26.09.08 River Mersey

[drynetter]

I was really looking forward to this, 5.15 came and I was out of work like a schoolboy finishing for the Summer Break.

Drove down to the River and as I got out the car there was a definite chill starting to take hold, So slipped on my jacket and started the yomp over the fields to the river.

Eventually got there to find a woman throwing sticks into the river for her 3 dogs... Aaaaarrrggh.

Undeterred I set up anyway so by the time I was ready she was long gone.

Had a quick plumb round and found a relatively snag free run through so off I went. Trot after trot after trot... nothing but kept plugging away and the float eventually buried. The strike met some resistance, and I mean some but very little. The culprit, probably the smallest gudgeon I've caught for a while. Kept at it for a while but the light was rapidly starting to fade so called it a day. One fish out of maybe 80 odd run throughs, not good statistics by anyones standard... But I had a little smile to myself on the way back to the car. Must be bloody mad!!!

The fishing wasn't great obviously but the journey home was even worse as I got caught in the traffic for Sale Sharks

So after looking forward to it all week, the return was 1 fish. One more than the last outing though, so there's improvement at least.

Thanks for reading.

[drynetter]

can't wait

Nearly s**t my pants when a heron flew round the corner, don't think it expected to see me stood 1/4 of the way across as it almost stopped mid flight and started squakking. Those things a loud.


Plenty of wildlife on there too... 1 Kingfisher and 2 Cormorants

[kermit]

There's more to this old game than simply catching fish. The build up, the expectation and the enjoyment of simply being there by the waterside. Sometimes the fish are a bonus - even if only a Gonk.

Keep up the enthusiasm Drynetter, the catch reports are always a pleasure to read (although a few more fish net time round would up the interest).

Mike.

[drynetter]

Originally Posted by kermit

There's more to this old game than simply catching fish. The build up, the expectation and the enjoyment of simply being there by the waterside. Sometimes the fish are a bonus - even if only a Gonk.

Keep up the enthusiasm Drynetter, the catch reports are always a pleasure to read (although a few more fish net time round would up the interest).

Mike.

I know what you mean, my season so far hasn't been too bad, but the last 2 trips have been terrrible.

There's always next time, or the time after that....

[Stig]

Were you directly below the wier or right down on the bend by King Rat . I think i would have been inclined to try a little further round the corner i seam to remember a gravel bar with a deepish run over to the far bank about a third of the way along the woods .However with all the rain we have had the river could have changed all that in the 2 months since i was last down there

[drynetter]

Originally Posted by Stig

Were you directly below the wier or right down on the bend by King Rat . I think i would have been inclined to try a little further round the corner i seam to remember a gravel bar with a deepish run over to the far bank about a third of the way along the woods. However with all the rain we have had the river could have changed all that in the 2 months since i was last down there

Half way between the end of the weir and the end of the woods. Fished in the deep water between 3/4 and full distance. The water is really quite pacy and only really got the knack of holding it back hard with a float of 4AAA. Thought that there may have been a few dace down there, but maybe next time. Definitely worth revisiting but maybe earlier on in the season next year. Think my efforts will be concentrated on my hunt for a Barbel out of the Tame.

So next weekend I'll get a few hours down there hopefully. But you never know, I could get a few crafty hours after work one night in the week???

[Stig]

Originally Posted by kermit

There's more to this old game than simply catching fish. The build up, the expectation and the enjoyment of simply being there by the waterside. Sometimes the fish are a bonus - even if only a Gonk.

Keep up the enthusiasm Drynetter, the catch reports are always a pleasure to read (although a few more fish net time round would up the interest).

Mike.

Catching fish from that stretch of the Mersey is especially significant to Drynetter ,Annwn and myself as we grew up in that area and roamed those same river banks. Back in those days all you would catch if you fished the river was 2nd hand bog paper ,used condoms or the occasional dead body . You never knew what colour it would be running from day to day Monday it could be dark brown and smelly but come Wednesday it could be orange,red ,yellow or blue . My childhood memories of what is now an excellent fishery is nothing more than a dye ,sewage and heavy metals polluted open sewer , which also flooded our school playing fields and the local park most winters.

To have been catching fish from it as early as the mid 80s is nothing short of a miracle in my mind

[drynetter]

Originally Posted by Stig

Catching fish from that stretch of the Mersey is especially significant to Drynetter ,Annwn and myself as we grew up in that area and roamed those same river banks. Back in those days all you would catch if you fished the river was 2nd hand bog paper ,used condoms or the occasional dead body . You never knew what colour it would be running from day to day Monday it could be dark brown and smelly but come Wednesday it could be orange,red ,yellow or blue . My childhood memories of what is now an excellent fishery is nothing more than a dye ,sewage and heavy metals polluted open sewer , which also flooded our school playing fields and the local park most winters.

To have been catching fish from it as early as the mid 80s is nothing short of a miracle in my mind

Exactly right mate, I get more out of having a few out of there than more or less anything else.

They're not the biggest fish either, but it doesn't matter. Every time the float buries it could be something special, you just never know.

[Stig]

Originally Posted by drynetter

Exactly right mate, I get more out of having a few out of there than more or less anything else.

They're not the biggest fish either, but it doesn't matter. Every time the float buries it could be something special, you just never know.

Thinking back to how things used to be they are all special from the humblest minnow through gudgeon ,roach,dace,chub,trout and the mighty barbel . 25 years ago if someone had told me the above mentioned species would be thriving in the Mersey i would have told him where to get of and that he was having a giraffe

[steve hurst]

Originally Posted by Stig

Thinking back to how things used to be they are all special from the humblest minnow through gudgeon ,roach,dace,chub,trout and the mighty barbel . 25 years ago if someone had told me the above mentioned species would be thriving in the Mersey i would have told him where to get of and that he was having a giraffe

A familiar story Stig, here in Stoke fish are thriving in the Trent down by Stoke's old football ground (RIP) and the Michelin tyre plant.

Just a few miles downstream in Stone there are carp, chub and barbel...you can even fish for them in a certain pub's beer garden...now that's what I call fishing...

[Sloaney]

Do yo have any of these in your stretch?



This is at Warrington

[kermit]

Originally Posted by Sloaney

Do yo have any of these in your stretch?



This is at Warrington

Wow - it never ceases to amaze me just how mother nature can thrive in areas once so polluted they were virtually devoid of natural life. If you had told me a few years ago that the Mersey would be clean enough to support a thriving population of sticks I simply wouldn't have believed you.

Amazing!

Mike.

PS

[Sloaney]

Just as I thought, you obviously don't know what you're talking about. That's a log

[tenchmaster]

thats where i fish for pike- where that salmon run is

its full of rudd n roach too

[Annwn]

Originally Posted by drynetter

Exactly right mate, I get more out of having a few out of there than more or less anything else.

They're not the biggest fish either, but it doesn't matter. Every time the float buries it could be something special, you just never know.

I tried near the flood gates a couple of times and gave it a really good go but results were rubbish

Also in the deep water near Simons bridge but that was only marginally better

The fish seem to be very localised and I'm guessing that due to lack of interest from Anglers in general, there will never be a serious stocking policy on the river. If it had been clean before the advent of carp puddles, It would have got the attention it deserves, I reckon.

Sadly 25 years ago, as Stig says, it ran yellow one day Orange the next but we still loved it. I remember Drynetter, behing the Galleon, catching a huge old battered Roach, getting on for 2lb over 25 years ago but I've still never seen one approaching that size, from the river since !!!!! Since it became cleaner And what happened to the Perch ? There were more in there when it stank of omonia and raw sewage and JB's used to be floating past ?

I don't know about Stig and D/netter but its been a big disappointment to me, when you consider the hours we spent down there as kids visualising huge Barbel, Roach and Chub

Maybe in another 25 years hey