It was Mark’s first time on the stretch and with the river very low and clear we decided to go all out on a floatfishing attack. We set up two float rods, one with 3lb Maxima direct to a size 16 hook and the other with 5lb Maxima direct to a size 14. Feeding with…

Before I unloaded my gear from the car I had a look in the catch book to see what had been caught during the weekend. Not a lot really but considering the hot weather that was not too surprising, just a few stock fish to low doubles. Though I knew a mate Ian had lost…

Can you remember another six months when four records fell? Or a time when so many records looked vulnerable? Barbel, bream, carp and tench have all tumbled in the first half of this year. And it looks like a case of when rather than if for at least four other species. So what’s going on…

Stories had been circulating that the original carp had packed on weight and several new 25lb plus fish were in there together with a handful of 30lbers. It was time for a summer revisit. I arrived a couple of days into the season and found the lake fairly quiet, a quick look in the catch…

Travelling in silence he skirts around the back of their encampments, making his way quickly up to the overgrown bank at the far end of the lake. Setting down his rod, net and small bag he scans the scene looking for signs of fish. The odd grey back, looking to all the world like tiny…

All these set-ups, by the nature of the beast, mean fishing in the extreme margins or getting within inches of the fish. Centrepin fishing such as I discussed last week is one such way we can keep things so simple that the fish suspect nothing. In all lakes the fish come in extremely close to…

On Tuesday I fished the match at Woodland View and drew peg 21 on the front Deans pool. A combination of chopped worm, caster and sweetcorn pole-fished on the bottom and in the margin brought me a 36.10.0 return and a section win. The match was won by team mate Norman Carpenter on the back…

I was in two minds whether to venture back as I had caught all the bigger carp and as they say, you can never go back. However the pull was too much and the car, by autopilot, found itself back in the car park. The water had been subject to extreme flooding for the whole…

I’ve had enough of just walking the river, now it’s time to get the gear out and start doing battle with one of my favourite species, barbel!This week I will take you through my thoughts on tackle for barbel fishing on rivers like the Severn. If you’ve never sampled the delights of the Severn Valley…

In this article, I hope to show readers how easy these baits are to prepare. All you need do is follow my step by step guide.As a generalisation, I use fish meal pastes for fishing close-in, either stalking or using a float whilst the boilie is legered on a hair with a self hooking rig….