A morning on the River Medlock

This morning saw me determined to see in the new year with a fish or two from my local river. Having fished new years day morning at Clayton Bridge and ending up blanking, I decided to concentrate my efforts further upstream. At Clayton Bridge I managed to hook two fish, one of which was decent, but lost both to far bank snags. Today I joined the river at Daisy Nook and waded downstream for a few miles stopping at some of the more likely looking swims. The river was low and very clear, and only having trotting gear it became apparent I was going to have to cover some ground as deep swims were few and far between.

After stopping at several swims and failing to register a bite I arrived at the deeper slower glide below. Fishing a single white maggot on only my second trot down the sandy bottomed swim, finally the float buried. I was into a decent fish which was heading for the far bank at a rate of knots. After a few initial lunges the fish was in view, a beautiful chub, a personal best fish from the Meddy.

Managed just one more fish during the morning, again from the same swim and of a similar size. Again a pristine chub I would estimate 2-3lb

Only had the two bites all morning but both produced fantastic fish from such an intriguing river. No small stuff today and surprisingly no minnow eating the bait as fast as it goes in. I think there will be bigger specimens in this river, however the river is in need of some rain. A great start to the year though and encouraging to say the least. Walking back I took a detour to the once prolific Moorside Anglers section of the Hollinwood branch canal in Droylsden, now in a sorry state. I spent many an evening on this stretch in my childhood days, it is now completely overgrown.