News

If you’re looking for cheap days out to entertain children & families, during the school summer holidays, in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and the East Midlands – why not let them learn to fish! On this page I’ve compiled links to organisations – such as the Angling Trust and Canal & River Trust – who host free-to-attend fishing events such as taster sessions, where children can have a go at fishing, under the guidance and supervision of qualified angling coaches & instructors. I believe strongly that learning to fish gives youngsters a great range of skills, with many, wide-ranging benefits. If you’re taught properly how to fish, those skills stay with you for life. If you’re a parent or grandparent of a child over the age of three (some kids try fishing younger, but it does take a little patience & attention span!), looking for a safe activity for your kids to try over the school holidays, this could be just what you’re looking for. It may be something they dabble in for the odd day to keep them occupied; it may even become an obsession which makes them a lifelong angler… Or somewhere in between! Whatever the outcome, the vast majority …

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If you were fishing in the 1980s and 1990s, John Wilson’s name was synonymous with angling; due to his various books, but predominantly due to his TV series. Go Fishing with John Wilson was the first of his TV shows, and his unique mixture of knowledge, enthusiasm and infectious laugh proved a hit with viewers – anglers and non-anglers alike! A YouTube user, Andy Creigh, has uploaded all of the original four Anglia Television series of Go Fishing – which he’s recorded from original VHS tapes – so those of us who can remember over three decades ago can relive JW’s on-screen charisma. Hopefully some younger anglers will now also see the earliest TV forays of this angling legend for the first time too. My own personal favourite episodes mainly revolve around the ones I had on VHS myself. These included: crucian and tench fishing at Diss Mere, small river barbel fishing on the Teme, fly fishing for mullet on a tributary of the Ebro, fishing for tench (but catching perch) from the dam of an old estate lake and then eventually catching tench whilst fishing in chest waders (Series 3, Episode 1 – Fishing Summer Lakes), and my all-time …

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On this page I’ve compiled a list of all the free-to-attend events I can find, where children can have a go at fishing, under the guidance and supervision of qualified angling coaches & instructors. Below is a list of fishing events – FREE to attend for children – during the school holidays this year. This list concentrates on events close to Derby, Chesterfield and Nottingham. Besides the curated list of events below, there are some excellent online resources to find fishing events, taster sessions, open days and free coaching events in the East Midlands, such as: IMPORTANT!  It is a legal requirement for all anglers aged over 12 to be in posession of a valid Rod Licence when fishing. Rod licences for 13 to 16 year olds are FREE – but you still need to register for one. These can be purchased instantly online here (only buy rod licences from the official Gov website to avoid extra fees), or by calling the Environment Agency’s Rod Licence service on 0344 800 5386. 2019 Summer Holidays Angling Events Listings – Free Fishing Taster Sessions & Learn-to-Fish Events in Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire Date:Thursday 25th July 2019Event Name:Free Let’s Fish! – Nottingham – Learn …

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Are you a budding Angling Writer?  I know most of us fishing bloggers have plenty to say!  Would you like to get your musings on fishing published and be in with the chance of winning some fishing bait or even landing a sponsorship from bait company Chapel Baits?  Head over to FishingMagic and take a look at their new competition, launched this week, where they aim to discover the angling writers of the future.  Take a look at the link below and get writing, you never know where it could lead! FishingMagic.com & Chapel Baits Search for a (writing) Star Competition

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“Do you remember that fishing blog we used to read?  It was alright, you know; nowt special but he could waffle…” “Yeah, I know the one, but he’s been a bit quiet of late…” Admittedly, this blog has started to gather cobwebs in recent months, but I’m back with a bit of news and plenty of waffle as usual. I’m in an internet café at the moment (yes they still exist!), so time is short, but I have plenty to write about as soon as I’m back at my own PC. However, I thought this news was too good to hold back, so I’m sharing it now. I’ve agreed to become a regular contributor of articles to Europe’s largest angling website, https://www.fishingmagic.com/! So far I’ve only written an introductory piece, which went live this week.  You can read it (and, if you’re an FM forum member, post your comments) at Andrew Kennedy’s Intro on www.fishingmagic.com Big thanks go out to Will Barnard and Ian Welch for having a bit of faith in me; I won’t let you down fellas! More from me soon, but for now, please head over to Fishing Magic and take a look at my intro, which details my life …

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Firstly big apologies, I have a post about a brilliant fishing trip in April which I’ve been struggling time-wise to finish, but it’ll be on here ASAP. For now though, I think it’s important to bring to your attention the fact that the “Fish Fight Early Day Motion” (yes, that of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s TV programme fame) is going to be debated in the House of Commons THIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON!  So, to ensure the issue gets the amount of attention and thought it deserves, we all need to make sure our MPs know that their constituents consider it to be a very important issue.  Click on the link below, which will take you to the Fish Fight website.  Follow the instructions and within 2 minutes you will have emailed your MP with a basic message, urging them to give the issue their support: http://fishfightnews.net/interface/external_view_email.php?P898860083645777142114542318&utm_campaign=Fish%2BFight%2BNewsletter%2B-%2BMay%2B2011&utm_source=emailCampaign&utm_medium=email Personally, I think that overfishing in general has/is raping our sea fish stocks, so over-quota discard is only a small part of the overall problem, but this motion getting seen in the Commons is a start.  If it grabs the nation’s attention and can start to change attitudes of both politicians and the fish-buying public then our seas might just …

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I’ve now posted more than 40 articles to my fishing website, www.just-fish.co.uk over the past six years!  This I find quite hard to believe, but this blog seems to have added to the popularity of my website, so as long as people keep reading ’em, I’ll keep writing ’em! Now, because I may be a little short of fishing trips to write about in the near future (though I have a fly fishing trip to Errwood Reservoir at Buxton in the pipeline), I thought it would be interesting to check through Google Analytics, to see which of my articles have proven to be the most popular over the past year. The results were quite surprising.  My most popular article over the past 12 months, with over 6,500 views, is the one I wrote a few years ago about fishing the “Lift Method” for carp & tench. “Lift Method” Rig Diagram from https://www.just-fish.co.uk Top 20 Countdown Okay, pop-pickers, here is the full run-down of the top 20 of my fishing articles, viewed over the last 12 months on www.just-fish.co.uk voted for by you, the angling public!  …Nod ‘arf! Fishing the Lift Method for Carp & TenchSturgeon Fishing on the Fraser River, BC, …

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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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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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