TUESDAY29th February 2000

My fascination with pike fishing in the West of Ireland was first stirred by Fred Buller’s amazing Domesday Book of Mammoth Pike. Entries such as the account of the 46 pounder netted from Ballygary Bay enthralled me and I read them time and time again. If that book had never been written, I think the…

When an item of clothing makes the transgression from the world of sailing to our world of angling, it often means that it is bulky and bright orange, with comfort and safety being the primary factors when at sea. Well, the Mallard Sweater from MaxMarine is certainly comfortable, but bright orange it isn’t! However, the…

Kevin, Lez and Roman spent the nights in their individual dome tents whilst I preferred to sleep out under the stars, well protected by the mosquito net that was mounted on my bedchair and definitely cooler than the guys in the tents. The facilities in the camp were as one might expect; somewhat basic, although…

There was a massacre, but not in the sense that many fish were caught and it was a poor fishing day in terms of large fish. This expedition to Malindi on the Kenya coast, was to be the culmination of three previous fishing expeditions, and the result of reading many articles about fishermen who 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….

John Cooper is in Sweden sampling the guided fishing, Martin James is at the 4th Lapland World Cup, and I’m in Finland running around in circles, but more of that in the Last Cast piece. Also abroad was Roger Linn, who has finally managed to find time to write us another piece about his annual…