Outlook


Hot tips for winter angling


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AS WINTER extends her icy hand, with leaden skies’and bitterly cold winds which howl inces­ santly around your ears driving freezing partic-' pies of swirling sleet and snow into your eyes, the vast majority of the country’s anglers put their tackle away to await the advent of


Spring. Winter, though, can be a


most rewarding Lime for those anglers brave enough to face the elements and every year there are some great nets of fish taken, sometimes from the most


unlikely of swims. At this Lime of year many


types of fish seem to go into a sort of semi-hibernation and little is seen of them u n til th e th e rm om e te r shows a marked rise, at this lime of the year they will consume much less food than they did in the Sum­ mer months, and although they can .occasionally be tempted into accepting an angler’s bait this often coin­ cides with a slight rise in temperature. Kish such as Bream, Carp


MICK COOKSON says that there is still plenty of sport to be had at this time of year


m


natural food available for them, such as a bloodworm bed. SomeLimes the reason causing this rise in tem­ perature can be nothing more than the high walls of a factory or an old mill which may block the full force of the prevailing Win­ ter wind, or maybe a high bank could have a similar effect. Certain venues have the


angling press which often h ig h l ig h t a p a r t ic u la r stretch of water, or go along to a local match where you will be able to see first hand what is being caught from various lengths. Marsden Star’s stretch of


Taking advantage of the shelter of a bridge


added adv an tag e of an influx of warm water and these are obviously worth a visit on those raw Winter days when bites will be thin on the ground. A few year ago the Huncoat power sta­ tion length was such a place, with warm water being pumped into the canal at regular intervals, and if you were lucky enough to catch it on a good day a big net of quality Roach could be yours for the taking. One angler who caught it


and in particular Tench are often regarded as fishes associated with the Sum­ mer, and it is fair to say this is the best time to fish for them when your chances of taking a good bag is at its greatest. Winter is tradi­ tionally considered to be the best time of year to seek out fish such as Bike, Chub and Roach and many anglers, myself included, feel these fish are in peak condition at this time. - Both Chub and Roach


on just such a day was a local match angler Bruce Clark.


the Leeds-Liverpool canal invariably fishes well at this time of year, especially for Roach which pack into the area at East Marton, known as the Double Arch Bridge and it is one of the most popular spots on the whole canal.


eroe Road fished extremely well last year and I see no reason for it not to do the same this backend, while Barden Lane and Pendelfin will also produce their quota


of good fish. Rivers are perhaps the


venue you will notice it is s itu a ted in a dip which offers sh e l te r from the wind, and most anglers I have spoke to agree it often seems warmer here, and I’m sure the fish think so too! As I w r i te , good catches are already being recorded from this venue and signs are encouraging for the weeks ahead. Rishton is another good


If you look closely at this


tend to be shoal fish, and as the weather gets pro­ g res s iv ely colder these shoals become larger and more compact, often leaving large areas of canal, rivers and lake virtually devoid of fish. Anglers in the know can


have exceptional sport even in the depths of Winter by v is i tin g these hotspots which the fish pack into every year as the weather cools. The fish shoal in these


years ago it was a bitterly cold day. but Bruce was taking fish after fish on the caster, and what fish they were: good big Roach some well over the pound mark. 1 d o n ’t know how much Bruce’s catch weighed tha t day, b u t I would have guessed in excess of 20 pounds. Unfortunately the water is no longer pumped into the canal and so lost to us is a great Winter venue, although it is still capable of producing a shock and can’t be altogether ruled out. Probably the best time to


1 can remember a few


best bet for a really big catch, with both Chub and Dace making up the bulk of the weights on both Ribble and Calder, with the pegs a ro u n d th e m o to rw ay bridge at the Tickled Trout being probably the most sought after; again because the fish shoal there as the


a re a to t ry as W in te r tightens her grip. The canal here holds plenty of Roach and should provide excel­ lent sport in the coming months for anglers willing to give iL a try. Burnley and Nelson contain better qual­ ity fish and there will be no shortage of competitors for the several matches being run by both Pendle and Burnley District Anglers and Burnley Centre NAA, over the Christmas holiday period. The area around Clith-


areas because for some rea­ son or other the tempera­ ture of the water is warmer and sometimes there is also an ample abundance of


fish in Winter is between the hours of 10a.m. and 2p.m. when the air tem­ perature is often a little higher and a fish or two can be taken. Even so, there is no guarantee, and all of us at some time or other go home “Water lacked". To find the various hot­


spots you can do worse then watch for reports in the


to secure one of these pegs and anglers often go as far as to sleep in their cars to achieve this goal. Perso­ nally I’m no longer that keen, but for those that are the rewards can be well worth it, with Chub after Chub coming to the net. There are of course other


weather cools. An early start is a must


stick float and maggot, his weight smashed the Keigh­ ley five-hour match record for the river. What was interesting was the fact that the second placed angler was at the next peg and though he only weighed a little over 21 pounds, it was a sure sign th a t the fish were tightly shoaled. The River Weaver at


Winsford, where the fish shoal tightly between the b r id g e s on the aerosol length is another example of this shoaling phenomenon, and you can safely say the matches in the Winter time will be won on these few pegs more often than not. Last year the Winsford club instigated a keepnet ban to protect the fish, because so many were being caught by anglers who were travelling miles to sample this excel­ lent fishing.


■ there is a chance of a big catch at this time of year with the Chub moving into their Winter quarters. A match on th is r iv e r in October 19S8 produced a winning w eig h t of 115 pounds for Gomersal angler Nick Chaffer. All his fish were Chub, 48 in all, which he took on


good swims, but they arc all in big demand at weekend. Yorkshire’s River Aire is renowned for the quality ol its Chub, but it is a hard river to fish, but here to


th is time of y e a r , the natural instinct of the Pike is to follow them and once the shoals of food fish like Roach, Perch or Dace are pinpointed you can guaran­ tee good sport with these p re d a to r s . E v ery y e a r there are some very good Pike taken both at the Dou­ ble Arch Bridge and on the River Aire and some of these fish will weigh over 20 pounds. Canal anglers are often


plagued with these fish which will take Roach or o th e r small fish oft the hook, and I can remember fishing with Mick Ganle.v at the Double Arch last year when he had a Perch ol about 1 pound taken off by a huge Pike which was esti­ mated at around 20 pounds. The same thing happened to Langroyd matchman Barry Smith a couple of years back when he was fishing at Pen­ delfin. Pike anglers soon bear ol


was all happening under and between two road bridges w h e re th e r iv e r ru n s through a dip, either side of the bridges was like being in a different world, you would still catch fish like G udgeon and th e odd Roach, but you just could n o t com p e te w ith th e anglers under the bridges. With the shoals of fish packing into certain areas at


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these events and try these venues, and are sometimes rewarded with a good fish. At o th e r times you can actually see the big Pike striking and scattering the smaller fish, and I usually carry some Pike tackle with me at this time of year. So if we get a mild spell


over the Christmas holi­ days, and you’re sick of Turkey and mince pies, why not try an hour or two fish­ ing i t may tu rn into a Christmas to remember. □


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