Jan 09 Blog   All Hands To The Pumps   I went back to the Idle for a session imagining that it would be sock on. We’d had a bit of rain a few days previous, which in my warped way of thinking would have put a bit of extra warmth in the water. Of course I still spent ten minutes scraping ice of...

      November Blog         Stuart Walker and I finally launched our debut DVD, Barbel Days And Ways Volume One on November 1st. Much of the previous year was spent on the creative side - planning, filming, editing and so on. I’ve made a dozen of more angling films in my time an...

August Blog Where does the time go? I thought that retiring from my full-time job would leave me with loads of time to do everything I want to do but there simply aren’t enough hours in a week. So where shall I start? School holidays mean Sue and I can escape for a well deserved break (on her part...

Looking back, that one fish planted a seed in me that still flourishes today. It inspired me above all else to stop just reading the writings of Walker, Stone and Taylor and to actually do something with the knowledge they’d given me. I began to specialise and I had a goal. I too wanted to catch ...

The truth is that the headlines are dominated by a relatively small number of fish from the Stour, Ouse and recently the Thames. For the rest of us the reality is very different. Last winter I had a six from the Derbyshire Derwent. Previous to this I had one from the Swale, but these were exception...

When I hear anglers making out they know how to catch big bream it brings a smile to my face. Big bream are frustratingly unpredictable. Shoal fish here range from around five pounds to about eight pounds. Good fish by Northern standards, but Pit 6 has the potential to throw up a huge lump, certain...

Big perch are nomadic in summer, as eager to swim in the fastest current as haunt the deepest eddy as they seek out shoals of prey fish. In winter they will invariably be found in quieter water and this means swim choice is much easier. If you can find an area of steady water below a bend with feat...