AnglersToday Articles

A new personal best Since the start of the river season, I have focused mainly on barbel – trying to ‘up’ my personal best – and on my second session I managed a new PB with a barbel of 7lb 13oz – beating my old best by five ounces. Obviously I’m thrilled by this, but I’m still hoping for a double-figure barbel before the end of the season. A new personal best barbel for me, at 7lb 13oz Variety Most of my summer fishing sessions are restricted to weekdays after work, so when I got a day off, I decided it was time for a little variety and visit a new venue, noted for its tench stocks. Tackling up for tench I also took along my light spinning tackle and a barbel rod just in case I fancied a change later on. Arriving at the lake there was a large tent erected near the water, with recent campfires, disposable barbecues, a bow saw, a rubber mallet and loads of litter nearby. It literally looked as if someone had taken up residence. But there was no-one around! Very odd. Then when I looked into the crystal clear water, which was only …

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Delhi, India; is the most relentless attack on the senses imaginable. The capital of the world’s largest democracy is a bustling, noisy, overwhelming place. It’s a fitting introduction. to this most remarkable country, and the place which saw the start of my quest to catch a Himalayan mahseer. After 5 hours of queuing, rejection and plain confusion, I finally purchased a ticket – along with my travelling companion, Titch – for the sleeper train from Delhi to Ramnagar. Next morning we awoke in seemingly another world compared to the hubbub of Delhi. We were now in the lush green foothills of the Himalayas. Where wild tigers still roam and even wilder rivers carve their way through the rocky landscape. This is mahseer fishing country! Although we had planned to fish for mahseer during this trip we had little in the way of concrete plans. With little more than some basic information found on the internet, a Rough Guide to India and a copy of Paul Boote & Jeremy Wade’s excellent Somewhere Down the Crazy River for inspiration, our “plans” were pretty haphazard! The Rough Guide mentioned the Govind Guesthouse (which, I believe, might now be Garhwal Sweets And Hotel Garhwal Residency) …

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Please note: this article is now quite old. Whilst some of the information is still relevant, the standard and range of travel tackle available to buy has increased exponentially and I haven’t had chance to revisit the article to bring it up-to-date. I continue to host this page mainly for archival reasons. For some of the best current ranges of telescopic rods and travel rods, check out the following ranges: Shimano Travel Concept (S.T.C.) fishing rods Fox Prism Travel Series lure fishing rods Fox EOS Telescopic carp rods Nash Scope Snide travel carp rods Orvis Encounter Spin/Fly Combo – 2 in 1 travel rod Daiwa saltwater travel rods Savage Gear travel rods Travel Fishing Tackle Guide Deciding to take fishing tackle with you on a family holiday can be a potential excuse for divorce! However, if your situation allows, with a little bit of planning and careful purchasing, a lot of great fishing can be enjoyed – whether you’ve got a spare couple of days, or just the odd free hour here and there. The rewards can be excellent – catching exotic species you would never dream of catching at home, or if you’re a coarse angler on a trip …

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Fishing for pike on the Norfolk Broads Since writing my last article, I have only had chance to fish twice. The latter session was the Norfolk Broads trip which I mentioned last time. Both trips were extremely fulfilling; but for contrasting reasons. One resulted in my biggest pike catch ever. The other was a full-on experience, with hardly any fish action at all! Due to the Norfolk session being a pike-oriented trip, my friend Matt and I decided we would have a confidence-building pike session first, on a venue we both knew well. It ended up being an exceptional day in terms of the number of pike caught. I took a dozen fish on lures, from a 100-yard stretch of water and Matt took the largest pike of the day – 14lb 4oz, on a deadbait; along with a few perch and some lost pike on a jig. We had found a huge concentration of pike, which only seemed to be interested in slow-moving baits, so I spent most of my time lure fishing. I caught the majority of my fish on a large Mepps spinner, with two fish caught on a Salmo crankbait. Both retrieved very slowly, close to …

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This article was first published on the now-defunct “AnglersToday” website, in 2005 Warm welcome to Andrew By Andrew Kennedy Since this is my first article for AnglersToday.co.uk, I thought I’d better introduce myself – I’m Andrew Kennedy, I’ve lived in Derbyshire for the majority of my life, except for a year in Australia and another in Sheffield.  I have fished for the past 18 years of my life (as of 2005), considering myself to be a bit of an ‘all-rounder.’ Specimen angling in freshwater is my main interest, but I regularly fish a variety of methods for an array of species and my captures in Britain alone include species as diverse as pike, salmon, ruffe, grayling, golden orfe, carp, zander and bleak, to name but a few.  I am by no means an expert on catching huge fish, but at the moment that’s what I’m working on.  My personal best list is very varied, with many fish I’m proud of – but there are no real “monsters” on there ….yet!  I’m still young though, at 23 – so hopefully the next few seasons will see some vast improvements in my catches. What fishing means to me Most of the fishing …

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(Pike care article kindly provided by Colin Goodge of Pike Anglers Club of Great Britain.) It happens all too often when a parent buys a son or a daughter a cheap rod and reel with a couple of plugs or spinners, and sometimes a small landing net for the school holiday, just sometimes to give them something to do. The thinking is ‘Well I don’t suppose they’ll catch much, only a few tiddlers’, but this can be fatal, because Mr big fish can turn up at any time, and suddenly these youngsters can be thrown into a frenzied sense of excitement crossed with panic, and poor old Mr big fish lies thrown up the bank and will no more give any pleasure to boy, girl or anyone. I feel that sometimes a visit by an experienced angler to one of the local schools before the summer holidays could save a lot of fish lives and teach a lot of youngsters how to get more pleasure from their fishing. Fishing is a great pastime and helps us appreciate the wonderful gifts of nature, and lets face it, would probably keep a lot of youngsters from mischief. Please before you buy or …

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