Trophy Room for Andy Shattock

Although Ive spent zillions of hours with a single-handed fly-rod of one sort or another, Ive never felt much drawn to salmon fishing with a double-handed rod. Theres always been the seasonal opportunity, and I once turned down an invitation to a posh press trip to some Scottish hotels water. It never really appealed as…

1. The Breakaway Impact Lead.For me this is the most significant advance in terminal tackle in a long time. Not only does the Impact lead have a streamlined shape, aiding casting, and excellent holding properties but more importantly it provides a near failsafe release of the hook every time. I have been using these leads…

September has certainly been very dry, most rivers are down to bare bones especially in the north of England. As I have said many times, our rivers in the north of England need two good days of rain a week. I don’t feel we can have too much rain, when the rivers are carrying a…

Although many game anglers tie their own flies, very few bother to make their own fly rods. I find this odd as it takes far more skill to tie a good fly than to make a fly rod. It is therefore my intention to show readers how easy it is to make a fly rod…

Due to the declining stocks in most salmon rivers of the North Atlantic, many people feared that the last stocks of big salmon could have gone forever. It seems that we always have to come to that point before the politicians react. Looking back at the “millennium” season in 2000 those problems seemed to lead…

As most of you will know, carp generally move around a lot less in winter than they do in summer. So the usual advice is to fish as close to them as possible, and keep your groundbaiting patterns, if any, very tight.