This of course was no joking matter, but from a river anglers perspective it was dammed inconvenient. As portrayed very graphically by the media, floods were everywhere, but most that hit the headlines concerned areas affected by sustained floodwater over several days and more. There were of course many other floods occurring; flash flooding, where…

Unless you are on some of the huge waters in the north of England, or some of the reservoirs, then the successful pike anglers know that they must keep moving to achieve consistent sport. It is a fact of life that pike fishing on most lakes has far more troughs than peaks. Most waters contain…

Last week the river was coming up fast and, along with most of the regulars, I decided against fishing the KDAA Wednesday match as it looked like being a ‘no hoper’. Only a few anglers bothered to turn up and the match was cancelled but what followed was quite a surprise to me when I…

My rod will be already set-up with 4lb line and size eight hook. The landing net will be set-up and folded down. Everything else will be ready in my little pack. It is much easier to approach fish from below, so if there is time I will walk to the bottom of the stretch I…

I was reasonably pleased when I drew peg 132 on the KDAA match at Bewdley. It’s the end peg on the match length with loads of room below it to draw fish from. I was told it was a good swim for chub, especially later in the season. I decided to floatfish it with fairly…

About now is the time to start checking out that winter trotting gear and looking at the collection of floats.One float that appears in many angler’s float armoury is the wire stemmed stick float as it so useful for trotting in fairly turbulent conditions that cause problems for more traditional wood stemmed models. The heavy…

I still vividly remember being stirred in the middle of the night – being driven through the rolling countryside around Belfast to some mystical lake and arriving just as the first traces of dawn lit the sky – an enormous adventure for a three year old. A year later and I was sometime entrusted to…

Bear with me, do. There are so many writers talking about bagging-up, donkey sized fish, and ‘seriously wicked’ rods, that I feel it’s necessary to offer a bit of balance.Just yesterday, I walked down the lane leading to the river, with a very nice middle-aged chap, balding (like me) who was intrigued by my minimalist…

INSURANCEPersonal and travel insurance is vital. Your ferry company or travel agent will be able to arrange this, but you could find cheaper and better cover through a local broker or through your own insurance agent. I use a company called Direct Travel Insurance (www.direct-travel.co.uk), a Member of the General Insurance Standards Council. They provide…

I remember a good few years back when Nev Fickling wrote a couple of articles about specimen hunting on the River Trent, entitled ‘The Specialist Trent’. I’d never fished the Trent at the time, but found his knowledge and advice in these pieces very interesting and could relate it to my own fishing on the…