TUESDAY11th April 2000

Day 1: Like the rest of you, December and January had seen me catch very little and I was more than happy to try something a little bit different. Jeff Kennett had invited me to have a day out on the Thames in his boat and so at the crack of dawn I helped him…

Trophy Room for Matthew Deakin Specie: Wels Catfish Weight: 28lb 8oz Location: the Nest in Winteringham, North lincsCaught from the Nest in Winteringham, North lincsThis is my first ever catfish, It is the lake record and there are less than a dozen in the whole lake GO BACK

We started with two or three days of near gale force winds which really stirred up the silt (Chew especially is a shallow lake), and this was followed by several oppressive days – little wind and sweltering conditions, though not genuinely hot. In previous seasons these conditions have presented some of my most memorable fishing….

For some reason I thought I might get to fish the last few days of the fishing season for a change. For the past three years the early morning phone call of “We’ve 30 stone of smelt, on your way mate” has served to wreck my end of season plans. Still, I cannot complain, for…

One of the best baits there is, is bread. Now, I’m not going to talk about big bits of floating bread for carp or anything like that, I’m going to talk about little tiny bits of bread, the biggest about an eighth of an inch size, and the bread punch.When I was a youngster, a…

M’lud glowers sternly at the raggle taggle bunch in the dock, clad in one-piece suits and moon boots.”Anglers, you stand before me charged with apathy,” he roars as their heads hang in shame. “How do you plead?”Angling’s on trial whether we like it or not. And they’ve got us bang to rights when it comes…