Tag Archives: fishing

Well, after a couple of weeks off – first being away on holiday (rarely, without any tackle!), then attending the Leeds Festival for the August bank holiday weekend – I have done very little fishing of late.  However, during the week before I went on holiday, I managed a couple of sessions which saw me bank a few good fish… Firstly, I targeted barbel and although I managed to lose two fish in a snag, once I’d switched to using “hit and hold” tactics with a single rod, I managed to extract this excellent 9lb 5oz barbel.  Check out the way its tail fin is so long that it arcs over at the top, like the dorsal fin of an Orca Whale! The following evening I had a couple of hours to lure fish for perch – just before sunset – and although conditions were difficult, I did land a few good fish in the shape of a 2lb 12oz perch, a 2lb 5oz perch and – just as I thought I’d spooked the remainder of the fish in the swim – my first 3lb+ perch of the season at 3lb 1oz… Perch shown in capture order: 2lb 12oz 2lb …

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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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I recently captured my best-ever chub brace, landing this 5lb 2oz specimen (left), followed by a 4lb 8oz fish while I was setting up my camera! I risked life & limb to land the latter fish, because I was fishing a peg with a very steep – almost vertical – bank leading down to the water. I wanted to rest the chub in my landing net, in the margins, but as this wasn’t possible where I was fishing, I took the net and fish a couple of swims downstream where the margins were shallow and calm. As I was setting up the self-timer function on my camera, the alarm on my other rod screamed!  I was left to battle the fish in a deep, fast-water peg with no landing net! Standing between me and the net were 3 trees, overhanging the water. There was no way over or around them, so I had to (in the dark), scale the steep bank, test the margin depth with my toe whilst holding onto a tree with one hand and the rod in the other. Luckily there was a narrow, rocky ledge about a foot under the water, so I slowly shuffled along this, negotiated the trees and a …

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How great it’s been to sit by a river in this glorious heat to while away an evening or two!  After such a cold, long, snowy winter I’m not really surprised that the extremes of weather have gone full circle and now some of the reservoirs are dangerously empty!  Normally with such dry and bright conditions the fishing is difficult but I’ve either been doing something really right (granted, I have changed a lot of my setup) or I’ve been extremely lucky (or more probably a bit of both) in my first couple of sessions of the season. I fished last Tuesday & Wednesday evenings on the River Dove for my first sessions of the new season and unusually, I managed to hit the ground running!  The first evening I only had a couple of hours fishing because I was so disorganised, I didn’t cast a line until half past 9!  The very first cast I had some tip rattles on my upstream rod which seemed like a bite given by a chub mouthing the bait.  After the bite continuing for a good few seconds I struck but failed to connect.  Next cast, a similar but more forceful bite resulted in a …

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Well, the end of the traditional close season is almost upon us. I had the rare chance to go fishing twice last week and for the first trip I decided to follow my own yearning for a return to the Lincs drains (they can be frustrating at times and I hear many reports of fish thefts and that they’re not what they once were, but I just love fishing them!) for a final try for a pike before the rivers & drains close on the 14th. I made the 70 mile trip East and checked a few of my favourite places out, before settling on a very shallow drain, carrying only 18 inches of water down the centre. The weather had turned and was much sunnier than we’ve experienced for months. This wasn’t ideal because bright weather can put fish off the feed. On the other hand, the water was in need of warming up, so surely the sun couldn’t do too much harm for my day fishing. Plus, there were clouds dotted around and I have noticed pike and perch launch attacks on sunny days, just seconds after the sun goes behind a cloud – as if they have been patiently poised, …

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Well, I finally got myself out fishing last Thursday! After hearing of a few pike starting to be caught around the country, I gave into my urges and decided I’d target them.  After speaking to the bailiff on a stretch of the tidal Trent, I opted to try there. I haven’t really done much fishing in general on the tidal, let alone pike fishing, but I made my decision based on the water clarity being better than the non-tidal stretches, and the changing tides forcing fish to alter their positions, which would hopefully result in them spotting my bait in the process. With such cold conditions being set in for so long this winter, every species of fish will be lethargic – even those more associated with winter – so the fish will need a reason to move, be it hunger or the changing tide.  By doubling the possibilities, I’d double my chances… I thought! S..   L..   O..   W..  was the general pace of the day. I arrived, just after dawn (Hit the “snooze” button a couple of times too many!), to find I had the entire stretch to myself. Awesome; a whole stretch of prime-condition river filled with undisturbed specimen pike just …

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It’s been another lean few weeks, angling-wise, for me.  I haven’t fished for over a month now, but not out of choice.  I’ve been a little short on time, the weather’s not been great (not that I’m a fine weather fisherman – not in the slightest – but during one of the warmest worldwide Januaries on record, we had one of the coldest on record!), etc. and I’ve also just returned from a week snowboarding at Les Arcs in the French Alps.  Plenty of snow, plenty of raclette cheese, plenty of overpriced beer and this year no injuries!  Unlike last years trip which left me with a permanently dislocated clavicle (collar bone) on my left shoulder, which (still) looks like this: I also saw one of the best skiing/snowboarding shirts I’ve ever seen, which simply said on the front “Snow, Sex and Tartiflette”! Back to fishing, I’ve been sent a few tackle bits & bobs to review, so expect to see those appearing on the website soon, and possibly on here too. I’ve also just received a Korum latex spoon net which, on first impressions, is absolutely brilliant for everything from bream, tench & carp fishing, right through to a roving …

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Happy 2010 everyone.  Let’s hope that this year’s a productive one, whatever we’re fishing for. As I write, the snow is falling and we already have at least 4 inches piled up outside that has fallen today on the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border. This really has been an exceptional cold snap and while short cold spells can mean good fishing for some species, prolonged cold weather such as this tends to slow down pretty much everything that swims. With all of the snow falling into our rivers and lakes and the continued cold temperatures (with many parts of the UK struggling to break above 0°C, even in daytime!) the water temperature will be extremely low and lower than most species require to enable them to feed and digest what they eat. When we eventually do get a thaw, be prepared to head out and fish as you could be in for a red letter day. There will be some very hungry pike, chub, roach, grayling and perch out there just waiting for a warm spell to trigger a feeding frenzy. Location will be paramount to a good day’s sport, but get this right and these species will be crawling up your line to get to your bait …

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Best wishes to everyone for the festive period.  Here’s to bulging landing nets for the New Year! With the snow-melt predicted over the next couple of days it’s seriously going to cool the waters down, making most species difficult to catch.  I’m hoping to fit in a grayling session and a chub session, but if it gets ever so slightly milder and the rivers don’t colour up too much I might contemplate a pike session.  It’s over a month now since I wet a line and I’m getting very itchy to do so!  I’ll be paying close attention to the weather forecasts and EA rivercall messages to help me decide what I should target when.  …Although I’ll probably still get it wrong! Before I can fit in any fishing, I’ll be potentially risking life & limb for no good reason other than for a laugh, by entering the MATLOCK RAFT RACE on the River Derwent! Had I thought about it earlier, I could have got sponspored for charity but as it stands I’m doing it for no-one’s benefit, not even my own! With the snow melting into the river it’ll be a wee bit chilly on the extremeties, to put it politely. Finally, …

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Guess who’s on the cover of this month’s Angling Star magazine…! Available in all good (mainly Northern!) newsagents now!

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