Saturday 17 October 2015

Fly Fishing - The Quest for Irwell Chub

My quest for Irwell Chub has taken me further afield around the Irwell, generally walking an hour or two too a new run, fishing the deep holes and slow runs, but still the chub have avoided me. The trout have not come in too big a number either thankfully but the one's i have had have all been nice trout, one i thought for a second was sea run it was that silver, only darkening off to a creamy mushroom colored back.

Now these little adventures haven't been all bad, in fact i've found some cracking spots to fish especially during the school holidays as they are hard to reach and dangerous to the foolish.  Thankfully the water has been crystal clear and easily 5 foot visibility allowing me to see the dark deep sections and the dangers underfoot. Creating a mental map of the areas for the future.

I have been under aquaducts and bridges, to old rotted wooden weirs to hair pin bends against 100 feet cliffs with a deep pool to match. How many dogwalkers? None. I have fished alot of last light water, it is amazing how quick the dark can come on so i'm always giving myself plenty of time to get out of the river before it is dangerous.

It's a damned shame there isn't any Grayling in our system as the water seemed so perfect in the places i was but that is the problem. It is sustainable it's just the amount of incidents that occur would kill them off in a year. But thankfully we have good people fighting our cause and maybe not to far into the future we will be able to reintroduce them.

But these chub are proving illusive, it's all trial and error and when i do finally manage to tempt one other than on the dry, which i won't risk in the off season, then it will be a tactic worth expanding on. Funnily the only course fish i caught was a small perch as i spoke to someone on the canal bank which i use to quickly navigate the river.















9 comments:

  1. On the Goyt, the chub only go so far up the river, gradually petering out in their numbers as you get higher. Only trout, grayling and oddly, the odd perch remain. (excluding bullheads and the like). Are you sure there actually are significant numbers of chub where you have been fishing?

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    1. i've seen chub throughout the summer, mainly noticing these due to the shear size of them, it's easy to notice the big rocks in a river compared to the small ones. both upstream and downstream of where i have been i've spotted them and caught chub significantly further up the river. I know alot of barbel get caught in and around these areas, well when i say alot, i mean people will go to these pegs to catch barbel as they've been caught there enough for it to be a prime spot.

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    2. There is some delicious fly water in those photos and I will be doing some exploring myself next Spring when the trout season starts again . Catching chub on the fly seems to depend on the river as much as conditions , with some rivers far more productive than others . Over the last few years the three rivers I have fished most have been the Ribble , the Lancashire Calder and the Yorkshire Calder , always on the fly but not specifically for chub . Small chub take the fly quite readily on some stretches of the lower Ribble , particularly shallow , weedy lengths close to Preston .Further up they get harder to catch and I never get chub around Clitheroe except the odd big one at night when fishing for sea trout .I used to fish the Lancashire Calder a lot , thinning down after a flood I often caught 2 at a time on little gold heads but I've never caught chub on the Yorkshire Calder . Almost all these chub have been caught in Summer.
      The Irwell is very low and clear at the moment and I would think chub would be very hard to catch on fly .It would be very interesting to fish a big muddler after dark on a summer night in clear water , or a fry imitation or fly spoon when the water is fining down after a lift - again in the warmer months .

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    3. i've been trying to take advantage of the low water as i expect them to be in the deeper pools, so effectively using the river level to isolate them in a pool. however pools are very expansive in terms of depth and if your not at the right level then your not going to get one, until i find that optimum depth i won't know. i'm only fishing the irwell at the moment as i don't drive but have seen chub throughout the summer coasting around, so i know they are in these stretches, it's just trying to tempt them, might have to pull the old san juan out.

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  2. Some lovely photos there. I'm a big fan of chubbing but I prefer trotting to the fly, mostly because I can't cast one to save my life.Were all those shots taken on SFA water?

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    1. i think SFA have it now but i'm not sure, i think there's a future plan of application if not. It's all unclaimed if not yet i never bump into anyone up here. Maybe because the roads are a distance away.

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  3. If you don't mind I'd like a bit more info on these locations please.

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  4. if you go on google maps and look at the stretch from ringley road to pilkington way. due to its location once the rain sets in it will be impossible to get to till it drops. i'm 6ft 8 and at summer level it is waist deep so be careful

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  5. Thanks for the feedback buddy. I'll give it a once over

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