Alan Stagg Articles
The Hampshire Avon has always been a magical river and I think it’s fair to say, that when it comes to barbel fishing, this river is commonly thought of as one of the most iconic waterways in the country.
Along with many other anglers I always look forward to the summer months, especially the traditional start of season, and when 16th June arrives rudd are normally uppermost in my thoughts. In the south of England the large gravel and sand pits produce some of the finest specimen rudd fishing the country has to offer...
Crucians have traditionally been known as a tentative feeder, and sensitive float fishing tactics at dawn and dusk have been the accepted textbook way to target this species. I think that it would be fair to say that as specimen fishing has moved forward a little since then and tackle, techniques and rigs have become more refined.
During the summer of 2015 a new syndicate was being planned in the carp mecca of Yateley. Alan Cooper (CWA Fisheries) had purchased a lake known as Little Moulsham during the CEMX sale of fisheries in 2014/2015. Word was some vast improvements had been made to the venue, so it was certainly seemed wise [...]
During the late autumn months I often find myself packing away my barbel and chub kit for the season as in recent years I have found myself spending most of the colder winter months in search of big pike. Pursuing big pike can become very addictive and when targeting any species to specimen sizes [...]
Perch are a species that are often synonymous with cold winters, yet autumn and the early winter months of September, October and November are a great time to target perch. Often they can be fairly plump at this time of the year as they prepare for the onset of winter and will often feed heavily [...]
Perch were high on the agenda this month and I soon had the kit loaded in the van and was the long drive. Arriving at dawn I had a good look around to familiarise myself with the venue before settling into a peg with an inviting snaggy margin to my right. I was soon using [...]
This autumn and early part of the winter and I have been bang into my barbel fishing. After gaining a ticket to a rather special stretch of a Thames Tributary, I have dedicated a fair amount of my time trying to track down and catch some of its big, yet nomadic residents. I have fished [...]
At the start of the 2014 season I had a good think about what I wanted to try and achieve. For me I get the most enjoyment and satisfaction targeting big fish, so I decided to concentrate on this and only fish venues that would give the chance of a monster. At the start of [...]
This autumn I have been bang into my barbel fishing. After gaining a ticket to a rather special stretch of a Thames Tributary, I decided to dedicate a fair amount of my time trying to track down and catch some of its big, yet nomadic residents. I have fished some hard and low stock section [...]
After a setting a new PB during my last session, I couldn’t wait to get back to the Southern Stillwater I had been targeting this spring. I arrived early Friday morning and with it being a Bank Holiday weekend, I knew the venue was going to be busy. After a few laps of the lake, [...]
In recent years I've had a burning desire to better my PB bream of 16lb 7oz. I always set aside some time each year, with the hope of achieving this. Well this season was no different and I had been putting in a lot of ground work through the colder months in the hope that [...]
Much of my stillwater fishing in recent years has evolved around one technique, introducing groundbait and lots of it, known as the baiting pyramid. The idea is to try and attract a wide range of species to dine in the swim, create competitive feeding and hopefully tricking the fish into making a mistake. This method [...]
When it comes to tricking wily chub there is one rig that does the business and that’s the mag-aligner. The rig was devised by two hugely successful big carp anglers who cleverly incorporated an Enterprise Tackle Mag-aligner grub slid over the eye of the hook, creating a line aligner effect which ensures that the hook [...]
Targeting Roach and Rudd lends itself to two very different methods; the float and the feeder. The float is the more traditional approach of the two and wading out in the shallow margins spraying maggots can lead to some good fun fishing. When the winds strengthen, things can become difficult on the vast open water [...]
I favour a fairly simplistic approach when targeting barbel but by adding a few little tweaks and thought, simple rigs can help trick even the biggest and wariest of fish. All of my barbel fishing revolves around using a running lead set-up, with the idea of keeping as much of the line around the rig [...]
The helicopter rig is a tactic that has had a great effect on my fishing. I saw how effective helicopter rigs can be around six or seven years ago on my first couple of trips to Frensham Great Pond. At the time I was targeting the venues prolific tench population when in-between catching them, I [...]
Crucians are one of my favourite species to target during the spring. For me their golden scales glistening in the sun, are hard to beat. Crucians have traditionally been known as a tentative feeder, and sensitive float fishing tactics at dawn and dusk have been the accepted textbook way to target this species. I think [...]
Gardner Tackle’s Media Executive had a productive weekend chasing chub on his favourite southern river. Alan adopted his successful mag-aligner tactics using 10lb light blend Pro Carp main line, a 2oz running lead, 14 inches of 10lb Target Speciskin and a size 12 Mugga hook with an Enterprise mag-aligner grub slid over the shank of [...]
Mag-aligner fishing – The modern approach to river fishing Barbel and chub are two of my favourite river species and throughout the summer they can be extremely obliging. However, when conditions change for the worse and the temperatures begin to drop big fish can often be difficult to tempt. This can be a time when [...]
