Bradshaw Brook

 Walked the Brook yesterday, it was running high, too high for me to think of fishing.

These pictures are down in Longsight Park.

Bradshaw Brook Flyfishers Beat 6 April 19

Not the first trip out this season but very much the best to date.
Rod was a 7 foot cane floating line Coachman dry fly
Started slow, well not even slow, caught nothing for quite a bit some fish rising and missed several before getting a couple of very small ones.  Changed to a Adams Parachute, much better.
        
                                     Then 3 worth a photo.

 All on the Adams,stayed with it for the day. 

Must mention the weather as it was sunny and quite warm after a week of cold and mostly wind and some showers.

 

This was just about the best of the day and from a spot that always has fish moving but I normally have trouble catching them there.

Had a few casts and several times fish rose to the fly but just nudged it. I went up stream for a while and then sneaked back and had another try, glad I did.

Ended up with 18 fish, and hooked and lost several as well. 

Went home Happy.   

Bradshaw Brook Winter and Summer

 

Less than 6 weeks and the trout season opens again.

Bradshaw Brook Fly Fishers 1 July 18

 No fishing in June and not much chance of July being any better.

Did get out for a couple of hours today.

The weather has been very hot with no rain for a while, which tends to be bad for trout fishing. Bradshaw Brook runs through Jumbles Reservoir so we get a steady flow of cool water, also the brook has lots of tree cover,which helps keep the fish cool and healthy.

Because of the heat I went for no waders, a per of old trousers and my wading boots was dress for the day.

Fished my usual 7 foot 4 weight with an Adams parachute missed a couple of snatches and then a nice 12inch fish.

Had three very small fish, just around 3 inches, no fun to catch but a good sign of fish breeding in the brook 

 Had 2 like this further up stream and some more fry.

 Before catching these 2 better fish all on Adams.

Carried on up catching nothing so a slow walk back to the car.

I was going to wear shorts, glad I didn't the brambles and nettles are quite nasty.

 

Bradshaw Fly Fishers 12 Apr 18

Fished the bottom beat on a cold and dull day, only 2 fish but one was a good one, for the brook.

 Started down here, not pretty with the sewer pipe running down the side of the brook.

 It is even worse than what you can see, as there is a storm sewage outlet to my right, as I took this picture.
No sign of fish and none caught until I got to the pool up where the pipe seems to end. 
The pool had a fish rising and it came to my fly, I felt it but did not hook it.Tried it with a nymph had a touch but again did not hook it.

 Caught a small one here and missed another one.

 Nothing from here.

 Quite a bit further up stream before I caught this one, my best fish from the brook this season. 

 Came from the narrow bit just above the tree stumps.

 There were two fish rising down at the bottom this bit. I tried three different flies and never got one to even take a look.

 Fished on up through this without anything, cold and dispirited, made my way home.

Bradshaw Brook

Sunday 8 April 

Fished Bradshaw Brook caught 2 fish. Funny day olives coming of the brook but saw only two fish rise, which were the 2 that I caught. Used a blue winged olive for a change.

  This was the best one.

Wednesday 11 April

Cold day but not much wind, fished the Fly Fishers top beat on Bradshaw Brook. Plenty of fish rising to olives, bwo worked again. Caught 7 fish and missed far more, hooked and lost 3 fish.

 The best one

 The rest were like this one and smaller.

I had a lot of fish come to the fly without taking it, remember having the same trouble last year. I think it is very small fish that find my fly to big to take, could be wrong.

Dirty places in Bolton 24 Mar 18

Where I wanted to fish is not easy to get to and there is a lot of the remains of the industrial past along the bank side and in the water

I had to wade down to where I wanted to start fishing trying not to disturb anything on the way. When I got down as far as I could, without risking getting in over my head. I had a rest and my lunch, an apple, before starting fishing back up.

I did it that way as I like to fish dry fly no matter what. I started as usual with a seven foot rod 4/5 weight with a Adams Parachute fly.

 I caught this one after three or four casts thought I could be in for a good day.

I had to do lot of hard wading and casting under trees and around Japanese Knotweed, getting caught on both, before I got to where I saw my first and only rising fish. I was in two minds about changing my fly which was looking pretty battered, I did not want to wait as I had seen the rise. So I left it on and second cast it was taken.

 As near as damn it 18"

I thought that I was loosing it more than once as it got the line rapped round it twice and was out of the water more than enough.

The fly really was in need of changing after the battle. For some reason I put an ordinary Adams and carried on for another hour catching nothing. Feeling the cold I went home.

Fishing when I Can.

20 Mar 2018. Bradshaw Brook Fly Fishers Beat.

Cold and sun shine, for a while, then it got colder. No Fish rising, not a suprise.
Fished dry fly caught one fish, mostly walked and looked.

  Around 12 ", Winter lean.

22 March

Cold as usual not looking very promising.

Lost 4 flies to the trees and caught 2 fish and did a bit of pruning, mostly brambles.
Started with Adams Parachute lost 3 to the trees, put on an normal Adams and caught the two fish.

 This one the best, over 12 inches but again slim.

If you would like to see me catching the 2 go to youtube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIVL5YnwhMOgARoD7_1keiw

New Season Opens 15 March 2018

Started the season on Thursday 15th, cold, wet and windy,  the rain eased in the afternoon but not the wind. Went to Bradshaw Brook, a bit were I knew it would be quiet and mostly out of the wind.

7 foot 4/5 weight with one of my trusty old Young's Beaudex reels. Started with one of Dave Bendles drys which has a ring on the shaft for adding a dropper shrimp, in line. No sign of fish as I started until I got half way up when I saw one jump down stream of me.

Tried a few casts down to it nothing doing. Decided to change to last years favourite fly, Adams parachute which got me a couple looks without getting a touch. 

Carried on up stream into a valley where my luck changed and I caught the one below.

An OK fish just over 8" but quite slim after a hard winter. Turned out to be my only one of the day, never mind it's a start.

Very drab at the moment but spring is on it's way soon.

Saturday 17th

Very very cold with a biting wind and snow flurry's. Same tackle as Thursday with Adams again.

Fished a part of the Tonge that is very hard to get down to and even harder to get out off, that's now. When the Balsam, Knotweed and Hogweed are up it can be a no go area. The effort was in vein, looked OK but nothing doing.

Couldn't go home blank, tried bit of Bradshaw Brook on the way. Only one fish again but very very pleased with it.

    14 " which is a very nice fish for Bradshaw. Like the one on Thursday a bit on the slim side. It did not come to the net easy and had to keep it out of the brambles a couple of times.

I will be very very pleased if I get anything as big again in the brook this season.

This happened while I was typing the blog, not a lot I know but I had thought we had finished with snow for this year.
My youtube channel
 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIVL5YnwhMOgARoD7_1keiw

Bradshaw Brook Fly Fishers Beat 29 Aug 17

I fished the bottom beat yesterday and had more fish than today when I fished just the top of the top section. The fish today were of a much better quality and did not take as long to catch.

As well as catching a couple of good fish, for the brook that is, I lost 2 others by trying to net them too quickly. 

The first  good one took quite some time to net as it managed to get in tree roots more than once and was hooked in the back of the trout and took a little time to get back in the water. Which meant I had to keep it upright until it recovered, which it did thank goodness. So I was trying get the next fish into the net as quick as possible, the result we all know, live and learn.

  This one from yesterday, only photographed to show the fingerprints which indicate that fish is in it's first year of life.

Today's first fish is a bit different

No fingerprints and quite a bit bigger.

I had not noticed the fingerprints or known what they indicated until I was fishing with Dave Bendle a couple of days ago when he showed me them and told me what they were.

Dave has a Blog which is well worth a read, link below.

http://irwellfishing.blogspot.co.uk/  

   This was the other decent fish just 12 inches.