Back down at the lake I have been fishing all spring, the fishing was not quite hectic yet but signs were that all was warming up nicely for a final scenario before I move on to pastures new in mid June. The skies were cloudless but a nice easterly wind was blowing, just right for…

Whilst we were visiting the water to do our feature finding hopefully we chose nice sunny calm days so we had a chance to see some of the fish we hoped to catch as well. Certainly if we found areas of snags or the early signs of lily beds then we should have seen the…

At the lake this meant that the pads were slowly making an appearance and there were signs of fish everywhere. On the first session of the week the conditions were cloudy after a few hot days but with no wind there was a lovely muggy feel in the air. With no one else there I…

There is no short cut to getting to know a water above and below the water, the only way is to spend as much time as possible down there. It is the close season so this means we need access to the water when no one is fishing. On some waters there is no problem…

The centrepin reel is a great tool for close up fishing, where we really need to get in close contact with our intended quarry. In most situations, of course, a fixed spool reel would do the job but fishing is all about having fun and there is no doubt that using a centrepin is all…

During that period all I’d managed to put in the net was one bream of around two pounds. Then a shoal moved in and I managed to get another seven, giving me a 26.14.0 total and fourth place in the match. By the end of the competition I was wanting another couple of hours as…

White Acres has a great reputation for match festivals that attract many of the top names in the match fishing world and we were arriving just after the Spring Festival that had produced some real heavyweight catches.The weather had turned much colder with a nasty North Easterly wind chilling all the lakes. This was not…

It’s a swim that has thrown up a few good catches recently and when I got to it I could see why. The swim in question is only around three and a half feet deep, running over gravel, and quite pacy. This time of year I hate drawing sluggish river swims, as all the fish…

On the tidal and lower Thames it is the Chinese mitten crab that we are mainly concerned with, as to date I have not seen a crayfish in these waters. The locals joke that any signal crayfish that arrive in the section would soon be eaten by the Chinese mitten crabs.Chinese mitten crabs are a…

Upon my arrival the sun was shining brightly and the stroll around the banks was quite a hot one. In a sheltered bay there was a sight I had not seen since last September; carp were basking on the surface, around a dozen of them, none of any great size but they were a welcome…