17th February 2012

Well here we are again, another week gone, and at the moment in the middle of the half term break – break he said, with the grandkids running amock the only people on a break are the ruddy teachers.  Here are the river levels for today at least, God knows what the weekend will bring, another blast of Winter if the Met Office is correct for a change.

DANE ……………0.83 Metres (2.7 Feet)

BOLLIN ……………1.58 Metres (5.2 Feet)

MERSEY ……………0.65 Metres (2.1 Feet)

Last Saturday morning saw about 8/10 of us doing a work party on one of our newer waters.  This water  has for some years been negleted despite the fact that there are some large Carp in it, consequently over that period it has been used as a ‘fly tip’, the surrounding trees and folliage have become overgrown and it has been used as a site for general anky panky for the local youth (I leave that up to your imagination) – but you get the picture (not a pretty one).  Now the rubbish has been removed with the help of the land owner and some heavy duty farm machinery, and with a great deal of hard work the undergrowth has been cut back and the trees pruned to give all-round access to the fishable parts of the Flash.  To be truthfull  it is a credit to the team who have braved all weathers – mainly cold temperatures – in order to make this available to the Membership come the beginning of the season.  Most of the underbrush and pruned branches have been laid out around the perimeter to provide cover and nesting places for the wildlife that abounds on this water.  This is one of the Clubs main aims – to create habitat and look after the surrounding countryside of our waters, with this not only comes a pleasant locality for fishing but also the knock on effect that comes when other Land Owners see what we have achieved,  hopefully promoting them to come looking for us when they have other waters that are fishable or could be used as stock ponds and so on. 

I must admit that when I say “us” it was a sort of Royal “we” – with the  restrictions on my joints these day the only thing I was any good for was taking photos and boosting the moral of the Work Force.  I’m getting good at weight lifting – I wait whilst everyone else does the lifting.  Anyway at the end of the morning we were all damn cold, some of us wet, but all in all it was a very satisfying result.  CHEERS THE LADS.

As is the normal greeting for the weekend – whatever you are doing, do it well and enjoy.

Ni

 

Up Date

I have checked back and the article I reported on a week ago about river “rubbish” within spitting distance of certain Agency Offices,  and it appears that the photo does not come up – no matter where you click, however if you click on the web address:

www.eveningnews24.co.uk 

the newspaper article itself does.  Not only that it makes interesting reading.

Ni.

I MUST BE GETTING OLD – I’M FEELING THE COLD

Well what do we expect it is February and it is Winter, I know my friend Mike at Curley’s is not finding the weather a benefit, his Lakes are frozen solid.  If there are any of you brave enough to wade in this weather, whether it be for Grayling or Salmon, then I stongly suggest thermals, ‘cos with my aging limbs, (or the joints to be more precise), I’m afraid I will not be joining you.  Anyway here are the river levels or at least those that I can glean from the Environment Agency. 

DANE ……………0.58 Metres (1.9 feet)

BOLLIN ……………1.53 Metres (5.02 feet)

MERSEY ……………0.48 Metres (1.57 feet)

For some reason the EA have not yet included a little river called the Glaze, despite the fact that a few years ago they did stock it, and the Dace and Roach at least rise to the fly.  It  rises in Pennington Flash and used to be a tributary of the Mersey, but now runs into the Ship Canal just upstream of the Toll Bridge at Warburton.

I am rather involved in the ‘birth’ of a new club in the Altrincham area, which is taking up quite a lot of my time but I must say that at the present it is very rewarding and we are getting a lot of support from the local anglers, we are only small at the moment but you know what they say about acorns and oak trees.  We have about six confirmed waters at present but I believe our Water Development Guru is tirelessly working on nearley twice that number, hopefully by the late Spring to early Summer we should be looking at quite a variety of waters and a wide choice of fishing opportunities.  As I have said before – Watch This Space.

So be it, Have a good weekend and tightlines to you all.

Ni

 

Pot Calls Kettle …………..

I had an article “land” on my computer to-day which I would say is rather an embarassment to a certain Government body – it goes as follows:

Embarrassing River Wensum Rubbish On Defra’s Doorstep

Rubbish is clogging up the banks of the River Wensum, “alarmingly it is a couple of hundred metres from the offices of Defra, the Broads Authority, English Nature and the Environment Agency.” “The river is an absolute disgrace. It’s supposed to be our pride and joy in Norwich, and we can’t even look after it.” City councillor Bert Bremner “The river should be a ribbon of pleasure running through our city” …

www.eveningnews24.co.uk

 

Another of those oops moments which this bunch in power at the moment are so good at.  I’m not sure if the photo has carried across, so on this occasion we will have to wait and see.

 

Ni

Minus Four and Counting

But from all reports we are having it a lot better than they are in Eastern Europe – that’ll teach ‘um not to come over here nicking our fish.   For what it’s worth and I’m not going to trying the waders on this weekend, here are the weekly river levels that apply to us.

DANE …………… 0.44 Metres (1.44 feet)

BOLLIN …………… 0.80 Metres (2.62 feet)

MERSEY …………… 0.39 Metres (1.27 feet)

If anybody is interested the Dee at Farndon is running at 5.0 Metres (16.4 feet).  The Mersey reading has been included because as I have said before at Northenden – adjacent to the Camperlands Car Park it is a free stretch.  You may find yourself sharing the location with some of our “neighbours” from other parts of the EU – but I have checked this out with the EA and since it is a free stretch they are either unable or unwilling to do much about it.  Frustrating I know – but there you are.  Unfortunately other things such as “Dad’s Taxi” and such like have got in the way but I have every intention of puting some of my heavier single haded tackle to use on this section of river in the next day or so.  I did manage to get out for an hour or so’s prectice the other day with my friend Bernie, this was on grass and since we were casting nothing more that a wool tag we were hardly likely to catch anything but a cold – especially in this weather.  As an aspiring Instructor this has to be done, and I might add after a while it becomes addictive.

Talking of instruction Phil and Bernie are still very much in the business of catering for any of you who are interested in furthering your abilities – from complete beginer to the old hand who wants to iron out a few “creases”.   This reminds me – I have recently aquired a DVD from an aquaintance of mine, in fact he is a fellow member of the BFCC (sorry British Fly Casting Club), which if you can get around the technical stuff (most of which is mind boggling but extremely interesting and useful) is well worth the £20:00 plus postage, it is by Mike Marshall and titled Single Handed Distance Fly Casting and is available through the club at www.thebfcc.co.uk   Where else could you get just short of three hours of instruction from so highly a qualified and experienced angling Instructor for that price.

MOST OF ALL – AS I MENTIONED LAST WEEK – AS OF THE 1st OF THIS MONTH THE SALMON SEASON IS OPEN.

I will of course keep you informedof any developments.  In the unlikely event that I am sucessful in my pursuance of the Salmon this week end you can rest assured that you will not need this site to hear that I have caught.  The news will be announced at the top of my voice.

Take care and have a good weekend or indeed a good week. 

Tightlines

Ni