Strawberry Way Forever

We went back to Cheshire Oaks Fisheries yesterday at Strawberry Way, Backford, Chester.


Since last week the central island has been strimmed and overhanging line catching briars pruned back to there is nothing to get hung up about.

Started with double pink maggot and an open ended feeder as this worked well enough for me last week and caught on the first cast.

After a few fish I decided to try "The Method" which is something I've not used before, 4" hook link with the bait inside the method feeder offering, I tried alternative baits, sweetcorn, pellet and maggot and tried both hair rigs and directly on the hook.



This way of feeder fishing is not something I am confident in and after an hour without a bite I switched back to the open ended feeder and a 12 inch hook length and was back into the fish.

A fellah mid way along the bank was steadily catching carp on the pole, I can see the logic of the pole but I do like a rod and reel.

Tina had gone to fetch us more coffee from the vending machine when the gentlest bite of the day announced the biggest and hardest fighting fish, with the fish in the net but my photographer still on the coffee run I reached for my phone and a leg of my seatbox collapsed and I was in a crumpled heap! So my photo didn't really do the fish justice but I didn't want to delay getting it back in.




I'll need to do a bit of maintenance on the seatbox, though I am looking at a Daiwa seatbox with a back support and also wondering about a feeder chair instead for venues like this, if anyone has experiences of feeder chair V. box I'd be interested to hear them.

You had a good day anyway Paul,(and at least you didn't end up in the drink when your box collapsed)
Like you,I prefer a rod to a pole,although I do have a 16ft whip.
There's less messing about with a whip,and I use it at the same time as the rod for the margins.
At the moment it's elasticated,but the trend seems to be to use them without the elastic.
Since having a whicker basket,I have always used a sturdy camping chair and a toolbox.
Fishing canals with a pole is tricky,with the pole stretching back behind you there is always the chance of a mountain biker running over it,or dogs running into it.
I can use a normal rodrest for the whip,and collapse it as I bring the fish in.
The 16ft whip is a bit long,so I might invest in a shorter one.
In my method feeder I use micro pellets and crunchy nut cornflakes ground up in a coffee grinder.I'm giving tiger nuts try,but they need to be prepared or the fish have digestion problems.(That's why some fisheries have banned them.)A tin of chick peas is handy,and can be flavoured on the bank.

Very good report Paul and some great pictures falling off seats is an age thing or to much to drink.

Kirky's Dad wrote:

Very good report Paul and some great pictures falling off seats is an age thing or to much to drink.

that explains that then!

Great report Paul, you're doing well. I envy you the coffee runner!

When I was a kid,bread paste and aniseed was a popular bait.
I got some aniseed powder to give it try.
They reckon it's got the most attractant qualities of all the bait flavours.
It came in a small polythene bag,I opened it for a sniff and reclosed the bag.The smell stayed in the kitchen for a couple of days.
Small boiled new potatoes were popular a well,also balls of mincemeat.
A lot of the old baits seem to have been forgotten,but they did work.

Not heard of aniseed attracting them but I'm staggered by the range of flavours on the market compared to when I was a lad when was it was worms, maggots, casters, bread in various forms, swan mussels in some parts, slugs ( yuk)
luncheon meat, boiled potatoes for bigger carp, hemp, tares,
stewed wheat and probably some stuff I've forgotten.

I've been watching YouTube as you suggested, correct me if I'm wrong but two 30 year olds referred to fish making  bow ( as in rhyming with roe) waves - shouldn't it be bow ( rhyming with cow) waves? I blame the use of "polyphonics" in teaching kids to read!

Oh and something else, when did dead maggots become a thing - not casters, but dead maggots?

Over the years,the English Language has had a battering.What people fail to realise is changing words to be modern,is taking the meaning out of the English language.The English language is subtle with depth of meaning.

They use dead maggots because they don't wriggle into the silt or bed.
A handful of live maggots soon disappear into the silt/bed.
It's also handy to save them by freezing what you have left.(just a quick freeze to kill them.)
Casters sink,and don't wriggle,dead maggots do the same.

VALVEBOUNCE wrote:

They use dead maggots because they don't wriggle into the silt or bed.
A handful of live maggots soon disappear into the silt/bed.
It's also handy to save them by freezing what you have left.(just a quick freeze to kill them.)
Casters sink,and don't wriggle,dead maggots do the same.

Ah right, thanks for the explanation