Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 3650 i Angling Times

WELCOME to the bumper Christmas edition of Angling Times. This is always one of the most rewarding issues of the year to put together, and I hope you enjoy working your way through it. One of the main highlights of producing this magazine is that it gives us a chance to reflect on the highlights of the last 12 months, and many of these are featured in the National Angling Awards – our annual celebration of all that’s great in fishing. Once again, you voted by the thousand on our website to have your say across a range of categories including your favourite anglers, catches, fisheries, TV shows and subscription platforms. Thanks to everyone who took the time to do so. It’s also an opportunity for us to recognise some…

WITH any luck, most of us will receive the fishing present we were hoping for this year. However, our beloved family members don’t always get it quite right. Just for some festive fun, we asked a panel of star anglers and Angling Times staff to name the gifts that stood out. MARTIN BOWLER BIG-FISH ANGLER AND ALL-ROUNDER “The best present I ever got was a Shakespeare Omni float rod. As a kid I’d admired it in the tackle shop for ages, because of its full Duplon handle! I remember being given it on Christmas Day as though it were yesterday. I thought such a rod made me the best angler in the world! My first trip with it was to the Grand Union Canal, and it remains the rod which…

ALVECHURCH FISHERIES, BIRMINGHAM Canal Pool is stuffed with carp, ide and barbel, and a good numbers of them occupy peg 25 in winter. Fish maggots a metre off the far-bank cover to find the bites. Silverfish dominate on Arrow, and maggots down the middle of pegs 2-4 will help you catch 40lb-plus netfuls of ide and skimmers. Carp to double figures dominate on Horseshoe, and you’ll keep bites coming by rotating between fishing towards the aerator and open water in peg 29 with bomb and bread. Tel: 07944 191915 BARSTON LAKES, SOLIHULL, WEST MIDS Peg 51 is on a point, and that puts you further out into the lake than most of those around it. Skimmers will respond to a cage feeder with dead maggots, and you can expect the…

WITH the calibre of lure anglers ever increasing, this fairly new category was a tough one to call. Ultimately, Luke’s ability to catch huge fish from tough waters swung it. Not content with perch to over 4lb, Luke had two 17lb-plus zander in 2023. How does it feel to win? “Absolutely amazing! I’ve put a lot of time and effort in this year. The award makes it all worthwhile.” You’ve had huge zander this season! What’s your approach for these amazing fish? “Most vital is simply putting the time in. I work full time, but at the weekends I’m out fishing if I’m not doing family things. In autumn and winter I use mainly larger shads (12cm-16cm). Bites don’t come often but patience will eventually produce a big fish!” Any…

IN THE final weeks of the river season, it’s entirely possible that there will be barbel, chub and perch of British Record proportions swimming in the Thames’ captivating waters, – just one of the reasons that it’s been crowned 2023’s River of the Year! Each season we see increasingly large fish reported from the venue, and things were no different this time around. Back in March we were blown away by one of the greatest chub in recent memory, when friends Omar Sriti and Sam Wakefield shared a pair of chub tipping the scales to 8lb 3oz and 8lb 5oz. Bumper catches continued when the new season got underway, with a procession of 7lb chub reported, along with numerous big barbel. We even had a spell of large tench hitting…

SEASON 6 of Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishinghas scooped series of the year after another hilarious and heart-warming run of episodes. To do so they fought off strong competition from the Monster Carplads, who weren’t far off the pace come the close of voting. By and large, Season 6 followed the show’s usual format, and kicked off in Wales, where the pair fished both the Wye and Usk for chub. Here, they were joined by Dave Lyons, of Tackling Minds,who shared his powerful story and touched the hearts of viewers. A trip to Scotland after pike was then followed by a visit to an autumnal Hampshire Avon, where Bob and Paul targeted roach, dace and river carp. Crucians were next on the agenda, and the boys headed to the famous…

PROACTIVE is not something that anglers are famed for being, often happy to sit and wait for others to make changes or get things done. That’s not so with this year’s winner, Lee Kerry. Putting aside all that he’s won as a top-flight angler, the 40-year-old’s real drive is to make fishing better for everyone, whether that’s through organising events, coaching, or the masses of media work he gets through. He created the Feedermasters franchise with Mick Vials’, almost single-handedly reinvented the Winter League, and was the driving force behind the recent Euro Feeder Challenge that brought international fishing back to the UK. It’s that unseen work that makes Lee a worthy winner of this award, unafraid to go over the top first and face the bullets of criticism. Having…

WE SEE more weird and wonderful catches than ever these days, so to celebrate them a ‘Shock Catch of the Year’ category was created for 2023. The first winner is young Luke Gilman, for a colossal 67lb 3oz River Trent catfish. Catching a fish of that size is rare enough, but the fact that he landed it using a 2lb test curve rod and 16lb line makes the feat even more impressive. Catfish have long been rumoured to inhabit Britain’s rivers, with tales of hooking them generally ending in disaster. But Luke was one of the few anglers to land one, after the beast picked up his roach deadbait while he was fishing for zander. Initially, Luke reckoned he’d hooked a snag, and tried to pull free by holding the…

WIN A SET OF SONIK GIZMO2 BITE ALARMS Never miss another bite with this feature-packed alarm set! ONE SET TO BE WON RRP £289.99 HERE’S your chance to win a set of the super-intelligent Sonik Gizmo2 Bite Alarms, plus a receiver and a FREE Bivvy Light! The Gizmo2 Alarm set reaches new heights in terms of technology, and boasts a multitude of features that knock spots off some other alarms that retail for twice the price. This amazing alarm package all syncs together when you get a take... the alarm sounds, the receiver sounds and the bivvy lamp switches on! What’s more, everything colour-coordinates in line with whatever colour you end up setting the alarm head units to. So, if blue is the chosen colour then the receiver automatically syncs…

Expert help to give your match fishing the edge THE LESSON 1 ACCURACY GUARANTEED Mono has lots of stretch, and if you hit the line clip hard on the cast, the rig could fly up to a metre beyond your intended target, and spread the feed around. Braid has zero stretch, and this means you can be confident that you’re feeding over the same spot. 2 SPOT THE LINERS! Braid can tell you whether or not fish are in the vicinity. Every brush up against the line shows as a little knock on the tip. If you see nothing, put in more bait. If fish are already there, don’t, or you’ll kill the swim. My choice of braid is 0.12mm Daiwa J-Braid Grand. 3 PREVENT LOST FISH Silverfish can pull…

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW FROM THE WORLD OF FISHING FISHERIES across the land have been given a welcome festive boost of fish stocks this week, with a range of species – everything from tench to barbel – being introduced to popular river and stillwater angling venues. South Yorkshire’s Worsbrough Reservoir was one of the first waters to receive a hit of fish, with an impressive 1,150lb of carp being added. “This is half of the stocking planned – the rest are due very soon,” said Graeme Wall, match organiser of Barnsley & District Amalgamated Angling Society (BDAAS), before adding: “Silverfish anglers need not panic – BDAAS is working on something for you too!” Worsbrough has been closed over recent months for essential repair work, but is expected to re-open…

SEND US YOUR PICS ● newsdesk@anglingtimes.co.uk ● Make sure your pics are hi-res and that you are in them “I FELT A THUMP ON THE ROD” Simon Ashton – 2lb 11oz grayling “ON A TWO-DAY trip to a Scottish river I caught this lovely 2lb 11oz grayling. “Day one was poor, with little to show for my efforts, but on the second morning I waded to the far side, where I knew there was a deep gulley. “In the past, this had held some bigger fish, and I hoped my trotted maggots would tempt one. “I ran the float 60 yards downstream until I lost sight of it – so I held it back for 10 seconds or so before feeling a thump on the rod, and a…

END PEG BY PETER MAY (MERLIN UNWIN £14.99) Featuring a rich selection of highs, lows and colourful characters from the world of club match fishing, this little hardback is brilliantly entertaining. Peter May takes us in search of that perfect day’s sport, but invariably gets more than he bargains for. The fact that the author is no world-beater, but simply an enthusiast with a gift for words, makes it all the more relatable. There’s also plenty of lively banter and fascinating trivia here. Well illustrated and broken down into bite-sized chapters, it’s a cracking read for any angler. HOW WE FISH BY PAUL WHITEHOUSE AND JOHN BAILEY (HARPER COLLINS £22) With their huge success on screen, it’s perhaps inevitable we’d be treated to another book from the team behind the…

THERE’S an undeniable southern bias in the big-fish world, but northerners were recognised in the voting for this year’s Specimen Angler of the Year, as Durham ace Simon Ashton romped home with the title. The Drennan-backed ace kicked off 2023 with a 1lb dace from Lancashire’s River Ribble. He then landed quality tench and bream as the weather warmed, before turning his attention to perch and banking a string of four-pounders, followed by a 5lb 4oz giant! We caught up with a delighted Simon – who was a few metres underground when we broke the news (he’s a self-employed pipe-layer!) – and reflected on a memorable year. How does it feel to win? “I feel emotional! I’ve never won anything in my life. Topping such a strong field, including Alan…

THERE can’t have been a clearer winner of any category in this year’s awards than Stillwater of the Year, won for the second time in a row by Embryo Angling’s Norton Disney complex – with 83.3 per cent of the votes! Founded by Danny Fairbrass in the summer of 2014, Embryo has taken on, managed and developed a number of fisheries around the country for both big-fish and match angling, but none is bigger or seemingly more popular than Norton. With a team of experienced anglers overseeing the six-lake Lincolnshire complex, ‘Disney’ has welcomed thousands of carpers over the past 12 months, all eager to up their personal bests for the price of a day ticket. That, perhaps, is the appeal of the place. In an era of costly or…

IF THERE’S a busier, more proactive club in the country than Peterborough & DAA, we’ve yet to find it! 2023 was another year when they pulled out all the stops and delivered thriving fisheries to bring people together. We spoke to chairman and media manager, Rob Harris. Congratulations to everyone at the club. How does it feel? Would you like to give anyone a special shout? It’s absolutely fantastic! So many people put their time and heart into what we do, but they’re often invisible to the public, so they all deserve this. A special mention goes to Graham Burr, who’s there every day, whether it’s removing litter, planting, peg clearing or helping junior sessions. A credit to angling and a great example of our ethos. It’s been a busy…

THE ANGLING trade lost a true behemoth of our time earlier this year with the sad and untimely passing of Ricky Teale at 57 years of age. Now, many of you reading this may not have heard of Ricky. But it’s a fact that, whatever style of coarse fishing you favour, you will have used an item of tackle that Ricky helped to develop. It wouldn’t be boastful to claim that his career in the industry had no equal and likely never will. Ricky’s time in the angling trade started around 30 years ago when, as a 27-year-old top-flight match angler, he embarked on a journey with the ever-ambitious Dave Preston to transport the then humble Preston Innovations into a major international brand. Modest beginnings with small tackle items like…

BEST POLE OVER £1,500 SHIMANO AERO COMP PRO 16M IN 2023 came the long-awaited return of Shimano to the pole market – and we were blown away by what we saw! Leading the trio of new poles is the flagship Aero Competition Pro. One of the lightest 16m poles available, it has a stunning degree of rigidity and strength, thanks to a unique combination of high function design and technically advanced Japanese carbon. A comprehensive package includes five Match kits, four Power kits, four one-piece F1 kits and two short No3 sections. You also get a 13m extension and a 14.5m/16m extension, along with three Reversible Protector sections to prevent accidental damage to the major sections. Price: £4,999.99, www.fish.shimano.com SCAN BELOW TO WATCH THE VIDEO HIGHLY COMMENDED DAIWA AIRITY PRO…

YOU’VE spent all week looking forward to a session on the river but, on arrival, you see it’s up, the colour of weak gravy, and absolutely hammering through. There are few more deflating sights in fishing. But, where barbel are concerned, there’s always the chance of a few bites. As long as the water temperature is above around 44ºF, the species will feed. In fact, over winter, an influx of warm water is one of the few things that will stir dormant barbel into action, and you need to jump at such conditions! However, you must go about things a little differently than you would on a river that’s at low summer levels. FIND SOME SLACK WATER Early in the season you want to target the pacey, oxygenated water, but…

CHECK YOUR POINTS! The hook’s job is to prick and penetrate the carp’s mouth with minimal resistance. But if your hook is anything less than ‘sticky’ sharp, it doesn’t matter how good or beautifully tied the rest of your rig is, you’ll automatically be at a disadvantage. This can lead to fish falling off during the fight, as the hook hasn’t penetrated as effectively as it should have done. The easiest way to test the hookpoint is to place it vertically on to your fingernail, then tilt it. If it slides at all, then it’s blunt and you’ll need to change the hook or give it some TLC with a hook sharpening file. LENGTH MATTERS! The length of your hooklink can have a big bearing on hookholds. If your hookbait…

TAKE a long, hard look at your rod licence card – it’s the last one you’re ever going to get! The Environment Agency has announced that, from the end of May 2024, anglers will no longer have the option to receive a plastic-coated, illustrated rod licence card. It’s claimed this will save the EA around £230k, which it plans to invest into fisheries. Anglers will now have a choice between receiving a rod licence via email, text, or an A4 letter. The decision makes financial sense and will create less waste, but it’ll sadden those of the fishing community to whom the iconic cards are part of their identity as anglers. "We understand the popularity of the images on our rod licence cards and want to thank David…

IT’S ALL too easy to feel deflated about the future of fishing on natural venues. Whether it’s predation or sheer neglect, the doom-mongers love a moan. Which is exactly why our ears pricked up at refreshing news from the West Midlands about an organisation undergoing major revival, thanks to fresh ideas and a bold approach. Club secretary Shaun Woodfield is under no illusions about the challenges angling faces, and remains convinced we must do more than ever to thrive in an era so radically different to the past. For ATLAC, that has meant a bold overhaul. “More angling clubs are folding every season. It’s a case of embrace change or die!” he says. “You can’t run things like it’s still the 1970s. We want to build something that can see…

DARRAN GOULDER - 4LB 13OZ PERCH “IT’S EASY to get complacent in fishing and to simply rely on the same old tried-and-tested rigs and tackle time and again. “But during a recent session on a tricky perch water, adapting my approach produced a trio of cracking fish in what were quite challenging conditions. “Our bigger reservoirs are home to some impressive predators, but the problem is, loads of anglers know about them! As a result, they’re heavily pressured over the colder months. “To track down the fish many anglers turn to high-tech kit such as Livescopes, which can be deadly. But that kind of fishing isn’t really for me, so a slightly different approach was called for on a trip to a Midlands water. “I’d started the day fishing with…

ANGLERS are blessed with a ringside seat to watch the natural world at its very best – and that can’t be said of many other pastimes. The fish you catch are the prime reward, but there’s so much more to fishing that the success of a trip should never be judged on the number of bites alone. All my professional career I’ve had a passion to portray this bigger picture, and have been drawn to like-minded people – John Wilson and Hugh Miles being perfect examples of such filming pioneers. Alas, the rise of social media and YouTube has caused viewers’ attention span to shrink. Fast-paced films, and ‘clickbait’ with ever more ridiculous thumbnail pictures intended to capture their interest, have replaced the likes of Go Fishing and Catching The Impossible…

NATIONAL ANGLING AWARDS CATCH OF THE YEAR KOI CROYDON WHEN it comes to rating the significance of a catch, the obvious deciding factor is the size of the fish. But its location and the way it was caught are also worth considering, and voters did just that when deciding this year’s winner of Catch of the Year, as Koi Croydon took the title with a magnificent 8lb 2oz chub. An eight-pound chub is a monster from anywhere, but when we consider that Koi’s fish was caught from the Derbyshire Derwent – a venue far from the species’ hotspots on the Rivers Thames, Lea, Avon and Stour, its magnitude is amplified. In addition, Koi didn’t have the fish on a bolt-rigged boilie – it fell to trotted bread flake, a classic…

AFTER receiving a tidal wave of votes from readers, Lauren Stanford has been crowned Carp Angler of the Year – the first female ever to win the coveted title. At just 22 years of age, the Hertfordshire-based big fish fanatic caught this year alone what most carpers could only dream of catching in a lifetime – no fewer than three different 70lb-plus carp from two different countries. Her latest 76lb 4oz giant in September completed her 2023 hat-trick of seventies, and was caught from the IG Carp Lake in Austria. Lauren’s two other seventies fell in the same trip to Les Fortinieres in southern France earlier in the year, during what she described as “the best session of my life.” In the first 24 hours of angling she landed the…

MOORLANDS Farm’s epic comeback as a big player on the commercial fishery scene gained further traction this year, as thousands of anglers returned to tackle the revamped complex. The Worcestershire venue had been showing signs of ageing, with the standard of fishing dropping a touch and the numbers on the bank falling away. That downward spiral was halted a couple of years ago when top match angler Grant Albutt signed on the dotted line to become the new owner. He had a vision to return it to its best, and wasted no time in making the dream a reality. Of the six lakes on site, three of them have been given a full-on makeover. Island was drained, reshaped and restructured to incorporate a central island, while Bank and Moors had…

THE brilliant on-screen duo of Andy May and Jamie Hughes worked their socks off throughout 2023 to boost the appeal of their Winning Ways channel – and it has been rewarded with a huge show of support from their followers in the Subscription Platform of the Year category. Widely considered to be two of the best commercial anglers in the land, they’ve filmed hundreds of hours of in-depth content, with live matches and entertaining tutorials just part of the impressive package. This all runs alongside a huge catalogue of free content that lives on their two YouTube channels, which over 50,000 people regularly tune into. Their superior knowledge of everything from catching silverfish in winter right through to bagging big carp down the margins is just one element of what…

CROSSWORD (* indicates an anagram) ACROSS 9 Bite-proof wire on e.g. paternoster rig (*capture) (7)11 Float with vane for covering a lot of water (*thin rig differs) (7,7)13 ___ feeder with missile-shaped weight for straight casting (6)14 Andy __, brilliant angler/coach, and Banjo feeder inventor (7)15 Matt __, Team England member, Nations World Champs 2023 (7)16 Recedes like the tide (4)17 A type of resin glue – in deep oxygen (5)18 Suffolk river, tidal at Felixstowe Ferry (5)20 Joints where fishes’ tails and bodies meet (6)22 Largest of this UK marine fish is the Ballan ___ (*swears) (6)24 It’s double-barbed/anti-eject (*hit cook!) (3,4)27 Fishing style using e.g. a monkey climber (8)29 Keep the float straight off the rod tip (*held me in net) (4,3,4)31 Set-up with swivel lead and sliding…

THERE’S something about the final, coldest spell of the angling year that always makes me nostalgic. Perhaps it’s the foreboding weather that brings back memories of past winter trips. There are several I wouldn’t, or couldn’t, repeat as an older, slightly wiser man! Talking of the cold, one trip to Worcester back in the Noughties stands out as the craziest. My mate Norbert Darby had suggested a meet-up with his predator fishing mates and so, even with the mercury at minus 8ºC that morning, we set sail for the West Midlands. The scenes that greeted us were unreal. In central Worcester, the river was frozen from bank to bank. There were metre-long icicles on the bridges, which we were picking off to have sword fights with. All good fun, but…