Salford Friendly Anglers Society
The Worlds Oldest Angling Club - founded 1817
Rain in the 24 hours preceding the match led to the river being up a foot, coloured and really pushing through – certainly not ideal conditions
8 anglers braved the conditions – but only one angler landed a fish
Congratulations to Dennis Mulcahy for landing the only fish of the night a 1.5lb chub – caught using maggot feeder tactics
Well done to all other competitors for sticking it out – and commiserations to those who bumped off good fish (it could have been so different !!)
The first of this years series of evening fishing matches was held at Piccadilly Basin on the Rochdale Canal….
A 5.30pm draw – and we fished from 6pm until 9pm
11 anglers turned out, with a mix of pole and rod and line approaches..
Ronan on peg 2 (nearest to the lock gates at Piccadilly) found the skimmers on maggot on the far side of the boat channel and caught a very respectable 4lb8oz.
Mike Duddy came second with 2lb2oz of roach caught on hemp and caster
Phil Clayton in 3rd place with 1lb2oz of roach
Nearly all anglers caught a couple of fish, with only one angler being unlucky to dry net…..
We are going to hold some Wednesday evening fishing matches (its been a while).
In the true spirit of Salford Friendly Matches – you can feed your peg as soon as you have drawn, help and advice is given to any angler who might be a beginner – and serious verbal abuse given to those who claim excellence but don’t display any.
All matches draw at 5.30pm
Fish from 6pm to dusk
£3 to enter
13th July – Rochdale Canal – Piccadilly Basin, Manchester – M1 2HG
27th July – River Irwell – Mocha Parade, Salford – M7 1RE
3rd August – Waterdale – CANCELLED
10th August – Salford Quays – Ontario Quay – park at the Beefeater, Salford Quays – M50 3SQ
17th August – Old River Irwell – Ferry Lane, Irlam M44 6DN
To book on matches please email admin@salfordfriendlyanglers.co.uk
In October 2015 one of our members called a committee member to report 2 people fishing on Drinkwater Park Lake who he thought were fishing illegally (5 rods each) and that he had observed them killing fish and putting them in a bag…
Usually we try to deal with this sort of issue by a swift visit to the lake to “have a word” with the anglers in question, to ensure that they comply with our fishery rules in future. However on this occaision our usual response team were all otherwise engaged so using the information on how to report fisheries crime to the police we called our local police station and reported that there were two people who we suspected of fishing illegally – giving the Home Office crime codes which detail the laws being broken and the appropriate response that the Police should make.
At the end of our call to the Police Station I asked if anyone was going to bother attending – and was pleasantly surprised to be told that an officer was already on the way..
10 minutes later we recieved a call from a Police Officer who had apprehended two people fishing with multiple rods, no licences, not members of the club and with dead fish in a bag……
Now that the legal process has taken its course – we are very happy to report that the people in question have been prosecuted and fined a total of £431 for poaching and unlicensed fishing offences – which we consider to be a great result
Many thanks to PC Richard Garland of GMP Bury South and to Ian Wood of the Environment Agency for all the hard work you have done behind the scenes to bring these people to justice and to protect a community angling facility.
And many thanks to the Angling Trust for providing the information on your website which told us how to report this incident properly
We were recently awarded a grant of £750 from Salford Fund 4 Good to help us re-stock Agecroft Pond (situated behind Forest Bank Prison)
With our grant money we purchased hundreds of small crucian carp – which well go on to breed soon and create a permanent population of crucians in the lake.
Great news, as it adds another species of fish to a lake which was created in 2000 by the construction of the prison.
Here are some pics from the day.
The Arnold brothers – cock a hoop that new fish are being stocked into their local fishing pond
beautiful Crucians
Agecroft Pond
One of our club waters Agecroft Pond has been off most anglers radar for a while now. I think that might change !!
Located behind Forest Bank Prison, is a small lake tucked away, and only has half a dozen pegs.
During most of 2015, anglers were denied access to the lake as United Utilities and the Forestry Commission were conducting works nearby. A result of this work was that a new access road was constructed to take the heavy machinery needed to complete their works. Great News – a new access road.
In addition to the new access road to facilitate the construction of a new sewage pumping station, the Prison has also undertaken building works – resulting in section 106 monies (community improvement cash !) being payable to Salford Council – the conditions attached to this money was that it had to be spent near the Prison…. Now there are not that many community facilities/areas near the prison – so the money was spent on Agecroft Cemetry improvement works – and also on creating disabled fishing facilities on Agecroft Pond
These pics show the pond un-improved – and then with the new pegs. The new pegs are a bit in your face at the moment – but should a lot better with a soon to be applied tin of green hammerite paint.
So – now we have a pond with a new road, a car park, new benches and new pegs. Brilliant.
18 months ago we stocked 1000 roach into Agecroft Pond – courtesy of the Forestry Commission.
Yesterday we secured a grant from the Salford Community Volunteer Service to restock 200 small carp into the lake.
Crucian Carp
common carp
Phil Clayton played a blinder answering the questions from a committee of 9 non fishers – and we came back home last night with a cheque for £750 – which was originally fund raised by people in Salford who wanted to make community improvements in our area.
How it used to be
How it is now
And here are our new disability friendly pegs
New platforms
Now we are looking forwards to a re-stocking of carp next week – and seeing the place take off as an angling venue.
Roach Rudd Perch Pike, the odd small chub, now crucians and small mirrors …. a great place to get some peace and quiet and a few fish too
Fantastic news – The Old River Irwell Restoration Project has been awarded £10,000 from the Tesco 5p carrier bags “Bags Of Help” scheme. Thanks to everyone who voted for our project.
We plan to use this grant money to re-build the disabled pegs behind the Boathouse Inn, to create a new public bird feeding area at the top end of the lake, and also to re-build 10 pegs and create new steps down to them.
Work should commence at the beginning of May 2016 and last a month.
In addition to this fantastic grant from Tesco to rebuild some of the fishing pegs, we have also recently been awarded a grant to £2226 from the Hamilton Davies Trust in Irlam – with this money being used to purchase 300 10 inch tench. This is part of our ongoing restocking program that commenced when re-took over the lease on this lake in 2012 after the devastating pollution incident in 2008.
And the good news doesn’t end there. We have also been successful in a bid to the Salford Councils Recycle and Reward Scheme – being granted £1,000 to re-furbish the 13 floating Islands we installed in 2013 on the Old River..
As you can imagine – we are thrilled to bits that grant giving organisations are recognising the hundreds of hours of volunteer work our members have already completed on this venue.
With new fishing pegs, new floating islands and an ongoing restocking program – things are looking up for the Old River in Irlam – a venue that Salford Friendly Anglers first stocked in 1897 to celebrate Queen Victorias Diamond Jubilee.
Thanks to a very generous grant from The Hamilton Davies Trust we have been able to stock 300 10inch+ tench into the Old River in Irlam.
We are going to be spending considerable time, energy and cash on this venue during 2016 and hope that the work we do will finally bring the place back to life as a fishery.
As you can see from the pictures below – we have gone for quality rather than quantity – and have bought fish that are 4+ years old in the knowledge that they will be ready to spawn this summer.
Cracking new tench for the Old River Irwell in Irlam
Pleased to see you !
Many thanks to Tony Prescott and Hamilton Davies Trust for listening to us and then agreeing to help
It took 10 trips with the bin to and from the pick up truck – great to see so many big fish being stocked
Our plan for the Old River this year includes replanting the floating islands, taking 18 inches off the depth of the lake by cleaning out the outflow channel, removing the old failing wooden platforms and replacing them with new pegs, rebuilding the disabled fishing pegs, constructing new steps down to some of the less accessible pegs, stocking more fish, planting new reed and lily beds, refurbishing the floating islands………the list seems endless but we are 100% committed to restoring this fishing gem to its former glories.
There will be lots of skills needed, and lots of opportunities for you to take part in our work parties – the dates of which will be announced at the end of this month.
We’re going to be busy !!
Many thanks Hamilton Davies Trust
Restoring the Old River Irwell in Irlam after its near total wipe out from a pollution incident in 2008 has been a long and difficult process.
We’ve been working together on the Old River Project our local Environment Agency fisheries team since we took over the lease on the lake in 2012.
Since 2012 we have re-built pegs, stocked nearly 10,000 fish (roach, rudd, tench and bream) but the task of returning the lake to its former glories has proved much more difficult than we originally thought it would be.
On 11th February our EA fisheries team organised a 3D bathymetric survey of lake.
If you click on the photo below – you can read the full report.
Some great footage of Salmon attempting a weir on the Mersey – we are continuing our battle to sort out the three fish passes necessary for Salmon to get back into the Irwell system. Watch the vid below