Tag Archives: fly casting

When I saw this project on Kickstarter, I just has to share it: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/737549484/cat-fish It’s called the “Cat-Fish” and it introduces the idea of “fly fishing” for your cat.  You have a mini fly rod & reel, castable fly line and hookless flies, which you cast out and try to lure your cat into taking the bait.  What a genuinely unique and brilliant idea! Practice your own fly casting skills at home, whilst exercising and entertaining your cat! What better way to spend half an hour on a dark evening or a wet & windy day, than bonding with your cat and keeping your casting eye in by casting out a little teaser lure in the kitchen or down the stairs?! I should probably add that I have absolutely nothing to do with this project (other than pledging to back it), but I love fishing and I also have cats who love to chase things.  This project won’t happen unless they receive pledges for the total target value.  They only have a couple of weeks left to find backers, so if you’d like to own a Cat-Fish, or see it come to market, please visit the Cat-Fish Kickstarter page  and …

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2019 UPDATE – Unfortunately there have been some major changes since I published this page, so I intend to replace it soon with a new resource to help children and beginners get into fishing. Kevin Miles no longer offers angling tuition. Barlow Lakes is now under new ownership and has been rebranded as “Barlow Country Club“. They are hoping to offer their own angling tuition & tackle hire and will open an on-site tackle shop in the near future. Exciting times ahead! There are now many events organised in school holidays where children can try fishing for free or learn to fish for free – with tuition and use of tackle included. Sadly we’ve moved into an era where independent fishing tackle shops are closing down (or being bought out by massive tackle shop chains) and there is a general decline in the fishing tackle trade, mirrored by a rapid decline in junior rod licences issued. Therefore, it’s never been more important to encourage new blood into angling. I’m passionate about this and I don’t believe the “big-name” anglers or the tackle industry do enough to encourage our nation’s youth (obviously there are a few exceptions). That’s why I’m devoting …

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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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