After a walk round, climbing a few small trees on the way, I saw nothing to inspire me so I plumped for the area of open water again. The days are much longer now so it is a luxury to be able to take my time getting the casts spot on before darkness descends. After…

After last weeks ridiculously low temperatures the fickle English weather threw up really mild temperatures with days of 13 degrees and nights not much colder, so I had to get down the Colne Valley pit. I had heard before the ice that carp had been getting into a small channel that I had caught some…

I fancied an easy option this session by fishing the swim nearest the car that also covered a large expanse of water that had already produced some good carp for me during December and January. However to my surprise the Secretary of the club was there on a day session. I was surprised but not…

Although not noted for huge fish, the Gipping does hold lots of small to medium sized chub which respond well to a stalking approach. After spending virtually the whole of the last year fishing stillwaters, I felt the time was right to spend some time getting back into the knack of creeping about on rivers…

Obviously, if you are going to spend time pre-baiting a river there is no point in using a bait that is commonly in use by others. In the past I have had great success using 8mm trout pellets as my winter chub bait, but it has been noticeable that catches fall away when the water…

The build up started in earnest around mid November when I started noticing that my fishing time was getting less and less. So I counter-attacked and resolved to spend at least one day each week out on the bank. My good pal Pete Henton of the Bivvy Hospital arranged our first trip for weeks, “We’re…

Articles by Martin James Martin James Martin James. International salt and freshwater angler, consultant, writer, author, broadcaster and TV contributor was born in 1937 in Kent, at Canada House, a nursing home for Navy officer’s wives. Martin caught his first fish in 1941 during a German bomber raid on his home county of Kent. As…

How many times have you finished a session in the darkness, made a quick check of the swim for tackle left behind, only to find when you get home you’ve left your bank-stick behind? Many of the better bank-sticks are coloured black, not at all helpful for showing up in the dark. To make them…

The year 2000 was a good one for sea trout The sea trout runs on most of the rivers in Northern England, Wales and Southwest Scotland has been better than for the past few years. The river Ribble has produced lots of good sea trout with many five and six pound fish. It’s not been…

From my experiences at the waterside during the winter months, I feel we will get off to a good start this coming season, especially if the weather is mild. All the rain we had through the autumn and winter will have done wonders for our rivers. When you take a look at the bed of…