Where can you find skimmers?

AS the excellent spring weather continues, so do great catches from all nearby commercial fisheries.

Such is their form that it is not surprising to find few anglers bothering with local stretches of Leeds-Liverpool canal, although skimmers must now be gathering in tight shoals.

The problem is where?

I'm sorry to say, because there are few anglers on the canal and there are few reports, I cannot tell you.

I do know they are there and if you can find them you could enjoy a red-letter day. It does take some time and effort to do this -- not surprising anglers choose to bag some carp.

Bradshaw Hall, Bolton, is again top of the list, with big weights for both match and pleasure fishermen. Carp dominate catches, but it can be very frustrating here as a match on Sunday clearly demonstrated.

It was a 42-pegger on Lodge Number Four. Local George Fogg drew an excellent peg, number nine, and expected action from the off. He could hardly have been more wrong.

In fact Dave Swain, who George could see on peg 29, had put 14 carp into his net before George had a bite.

Averaging four pounds apiece that meant a deficit of some 50lbs or more to make up -- impossible he thought.

Again he was wrong. Carp to six pounds discovered George's regular helpings of pellet and corn then gorged themselves.

The action was almost non-stop and Fogg ended up putting 117-12-0 on the scales at the finish. That was some 10lbs more than Swain, for a very satisfying victory.

I do not know what it is about Bradshaw Hall, but Sunday always seems to produce bigger top weights than midweek, but midweek produces more fish for everyone -- strange but true.

Few fisheries boast the head of fish you will find at Bradshaw Hall. Pilsworth is certainly not one of them, as weights clearly show, but it is different in a way attractive to many anglers.

It has a different mix of fish in its lakes, as do many other fisheries. That has to be it.

Who wants to know that it is carp, for definite, that has picked up the bait?

There is more anticipation if you do not know for sure what will pick up the bait, and more excitement, isn't there?

Though matches at Pilsworth are won with only 20lbs or so at the moment, they do feature chub, roach and bream as well as carp -- with worm a very good bait.

Chorley's Mel Gregory, fishing the final Burscough Angling Supplies Spring League match last Saturday, knew pretty well that it was not likely to be a carp pulling his float under.

More likely a roach or a skimmer, or maybe a big bream.

He didn't care really, just as long as the Leeds-Liverpool canal at Burscough produced a few for him. In fact he weighed in 4-12-4, enough for a fourth place on the day and a bit of cash.

Unfortunately his Chorley team-mates couldn't help much and his team not figure in the final analysis.

Bread and caster were the top baits at Burscough, as they are on our local stretches of the same canal.

Operate two swims, separated by about four metres, one for each bait. Feed very sparingly, but very regularly, until the fish show up.

If you cannot catch do not stop feeding -- just move swims and start again.

I'm feeling a bit jealous of many of you right now. I see you getting ready for your first trip of the year to Ireland, I know you're going to catch loads because the fishing is great -- but I can't go with you. I may be able to save you some trouble though.

Anglers travelling to Ireland this spring are still unable to take their own maggots and casters with them, despite foot and mouth restrictions having been lifted in England months ago. There are anglers who have seen theirs dumped.

The Republic of Ireland is still preventing meat-based products from being brought in by anyone. That includes maggots -- because they feed on meat. That does not explain why the Central Fisheries Board, on their website, state that groundbait is banned also, but it is.

The Irish Government managed to slap on this ban very quickly last year, but they do not seem to know how to remove it.