Getting through the Minnow

Tuesday saw a return to the Meddy for another crack at the chub. Armed with all manner of baits I was brimming with confidence. Dropped in at Ashton angling supplies on Crowhill for some maggots, which really are quality bait. This tackle shop is my idea of heaven, cleanly merchandised, well stocked, and next door to a fantastic cafe. What more could a man want? maybe some free bait for the plug on this World famous website! To cap it all, this shop opens at 6.30am on a Sunday until 10am for all your bait supplies if you work on the Saturday. Not sure whether the old dear at the cafe next door bothers to mirror these opening hours though!

However today turned out to go nothing like the previous visit on opening day. Aside from loads of the little fellas pictured below getting a bite of any larger fish was a real effort.

The minnow were on the feed and in almost every swim I tried. No sooner was the bait in the water the tip was flickering as the maggots were demolished by these tiny fish. I am convinced they would eat as many maggots as you could throw at them. They were not shy of the larger hooks or heavier line either. I tried pellets to get through them but with no chub on the move everything I tried was proving fruitless. Aside from a couple of small trout, minnow were all I could catch. If I had taken a whip and light lines I could have built a tidy catch of them. Hard work though when you know there are big fish lurking.

I did finally settle on a swim that was devoid of them though and finished up with eight trout, none bigger than 1lb though.

So the fishing was not up to its usually high standards today and nor was the weather. I had to endure some heavy persistent showers throughout the day, which managed to dampen my enthusiasm as well as my mobile phone, which is now unrepairable due to the wet, but not my head due to the new Trekmates explorer hat from TK Maxx which lived up to its waterproof guarantees. This hat is quality so get down to your local branch and treat yourself whilst they are half price.

With little appetite for more fishing I did pick myself up for the Salford friendly anglers meeting in town in the evening. Tonight's meeting was to be followed by a fish-in on the Irwell. I decided to leave gear out to dry at home and watch some of the boys tackle a proper river. I was not to be disappointed as they managed to winkle some quality fish out of the river in the limited time before darkness fell, the highlights being a 2lb 14oz bream and a 2lb plus trout. Seeing these fish caught from a river that is generally shunned by the fishing population really cheered me up again. It will be a long time before the Irwell sees such a large group of anglers descend on its banks in one small area.

After embarrassingly having to borrow the landlord's mobile phone in the Dutton arms to summon my lift home, I reflected on a mixed day over a couple of pints of Hyde's real ale, and concluded that despite all the ups and downs, roll on Sunday to do it all again.