Mike
Don’t know the weir but I do know the river. Not fished it though!
Whether what I write will be of any use to you I’m not sure?
The River Medlock Clayton Bridge Manchester is a very small river, average width 7 metres at most. In this area there are two weirs, the first has a pool of 7 m. wide by 15 M. long and a depth at its deepest of 1.5 m. There are many small chub and dace that inhabit it, most of which spend the bulk of their time just on the edge of the plunge pool. When the river is at normal level the water is very clear (Yes folks we have a very clear river in Manchester now! Hard to believe I know but true.) and the fish spook very easily, so a stealthy approach is needed.
Under these conditions a very small stick float (4 No 6) can be used to good effect. IMO the smaller the better, as it reduce noise and water disturbance. Maggots seem to always deliver the goods, fed very little, 4-5 and often. Small Bread punch probably would also do the business as well, I would think! When the rivers up and carrying colour you can go a bit heaver with the float and shot to compensate for the increased flow.
The pool under these conditions grows in size by ? and you can also use a light small maggot feeder again with good effect.
The second weirpool is bigger 12 m. W., 25 m. L. and at its deepest, just short of 2 m.
I use the same sort of tactics I would use on the R. Dane in this pool. 6 No 4 stick and would have no hesitation tipping it, if I felt like it.
Although when I do visit the Medlock, generally it to float fish only, as I love float fishing on running water. I also treat it as fun fishing, because there’s very little if anything in the river over 1lb.
The key to fishing these types of rivers is I guess, to scale everything down.
