Angling by Kingfisher

LOCAL waters have continued to fish well and there's no reason to suspect that they will not this weekend.

Though it promises to be somewhat uncomfortable for the angler, with rain and wind, it is possible that we may enjoy even improved form. Of course it can't last forever and we should make the best of it now.

Pleasure anglers on the canal have been taking some quality roach from many sections through Burnley (Barden Lane and Wilkinsons) and Blackburn (Tesco). Where the bigger fish are at a premium it seems there are plenty of smaller samples for the taking.

There are, as I have consistently advised, some sections where prospects are poor as the match result from Mill Hill the other week illustrated. That really was unfortunate and, as a consequence, the entry for the latest Hyndburn and Blackburn AA Open match was severely depleted.

Only 35 anglers chose to fish at Feniscowles which was a bit of a shame with catches much improved. Only one local made the frame, Pete Butterworth of Geoff Done Tackle who was third with 6-0-4, and there were plenty of smallish roach willing to feed.

The winner, Chris Thomas of Van de Eyne Crown, took 7-5-5 from peg 57 by fishing joker at five and 13 metres. The fish were there from the start for Chris as they were for others, but the use of joker is always likely to result in a small average size of roach caught.

Mick Gornall, AM Services, was runner-up with 6-8-8 and 4-11-0 was needed to make the frame.

There are no pleasure anglers using joker, sensibly in my view, with bread-punch and caster doing the business quite nicely. As usual bread-punch has provoked an immediate response in the best swims. I don't know if any angler has succeeded with hempseed on the hook, but most caster anglers continue to enjoy success by putting in a few pouchfuls at the start of a session. Loose casters, in twos and threes, need feeding continuously when the fish are feeding.

Set the hook, an 18 is just right, to fish a single caster some six inches overdepth. Allow bites to develop properly and you will not miss. The few rod/reel anglers continue to fare equally as well as the pole men when overdepth caster is the method.

The fish of the week has to be the 6lbs 1oz chub taken from the Ribble (no stretch given but Balderstone is a decent guess) on lobworm.

The ace angler was Alan Billington, who used worm in conjunction with an open ended feeder packed with fishmeal groundbait and maggots. It must be worth a try since two four pounders and two beauties of exactly 5lbs and 5lb 2oz joined the big one on the bank.

The Ribble is, in fact, my choice water of the week. The fact that the close season is not too far away and its continuous refreshment with a reasonable rainfall, make it irresistible.

Most anglers are taking decent fish. Chub and barbel are the main targets - but they aren't the only fish of quality in the Ribble.

There are many fewer roach present than there were in the river's heyday 30 years or so ago, but there are still some - and they're big ones. Bream are a species I have never caught, personally, from the Ribble but they are also present. There is the odd carp and a just a few big pike. Slower, deeper water is suited to all these species and the Ribble has a decent stretch which has proven very suitable.

From Church Deeps at Walton-le-Dale all the way past Preston to the brackish tidal reaches holds them. It is best no doubt, in the Walton-le-Dale area, but you will not find large numbers of them anywhere.

If however, you have your heart set on a 2lbs plus roach, especially one that gives a good account of itself, Church Deeps should be high on the list of any local specimen hunter.

The method which, in the past, produced numerous fish of this size for me was breadcrust, light link legered in some nice pools behind the Tickled Trout. Nowadays bread would still be my choice. Smaller pieces, about the size of 10p, on 10 hook and fished in conjunction with a small feeder filled with liquidised crumb, works well in the Deeps.

You may be very unlucky and have to put up with chub. If you do get a roach however, it most certainly will have been worth waiting for.

There are pegs, elsewhere on the Ribble all the way upstream to Hodder Foot, which hold great fish but which are overlooked. You won't find roach but the chub, especially in the winter, are a wonderful quarry.

These swims, often shallow and relatively short, are quite uninviting and often difficult to fish. Be flexible with your approach and success is there for the taking.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.