One of the best baits there is, is bread. Now, I’m not going to talk about big bits of floating bread for carp or anything like that, I’m going to talk about little tiny bits of bread, the biggest about an eighth of an inch size, and the bread punch.When I was a youngster, a…

Stan normally organised the squad. For instance he’d say ” I want Kevin on No1 peg, I want Ivan on No2, Ian on No3 and so on. We would then fish a three hour session before he would move us around, and then we would fish another three hour session with the rota altered. So…

Everybody enjoys a bit of sunshine on their faces and a general lessening of average wind strengths, so what about the fishing you can do down here in the Westcountry? Many people will be travelling to various parts of the Westcountry for their annual breaks, and although the current foot and mouth crisis has shut…

My wife and I had decided to spend a week on Costessy No3 (near Norwich) pit, she after some big bream, me in the hope of contacting one of the few big twenties that inhabiting this very hard carp water. In those days the water was gin clear and alive with natural food. Someone (I…

When Geoff Maynard, the editor,(Sir to me!) asked if I was interested in writing an article on fish, native to England, that are now found in Australia, I thought about it for ten seconds and then said ‘YES’. As a Pommie with dual nationality, now resident in Aussie, any chance of writing on my favourite…

Before we look at the fishing in these two areas I would like to offer a few tips on arranging a fishing holiday in the Ebro valley. There are several forms of accommodation available with a wide price range, but those readers who read the first of these articles will recall that I recommended that…

At that time, as a boy of nine, I used to spend all my summer holidays with an Aunt and Uncle on a Shropshire farm mid-way between Shrewsbury and Much Wenlock. Almost fifty years on I cannot remember why, but I was given a fishing rod and reel and made plans to begin a new…

Chub There are very few fish more obliging than the chub. It will feed in heat waves and, most important at this time of year, in quite severe winter conditions. The chub can be caught with a variety of methods and baits, ranging from tiny baits on delicate float tackle, to big baits on heavy…

Although the conditions are quite different between the bottom and the surface, much of the fish’s behaviour when confronted with a ‘suspicious’ bait on the top or on the bottom (the refusal, the aborted take, the snatch, and the confident suck) must be almost the same. Which all goes a long way towards teaching you…

Obviously, there is no great cut-off point, where you suddenly decide that in the next field you have moved from, say, the upper river to the middle river, and therefore a change of approach is needed. The transition from one area to another, and the change of approach that is required, is much more subtle…