First Pike of the Year

For the first time this year had a Walk Trolling session on the Bridgewater Canal, started at Oughtrington walk to the church stretch, caught nothing then walked back towards Agden Bridge. Got the slightest take I've ever had, which produced the smallest Pike I've ever landed, It can't have weighd 1 pound! see photos below.
The weather was dry but very windy, saw no one else fishing at all.

Freezing Day at Rixton

Over the years I've been fishing I've never had a colder more miserable day than I had yesterday. My wife dropped me off at 07.30, I got my favourite peg, no other bugger was daft enough to be there, the only problem was, my wife was going out for the day so I had to stay till she picked me up, which turned out to be 20.30.
By 09.00 I was shivering, the wind was cutting right through me, it didn't help that the fish didn't want to play either, it took till almost 10.00 till I landed my first skimmer of the day, caught on 6mm pellet. After sticking with pellet for 3 hours I switched to maggot, and the bites came thick and fast. I caught steadily for the rest of the day despite the conditions which included wind hail and torrential rain followed by thunder and lightning.
The highlight of a very bad day was a beautiful Roach of a pound in weight. I've still not seen a Tench this year at Rixton, but the weather has been strange, short warm periods followed by arctic blasts.
To make a miserable day worse, when I was cooking some Sausages I knocked the bloody pan over, dropping the Sausaged into some mud! so no tea either!

Having a Long Day at Rixton Tomorrow

I'm having a long day at Rixton Tomorrow. The weather is not looking good,just hope it's not as wet as today. I hope the Tench have come on the feed at last. I'll have a go for the Pike as well!

Day of the Skimmer

I had an eight hour session at Rixton today. The weather was overcast and disappointingly cold, very different from the weather over the past week.
I fished my favourite peg on the opposite side to the car park. I fished with my Quiver Tip rod, I started off using six mm pellets on a hair rig using an open ended cage feeder. It took a while for the first bite to arrive but when it did I was rewarded with a splendid Skimmer of around  One Pound in weight, this was followed very quickly by an almost identical fish.
After the first two fish the action slowed down so I switched from the hair rig to a standard size 16 hook, fishing double maggot.
I then caught fish steadily for the rest of the day, I must have landed over twenty five fish, all Skimmers. I must be honest but I hoped the Tench would be feeding, I saw no evidence of Tench at all,none of the other Anglers caught one either. I don't think the weather helped, it was defiantly colder than of late, with a steady northerly breeze.
Fish aside, the highlight of the day was watching the various birds that live around Rixton, I spent the day feeding a Robin, I didn't realise just how territorial Robins are, I threw a steady supply of Maggots to the Robin throughout the day, he accepted the lot, if any other bird dropped by to share in the largess, the Robin wasted no time in chasing them off. There was a beautiful Tree Sparrow who enjoyed the Maggots I was throwing for them to eat, but if the Robin saw the Tree Sparrow he attacked him.

Tree Sparrow

Aggressive Little Bugger

Having a try for the Tench at Rixton

Going to Rixton tomorrow, hoping that the Tench have started to feed. With the warmer weather over the last week I have high hopes of connecting with my first Tench of the season. I'm sure the Skimmers will be on the feed. The weather forecast is for cooler conditions than of late but it should be dry, which at Rixton is always a positive!

Bad Day at Rixton

The weather forecast was dead right, it was awful, we had rain and hail. What made it worse, hardly any fish I stayed 3 hours with just one Skimmer to show for it. I tried different bait but they just weren't having it today. I fished one of the proper pegs near the car park, don't normally fish that side, won't do it again!

Another Trip to Rixton

I'm having another day at Rixton tomorrow, once again hoping for the Tench to have begun feeding.
It's not supposed to be a good forecast, I'll just have to shelter under my umbrella.