Bait size fish have sought sanctuary in a dense weed bed. Nothing moves, except the boat as it moves slowly through the water, The only shade is from my long peaked cap. Optilabs polarised sunglasses help my eyes to seek and search deep into the dazzling shimmering water. I blink, then squint, can it be,…

On their first day on the river Ebro they hammered the carp catching over a dozen fish to 32 lbs. The 32 lber shown here indicates the increasing size of fish now being caught from the river. Just recently another angler had several fish over 25lbs in one session. The River Ebro is renowned for…

Apart from being great to watch a float again, this really did get me thinking. Okay, here we were on a heavily stocked fishery where the fish are used to coming up in the water, but already (Mid-March) the fish were quite happy to feed well off bottom. Normally I think of mid-water fishing as…

Most species of fish give themselves away by showing on the surface at some time and this is an obvious give-away. Some times you will see loads of fish, at others just the occasional half captured glimpse; both are equally important and can be the key to unlocking better catches. Once you have seen some…

Although one of the reasons for developing boilies was to reduce the number of nuisance fish caught, there is no doubt that even a two pound roach will have a go at a boilie if it has learnt that they make a good addition to it’s diet. Most carp anglers now use large quantities of…

The Environment Agency is sending more than 600,000 letters to anglers urging them to buy their 2003/04 rod licence by Direct Debit. Letters will start arriving from today (Monday) and anglers have until the February 4 to return the completed mandates. In 2001/2 a pilot Direct Debit project was launched in the Agencys Anglian and…

Some two years ago, I was fishing Chesapeake Bay Maryland for striped bass and during the trip I met Joe and Tom McMurry, two of the nicest brothers you could wish to meet. Tom, a financier, lived in Washington DC (not to be confused with Washington State on the west coast) while Joe, a geologist,…

During October 2002 I become eligible for my bus pass, something I don’t think I will use often, perhaps I can trade it in for an airline pass. Now that would be a very useful thing to have. Last May I was in Connecticut fishing with Ed Mitchell, author of Fly Rodding The Coast and…

Fishmongers Hall London was the scene of a ground-breaking initiative bringing together angling organisations from Europe and the USA. Representatives of the European Angling Alliance (EAA) met with Jim Donofrio, Executive Director of the US-based Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) and agreed on mutual support in achieving their common objective of sustainable fisheries management. Jim Donofrio…

Rutland Water Rutland continues to fish well with a rod average of 2.65 for the week. Big fish showed on catch returns with Gary Mann of Belper in Derbyshire taking a splendid 8lb 2oz Rainbow. North Luffenhams Mark Schofield also got in on the act with a 6lb 4oz Rainbow followed by another one of…