Tag Archives: Derbyshire

I grew up in Tibshelf and I learned to fish at Tibshelf Ponds, so I still have a vast amount of affection for the place. I spent many a day there with friends, trying between us to catch something. Then, as I got older I learned how to fish the whip and pole here, then how to target carp (mainly fishing on the surface, which is no longer allowed, for the benefit of the waterfowl). I would spend many a spring evening up at the ponds, feeding and watching fish, anticipating and plotting my attack for the beginning of the season (in those days Tibshelf Ponds were closed from March 14th until June 16th). When the Glorious 16th came around I would have my tackle packed and ready, and would run out of the school gates so I could get to the ponds as early as possible – hopefully before anyone else from school, so I could have a better choice of peg. From mid-June until the end of the school term, throughout the 1990s, I’d spend as many evenings as possible fishing the Ponds. The way I maximised this was to load up my mountain bike – rucksack of …

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Click on the image slider below to open a full gallery of the carp tackle department at local independent fishing tackle shop, Phil’s Bait & Tackle at Sutton-in-Ashfield. Phil’s has a large carp fishing & specimen fishing department with large stocks of: carp rods, carp reels, carp bait (boilies, freezer baits, pellets, particles, flavours, glugs, oils, etc.), carp luggage, terminal tackle, hooks, leads, mainline, hooklinks, bite alarms, rod pods, metalware, landing nets, bivvies, bedchairs, unhooking mats, cookware and many carp accessories. Brands stocked include: Fox, Korda, Nash, Shimano, Avid Carp, Daiwa, ESP, JRC, Korum, Chub, Spomb, Dynamite Baits, Mainline Baits, Sticky Baits, Nashbait, Bait-Tech & Solar. Their dedicated carp showroom was expanded in 2019 and features their largest ever range of quality carp tackle and carp fishing accessories, which is open to browse and try out the latest carp gear and there’s always someone on hand to provide advice. Phil’s Bait & Tackle also has a large and very well stocked coarse, specimen, match & pole fishing department. Other services offered by Phil’s include a full range of repair & spares services, including: rod & pole repair service, pole elastication, rod re-ringing, reel servicing, spare parts for some other tackle …

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Andrew urges all anglers to use their local tackle shop as often as possible. I grew up in a small village with a few fishing ponds which catered well for kids. The thing was, there were no fishing tackle shops within easy reach of the village, so as a teenager it was always a case of “Get what you can, when you can”, when the chance of a lift to a tackle shop arose! I’d been fishing for 20 years before I finally had a tackle shop in the village I lived, but after a couple of years it had already closed down. The tackle market is a different place to when I was kid, mainly because of the internet. Whilst there are thousands of bargains available out there from the major players, the advantages of having a small, local tackle and bait supplier cannot be overstated. You can’t order a last-minute pint of maggots from the internet, or replace that packet of hooks you realise you’re without, just as you’re leaving the house! Yes, it can be invaluable to go into a large shop and pick up 10 different rods to compare before you commit to that big spend, …

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I managed to pick a couple of days break in the early-May rain, to fit in a 24-hour session with Shane Calton.  We visited Derbyshire’s Higham Farm Lakes and tackled up primarily for tench, but with the head of carp, bream and other species in there, we knew it would be difficult to target them solely. Higham is pretty local to me, so I used to fish this place quite regularly for the carp when I was 15 to 18, but I worked out that I have only been there once in the last 12 years! I was field testing a fair bit of Cyprinus night fishing gear, including a bivvy, a memory foam bedchair, a 3-5 season sleeping bag and a tackle barrow, which all performed superbly (Reviews on FishingMagic.com here). Before I arrived Shane had already landed a few bream in the 4-5lb bracket and as I was setting up he landed a tench of exactly 5lb, which was a very promising start. It was to be the last tench we had between us, but we each notched up carp overnight and I also had a bream and a strange fantail brown goldfish-cross thing, which I should have really taken …

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Despite never pledging allegiance to any “specimen angler’s code” I consider myself, by-and-large, to be a “specimen hunter” – or the more modern term “specialist angler“. Although that very term can seem a little restrictive. The angling weeklies would generally have you believe that specimen hunting is a coarse fishing-only pursuit.  Surely a specimen is a specimen though, no matter what? So why limit ourselves to just coarse species and methods? I think that a spot of sea fishing or fly fishing now and then can be rewarding in more ways than one; it provides the opportunity to set some new PBs and pick up some new skills along the way. I’ve always held the view that improving on your skills with one method or species can be of greater benefit your angling skills in general.  Maybe “all-rounder” covers this philosophy better by definition, although I would hesitate to consider myself one of these, because it implies a certain all-round capability, whereas I’m more of a trier than an achiever!  Anyway, digressions aside, after neglecting fly fishing somewhat in recent years, I had a couple of tries for perch on the fly last year and managed fish up to almost …

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With National Fishing Week/Month (heck, why don’t they go the whole hog and make it last all year, every year and maybe re-brand the country Great National Fishing Britain or United Fishing Kingdom!) upon us, I shall be once again lending a hand at an event being held at Barlow Lakes near Chesterfield.  The day is being organised by my friend – and qualified NFA angling coach – Kevin Miles.  In the past these events have featured tackle stands, taster sessions for novice anglers, fun matches and displays by the Environment Agency.  This year I am not so sure about the setup (I’ll post more details once I know them), but I know that a local floatmaker is coming down, there are demonstrations of various floats and methods – including the unveiling of a new design of self-hooking controller float – and I’ll be in attendance from 10am ’til around 1pm (the event is open until 3pm), so if you want to chew the fat, discuss tactics or ask me questions on any aspect of fishing then pop down.  there’s no entry fee and the lakes are open all day for fishing if you want to combine the trip with your usual Sunday fishing trip.  …

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Each May marks another year since the demise of Chatsworth Angling Fair; a show which in my eyes was much more than an event. It was an angling institution. Its omission from the year’s angling calendar is a sad loss for our sport. Very rarely are so many angling disciplines showcased in one place together; with Coarse, Match, Sea, Fly, Carp and Predator fishing all strongly represented. I have many fond memories of the Angling Fair, stretching back to when I first attended, aged twelve. Two of us were dropped off nearby, and made our way to the main entrance, where we realised children were only allowed free entry when accompanied by a paying adult. Having saved pocket money for a few months, we didn’t want to “waste” part of it on the entry fee. So, being a bit slimmer in those days, we found an area of fence we could slither beneath, and headed towards the tented village that made up the majority of the fair. What a revelation it was to find row upon row of tackle dealers plying their wares, with bargains to be found wherever you looked! We spent hours perusing the stalls, testing out tackle, …

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