.Both the Greater Weever and the Lesser Weever are capable of inflicting a sharp and painful sting from the spiny rays of the first dorsal fin. What the books often don’t tell you is that there are another set of spikes on the side of the gill plates, which can also inflict a painful sting….

The writer will tell us about seeing barbel glide from under the lush green canopy of weed and begin to feed on the clean gravel. He may also describe how he waits for the barbel to make an appearance and begin to mop up the scattering of sweetcorn he had introduced earlier. We northern anglers…

The situation is also inflamed by the increase in breakdowns in marriage, resulting in more boys and girls without a father to teach them how to fish. This is further aggravated by the increased demands placed on the teaching profession so that the anglers in its ranks have not got the time to teach parties…

It could be said that these wonderful little fish migrate north from the Bay of Biscay and the temperate coastal waters of Spain and Portugal for something of a summer holiday – lasting from April through to the back end of October, sometimes even later if the Autumn weather remains warm.First indications that the bream…

Kimberley – now there’s a name to conjure with. Almost exactly a hundred years ago, during the Boer war, my Grandfather was treading these parched hills at the time of the siege of Kimberley. Well I remember sitting on his aged knee to hear scary tales of how the British defenders ate rats, and hard…

Nothing beatsseeing a fish chase a muddler as you strip it across the surface. Oftenthe fish will be half out the water and it will still want to eat your muddler. I anchored the boat some twenty five to thirty yards from the foamswept shore line. Having cast the muddler some seventy feet I started…

The concept of the PAA was conceived by Peter Clapperton to boost the waning interest in angling as a whole and to provide a professional body of instructors nation-wide to pass on knowledge and help others develop skills required to improve as anglers. With the help of Roy Marlow and Alan Pearce the initial idea…

The counties surrounding Woburn Abbey had become a bit of a catfish stronghold and Herts., Beds. and Bucks. were known collectively as ‘catfish country’. Most other areas of the UK were devoid of the species. The British record at this time was held by a fish of forty three and a half pounds which had…

September will probably be still warm but the weed will begin to lose its grip. Clear areas will be easier to find, so get in on these first, before others do. Once you find one – I find leading about the best bet to locate them – then bait it up and fish it continuously….

Those of us who fish a lot work very hard to stay plugged in to the “fishing grapevine” because we know that without this informal network feeding back the “what, where, when and how” we are going to miss out on some of the seasons best fishing. It is not a one way street, you…