Afternoon and Evening Session Ay Cicly Mill

Had a six hour session at Cicly Mill yesterday, the conditions were poor, a very strong wind with occasional heavy downpours.
I used my pole attempting to build up a good weight of fish, I wasn't disappointed, I must have landed almost Fifty small Roach with two small Perch thrown in for good measure.
I was hoping to hit a Pike or two, but saw no sign of any Pike attacks.
I had the mill to myself for most of my session, it's always a pleasure to fish the Mill, although the weather was against me I still enjoyed myself.
Once again during a break from the fishing I fed the horses who put in an appearance.

Having a try for the Cicly Mill Pike

I have another early finish next Friday so I'm going to visit Cicly Mill to have a go for the Pike.
When I was there yesterday I saw what looked like a number of Pike attacks, which sent the prey fish leaping clear of the water.
I'll take my pole as well, to try to build a decent weight of fish.

Cicly Mill 7 September

Had a six hour session at Cicly Mill yesterday from 2 p.m. onwards. Fishing was was very poor, everything looked right,it was nicely overcast, fairly humid with very little breeze, but for some reason the fish weren't playing at all.
As it was early Autumn, traditionally a time of plenty,I'd been optimistic of plenty of sport, thinking today, would be a day of none stop fish. I was hoping for a 'day of plenty' this would help dispel the dark thoughts of the oncoming Winter
Speaking to Angler next to me, he said the morning session had been good, he had 12 Crusian Carp but from 1 p.m. it had 'gone off', such is fishing. Another Angler, fishing an early morning session had caught the 'Big One', a Common Carp of 31 Pounds
All through my session, a couple of Large Carp had been 'cruising' up and down the lake, their backs clearly visible in the shallow water.
Through out the session there was a strange 'melancholic' feel to the lake, never experienced that feeling before at the Mill.
Around about six p.m. I began to think it would take a 'Lazarus' like resurrection to bring the fish back on to the feed, normally at this time of the year, this is the time, when the lake would come to life, fish feeding bubbles would be visible, fish, 'topping' would be clearly visible, but it just didn't happen
I used a feeder approach, using a mixture of Sweetcorn, Fishmeal Pellets,Boilies and Luncheon Meat, nothing worked until around 7p.m. when my tip flew round, I was connected to beautiful Crusian Carp of around Two Pounds, Crusians put up a spirited fight for such a small fish. I was delighted, as it was my first Crusian for almost 3 years, they rearly are a splendid fish!
That was the end of the fish for the day, as I'd had an early finish from work it was a very pleasant way to spend a Friday afternoon/evening, even though sport had been poor!
The highlights of the day must have to thousands of Dragon Flies all round the lake, there was Blue, Red, Green and Brown ones, of all different sizes and shapes. I also made friends with a couple of horses in the field behind my peg, I ended up sharing my biscuits with them.

 

Friendly Hungry Horse

 

The Mill was looking Beautiful today, as it always does.

Calm Surface of the Lake

View Across the Lake

 

 

Afternoon and Evening Session at Cicly Mill Tomorrow

I have an early finish tomorrow so I'm making the most of the good weather and having an afternoon and evening session.
I'll target the Bream at first but as the light begins to go I'll have a try for the Tench. I'll be using my Telescopic Feeder Rod with a Groundbait Feeder and a Hair Rig set up. It would be nice to hit a Crusian Carp as I've not had one for a couple of years.
This be only my second visit to Cicly Mill this year as I've been concentrating on Rixton Clay Pits for most of the year.

Autumn Arrives

September has arrived and it's time to go back to work, would you believe it the weather for this coming week is excellent, just typical I've had three weeks off work, with rain most days, I now have to go back to work and the weather picks up. This summer according to all the experts has been the worst since records began. We managed only four days camping this summer and we had rain during those days. The weather caused me to stay off the rivers apart from one visit to the Bollin.

I'm going to Cicly Mill on Friday, I have an early finish so I can get a good six hour session in, I'm hoping to connect with the Tench and with luck some of the Crusian Carp Cicly Mill is famous for.

This could well be my last try for the Tench as the nights are drawing in fast now, September is a strange month, the weather can be good but it can also be very wet and cold. By the end of September an after work session is out of the question.

With the oncoming Autumn my mind is shifting towards the Pike season, I'm going to give the Bridgewater some serious attention, following the recommendations from the Warrington Anglers web site.

I'm hoping to try for Pike in Grey Mist Mere, which by all accounts are BIG!

This early part of the year I've concentrated on Rixton Clay Pits, which I've been successful in landing some very good Skimmers and a few nice Tench, including my personal best, a Tench of six pounds. The Skimmmers came on to the feed in March and have kept going all through the summer, bad as it was.

Lets see what the next four months hold in store for me, before the Winter lay off.

I hope all of you reading this had a good sumer and caught some nice fish!

Eight hour Session at Rixton

Had a long session at Rixton today, starting around lunch time through till 20.30, the weather alternated between threatening clouds and bright sunshine, although the temperature was very disappointing.
Sport was slow in starting, but once again the ever dependable Skimmers saved the day. It took till around 2pm before I caught my first fish, my casting was all over the place today so I was scattering goundbait all over instead of concentrating it in one small area. Just couldn't concentrate today.
There was little evidence of the Tench feeding during the day
Up to the end of the session I caught Five Skimmers all around One Pound. As the light began to go the Tench began to come on the feed, at eight o'clock I hit in to a good tench of around three pounds, which was a good end to the session.
I saw the usual array of wildlife for which Rixton is rightly famous, Kingfishers, herons and a huge Rat.

Rixton Looking Beautiful

My one and only Tench

A Nice Skimmer

Three Afternoon & Evening Sessions at Rixton, With Rain and More Rain

Spent Saturday, Sunday & Monday Afternoon and early evenings at Rixton, the conditions on all three days were appalling, never have I fished in August in such heavy and continuous rain, the Clay Pits were a quagmire, all my gear was filthy, and I do mean filthy. I had to completely wash everything I took with me before putting it away.
On the positive side the fishing was good, I caught some nice Skimmers of over a pound in weight, but more importantly I managed to catch a Tench on each visit, Including my biggest ever Tench of six pounds.
I used a Hair Rig set up using Sweet Corn, Spam and Fish meal pellets, this set up seems to be the definitive set up on Rixton. I managed to keep my casting fairly accurate so my groundbait was kept to small area thus concentracing the fish in a smaller area.
All the Tench were caught in the last hour of each visit, just as darkness was falling, I'd forgotten just how powerful a fight they put up, my Telescopic Feeder Rod was bent double, it felt wonderful fighting with my favourite summer species.
The tench I caught tonight had the most awful growths on it's head, to be honest it looked like the Elephant man, I was in two minds weather to knock it on the head but it was feeding so it cant have been too ill, it put up a splendid fight!
As I'm off for the next week I'll have a couple more sessions before I return to work, I had hoped to get on the Bollin, but in these weather conditions it would have been unfishable.