The good the bad and the ugly

Me and a few mate's had a little lure session
on the canal today.

We met at Mcdonald's in gorton at 8:30am
which is right next to debdale park Reservoirs
I've not been on Debdale for ages so I got here
early and had a few cast's for half an hour
and it looked good.





Once we were altogether we decided to fish Hyde canal for a change
and wished we hadn't bothered because it was a **** hole



We fished for an hour and with the amount of rubbish we was pulling
out on every cast the we decided to go to Ashton



We fished Ashton canal for the next 4hrs without a single fish between
the 4 of us  and to make matters worse we come across two decent
dead fish 1 pike and a roach







We knew the fishing would be slow this time off year but It was dead!
roll on summer we'll soon be making daisychains in the sun

Great report/pucs stevo
Shame the fish didnt play

We'll you tried hard, they are there somewhere.

Getting out does it for me, worth a try though.

Best time for pike in ashton canal is coming up to the breeding season,they hatch out first so they can scoff the rest of the new fish when they hatch.
The ladies are full of spawn,so there are some big ones to be had.The females are always bigger than the males.
I think the males max at 15lb.
The jacks will be chasing the ladies for a "fin over"soon.

Great shame about the dead fish and the pollution
Look forward to seeing your Daisy chain

stevo wrote:

Me and a few mate's had a little lure session
on the canal today.

We met at Mcdonald's in gorton at 8:30am
which is right next to debdale park Reservoirs
I've not been on Debdale for ages so I got here
early and had a few cast's for half an hour
and it looked good.





Once we were altogether we decided to fish Hyde canal for a change
and wished we hadn't bothered because it was a **** hole



We fished for an hour and with the amount of rubbish we was pulling
out on every cast the we decided to go to Ashton



We fished Ashton canal for the next 4hrs without a single fish between
the 4 of us  and to make matters worse we come across two decent
dead fish 1 pike and a roach







We knew the fishing would be slow this time off year but It was dead!
roll on summer we'll soon be making daisychains in the sun

I fished that stone jetty in the early 80's,top end on the left,right next to the wall,had some nice Perch out on a few occasions.They stocked that reservoir with Trout around the same period.
If you walk along a bit to the overflow,when the new hatch is out,there are tiddlers caught in the steps of the overflow on each level.I have often wondered if the brook had fish in it where it goes through the park on the other side of Tanyard brow.
I talked to a couple of Divers,they reckoned there are some big Catfish in the reservoir.
The favorite place for Chub was near the overflow at the top end.
I snorkelled at the top end near the concrete slipway,there was no shortage of fish.
I hate getting old and Knackered

There was a lot of fish in there at one point but its
an hard water to fish nowadays still some big pike
and carp though

I've just got 50 PVA bags,they work a treat in keeping your groundbait in one spot.
I think the reservoir is about 30ft deep,and the area needs a lot of bait concentrated in one spot.Even a swim feeder is not enough,although they are used by a lot that fish it.
I think once you get the fish interested you would be on a winner.I've got some big cage feeders that would probably do the deed.
The Pike are still in 1st gear winter mode at the moment,they won't chase lures etc.
I've got a bubble float setup ready,it can be set just above the bottom and trolled at your own speed,going to try sprats on it when I get a chance.The beauty of it is,it doesn't drag crap off the bottom.You can still use a lure instead of a sprat,and with a bit of added weight you can cast a long way.(keeps you out of the scare area)I use clear bubble floats,they only make a ripple.

Nice try Steve good set of pictures. Maybe you could of tried make Snowdrop chains at this time of the year if your looking for something to do while the fishing is slow.