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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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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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