Sea Trout or Brown Trout. Manchester Ship Canal and Salford Quays

The question is, can Sea Trout and Salmon, which do come up the river Mersey and into the ship canal, get into the river Irwell.
The Mersey flows into and out of the ship canal below three sets of locks which give access to the top end of the canal which is mainly the Irwell, with the help of the rivers Irk and Medlock. I have always had doubts that it is possible, but would love it to be true.

Mike Duddy of Salford Friendly Anglers has sent me pictures, of a large dead fish, taken in the area above the three sets of locks.

Word is that it was about three feet in length( one metre) and possible in excess of 12lbs in weight.
Opinion tends to large brown trout or possibility sea trout, but not salmon. A 12 pound trout has been caught in the Irwell this year( see SFA web site) so it is not out of the question that it is a brown trout.

So on Saturday I decided to walk the tow path down the ship canal from near Salford Central station by the Mark Addy pub restaurant to Salford Quays.
First a little history. The canal was completed in 1894 and was built so that ocean going ships could reach Manchester thus  saving the cost of unloading in Liverpool. It is 36 miles long and can take ships up to 60 feet in length through its  five locks. It is still partly in operation but Salford Quays  can not now be accessed by large ships.

Looking up river, Mark Addy on the left and Manchester in the back ground.

 Looking down from the same spot.

Agecroft  rowing club making use of the river.

A bit of what's left of the Bury, Bolton Manchester Canal joins the river.

The Princes Bridge that goes nowhere at the front with a railway bridge behind..

Young lady from Agecroft rowing club with her coach.

Regent Road Bridge

The Wilburn Street Basin, not sure what happened in here, that's the river through the opening at the end.

A spur off the river under the Metro.

The river Medlock joins the Irwell.

A legal graffiti wall.

The Pomona Strand basin.

Salford Quays.

 The bridge goes straight up to let large craft through.

All photos of the Salford Quays area no ships to be seen just the tourist boat.

All this is fed by the Irwell and it tributary's the Mersey doesn't show it face until after the Irlam lock and there are two other sets of locks before you get to Irlam, so I say the Manchester Ship Canal would not be possible if it was not for the River Irwell the Mersey is just an after thought.

Irwell at Ewood Bridge 31 Oct 13

Did my monthly kick sample at Ewood Bridge the river was running pretty high and the sample was low in numbers of insects.
Took some photos up river of Ewood  Bridge.

 The weir just above the motorway bridge

 Looking down river to the motorway bridge

Looking up river above the motorway bridge

 Looking down at the same stretch as the one above.

 Again up and down the river to show the erosion 

The fence has been moved back about six times over the last year there is a good chance that the path will not be there next spring.

A good spot where I catch trout in the summer.

This area is one of the better looking stretches of the Irwell, not the only one, but certainly one of the best, even with the road bridge crossing the river. 

Last blog re Bradshaw Sewer Works 1 Nov 13

Well  the workmen have pulled out so I guess that what we have got is all that we are going to get. You might guess that I am not totally happy with what has been done.

The top pipe is now a small weir and it looks as good as can be expected.

The second pipe biscuit an grid repair looks OK, the work to stop water eroding the bank, not as sure about.

I can not believe that the two iron stakes holding the logs against the rocks will last for very long. We will need to have a good look at more support on our next work party.

The work on the bottom biscuit and grid I have covered in earlier blogs an I am still not very happy with what has been done.

It Still lets raw sewage leak into the brook after heavy rain, not good at all.

Jumbles, Wayoh & Entwistle Reservoirs 30 Dec 13

Lots of rain earlier this week so I went to see how the levels of the reservoirs had changed, as expexted they were up quite a lot but still not full to overflowing. Jumbles is up more than I expected, the first photo was taken 5 October and the second on the 30th.

Wayoh is near to the overflow, looking forward to see it when it happens.

Not far to go, should look quite spectacular if we get lots of rain.

I am not sure that it will overflow the water company may just take more for drinking water. They could also open the bottom sluce instead of letting it overflow, but why bother it will go into Jumbles which ever way.

I went up to the Entwistle as well it is up but still a way to go. 

Can you see the fisherman, didn't see him catch anything.



This is the overflow never seen it in action. Never saw this fellow catch either

.

The Entwistle is a private club trout water, I hope to be a member next year. It is stocked with Rainbow trout each year and also has some brown trout as well.

Bradshaw Brook Sewer Works 23 Oct 13

Lots of rain over the last few days so I decide to see if the work on the bottom sewer grid and biscuit had stopped effluent getting into the brook.

 By the presence of various sanitary items around the grid and on the stones it is obvious that the grid had lifted due to the pressure of the sewage and rain water.

 These three pictures show were the sewage ran down the bank into the brook.

I am not surprised that it happened, as I said in my last blog, the repair job was not up to scratch. I spoke to the workmen later and told them what was happening, they said they would take a look. Whether further work will result we will have to wait and see.

  

Bradshaw Brook Sewer Works 20 Oct 13

This is an up date on my blog "Bradshaw Brook Sewer Pipes of 3 Oct 13".

Work on the two other sewer problems on the brook pictured in the above blog has commenced, one problem and has been completed the other, pictured below, has been started.

The area were the brook had cut a channel round the sewer in inspection grid has been closed off. 

The resealing of the biscuit (the concrete slab under the house bricks) and the grid is still to be done and, of course, the sorting the pile of stones, not sure what they will do with them,.

The fix on the other leaky sewer can be seen below.

Although the grid sides and the biscuit have been completely covered, when a I asked the workmen what was under the gravel and rocks I was disappointed to be told that it had not been sealed with concrete prior to the gravel and rocks being put on. As this inspection grid has regularly leaked sewage into the brook I had hoped that it would be sealed properly. Only time will tell if this fix will work, I am not very hopeful.