There is a statement to set the pundits talking! Seriously, if you watch a really good caster in action you will see everything done smoothly – very little fuss and certainly not much force. The whole process is about timing and having even an hour with a professional casting instructor can be beneficial for us…

Conditions on the first two days were very poor for catching trout as the wind blew with a chill factor that is rarely experienced in April. The fish that were caught were feeding deep in the water and in general super fast sink lines were the order of the day. However, there was a pleasant…

I spoke with Steve Taylor, one of the staff at Chew earlier today, for an up to the minute report, and he confirmed that Chew has fished well in general, and on days with good conditions – overcast and gentle breeze, the fish are high in the water. Unfortunately it has been bright and windy…

I hear quite often that the cold weather is necessary to “kill off” many of the germs that are about, whether that is true I cannot say, but it certainly does one a power of good having a stroll by the lake, well wrapped up, then returning to the warmth of the house and a…

I spent a while going through my fishing diary in which I record each trout caught and the successful fly used in its capture. I thought that I knew what I needed to tie to refill my box, but I was wrong! It is amazing how time dulls the brain – though maybe the red…

It surprised me for two reasons; firstly I didn’t have Mike down as being such a keen trout fisherman that he would venture out in the winter; secondly because I would have imagined that, as someone who is retired, he would chose a day to go with great care. He drove all of the way…

In many parts of the world there is no problem at all with trout fishing after dark, but in England we do seem to have difficulties. I guess that it is mostly down to the economics of running large fisheries at night and the associated costs of staffing. However, we got round to imagining a…

John has been the top England rod in the last two world events; he finished third in last year’s national; he finished top English rod in the last European river championships that he fished. Imagine that we were now talking about the world of golf instead of trout fishing. It would be impossible to leave…

Surely the fish would move this morning! Swifts were hawking the surface, so it seemed a pretty good bet that there were insects hatching. No signs of moving fish as yet. Maybe the choice that I had made for the first drift was wrong. Should I move? No, I will give it to the island…

The “2001 Trout Fisherman European Open” will be officially launched in the next edition of “Trout Fisherman”, where entry forms will be available, along with full details of the venues that John has booked. However in an exclusive for www.fishing.co.uk I have attached a full list of venues and dates. Email me for entry forms…