River Douglas - Post Pollution Session With " Red Headed Fred " . . . . .Lol . . . 😂

I haven’t been working much on a Saturday lately but been sucked into my house renovation so fishing has still been difficult to organise but a chance call from

“ Red Head Fred “

( John Derbyshire )

asking me if I fancied a quick rod sharing session on the River Douglas was well and truly snapped up !!!!!!!!!

We meet at Johns new gaff and he gave me a quick tour whilst grabbing some bits for our quick roving session. Fifteen minutes later we piled in his van an hot tailed it off to the stretch we usually fish.

Now, this stretch suffered from a pollution incident a few weeks ago. We were all still fuming so an exploratory session was needed to see if there was any detrimental affects on the resident fish population.

Here is the link to the pollution incident.

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/14776557.Chemicals_cause_of_river_fish_deaths/?action=success#comment_17041124

We only had three hours as I had to be back home for 17.00. As we arrived at our first run we both  commented on how good the river looked. I tackled up on of Johns

“ Irwell Sticks “

And John started to introduce one golf ball size ball of liquidised bread and white maggots at regular intervals.

I had tackled up and had a few false trots to find the depth. I tackled up so I had first trot down and with no messing about the float buried and I was into the first fish of the session. . . . .

I enjoyed the short spirited fight which ensued. The tell tail golden flash appeared at my feet as

“ Red Head Fred “

scooped up my prize and the first fish of the day was safely in the net, a chub of about a pound. 😊

“ Nice Chub that Peanut.
Now. . . .. you do your arty fart picture thingy and give me my rod “ . . . Lol.

I handed him his set up and proceeded to take a few snaps.

I hadn’t even got my camera out and “ Whollop “ John was in to. Another chub of around a pound.

We had around four fish each, all similar sized chub and one lone trout . . . . . .

Where were all the other species ???????????

Trout , dace, perch, roach , gudgeon. . . . . . . .  . !!!!!!

Good news that we caught,  but, a little concerning that the other species didn’t show up . . .especially trout. It could be nothing but we will keep a very close eye on what transpires on the Douglas.

We had a quick chat about where to go next. John sat there with his E-Cig looking like a  . . . .

Red Headed Leprechaun.

Here is a picture of John on the day !!!!!

LMAO !!!!!!!!!!
 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

We decided to spend an hour trying new swims
. . . . but unfortunately neither of us had a touch.

For the last half an hour we decided to go on the banker peg , a lovely sharp bend with good depth.

We applied the same tactics as before using liquidised bread and white maggots. The river looked lovey and it was my turn for a trot. I must have had ten trots down without a bite so I handed over the rod to the

“ Jammie Red Head “

And sure to form, first trot down

“ The Ginger Assassin “ slams into a lump !!!!!

He was never in any trouble with the fish as he was on quite a heavy set up but the chub could still throw the hook as it was a very snagy stretch of river. The fish nearly escaped twice into the reed beds on both sides of the river but John is no muppet and had her safely in the net after a few minutes.

A small river 2 lb + chub in beautiful condition.

I will never live this down will I John !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
😭

Ten trots for Peanut = 0

One Trot for the Assassin = A 2.5 lb Douglas chub . . . . . . . .lol

After plenty of pictures and when John had had his fill of micky taking we got back to fishing once more. For the next thirty minutes we tried all out float fishing tricks but we could not buy a bite . . . . . . . 😭

“ Doesn’t look good this Mike. I usually have loads of trout here a few dace and the odd gudgeon.
I have never been on and caught just the one fish on this pool and neither have you have you mate “ ?

Time was out now unfortunately. We had to leave. Not a bad day but we were still concerned regarding the effects of the recent pollution incident and the jury was still out as to the affects it has had.

Altough we had a few fish the species count was very low for this stretch of river.
We scored two when we typically scored 4 or 5 species. This is hardly a scientific test and the fish count could have been worse but off this sessions information it looks like the river may have taken a bad hit and with the recent pollution incident.

Hopefully we will have a more mixed bag the next time we visit.

Until the next time . . .

 TTFN . . . .

Peanut.

If you would like to look at all of the hand crafted floats I make please click on the link below and it will take you to my float page.

http://purplepeanut007.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/hand-crafted-floats-float-making-by.html?m=1

Join Salford Friendly Anglers for free and help us fight pollution.

http://salfordfriendlyanglers.co.uk/join/