Silver Suprise - River Irwell Session With the " Ginger Assassin "
A planed trip with John Derbyshire to the Rivers Douglas & Yarrow did not happen due to
“ John The Pussy Derbyshire “
Having been bitten by a fly while working on his landscaping business.
John was quoting for a job in Middleton first thing in the morning and as soon as he fished he asked if I fancied a few hours on the River Irwell.
“ Anything is better than nothing “ I thought......
Within 30 minutes we where at a local stretch of mine. I put John on a peg I new fished well last week and I headed further upstream hoping for some big chub.
The river was very low and clear, so low I could wade out to the run I wanted to fish. Maggots and hemp were the baits plus a small amount of ground bait to tempt any small silver fish, if present.
A 4 no8's “ Irk Stick “ was my float of choice.
These are great for trotting under the rod tip fishing with a pin on the drop.
I had a few exploritoritory trots down without bait on my hook to get a feel for the run. I was lucky. The run had not been changed by the boxing day floods of last year. I had been feeding the peg whilst searching it so by the time I was ready to bait up the fish should be stacked up. . . . . lol.
The first trot down produced . . . . . Nowt,
as did the second and third. It wasn’t until the eighth trot down that I had a good bite. No messing, straight under and I was in. It wasn’t a good fish. I thought it was a little trout but as I brought it closer I realised what it was . . . . . A roach if around 4 oz.😲😲😲😲
I couldn’tt believe my eyes. I have fished this stretch for over two years and in that time I had never caught a roach. I was well chuffed. Great to see and the session had gone from poor to brilliant in the space of fifteen minutes.
“ I am gonna have to tell Casterman about this. He will be over the moon “ I thought.
Happy with my modest roach capture I trotted my little “ Irk Stick “ down once more. This time the float buried and the Acolyte hooped over and I was into a proper fish. She headed straight for the tree roots on the other side of the run. I thought she may be a big chub until I felt the tell tail head shakes of an " Irwell Brownie ".
After a 5 minute battle she was safely in the net. She weighed around 2.5 lb and gave a great fight in shallow water.
I gave the run a little rest after the disturbance of my last fish and gave John a call.
“ You had out pal “ ?
“ Nowt ".
"Had a few bits and lost a good fish but nowt for a while now Mike“
came the reply off John.
“ Try the next peg up pal.
I have fished there in the past and done well “
I said, hoping my m8 would start catching.
I put my phone away and waded back to my run to start fishing again. First trot down and my float bobbed twice the disappeared. I struck into a smaller fish again. I landed it with little fuss expecting it to be a little chublet. As I looked in my landing net I realised that it was another decent roach. . . . .
MARVELLOUS . . . . .
Two Roach in one session, uncommon for this stretch of the Irwell nowadays. We usually just catch trout and chub. I had another four good trout after that. All fighting like the Irwell tigers they are. I thought I had better check in with John again and see if he has caught. A quick phone call later he relayed that he had had half a dozen decent trout but no silvers yet. I was just glad he caught something. John has taken me to three new places.
The Tench Lake,
The River Douglas
&
The River Yarrow.
ts always nice to return a favour.
Johns swim had dried up so he had moved to a peg upstream from me. I carried on with my swim. Things had slowed a little but I thought there were still some fish to be had. After a bite less 30 minutes I had a tentative nibble. This time a little chublet was my prize, followed by another. . . .
GREAT NEWS THIS IS !!!!!!!
Four small silvers in one session. Good news indeed. A definite report will be going in SFA & LBA let them know.
A few more good trout followed in the 1.5 – 2.5lb bracket and then we called it a day.
“ I really enjoyed that Peanut “. Now I know where to go I will deffo be back “ said John.
“ No worries pal. Nice to take somewhere for a change pal “ said I.
We packed up quick sticks and headed back to the van.
I had a thought, as we shared a can of pop.
“ Would you like to see the LBA stretch while you are up here John “ ?
“ Deffo Mr Cootes. Can we fish it now “ .
“ I can mate but you can not . You need to be a member pal “.
We arrived at LBA HQ, walked through the gate. Eric was there to meet us.
“ Eric, I have a possible new member for our merry band “.
“ Walk this way sir and I will give you a tour “ said Eric.
We did the tour and I could see John was very impressed. We showed him the club house / Mancave and that was the clincher.
“ Right , where do I sign Eric “ chuckles John.
After Johns promises to join LBA we said our goodbyes and headed off home.
Even though the big chub did not put in an appearance we had a
great days fishing
And a good laugh.
And a good laugh.
I think John will be back . . . . . 😉
Until the next time . . . . . .
TTFN
Peanut.
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