AnglersToday Articles

As Spring lethargically began to take it’s hold, my latest session had me in two minds. Should I try for some early season tench, or go for some late season pike? I opted to take tackle and bait with me to target either species. There are two different club lakes I fish, within a couple of miles of each other. One holds both tench and small pike, whilst the other holds pike of specimen proportions. I decided to head in the general direction of these lakes and see what conditions I found when I arrived. I arrived at the first venue at first light and as I approached the gate, I noticed a dark figure scurrying across a field in front of me. It was a badger! One of my favourite British mammals, and one which I have seldom seen in the wild. This sighting gave my confidence an early boost and gave me feeling that the day might turn out to be a special one. I had a good walk around the three-acre lake before I set up any tackle. It was a cold morning and it just didn’t feel right for tench fishing yet. After spooking a few …

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In the period between Christmas and the end of the traditional fishing season, I’ve struggled to catch over the last few years. Many species are at their largest, but they’re by no means easy to catch! I was hoping this year to buck this trend, but I’ve managed less late winter fishing sessions than I would have liked and the fishing’s been tough.  The unsettled weather has led to heavily fluctuating river levels, which made planning fishing trips very difficult. Despite this, I decided that my first session of the new year should be spent targeting chub on a prolific stretch of river… When I arrived, I found the river high, but falling. It was very coloured, but my confidence was boosted by news that an angler had landed a chub over 6lb on trotted breadflake earlier that morning. This was the size I was aiming for, to set a new personal best. Breadflake was a bait I didn’t have in my armoury; I opted instead to fish strong-smelling, oily baits, hard on the bottom. I fished hard all day, keeping mobile in an attempt to find the fish, but one very half-hearted take was my only reward. No fish, …

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Grayling fishing, on a day ticket, on the Derbyshire Derwent First of all, I can’t believe I’ve now been writing for Anglers Today for a year already; and what a year it’s been!  Thankfully the fish have been quite co-operative, giving me some material to write about and allowing me to notch up no less than nine new Personal Bests along the way. In the week leading up to Christmas I managed to fit in two fishing sessions on very different natures. I decided to fish for pike one day and, in the interests of diversity, grayling on the other. In Derbyshire and the surrounding counties, we are quite lucky to have various rivers offering the chance of quality grayling fishing on a day ticket. Many venues are fly only but some are mixed fisheries, recognising bait fishing as a valid method for catching ‘Lady of the Stream’. It’s almost two years since I fished for grayling, but it is a species I shall always long to catch. Firstly, to catch one you must fish clean, fast rivers. Once you hook a grayling, you are then treated to a terrific, spirited fight; where the fish will use all of its …

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Since starting serious pike fishing back in January 2000, most of my winter sessions have been devoted to this superb predator. Following a dire 2004 campaign, this season I have fared much better and caught many doubles from a variety of venues, on a diverse mix of methods and baits. An early-November piking trip started off like any other. A pre-dawn start saw myself and two mates load up the van and head off into Yorkshire in search of some specimens. We arrived at the venue to find the water gin-clear, with a few pike anglers already setting up. Not the ideal scenario for a successful day’s piking. Still, we loaded ourselves with tackle and headed as far as possible from the madding crowd, in the hope of finding some big pike seeking some peace and quiet. The weather had taken a noticeable chill overnight and I remember feeling the cold air in the back of my throat as we walked. I was the first to find a peg, as I spotted a shoal of roach and bream rolling on the surface, close to some extensive reed beds. I set up quickly and cast a paternostered bait towards the edge …

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Just recently I managed a days pike fishing on the River Trent and found the fish in a feeding frenzy! I started the day off lure fishing, using a home-made lure which had so far been my most successful home-made pattern. This time out, it wasn’t to disappoint. On my third cast, I felt the familiar ‘bump’, signalling a take from a pike. Before long, I had played my first fish of the day to the bank. Seeing that the hooks were held in a safe position, I decided to hand-land the fish, which I quickly returned. I estimated the weight at around four pounds. The new homemade lure I was using soon rewarded me for my hard work! On the very next cast, I had turned the reel handle only a couple of times when the resistance went solid. Upon striking, the rod took on a healthy bend and the fish stayed deep, signalling that I’d hooked a good fish.Because I use barbless trebles on my lures, I always keep a tight drag, which means that not many of the fish I hook on lures actually take any line during the fight. This fish, however, managed to power away …

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October 2005 arrived, and with it my first serious piking sessions of the season. The deadbait rods came out to accompany my lure rods as I prepared for what shall hopefully be a very successful Autumn and Winter’s pike fishing. Sometimes pike can seem like one of the easiest fish to catch, but very often they can seem almost impossible to catch. Just when you think you’ve got the species worked out, they turn things on their head and leave you scratching yours. If you haven’t pike fished before, but would like to have a go, then please first go with an experienced pike angler, the main reason for this is pike welfare. Everything from the timing of your strike to the unhooking of pike must be done correctly because an angler can pose a serious risk to the pike’s life if they do not know what they’re doing. I can tell you that already this autumn I’ve had some success with my piking, but to find out exactly how I’ve fared, you shall have to read on! Due to the inconsistency of the weather, I have fished a variety of venues with my regular fishing partner, Matt. The first …

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Hunting a 3lb Perch After a summer of mainly small-river barbel fishing and evening lure fishing stints, I can look back with satisfaction that I’ve had an above-average season and I’ve achieved a few new goals – not least of which my lure caught 15lb pike.  Throughout the Autumn and Winter, I shall be targeting mainly pike, along with other predators such as chub and perch.  So far the going has been good.  I’ve been fishing with my long-time fishing buddy, Matt, and between us we’ve already had 6 pike of between 14lb and 19lb this season.  Besides the pike, there have been numerous respectable perch captured. We were not only both seeking our first 3lb-plus perch, but also our first fish over 2lb this season.  This is how we got on… The first perch session of the Autumn began in late September, with Matt and I selecting swims with different features. Mine was a shallow, still bay, with a couple of deeper holes and some overhanging trees on the far bank.  Matt’s swim was a high-bank with shallows below, which gradually deepened off towards the far end of the swim. It became apparent that perch were present in both …

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Please note: this article is now a little out of date. Whilst much of the information is still relevant, my techniques, knowledge and equipment has improved so I intend to completely rewrite this guide in the near future, to bring it up-to-date. I continue to host this page mainly for archival reasons. Photographing Yourself This year I have been forced to fish many sessions alone, which can be very frustrating when you catch a fish worth photographing, but with a few extra pieces of equipment you can still take good photographs of yourself and a fish.  An easy way to still get a photo of your catch is to leave the fish in the landing net, and lay something beside it, such as your reel or scales, to give an idea of perspective.  This can look really good, but there is a better way to photograph your own captures.  On my Olympus cameras, there is a function which enables you to use an infra-red remote control to work the shutter.  Gardner Tackle market a camera adaptor which screws into a bankstick, so that you don’t need to carry a tripod to mount your camera on.  I mount this adaptor into …

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Please note: this article is now quite out of date! Whilst much of the information is still relevant, my techniques, knowledge and equipment has improved – so I intend to completely rewrite this guide in the near future, to bring it up-to-date. I continue to host this page mainly for archival reasons… A large part of the joy of angling, to me, is being able to reflect on the memories of specific captures in months or years to come. A good quality photograph helps to keep those memories so much more vivid and alive. So, when you land that prize specimen – will you have the know-how to get a great photo and do the fish justice? Keeping a few basics in mind can improve your angling photographs considerably, so this is my common-sense guide to building a fishing album to be proud of. Remember though – to take a good fish photograph, you must first catch a fish! Unless you already have a lot of experience with a camera, I would not suggest the use of an SLR camera for fishing. Although I’ve taken some great shots with an SLR, I find it far more practical for fishing to …

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For the past five years I’ve really enjoyed lure fishing for pike, but this season I have had unprecedented success with lures. I don’t know if my lure-fishing ability has improved or I’ve simply had great luck but, either way, the lure has been my ‘fall-back’ method when my success is dwindling using other approaches. So, when I started blanking fishing for barbel, I decided to have an evening exploring a new stretch of river with the lure rod, to save my sanity. I arrived on the river with only an hour and a half of daylight remaining, so I moved from swim to swim quickly, without spending too much time in any one place. I happened upon a very picturesque weir and decided to have a few casts into the fast water. After trying crankbaits for a while, I clipped on a fairly universal fast-water spinner – a Mepps Aglia Long no.3. On this I had the chance of Pike, Perch or Chub and the lure is quite stable and easy to fish, even in a fast current. As always, I used a long wire trace, because there was a chance of hopefully hooking a pike. After a few …

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