Old River Match 12th May

Our last match on the Rochdale Canal which was held on the 29th April was a disaster.
As we approached the turnoff on the M62 the ice warning alert on my dashboard started to bleep and flash - and when we pulled up in the car park my car door was nearly ripped from its hinges by the ferocious wind which was whistling down from the pennines.

As the time from for the draw approached, it was decided to switch venue to somewhere a little more sheltered as fishing our chosen match length would have been impossible. More like the North Sea than the Rochdale Canal.

So we chose a spot between some factories near Mills Hill Station which we thought would give us a little bit more shelter from the elements. In short - it didn't.

10 anglers started off - with 3 packing up after an hour, with the rest of us calling it a day after 2 hours. It was impossible to hold a pole, or even read bites on a tip as the wind was gusting hard from all angles.
I caught a skimmer of about 6oz which gave me first place in the match.
To be truthful i didn't even see the bite - as my pole was swept from right to left by a gust -  but the fish was hooked fair and square in the mouth so I happily claimed it. My hands were so cold, i couldn't grip the skimmer properly and I dropped it between un hooking and the keepnet - so it nearly didn't count.
But count it did - and my £30 winnings went back into the restocking fund.

So looking back on the matches we've held so far this year - they've all been rock hard  - with low weights predominating.

Which brings us to our next match which is being held on the Old River in Irlam this Saturday the 12th May.

For those of you who don't know much about it, the Old River is a still water, used to be the river Irwell until it was cut off and turned into a still water when the ship canal was built.

Its shaped like a river - steep sides to the margins, 6 to 8 feet deep in the middle.

It was polluted in 2008 and thousands of carp, bream and tench died.

Since then, its fished badly - though we had two matches there last year, where a lot of small roach were caught on pinkie and bread punch.

The winner had just short of 3lb on punch.

There are some decent eels in there, and one lad had two for 2 and a half pounds and lost another at the net which would have won him the match. 

I was down there the other day, and saw some decent fish rolling on the surface - so it looks like not all the big fish were killed in the pollution incident.

Last years fish will be that bit bigger, so i think the place is well on the road to recovery.

Pole tactics will probably win, but i think I'm going to go a bit mad and fish a method feeder or hemp and caster and see if i can catch a lump.

See you Saturday