Irwell Ladies On A New Rod & The One That Got Away

I have had some issues over the last few seasons fishing small overgrown spate rivers.

The summer and autumn tree growth over head has severely hampered my fishing.

I only have fourteen foot float rods so I commissioned Andrew Boyne to create a six foot float rod for me, something a little special to ensure I could fish without being hampered by the encompassing foliage

I have been patiently awaiting delivery of my new 6-foot float rod and today I finally got my hands on it.

😊😊

Both myself and Andrew arranged a social distanced fishing session to introduce him to a section of river I know reasonably well and to try out my latest acquisition, the new seven foot stream rod.

(Pictures at the end of the blog)

We kept in touch by phone ensuring no contact whatsoever before the moaners start.... lol

🤣

We obviously had to fish local so I/we decided on the River Irwell. Rumours were about of grayling showing in the river which had got our juices flowing

!!!!

As myself and Andy have never caught an Irwell grayling, we both thought it would make a nice target fish for the new rod.

I put Andy on a favoured run of mine and I squeezed in just above him.

Not much happened in the first 30 minutes on my run.

I was just about to tell Andy I was making a move when I saw his float rod hooped over and he was into the first fish of the day. A short time later a lively out of season brown trout was in the net and Andy was off the mark.

I congratulated him and he stayed for a while and I moved off to my next run.

................

Andy didn't like the look of the next run I had picked for him but I insisted he tried it as it can produce in all conditions.

Looking at the current level and colour of the river this run had the best chance of a stamp fish

Andy relented and said he would give it a go ....... but didn't seem happy about it!!!!!!

😆😆😆😆😆

😉

I trotted off upstream to try a run I had never fished before.

The river was a little too coloured and a little too high for me.

(we all need an excuse.... lol)

I was desperate to get a proper bend in the new rod so I wadded out to the run and had a trot down.

Half way down to the rapids the float violently jabbed under. With a quick strike from left to right and I was in..... into something......but it wasn't big.

I still netted it as it saved what may have been a blank and to my utter delight, I looked through the olive green landing net mesh and gazed upon my first ever River Irwell Grayling.

😲😲😲😲😲😲

😁

Like I said.... a small grayling but very welcome.

I took a quick picture, rested the fish in my landing net and was just about to message it to Andy when my phone pinged.... he had message me

!!!!!!

with a picture of a massive Irwell chub.

Fantastic!!!!!

It was caught on the float to which was even better.

😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

Andy’s float caught chub which weighed in at 3lb 10 oz, a good fish for the middle Irwell.

I gave my run another ten minutes without a bite then moved on.

.............

This last run I had chosen had a big overhanging tree above my head. The pacey current looked too quick for my set up but I know it produces when river levels are a tad lower so as Andy did, a little reluctantly, I gave it a go.

It was a wading peg so I carefully ventured out into the fast water but, in no time I was up to my

nickinacknoos....

and only a quarter of the way out. I couldn’t get far enough out to fish the run on the far side which was where I needed to be.

I backed up I decided to play it safe. The river could still rise and leave me stranded so I decided to fish the un-fancied inside run which I had just wadded through.

Due to the length of my more conventional rods I have always just shrugged and walked past the inside line on this run due to the overhanging trees but with my new seven-foot float rod it was not a problem especially if I got thigh deep in the river.

Andy had arrived behind me on the bank while I was in the river so the pressure was on.... lol.

I was getting into my rhythm chatting to Andy when, to my surprise, the float buried and I was into a better fish.

This felt like a grayling but I have been wrong before and didn't say anything immediately incase I was wrong.

" What is Mike, is it a grayling" whispered Andy.

The fish rolled near the sunken tree roots close in to my left just out of the main flow.

As I lifted the fish to the surface of the chocolate coloured water a long silver flank of a grayling flashed into view, she had one last burst for freedom before being encapsulated by the lading net.

"Nice one Mr Cootes" said Andy with a great big grin on his face.

She was a proper one to.

I had a bite straight after the fish above and hooked into a small trout as I was resting the grayling in the landing net.

😲😲😲😲

Bites were still coming on the inside crease and I hooked into another lady while Andy watched and took a few snaps.

As you can see, I was chuffed to bits.

Unfortunately Andy had to go at that point. He thanked me for a good day out on the Irwell

(He will be back.... his words)

I was staying until the light faded and that’s when the fireworks started

!!!!!

................

I had a couple more fish as I started to figure out this run.

Here is a link showing the grayling being stocked in 2019.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/133524476679047/permalink/2425632557468216/

It took me a while to realise that the fish where not where I had expected them to be.... they were right infront of me at my feet.

😲😲😲

I backed up a little more, threw some bait upstream to the point of the crease and left it for a few minutes. I repeated this tactic twice, cleaning my pin with a cloth and some home made lubricant while I rested the swim.

Ten minutes later and it was time for a trot though.

A little unconventionally I cast up stream and watched my Irwell Stick meander its way though the eddies and boils of the swim towards me until it was right in front of my feet where I suspected the grayling to be!!!

Literally at my feet the float dipped under, I struck home....expecting a little resistance frome a grayling or a small trout but...... the line went solid immediately.......with the rod bent double I slowly lifted something ..... up, up, up, close to the surface it came. I thought it was a snag at first it was that heavy !!!!!

When it did surface I gazed on a buttery yellow orange belly of of a monstrous wild brown trout.

I could not believe my eyes

👀

It was less than two feet in front of me, had righted itself and was just holding in the current

!!!!!!

I have caught 5lbers, seen 7 lbers....

but this one was MASSIVE

!!!!!

as soon as it realised it was hooked,

with one sweep of its tail paddle like tail it thundered off downstream!!!!

I was frantically trying to put some pressure on the pin and gain some line back when I realised for some reason, the trout had turned and was heading straight back towards me

!!!!!!

Once again, I was madly winding the pin.... desperate to keep in touch and get some tension back on this dog of trout I had just hooked

!!!!!!!!!

As my crazy pin winding finally caught up with the fish and I felt some tension return to the line I realised that the fish had stopped right in front of me where I had originally hook it

!!!!!

It was two feet in front of me once again holding in the current. A second later the fish exploded out of the water going air borne ragging its head in its quest for freedom....I could almost touch it it was that close

!!!!!!

These brownies on the Irwell really do go some I can tell you !!!!

The fish the shot off, porpoising into the main current.... again.... I could do nothing with it, the pin blurred with speed, the fish went fully air bourn once more shaking its head in an angry defiant dance to break free.

The pressure was just too much for my 5lb pre-stretched hook link as the fish ragged its head in the air for the second time, my line must have caught on its teeth and it parted.......the line went slack leaving me a little dazed but exilerated at the same time, deflated, with that empty, sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when you loose a good fish.

😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😭

This is why I fish the Irwell.

You just don't know whats in there

as Derek says

"Who Dares Wins "

!!!!!!!!

That fish would easily have been my biggest Irwell fish to date and smashed my brown trout record out of sight but she would have been caught out of season so would she really have counted anyway?

😪

Still...to be honest....

if you would have offered me just one grayling before the session commenced I would have taken it for sure!!!!!

So...my tally for the day was six grayling and one brownie....more than happy with that and the rod was fantastic

!!!!!!!!

Looks the part as well doesn't it

!!!!!

😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

.................

A BIG SHOUT OUT must go out to Mike Duddy, Phill Clayton and the SFA committee plus Ian Heys who all helped to return grayling to the River Irwell.

Let's not forget The Crafty Caster Man who gets me on the bank when I've lost my fishing mojo !!!