AddictedToScopex

That certainly sounds like good reasoning. I would love to avoid the carp at times when wanting tench etc. Maybe I need to go after a match too. I've been back on the river for a bit now.

I have hung up the dog biscuts now as I found that side by side bread far out fished them. My brother and I did a few side by side comparisons and the fish ignored the biscuits when the bread was present. I found banding the bread made it far easir to work with and hooked better too

Thanks guys. Been a crap few months as we also lost my grandmother 3 months earlier. All we can do is keep pushing on though and doing our best. Cheers for the advice Ken. I've just put some 10lb fluorocarbon on one spool to give that a try. Someone else had mentioned Berkeley Nanofil. Sounded similar to some spiderwire ez braid that I have. The EZ braid I tried was ok at first but it soon lost its rigidity that the coating gave it and then it was back to wind knots and other annoyances. I may have to get a spool of fireline to see what it's like. The other braid really tried my patience.

Again I am not from those parts so don't know anything about the waters but welcome along.

So this morning I was looking for something to do to take my mind off my grandfathers funeral tomorrow. He was like a father to me and so it has been a lot to handle but thanks to escapes like fishing I am managing to get by. I chose to pick up my lure gear and go for wander down the river. I was hoping for some perch action but also secretly hoping I would be lucky enough to catch my first ever river pike. I got to the river on a free stretch and saw it was very low indeed compared to all the other times I have been there this year. I didn't hold out much hope as the swim I was hoping to fish had been made inaccessible by loads of exposed mud which looked very slippery and dangerous. I walked down the river and tried a few casts but given it was also sunny as hell again I held out little hope. A bit further down I had a really good chat with another angler who gave me some pointers for the river carp (which is my other target for this year) and he also told me of a hot spot for pike. I walked on and to the spot but again had no luck and my braid was constantly knotting which was driving me mad. I must have gone through 100m of braid in retying my rig after knots. I plan to try a coated braid next time to avoid the knots. I made my way back down the river and had a few casts here and there and then I noticed that due to time passing there was now a great shadowy area covering half of the river. I thought to myself that if any preds were to be active then this was pretty much the only area as it was dark and the water was coloured. I had many casts without success and more knots. I was just about to give up when I had the thought that were my grandfather here he would encourage me to keep on and not give up easily. I decided to stay in that spot for a few more casts working my lure through the shadows. I went a few more casts with no action and then just as my lure reached the edge of the shadowed area again I felt a sudden tug on the line followed by a few yards being pulled off the reel. I had something on. I thought it was a big perch at first as I have had them from this area before but I felt there was something different about the fight. It wasn't erratic enough. I worked the fish to the edge of the shadows on my light gear and then I saw the fish. It was a pike! My first ever from the river. I remembered that I had just a single hook jighead on and then became very aware then I had lost canal pike before on single hooks. I played it in quickly and slid the net cackhandedly underneath it. It was in the net!!! I almost jumped for joy! I felt my grandfather had had a hand in this catch and it felt very special for me. I unhooked the pike and took a few snaps and then slid it into the water. It wanted to go belly up so I supported it with the net until it held itself up. It sad in a huff for a good few minutes in front of me and then it swam a bit further and sulked for another 5 minutes before it shot off back into the shadows. I was made up and still am. It was only a jack but my god did it feel good. I went back to chat to the chap I met earlier and he was happy for me too and we had a good talk for a while before I walked back to the car. Mission accomplished. Pics below. I should note that the last two show the pike sulking further out. You will have to look closely You can also see the shadowed area I was talking about.

You could be right John. I expect they will hybridise in there. It did put up a scrap too which surprised me so that may further support the idea. Ian, Yeah I expect winter will be a good time to get down there. Not sure how much luck I would have for bream in winter though as it is not something I have done much of, would they be feeding? Feel free to drop me a pm with any advice or spots

I think it is just the ease with which it can be used and the fact that everyone is already on there. I agree that I would rather be able to come on here and filter to view coarse fishing etc and generally the people on here are far better than those I seem to see commenting and giving grief on facebook.

Hi Ian, I think I know where you mean but I do like how quiet this bit is and that is what keeps me going back. I would think the other bit will be a lot more busy boats wise and walkers too. I did have a look a lot further up last year but it didn't seem to float my boat. I quite like the idea of seeing how big I can get them here too lol. I do like a challenge.

Thanks Keith. Fingers crossed.

I agree that for my generation onwards facebook seems to be the go to place now. I still prefer it here though. Maybe I am older than I think

Hi all, Well Saturday was a fun day as my daughter decided that she wanted to go fishing again. She wanted to catch 'mr perch' and 'mr sneaky pike'. She calls them mr sneaky pike now as last time we went we caught perch but no pike. She loves fishing already but wanted to bring her pink pond dipping net and I had to say yes We had a great day throwing the lures around catching mainly perch and this one tiny pike. My sister in law also hooked two good pike but sadly lost them both. They would have certainly have been a pb for her as we saw them at the top of the water just before they came off. Inexperience sadly but then you could also argue I could teach her better This tiny pike took a 1" shad on a jig head. We were quite surprised. We also saw another small pike earlier on that had a go at the lure as I lowered it in front of it but it didnt hook. Great to see them in there as at least the future looks bright for the lure fishing on there. Not so much for the other fish if the pike all grow to maturity It has turned out to be a great stretch since I was introduced to it (not saying any names) and I have spent many a good hour on there with some good results including the bream and roach I have posted below. I plan to stay into canal fishing as it can turn up some real surprises and has that element of mystery for me. I have been prebaiting a secret area with the hopes of pulling the big bream and tench in. Fingers crossed!

As a general rule when fishing somewhere new I tend to use black crumb combined with exploding fishmeal feeder from sonubaits with some hemp in it. If using maggots as hookbait i will include those too

It was wifi rather than bluetooth and it still failed.

Do you mean if it has leaked and broken it? A good tip is to clean the rubber seal before closing each time to make sure that no water gets in. I was pretty nervous about that also but the gopro held up well. If you meant that you may lose it then I tied a marker float round mind using 50lb braid so that if it came free of the staging I could simply hook the marker float and retrieve it that way. I have not actually looked for an FOV option but I will definitely check before next time as it does seem narrow but then that could also be because it was not at the right angle and stuck pointing down. It was a good first trip in terms of things to think about fixing for next time. I did think about lighting but then had the same thought as you regarding the fish being wary of it. Maybe another test I can perform. I would like to get a camera that can be connected to by wire as I was hoping to connect via the wireless to mine but as soon as it hit the water the wireless signal was cut and I couldnt see what it was seeing anymore.

I am not sure what changes I need to make just yet as this was my first go at it but I will be trying to get out again soon. Unfortunately we had a bereavement last week which has hit us all hard so things have been on a back burner since then. I think it was mainly the sediment in the water that caused the lack of vision almost like a fog. I was just happy to get to see something on there as I had expected to pull it out later and see nothing on the video.

Hi all, So I have begun to prebait a swim on the canal I usually fish in the hopes of attracting tench and large bream as this is going to be an Autumn goal of mine. I decided that as part of this prebaiting campaign I would also try to do some underwater filming as what better way is there to see if I have attracted what I am targetting. I decided to use my GoPro for this and rigged up a kind of stage for it to sit on. I attached some rope to the stage so I could retrieve it and also a marker float to the camera so that if it came off I knew where it was and also so I could feed directly over it. I chucked it in a few times so that I could see what it was seeing and unfortunately the water clarity was terrible on the day due to the wind stirring up the bottom. I did catch some fish on the camera though. On another video I even got a pike wandering over the camera which was awesome to see. This is a project I plan to carry on with as it was so much fun to watch the videos. I am going to do some on the river too. I will have to check the weather to make sure the water is calm next time and go midweek so very few boats have been through. Here is the link to the footage I got this first time. It isn't the best and I didnt edit it but you do see some fish in it which I thought was cool. Just a shame the visibility was limited to a foot or so.

I don't use it personally but I agree that the pole float silicone would be your best bet. You can usually get a set of it pretty cheap that has difference diameters in.

It depends what i am doing but i generally take a korum accessory chair too. If i feel like travelling superlight I will take my lightweight chair but I am a man that loves his comfort so usually its the former along with some memory foam cushions that are strapped to it. Lovely and comfy for a long day sat by the river.

I forgot to add brian that i have found the average size of the perch in that area seems to be much larger than elsewhere. There is a small section which used to be a pebble beach which is now sand due to bank collapses that my brother calls the nursery. He has fished that but for 20 years and said it has always been stuffed with fry so i am guessing the perch hang around and grow fat on them. We were looking at some with our head torches and could definitely make out barbel fry and what looked like chub too but hard to tell at that size. We also saw tiny elvers and even a stone loach. Must be a good sign of the health of the river.

Cheers fellas. Martin you are right that the camera never does the fish justice in either mine or my brothers hands. That barbel was an absolute brute and we were gobsmacked when it didnt go over 14lbs. I had had a double a few weeks previous that didnt look nearly as big and yet it was only one pound lighter. Ian, you are right there. You do get a few rough ones but to be fair we havent had any trouble from anyone. Most just want to see how the fishing is doing.

Cheers Ian. No I still have it but my brother let his go as he couldnt afford it at the time. I have deferred it for this year as I didn't think I was going to use it much this year. I have applied to RADAC also as there is a stretch they have that both myself and my brother really want to get on.

Just thought I would post about my last time out. Been a very long time since I did so Myself and my brother decided to have a go at the usual stretch we go to when targeting the larger specimens. It is a stretch of the Ribble know for producing some very large fish. We arrived at around 5pm and got our stuff sorted but I didnt rig up and instead opted to have a play with the lure gear instead. I have bought some really small 1" rubber shads to have a go for the perch. I made a few casts and then on the 4th or 5th cast I hooked into what I thought could be a pike. It went off like a train for a few seconds before darting around and pulling line occasionally. It was only when it was nearly to the net (the river was quite coloured) that I realised it was in fact a very large perch, by my standards anyway. I slipped the net under and then weighed it and it came in at 2.6lbs. A lovely fish for the river. I later moved the previous occupants nackered old chair! Shame I never took the photos as they really done do the fish justice at all. I carried on casting after this great fish and had another perch of around 6oz. Then a few casts later I hit another biggie. It took off again and was so nice to fight on my light lure gear. I got it in and weighed it and this one went 3lb on the nose! A new pb for me. Again with the dodgy pics!! I was really over the moon with this fish and decided to let my brother have a fish. He lost another large one near the net but then it went a bit quiet so I decided to sit back down and set up the barbel gear for the night. I cast in numerous pva mesh bags of pellets and then cast both rods in and sat back and enjoyed the sunset. We fished for a good few hours with not even a knock. This particular swim is not one we usually sit on but we wanted to try something new. I identified a spot that had a very deep hole and cast into it with 2 mesh bags attached. I waited about an hour and then I had a very slow pull. I thought that it was weed as the current was very strong that evening and a lot of weed etc was coming down. I lifted into it and it just felt heavy. It took a minute to feel a thump and a kick and I realised I was into a fish. I knew it had to be a good size but wasn't sure what it was and the heavy flow made me think possibly it wasnt that big but was just using the current very well. I played it for a fair while and then I slipped the net under it. I lifted it up and me and my brother couldnt believe how big it looked! It was a huge barbel. I weighed it and it came in at 11.5lbs. Another new pb for me. It felt like picking up a baby shark and I was elated with this capture. It was my second double figure barbel almost in as many weeks and after 4 years of trying. This stretch had really lived up to its reputation. in the end my brother blanked but I was really satisfied with my 4 fish. We went home around 2am as we were just shattered and we could tell it wasnt going to fish as well as we had hoped. Many had walked past us already looking beaten. Looking forward to the next time out!

Just thought I would post about my last time out. Been a very long time since I did so Myself and my brother decided to have a go at the usual stretch we go to when targeting the larger specimens. It is a stretch of the Ribble know for producing some very large fish. We arrived at around 5pm and got our stuff sorted but I didnt rig up and instead opted to have a play with the lure gear instead. I have bought some really small 1" rubber shads to have a go for the perch. I made a few casts and then on the 4th or 5th cast I hooked into what I thought could be a pike. It went off like a train for a few seconds before darting around and pulling line occasionally. It was only when it was nearly to the net (the river was quite coloured) that I realised it was in fact a very large perch, by my standards anyway. I slipped the net under and then weighed it and it came in at 2.6lbs. A lovely fish for the river. I later moved the previous occupants nackered old chair! Shame I never took the photos as they really done do the fish justice at all. I carried on casting after this great fish and had another perch of around 6oz. Then a few casts later I hit another biggie. It took off again and was so nice to fight on my light lure gear. I got it in and weighed it and this one went 3lb on the nose! A new pb for me. Again with the dodgy pics!! I was really over the moon with this fish and decided to let my brother have a fish. He lost another large one near the net but then it went a bit quiet so I decided to sit back down and set up the barbel gear for the night. I cast in numerous pva mesh bags of pellets and then cast both rods in and sat back and enjoyed the sunset. We fished for a good few hours with not even a knock. This particular swim is not one we usually sit on but we wanted to try something new. I identified a spot that had a very deep hole and cast into it with 2 mesh bags attached. I waited about an hour and then I had a very slow pull. I thought that it was weed as the current was very strong that evening and a lot of weed etc was coming down. I lifted into it and it just felt heavy. It took a minute to feel a thump and a kick and I realised I was into a fish. I knew it had to be a good size but wasn't sure what it was and the heavy flow made me think possibly it wasnt that big but was just using the current very well. I played it for a fair while and then I slipped the net under it. I lifted it up and me and my brother couldnt believe how big it looked! It was a huge barbel. I weighed it and it came in at 11.5lbs. Another new pb for me. It felt like picking up a baby shark and I was elated with this capture. It was my second double figure barbel almost in as many weeks and after 4 years of trying. This stretch had really lived up to its reputation. in the end my brother blanked but I was really satisfied with my 4 fish. We went home around 2am as we were just shattered and we could tell it wasnt going to fish as well as we had hoped. Many had walked past us already looking beaten. Looking forward to the next time out!

I think it is likely that without looking properly they are just labelled as chub. I know I for one will be checking more closely from now on.

My brother had a belting Ide the other week Ian. We didn't know what it was until I did some investigating some time later. He wishes he had taken a pic now as it was a monster. Easily 4lbs.