But the plain truth is, no, I’m not holding anything back. There is no Holy Grail out there; there is no top secret rig that only the most successful anglers use. What I described is exactly what I used for the vast majority of last summer and very effective it was, too, although it is not th...

  During the programme some footage from the next Barbel Days and Ways DVD was shown and before anyone goes, ‘Oh, hello. He’s plugging the new release…’ let me say that it isn’t going to be available for quite a while yet, certainly not this side of Christmas and probably not before ...

Making sense of it all… In Part One I said that I would talk about triggers and by that I mean the events that trigger a reaction from our quarry, the magnificent Barbel. As I see it our overall success within angling, regardless of what type of fishing we do, is built on one foundation - ...

Carbology Explained - by Lee Swords. Part 1… (of several…) Carbelling: The fusing of barbel fishing and carp fishing Carbology: The science of catching barbel using techniques evolved from those used in the carp fishing fraternity. Carbologist: One who involves themselves in the science ...

 A question was raised recently on the Fishing Magic web site relating to the movements of barbel by ‘Neneman Mick’. Rather than post this lot into the thread I’ve decided to park it here and if the barbel nuts out there want to know the answers then here they are.     He Asked: I was wond...

Read the inside story… It’s barely a year since Stu (Walker) announced that he was going to film our sturgeon adventure. He’d bought a camcorder, read the instruction manual and was raring to go. We thought he was slightly mad. Surely you had to have some talent to make a movie?   The pl...

The River Don Catchment – A New Kid On The Barbel Block The River Don doesn’t exactly leap to mind when folk start talking about ‘great’ barbel rivers or even Yorkshire barbel rivers, but it has a great deal more potential than you might imagine. Indeed the true potential has nowhere near b...

A big thanks to Lee Swords for contributing the following article. As we all know he’s as mad as a bucket of frogs and nearly as good looking. Here he describes a session on a flooded River Trent. (Parental warning: This article contains mild swear words)   In Search Of The Bronzed Warriors ...

Now and then I get this irresistible urge to put the record straight. Okay, it might ruffle a few feathers but if I don’t do it who else will? Anglers are worse than washer women for repeating old wives tales. Read fishing articles for long enough and you’ll hear the same old dogmas repeated ov...

I don’t know how I would cope without television weather forecasts, especially the Sunday farming bulletin. I tend to tape that one because it gives me a pretty accurate idea of what the week ahead will bring. If, like me, you are in full-time employment and have no choice but to fish at weekends,...