-'ead.
Looks like I'm fishing the Teams-of-4 next Sunday at Burscough so I'll tell you all about it when it's over, shouldn't take long, can't wait, hehe :)
Soon be summer so 'till next time .... tight lines and raise a glass to the end of the season :)

Not Gone Fishing :(

I decided to give it a miss this weekend, so much to do and so little time to do it! Is it just me or is everybody busier now than days gone by? I remember, during summer at least, going fishing three or four times every week, these days I'm lucky if I can just make it on a Sunday.

I almost went today after a natter with my mucker the Warrior on the blower last night. He'd just been down on the Dougy and had a crackin' time catchin' plenty good dace and a couple of dog chub, all in just a couple of hours. I was tempted but when I got up this morning it was chuckin' it down and the temperature had dropped big time so I made a brew and watched MOTD in bed, hehe :)

I did have an invite from me old mate Spenny to join him and Bob for a couple of days on his private stretch of the Ribble at Elston, at first I said yes but then remembered I had to be in Winchester overnight on Thursday to do some of that work stuff. So sadly I had to decline the offer and with the close season looming on the horizon it looks like I won't be able to get on the big river again 'till June at the earliest. I did give Bob a bell though on Friday and he told me that Spenny did the biz the previous day with a couple of 4 lb+ rub-a-dub-chub plus a decent barbel. Bob never had a touch but on the Friday Bob had had one chub of around 3 lb with Spenny yet to catch and that was around 1.00 pm so not sure how it all ended up.

By the way, I stayed in a proper oldy worldy hotel pub place in Winchester where I saw this ancient centre pin reel, I used to have one that my grandad gave me donkey's years ago. Anyone remember the company that made 'em?

So this afternoon me and 'er indoors took the mutt for a walk down the canal bank. We parked down Leyland Mill Lane and walked back towards Red Rock. It was blowin' a chuff, not the best day for fishing tight across! The rain had cleared up though and the sun was shining at times which brought out the dog walkers, hehe :) But there weren't any boats. I wonder why?

Why? Why? I'll tell you why .... there's work being done on the bridges both in the park itself and Senecar bridge so boats can't currently go under the bridge, not sure how long it's going on for but if you fancy a chuck without being disturbed head for Haigh.

So a fishless weekend for me but I know the Sharks were at Partridge, it was the Wrightington Fishery final, Teams-of-4 on t'cut up at Heatons Bridge and the ATWL semi finalists were headed off to Lindholme so there was plenty line being dangled. If anyone out there fished in any of these events why not drop us a line on th'owd blog and let us know how you got on. Also, let us know if there's owt on next Sunday 'cos if I stay in the house again I might just go mad!
'Till next time then .... tight lines :)

Spring @ Wrightington?

Just a quick post, I fished at Wrightington yesterday in place of Conny who had to go down to Heronbrook. It was a really pleasant day, mild and overcast, superb conditions for a good days' fishing. It was good to see some familiar faces on the bank, Johny Mac, good to hear Joe's doing well, Boz, Scouser, Little Dave and a host of other nutcases :) It would be a laugh even if the fishing didn't live up to expectations, which it didn't, ha!

I drew on the match lake on peg 3, which had some form of late, next to Big Sam, so at least I had someone to natter to. Coyley was opposite alongside Dink then Clarkey before Boz and Scouser on the island flyers!

As you can guess it fished hard, and as I wasn't in the points league I chucked back at the end rather than wait for the weighers but I reckon I had about 8 lb or so. That was made up of three monkey wrench's and a shedfull of roach and small skimmers, I didn't have any carp but did have a brief tussle with a foul hooker which didn't last long. Most of the carp seemed to be boshing down the far end but even those lads only managed an odd one. I had all my fish on the long pole with maggot or bread on the hook, just one tinca fell to my corn on the bomb. Big Sam never had a bite so I'm thinking he probably went for big stuff but Andy Fairhurst on peg 6 landed four carp and word had it he had won the match with double figures. He had nobody to his right so he was chucking his bomb down towards the other end of the island.
All in all it was an enjoyable day and although there were no mega weights my float kept going under for most of the day. I had a brief chat to Paste-'ead today on the phone and he said that Fir Tree had fished hard too for the Sharks lads.
So that was that, if you went somewhere and caught a few drop us a line on 'ere and let us know how you got on.
Don't forget the Sharks meeting next week!
'Till then .... tight lines :)

A sunny day on the Catteries :)

Banksy organised an open today on Catteries lake 3 but it was a case of 'you should have bin 'ere yesterday' as it fished rock hard. Yesterdays' rover fished really well after a fairly mild week and 'handy' Andy Davies, venue expert, pogged it with 35 lb from the top end of the spit. There were a couple of 20's and several in the teens with no blanks but it was a totally different story today.

I'd been really looking forward to it after the mild spell and I'd set to to make up some rigs in the garage yesterday. To be honest the forecast was for a cold night and temperatures were expected to drop just below freezing again so I kinda fancied it to be hard. To that end I made up a couple of 0.08 rigs with 22's B911 hooks and then a couple of 0.10's with 18's Gama's. They would be fine to handle the F1's, skimmers, chub and ide that had been showing but should one of those big berties put in an appearance I would most likely get smashed off. That was a chance I would have to take and I opted to start off fine and look for a bite or two. I always have a few snig rigs hangin' around anyways, hehe :)

On the way down this morning there was evidence of a frosty night and there was quite a lot of ice on the track leading to the car park. It was good to see Cliffy and Ago there but sadly the Porkster and Big Al failed to show, they obviously though the class field out today was just a bit too good for 'em :) Or maybe after Porky's last in section the previous week at Whitmore he was still sulking, hehe, can't possibly say who told me about that one :)
After a nice brekkie in the cafe the money was handed over and the draw was made. I ended up on 38 on 3b which is not the best peg in the world. On the opposite bank was Grizzly and Banksy, either side of the peg from where Andy won it yesterday. After all the build up the match ended up a damp squib. Banksy won it with 9 lb odd which included seven F1's and a couple of bits. Grizzly didn't weigh but he did catch a couple of roach. He even tried chuckin' his bomb in my peg but to no avail. Ago nabbed second with five F1's for 5 lb summat then there was a 3-4-0 which nudged me in to fourth and the bridesmaid spot with a whopping 2-14-0.
I didn't bother with a tip rod but opted to set up four pole rigs. A couple for fishing on the deck on the long line and one for up in the water. I also set up a beefy rig for down the side just in case but I never had a sniff on that.
I started ok with a couple of skimmers early on. Then it died for about two hours before I managed a tiny perch out at 16 mtrs followed almost immediately by a welcome monkey wrench of about 12 oz or so. After another two hours I nicked a decent roach on my 13 mtr line and that was that.
It was harder than a goats' knee but I do like it up there and we know that it's stuffed with fish, it was just that frost I reckon that put the tin hat on it today.

So that was that, a nice sunny day, bit cold but plenty layers a flask helped keep me warm. Banksy's not running one next Sunday 'cos of some footie match or summat but the Sat'day rover will be on as usual and if the temperatures reach the highs they are forecasting it promises to be a cracker. The next few Sundays after that sees many of the Sunday regulars heading off to Lindholme to practice for the ATWL semi so if I don't go along for the ride I'll be on the look out for a match or two.
The blog's bin a bit quiet of late so if you have been out and about dangling a worm or maybe a pellet, let us know!
'Till next time .... tight lines :)

No Fishin'

(Just a word for Damar, if comments go on after the post has bin up for a week then they automatically have to go for moderation)

Any road up, I've not fished since the end of the bloodworm league but it's not for the lack of wanting to. Banksy booked two Sundays down at the Catteries so last Saturday I went down for a ramble to see if owt were afoot. Remember the weather last Sat'day? I got there and Tommy F was sat in his van thawin' out, grown men were crying it was that cold and if it hadn't bin for his wife's undies Danny would have had frostbite all the way up his legs :) The rain was coming down like needles and to be honest I didn't fancy sitting in that for 5 hours. There was a rover match on and there were bits coming out of the old lake, in fact one bloke had a tench first dob but all in all it was hard going. Banksy said the Sunday match would go ahead but I gave End-peg a buzz and we decided it was daft so we ducked.

 The next day I did set the alarm and got up bright and early at 7.00 am but my front drive was like an ice rink so I climbed back in and warmed the old feet up on 'er indoors, hehe :) Later on that morning after I'd cleared the drive and gritted it for the umpteenth time that weekend I wandered down to the Catteries to see what was happening. There were 6 diehards, or loonies, who had turned up, one of 'em had a bite first chuck which resulted in a carp of 3 lb and that was that. Not another fish was caught, one or two reckoned they'd had a bite or two but I reckon they were hallucinating :) The weather was actually pretty good, the wind had dropped, the rain had stopped and the sun was coming out, it was turning in to a nice day. But the fishes had other ideas and definitely weren't coming out to play today. Banksy said he would see what the weather was like during the week before deciding on what to do for this weekend.

 Well, I was working way down south all week, hence the Isle-of-White ferry, hehe :) It was nice down there, very dry but very cold too and every stillwater I came across was frozen solid. The outlook was gloomy to say the least. I'd had a text from Banksy saying that the match wasn't going ahead tomorrow because the weather forecast was for more freezing temperatures and everyone was crying off, so it's another weekend without dangling a line. There's summat to be said for giving January's a miss, even the Wigan DAA matches on t'cut have been cancelled for the last two weekends and the Liverpool ones too. It must be bad, ha!

 So to today and when I got up first thing lo and behold we had a power cut. It must have gone off during the night and it only came back on at 6.30 pm, had to go and watch the footie at a mate's house! After that I drove down to the Catteries again and there were the usual faces just loading their gear into their cars. They'd had the usual Saturday rover, Banksy, MarkE, Grizzly, CarlR and Ditch were there and they'd all opted to fish the old lake. They'd all had bites and I think they said just over 4 lb had won it, mainly small roach, not bad though if the old quill is going under. I was quite surprised how little ice there was over all three pools, I was expecting them to all be solid. I bobbed in at Orcheton after that and had a quick chat with Richard. There was no ice at all there and they'd just had a match too. Single figures had won it but Richard didn't have the exact weights.

So that's all I have to tell you. A disappointing couple of weeks but it is February when all's said and done and it certainly ain't as bad as last year by a long chalk. I heard Tabbers is running a match on t'Rufford arm at Solom in the morn and the Sharks are up at Fir Tree so good luck to all who take part. Take a big flask!
I also heard that the Teams-of-4 due to start soon is a bit slow on the uptake and if there are less than 6 teams eneterd it may be scrapped? It's too bleedin' cold !!!
Anyhow, if you're going dangling a line I wish you very good luck, 'till next time .... tight, if frosty, lines :)

Mossela NW league, final round :)

Another one bites the dust. The end of a short, but well run and close mini-league, big thanks to Tabbers who took on this task, hopefully he will get the support he needs for next year too, he does a cracking job, cheers matey! Intoducing bloodworm to the Rufford canal certainly seemed to do the trick and although it fished harder today, everybody had bites and caught fish.
Our Standish Black team only had to turn up today, finish better than 7th out of the 10 teams, and the title would be theirs. Oooops, fishing can be very unpredictable sometimes and on the day they bombed. If you're going to bomb you might as well do it in style and they certainly did that. They ended up plum bottom on the day and their nearest rivals, Rochdale Black, pogged it with an awesome 10 points meaning that it was the Rochdale cowboys who ended up top of the pile with a total score of 11 and our Standish Blacks secured a creditable runner up spot with 14. Highfield Gold were third overall with 15 and fourth spot went to Rochdale Gold with 18. Our Standish Red team came somewhere below these four, hehe :)
Individual on the day went to good old Colin 'Man U forever and come back all is forgiven' Cliffe with an excellent 4-10-0 of little roach and perch, he cartainly worked hard all day for that, I know 'cos I was next to him! Talk about stiff neck :)

We were up at Solom and I finally drew the best section on the day but didn't make it pay. Trouble is in a match like this you just have to get your head down and catch them titchy fishes for as long as you can and if your peg is solid, which ours were, that means all day. I was havin' a blether after the match with Col and we both agreed that you just can't fish your peg how you would like to because the minute you come off the bits you start slipping behind. Col stuck to his task today and did the biz, I admit I get fed up catching tiny fish and I always want to try for something that might just tug your lacky. I reckon in the warmer months it would be different and the bigger stampers will be 'avin' a go but today they weren't and although I had quite a few billies on the worm and a few small roach on the shell I wasted too much time going for it and ended up with 3-6-0 and nowhere in the section. The lad on my right had a pound odd and there were one or two others who didn't break the 2 lb mark but there were three with over 4 lb and several three's. But at the end of the day it is winter and if you're getting bites all day then it can't be bad.
The other sections did fish much harder than previous weeks but the Rufford arm is only a short ratch and although Tabbers did his level best to put everybody on fish each week I reckon even the best stretches can't take a match three weeks on the bounce. Word has it that Southport DAA are arranging working parties during the coming months to make more towpath accessible to anglers and even building platforms in areas that need them. They are also in constant dialogue with local farmers and land owners to negotiate for anglers car parking which will make access much better. To top it all they also re-stock the cut regularly! It certainly bodes well for the future and I can see myself thinking seriously about investing in a Southport card for next season, they have some crackin' waters as well as the Rufford arm. Makes you think don't it :)
Just a word on this weeks' poll, I reckon if I run the same one in the summer the commercials will take it by storm but they're all in hibernation at the minute according to Paste-'ead. It was still split with almost half voting for canals and half voting for commercials or lakes.
What's next? Well there's the teams-of-4 on our cut coming soon but I'm not planning on fishing it unless needed. I'm headed to the Catteries next Sunday where Banksy's running a few Sunday opens. It's fishing as well as anywhere at the minute and there's been a load more fish stocked recently so I'm looking forward to it. But it is winter so I expect it to be peggy nevertheless. Draw 9.00 am, fish 10.00 'till 3.00 and the cafe's open at 8.00 in t'morn. Not sure how much but maybe Banksy will let us know on 'ere.
So that's that for another week, days are gettin' longer, current bun will be up soon, summer's on it's way!
'Till next time .... tight lines :)