as anyone on this forum ever fished sankey brook either with succsess or without ive heard of chub roach pike trout and even barbel being caught i have done the odd roaming session with the stick float but so far not as much as a knock i no Newtonle willows a.a have 1 section but other than that its free

hi mate,

I have fished it on several occasions and have yet to see a fish. There are some there especially on the Newton stretch as it gets stocked from time to time (150 small Barbs last year). I was also talking to a guy this week who fished it recently and had the hook pull out of his only bite of the day.

I did hear of a 4lb Barbs being caught in the Orford area but can't substantiate that rumour.

It flows into the Mersey and thats stuffed with fish and up towards St Helens there are spots that regularly produce but a lot of polution gets into the water and that seems to hold it back.

I do aim to have a real go next term but this time I will fish maggott for anything rather than my bread flake - Chub approach I have used so far.

Martin.

I also got this from Kevin Nash of the Environment agency when I sent in a queery about Sankey brook and the river Glaze.

Hi Martin

Sorry for the delay in responding to your queries about Sankey Brook and the River Glaze.

You are quite right that both rivers hold fish, and the River Glaze is particularly productive and supports a good head of coarse fish in the main river upstream of the Manchester Ship Canal. I think Pennington Flash is particularly helpful in this respect as it can act as a 'nursery area' for small fish who are then protected from high flows that often push fish downstream.

The ability of these watercourses to support fish are limited not only by their water quality but also by the shape of the river channels and presence of subsequent habitat. In effect good fish habitat is often lost where flood defences are needed to protect properties. This is particular true of an urban river like the Sankey.

With regard to water quality, both catchments suffer from a variety of polluting influences. The most significant are Agriculture, Urban run-off, Storm Sewage Overflows, Contaminated Land & Minewaters. The influence of these sources is best seen in our own invertebrate databases which show that the 'bugs' of the river are typical of polluted waters and are not as diverse as they should be. However the actual details of water quality varies locally depending on current and historical landuse, and this will also effect fish distribution at the local level.

With regard to a pollution event on the Sankey near Newton Le Willows. I have been informed by our local Environment Officer that an unsubstantiated report of dead fish was recieved and investigated by both an EA Fisheries
Officer and the local angling club. In both cases no dead fish could be found and any polluting sources could not be identified. The report did however come in during a period of high flows and it is quite possible that fish were killed and then washed away during sudden releases of dirty flood waters (e.g. from urban surface water or Combined Sewage Overflows (structures that release flood waters from the drains to stop sewage works from flooding)).

thanks for that martin most helpfull i shall be having another go in a few weeks ill let you no how i get on