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I thought 2014 had been a terrible year in my angling until I sat down to write this piece and actually reflected back over the entire year. My first trip of the year was with fellow GT anglers Alan Stagg and Calum Kletta to the famous Abbey Lakes complex in France. We had a short [...]
The year blew in rainy and mild – Friday nights huddled under ‘the Beards’ little brolly talking utterly hysterical nonsense with Meeky, Marcus and anyone else unfortunate to be in ear shot. It was a lovely way to see the year in, if not a little selfish, as the prime motivation to get down to [...]
Following on from a fairly successful 2013 on Roach Pit, the 2014 season actually went better than I could have hoped; managing 22 bites and working my way through 'most' of the stock! It all started in early spring with my first and very welcome bite, a small common of around 23lb. I had decided [...]
Barbel fishing throughout the winter months can be a very hit and miss affair. If you get it right and fish when conditions are great then the results can be spectacular - but if the conditions are poor (which is the case more often than not) then unless you put your hookbait on the nose [...]
My very next session started off after a trip to the dentist. Luckily it was nothing serious, but after a few missed appointments due to last minute trips to France I daren’t miss another one! So after a very late start I pulled up to the lake in the dark; not ideal but I know [...]
Despite the unbelievable amount of rainfall we experienced early on in the year and the mayhem it caused, plus a disputable parking ticket I received, 2014 has been a phenomenal year. Many amazing things happened for me, like finding out my wife and I are expecting a baby girl in February 2015, buying and finally [...]
I have had a great years fishing this year catching ten thirties and my first UK forty. I have been concentrating on a syndicate water in Ringwood and this is currently my second year on there but this year I have managed a few special ones. My first memorable session was during the middle of [...]
I arrived at Anglers Paradise Kracking Carp lake at around 9am, to find a big 40mph South Westerly wind pushing down the lake into peg 4 as expected. With an empty lake it was obvious that's peg 4 was going to be the place to be with the mild conditions. On my walk around the [...]
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 [...]
With winter here and temperatures dropping rapidly, many anglers will be looking at their tactics and thinking about cold water baits and fining down their rigs ready for those tricky cold water carp. So, with thoughts of a winter jet black mirror in the folds of my landing net I thought I’d write a short [...]
With winter well on its way, it was time to get out for a few nights before the seriously cold weather was due in. As anyone who lives in the South West knows, we haven't got a great variety of good day ticket waters at our disposal thus making the venue selection relatively simple. I [...]
Being well into December I’m just waiting for my first blank of the season to come and visit me. I’ve been very lucky this year, with multiple catches on most sessions and some stunning fish to boot! However, with the icy cold winds and a few frosts becoming the norm now, I have been watching [...]
2014 was a fantastic fishing year for me, and I hope the luck that I had during the past 12 months continues into 2015! The floods in the early part of the year greatly affected all the lakes in my local area, in fact I can remember going to have a look round one of [...]
As the year is coming to a close, I thought I would give you an insight as to how my fishing year has gone in 2014. I had planned to do a fair bit of barbel and perching over the winter on the rivers, but unfortunately due to most of the South of England being [...]
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 [...]
I arrived at an ice cold and windswept lake, it was quite noticeable that the air temperature had dropped by a good few degrees. With the wind-chill factor decreasing temperatures even further, I had a good feeling the carp would be somewhere on the back of the wind. I had a good look around, but [...]
It can take years of personal findings to perfect a rig, but with all the rigs shown in magazines or websites for you to try, I have noticed there’s always something missing… You’re own confidence and understanding! I’m going to take you through my findings from over the years, I will try my best to [...]
After the last trip to my syndicate water, I had a normal week at home catching up with some work, along with the dreaded job of drying my gear out and making ready for my next adventure on the bank. After several late nights and early mornings playing catch up with this and that, I’d [...]
The weekends can’t come round quick enough these days. Why? Well, since the clocks have gone back my angling has, through necessity, become more weekend focused than the standard turn up after dark and sling 'em out approach that had been planning on. All those good intentions about doing the work nights; setting up and [...]
Well, hopefully by the time you are reading this, the weather will have finally cooled off enough to dig out the old pike gear again and I will have put away the summer gear. Lovely though the long summer has been, I am glad to see the back of it. Not only as with my [...]
