First Day

It's 4.15am on Sunday 17th June and I'm on the bank at last. The first surprise of the day is that the lake is around two feet above its normal level. The endless rain that is blighting June means that all the fishing platforms are submerged and to fish my favourite spot in the channel I'm left balancing on my stool on the slope that leads down to the peg. At least I had the foresight to wear my wellies.




With the water level high I'm forced back up the bank.

 

I set up two outfits. On the Anon Shaw cane rod with a Mitchell 300A loaded with 6lb line I'm legering a chunk of meat near to the reeds on the far side of the channel. to the left of the bush.  I float fish in the margin to my right with my favourite float rod an old Bacchus and Rhone Matchman's Peg. This has 3lb line on my other Michell 300A. On this outfit I have a homemade balsa and cane tench float and a size 14 hook and I alternate baits (worm, bread,sweetcorn and maggots), until I find the one that works best today.

At 5.20am I get my first run on the legered meat as a carp takes off like a train. It's not big. just under 3lb but it gets the cane creaking for a few minutes before it's safely in the net. My first fish of the new season. I quickly photograph it and slide it back into the water. I have a celebratory cup of coffee and a roll-up - it's a good start.

A few minutes later I pick up a half pound bream on the float outfit and another similar sized one on the legered meat. It's a calm morning and there is a short shower that has me sheltering under my brolley for ten minutes or so. A procession of small perch and a little dace fall to my float fished maggots. In all of last season I think I only caught a single perch so it is good to see them thriving in the lake. Eventually I get one that's a good quarter of a pound,
I'm enjoying myself now as it is always good to catch. However, it's summer and I have been dreaming of tench for weeks now, and so far the new stocking have been conspicuous by their absence. I decide to be a bit more Mr Crabtree in my approach and stick a big worm on the float tackle.Of course I catch another perch but I'm determined ( or desparate ) to stick it out for a tench. At just after 10.30am my dreams come true and finally get my first tench of the season. It's one of the new stocking and is a pristine fish of around ten inches long. I'm ecstatic. It also reminds me of the first one I ever caught back when I was just starting on my fishing adventure. That one also fell to a worm float fished in the margins. It doesn't seem to matter how old you get there is still that same thrill and excitement when you catch a tench. It's a fish that somehow seems to represent everything about fishing in the summer.The mist rising from the lake, the eerie silence of early morning, broken only by birdsong as the natural world wakes up and human kind sleeps in. This one fish makes the opening day for me.


I fish on for an hour or so and catch another carp on the meat. It's been a really good first trip out and I'm pleased with the mixed bag that I have caught. As it's Father's Day I promised to be back around noon so I pack up. I walk back to the car and I'm already thinking about the next trip out to my favourite tench lake.

Ready For The Off

So the waiting is almost over and the anticipation is reaching a  feverish high. My tackle is ready and I've just some bait to purchase on Saturday. I aim to be up around 3.30am and on the bank by 4am on Sunday morning.The only worry now is the weather. It doesn't look as though it will be the idyllic summers morning I'd hoped for so waterproofs and wellies will be the order of the day. You can't let a bit of unsettled weather get in the way of your opening day and the first chance to fish in three months. With any luck I'll get a fish or two. A tench and a crucian carp would be the perfect start.
If you are heading out this weekend I wish you the best of luck and my all your fishy dreams come true.

Along the Towpath to Wigan Pier (Part One)

I have little experience of canal fishing as my formative fishing years were spent on the ponds and lakes of the Forest of Dean. When my wife and I first moved to Lancashire we lived in the pretty little village of Parbold which has the Leeds Liverpool canal running through it. At that time I was quite obsessed with playing golf and so my free time was consumed by it. With the arrival of our son I had a new responsibility and free time became parent-time. It was then that I started regularly walking along the canal. I would talk to my son about canals and how the locks worked, point out the wildlife that we saw and tell him of the mysterious creatures that lived below the surface.I loved being by the canal. The soothing power that water seems to have on me was still there and I suppose it began to remind me of what I didn't know I missed.

Seven years later and my son is my occasional fishing partner. He's a bit short on patience so we need full on exciting fish a cast fishing- which we all know doesn't happen that much so I often go alone.
With roach in mind I thought I would give some of the often overlooked industrial sections of the canal a try When I say industrial sections I mean the stretch that leads up to Wigan Pier. Of course it's a post industrial landscape of retail parks and small industrial units now. The days when the canal was a vital artery for the transport of coal from the Wigan coalfields are long gone and what remains is a quiet corridor that allows the wildness of nature to sit close to the everyday trials and tribulations of a northern town fighting to keep it's head above the economic gloom of our current times.

The towpath to Wigan Pier

On a mild February afternoon I managed to snatch a couple of hours and find out what this stretch of canal had to offer. I found an inviting spot where the canal narrows with some overhanging trees on the far bank. I fed a few handfuls of hemp and loose maggots into the swim and set up a simple rig with a aged cork body antenna through to a size 20 hook on 2lb line. There was a bit of a swell due to a westerly wind and to be honest I didn't see the first bite. I picked up the rod to reel in and a roach of a few ounces was attached to my hook. Over the next two hours I caught 10 roach. All in prime condition with four of them pushing the half pound mark.
A week later I had another two hour session in the same stretch. However, in the intervening time someone had cleared the far bank of all the trees and bushes. I'm not sure why or what benefit it is supposed to bring. Thankfully I could still find the the same swim and I followed the same approach as before with nigh on identical results. Another 10 roach but this time only three pushing the half pound mark
I'm convinced that there are some bigger specimens lurking in this stretch so I intend to invest some time later in the summer and in to Autumn this season. Then I will try larger baits such as bread flake or sweetcorn on a larger hook and see if that produces a larger fish.
In the meantime I'm beginning to wonder about the opportunities for tench on the canal so I will be heading out to the Gathurst area once the season starts as there's an inviting looking spot that I've found.

Away from Wigan Pier where  the DW stadium dominates the landscape