The new job took me to live in Ringwood on the banks of the Hampshire Avon, arguably Britain’s most famous fishing river, with a reputation for producing fish of specimen proportions. Pike are no exception to this rule and 30lb plus fish are landed each year. Like the Frome, the Avon is a fast flowing…

BASSBass are probably the most sought after and prestigious of all species that can be caught from our shores , and despite a decline in their numbers during the late eighties / early nineties due to intense commercial fishing , this hard fighting fish has staged a comeback and numbers have definitely increased over the…

He was sure of one other thing too, he was the best pike angler there was or ever had been! Vinnie s record spoke for itself, hundreds of twenty and thirty pound pike lined Vinnie’s photograph album. In pride of place, on the front cover, sat a picture of Vinnie’s biggest pike, a huge snaggle-toothed…

The most useful item is a buttpad strapped around your waist, so that the butt of the rod is held in a comfortable position, your reeling hand falls comfortably to the reels handle and the hand gripping the rods foregrip is in an optimum position to pump the rod. Many rod makers in recent times…

Wherever salmon fly-fishing is practised throughout the world there are constant reminders of its birth and development in Scotland. Many traditional patterns of salmon flies were developed on the banks of Scotland’s famous rivers – flies like ‘Dunkeld’ (named after the small county town in Perthshire on the banks of the mighty River Tay and…

It is with considerable regret that we have to confirm that the huge, concerted efforts from SAA, PAC and the other predator groups in fighting to retain the right to live-bait in certain waters in the North West Region of the Environment Agency, have failed completely.

There’s Murphy – whose family live there and whose guests we are – Dicky, BG and me. The Headford and District Anglers hold their annual competition on the Lough at this time of year and we were determined to take part. We planned our arrival for the day before the competition so that we’d have…

Ever since the Belgians introduced English anglers to the miracle seed , hemp has been revered for it’s magical fish pulling powers everywhere.Last week I saw a brilliant invention by a Scunthorpe angler. Hair-rigged hemp, a piece of genuine hemp on a hair that stayed on all day and was responsible for a 17lb net…

Here’s the story about my three-year crusade to catch a 50 catfish.Four years ago, while talking to two of my friends – who were already members of a local fishery called Willow Bank – I heard about a very big fish. They told me of a catfish that had been caught at Willow Bank that…

I visited one last year on an invitation match and was very puzzled by the strictness applied by the owners. Bait restrictions abound at these venues and it often leaves me wondering where it will end. One thing is for certain though, none of them read the same books because they all have their own…