Last week I talked about many line and hook breakages being caused by using over-powerful rods. The opposite can also be true, with too powerful lines exerting tremendous pressure on rods. Whilst modern rods are incredibly strong, as with everything, they can be overloaded and this will inevitably lead to breakages occurring. One rather rough…

Fly fishing the ocean has taken over much of my fishing time. Having said that, I still try to fish for all species in both fresh and saltwater when time and conditions allow, especially the chub in winter on my local river, the Ribble. Recently I visited the United States to chase striped bass in…

Pike fishing is a fairly well explored subject. After all, the choice of methods is fairly limited. If you are one the of the huge majority who bank fish, and who fish with baits rather than lures then what is there that is new? Well, there are still a few little wrinkles that can catch…

In the summer months the brook is often just a mere trickle but with all the extra water we’ve had lately it has been transformed into a fish holding haven with all types of species seeking refuge from the main torrent that has been the Severn recently. I fished a swim just back from where…

Dropping a paternostered livebait into each slack along a given stretch of river will often produce at least one hungry pike. The fact that the river is in flood will mean that the pike will be pushed into a relatively small area so a catch of several pike from one spot can not be ruled…

Without doubt the very best winter roach fishing is when the river is high and coloured as long as this condition is not caused by snowmelt water. We need to start looking for the roach where we would expect to find them in summer and then look around to see where they would move to…

Arriving home I checked the mail, filled the bird feeders then grabbed two loaves of bread from the dustbin in my shed. If I didn’t keep them in a sealed container the mice would get into the bread. After some lunch I sorted out some tackle, collected my chest highs and made my way to…

Well, this may not always be the case but one condition they do like is flood conditions. The only problem with winter chub fishing as opposed to barbel fishing is that some knowledge of the river we intend fishing in winter is very useful if not essential. The obvious spots will be overhanging trees and…

The senses of fish, like so many other animals, are more highly tuned to their environment than our own. From a highly developed sense of hearing (sounds carry just as far under water), to colour vision (in coarse fish), to their ability to detect vibrations via the lateral line system, fish are quite capable of…

Over the rest of the winter months I will try to explain the different conditions we are likely to find as winter passes and how we can adapt to them to get the best from the waters to still hopefully put some specimen fish on the bank. This month I will start with conditions that…