I no longer feel the need to keep secrets, a trait that resulted in me being refused admission to the Wimbledon PAC region. So during a recent lure fishing session on the Thames I babbled inanely at Neil Depledge. He listened to my tales without a whimper and resisted the temptation to jump out of…

The weather was much milder for my first session of the week. The skies were leaden with no wind and the air felt mild. With the light not going until nearly 5pm I had plenty of time to stroll around the lake, unfortunately with milder weather came rain and the water level had once more…

Well, the reason is that after using braids for a whole range of different fishing over the last few years, I now see it as a bit of a mixed blessing. Yes, in the right hands it can be an excellent tool, but it is not a panacea for poor angling ability, and it is…

Sometime around 8-30 am on the old A5 I left the blue-black smoke pouring from a badly maintained lorry and a car towing a caravan for the peace and quiet of a Shropshire country lane. As I drove down this quiet leafy country lane my mind went back to my childhood days in the countryside;…

I’ve been fly fishing for a broad range of freshwater species during the past 13 years. Of the many species available on fly to anglers in the U.K., perhaps the most exciting propositions are carp and pike. Despite many other species offering a challenge, from the wary chub to powerful barbel and the bold and…

.The water levels across the country, but especially it seemed in the Thames valley, dropped very fast over the space of just three or four days, dropping by as much as two feet. When I arrived at the lake I found parts of it had emerged from beneath the water that had been under water…

There are many types of carp waters available to everyone across the country from easy day ticket waters to hard syndicate waters. For a beginner to carp fishing it is best to start on the easy waters. Having just said that day ticket waters are ‘easy’ – that may not always be the case, as…

This has come about at least partly because of the press. It is no wonder that the ‘where to fish’ pages and fishery reports are the most popular pages. Although often a bit out of date, these pages offer a mine of information for the angler looking for new locations. Throw in a couple of…

I could not believe my eyes as I unlocked the gate, there in one of the two fishable swims was the unmistakable sight of the back of a bivvy. As I drove in and locked the gate again a head stuck up above the ramparts. It was one of the summer regulars, after a quick…

How many articles have been written on bait over the years? Probably enough to fill several books over! Yet, for those of us who have watched fishing develop over the last twenty years there has been an amazing swing in the way bait is written about. This change in our attitude to bait has, to…