Purplepeanut007 PP007 FLOAT MAKING & FISHING ADVENTURES - THE RIVER IRWELL AND BEYOND.

For the last few months I have been trying to get John Derbyshire to join Little Britain Anglers. Two weeks ago I showed him and his pal Paul Johnson around our little club. Both were impressed with the set up and promised to join in a couple of weeks time. Today was that day. . . . . I arrived at 08.15 having already organised our session with Eric Owen & Mick Doddman. The lads weren’t their when I arrived so I took the decision to fish an un-favoured peg. “ The Sunken Tree Peg “  (The one I caught my first  Irwell chub on in fact) Leaving the fliers for the newbies. 😉 I decided after a quick try to put my favoured Irwell sticks back in my bag and took out a loafer as the pace of this peg is fierce to say the least as the run is spawned from some shallow rapids bellow the willow peg. It is a very difficult peg to fish on the float. The river cuts into the near side where there is a submerged tree. This peg screams big fish but only fish to ab...

I have managed ( eventually ) to put on the blog the video of the only River Irwell barbel I have caught from march 2015. I was playing the fish fine until realised what I had hooked then I fell to pieces with nerves.....lol The fish was caught from a private stretch of the Irwell run by  Little Britain Anglers Just thought we would warn viewers there is some colourfull language as we was a tad excited........😆 Below us a link to Little Britain Anglers Wbsite http://littlebritainanglers.co.uk/ Below is the link to the day I caught an Irwell Ghost !!!!!! http://purplepeanut007.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/river-irwell-barbel-another-dream.html?m=1 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 TTFN Peanut

The Last Day Of The Season  - 2016 Well, it’s come full circle again and it is the last day of the river season. I was at Salford Pets for 7.30 to make a few floats. One pike pencil for Kaden McCarthy who is a 14 year old prodigy, a member of Salford Friendly Anglers and is showing the adults how the catch pike in the Mancunian canals and a pair of Perch Bobbers for a competition in one of the groups I am a member of. By the time the floats were ready for lacquering it was 10.30. I had yet to sort out my river kit. It was a right mess from my last blank on the Douglas. (Something terrible has happened to that lovely little river) By 11.30 I was in the “ Mighty Megan “and off to a quite stretch of the Irwell, hopefully to bag a few chub…….may be even a barbel. Here’s hopping …. lol I wanted to christen my new Avon float which I had rigged up the night before. Knowing the run I introduced some freebies as I tackle up. The river looked spot on with a ...

12.03.15 River Irwell Barbel On The Centerpin & My Own Floats. Today was the last day of my river fishing season. I was planning on going to the river Tame but I got up late and the Traffic was really bad so I headed  off  to the Irwell to christen my Okuma Aventa VT 1002 Centerpin Reel.  instead. My first peg looked good but unfortunately no bites were forth coming and after two hours I called it a day. It was interesting though because Mick Doddy - an LBA member - came down for a while to get some idea of how to use a centerpin. Why he chose to watched me on the pin I will never know as I am shite.......pmsl. I gave Mick a stick float as he’s is going to supply me with some elder pith for float making. He also gave me some new lures to try.....Cheers Mick. My first swim drew a blank. I was off to a new peg when Mick left further upstream. My new peg was a shallow fast run, ideal for the Irwell sticks. On my fourth trot down" Boooooo...

Little Britain Anglers - The Beginnings - March 2014 I joined a new angling club last year in march , " Littlle Brittain Anglers ".  Check them out on Face Book.  It is a truly wonderful club to be in and bursting with friendly characters none more so than the Life Chairman and chief pollution fighter " Eric Owen Eric exposing yet more fly tipping on the banks of the River Irwell in Radcliffe. Eric and I hit it off straight away. We were both vigorously discussing a pollution incident via the Salford Friendly Anglers face book page when out of the blue I received a personal message off Eric asking me if I would like to fish his own personal stretch of the River Irwell near Bury or " The Red Zone " as it was known at the time.Well, you know me kids, it was like giving a 10 year old free sweets ................ I was down at Eric's house before you could say " stick float " ... lol. Now, I had heard about "The Red Zo...