The Maggot Dangler: 2010 Round up.

So as I've said previously I only started getting back into fishing at the end of 2010 and a lot had changed. Line is measured is diameter and not lbs, everyone uses pellets before this year I was strictly a maggot and bread man and hadn't really heard of pellets I still haven't caught with pellet on the hook but have used them for feeding, paste was used to hang your wallpaper not catch carp and the birth of commercials seem more apparant. I'm used to fishing small ponds for free or paying upto £2 to fish a farm lake but now there seems to be an abundance of commercial fisherys charging £5 and stuffing their small lakes full of carp.

Today I thought I'd show you a few pictures from my trips out in 2010 to give you an idea of the places I fish and the fish I've caught.

All these fish came right at the end of the year when most places where frozen over but I managed to find a small river/brook that was still flowing near Bamber Bridge. Its a small river and not very deep at all, I used to fish it when I was a young lad but never remember catching anything as big as these fish. I had to use my old whip as there was no space on the bank for my pole and its not big enough for a rod. I used pinkie and bread trotting along the far bank and was on a fish a chuck in the end.

A bit of game fishing!!

A small chub(I think?)

A nice sized roach.

In the hour or so I was there I must have caught over 10 roach, chub and the random trout!!

Another venue I fished a lot last year was Shruggs Wood in Leyland. This venue has abit of a bad reputation as it is near a rough estate and gets a lot of young kids fishing it. I've never had any problems and as long as you avoid it during summer holidays and leave around 3pm its a smashing little venue and at £2 a day or £12 a year a bargin! The first few times I fished it I used maggot and caught lots of skimmers and perch nothing massive but all a nice size. There was always people set up for carp but I never saw them catch anything!

I'd decided to go fishing in Blackburn after dropping my son off at nursery and despite the fact that it was absolutley throwing it down nothing was stopping me! So I went to Newrads (?) in Darwen I didnt like the look of the venue and after an hour with no bites and strong winds I decided to go to Shruggs Wood as I was certain I'd catch and its surrounded by woods so quite sheltered. I was using corn as well as maggot on this day and as well as the usual haul of skimmers I caught my first ever bream. I didn't have scales with me but would guess it was around 3lbs.

Notice the rain bouncing of the lake!

Another venue I fished a few times last year was Byers Farm in between Gregson Lane and Bamber Bridge. I fished here a couple of times as a child but don't remember catching much! It now has a second pond and is full of carp around the 1-2lb mark as well as bigger carp into double figures there's even a rumour of a catfish in the top lake as well! I hope I never catch it, ugly things!!

On my second visit just before it got all icy and snowy but still bloody cold I used pinkies and corn caught only caught 3 or 4 small carp before one around the 6-8lb mark snapped my pole! I'm currently using my dads old DAM pole which had a few repairs on the top section, I had a decent battle with this fish and was near to landing it when SNAP! my top section snapped in two places! Gutted PB fish lost and a trip to local tackle shop to see what he could do. Anyway here's a few pictures of the fish that didnt snap my pole from my two visits to Byers last year.