Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 3637 i Angling Times

THERE’S been a lot spoken and written about rigs in recent weeks. But are we as anglers becoming guilty of focusing too much on rigs and their supposed ‘mechanics’? Articles are full of advice about various presentations for any species imaginable, and social media is littered with images and videos showing how to tie them. Of course, it’s fantastic that so much information is readily available to anglers who want to learn more or try different set-ups safely. In fact, there’s really no excuse these days for an ‘unsafe’ rig. I can’t help but feel, though, that this obsession with rigs often results in a far more important element of angling being largely overlooked – watercraft. No matter how ‘crafty’ your rig is, or whether it’s designed to spin and…

DAVE Brown has been crowned winner of the prestigious Canal Masters event – despite his day getting off to a less than ideal start when his fully loaded trolley rolled into the Shropshire Union! Having drawn a fancied peg on the stretch around Market Drayton, Dave was forced to jump in and retrieve his kit. “Waterlogged luggage weighs a bit, I can tell you! Once I’d got it all out, I contemplated just going home,” he admitted. “But, as I’d drawn an area where I felt had half a chance, I had a word with myself and got on with it.” Hanging his clothes over a hedge, and fishing barefoot all day, he proceeded to triumph over the 36-strong field with a superb 29lb 3oz of roach, skimmers,…

HUGHES' VIEWS MY COMMENTS about our England angling teams being pretty good provoked quite a healthy conversation recently. Everyone agreed that as a nation we more than hold our own, but it got a little lively debating whether angling constitutes a ‘sport’. Pleasure anglers say it isn’t one. They go fishing to relax and enjoy a quiet day. But the same can be said for swimming, cycling and a whole host of other recognised sports, where the majority of participants simply do it for fun. But speak to members of any fishing team – domestic or international – and they’ll probably disagree. Angling is competitive, they’ll say, and very much so, too. I’ve had this discussion before. For something to qualify as a sport there must be the key elements…

FOR me, there’s nothing better than catching short on the pole. You get fewer problems with foul hooked fish or line bites than you do in the shallow margins, and you’ll probably catch a lot more besides carp – big skimmers, tench, roach, even barbel if your lake holds them. This short pole line is often called the ‘6m swim’, as it’s typically at the base of the marginal shelf and a noted patrol route for carp that will turn up here in the closing stages of a session. Throw in six cubes of meat or 6mm pellets every couple of minutes from the start and you’ll slowly build things up for the finale. It’s all about keeping an eye on the clock and making the change at the right…

SHIMANO FX A RELIABLE budget reel of reasonable quality is hard to find, but you do get some guarantees with a brand like Shimano. Don’t expect the world though. You don’t get a spare spool, and the clutch isn’t the smoothest on the market, but you can’t complain at this price! Ten ball-bearings, however, ensure a reliable action. The ideal choice for the beginner or angler on a very tight budget. It’s an all-round reel in five sizes from the tiny 1000 to the modest 4000. Price: £25.00, www.fish.shimano-eu.com DAIWA MATCHMAN MADE to complement the affordable Matchman range of rods, the 2500 is perfect for light, short-range work, while the 3000 is the most versatile for float and feeder challenges. For outright feeder fishing, the 4000 is perfect. With a…

WHY I’M A BIG FAN OF THE TWIG AS A DISABLED angler, I’ve been using the Magic Twig, as I’m not quick enough to always react (strike) in a timely manner to a bite. I sometimes fish for carp but, more often than not (due to the fact that I can get easy access), I fish for big bream on a local canal, which is where I first tried it out. I used it with a feeder rod, and bites that I was formerly not quick enough to react to resulted in fish at a very pleasing rate. In my opinion this is a fantastic product for people who are physically unable to react as quickly as they would like. I am no expert but, used correctly, I cannot see…

How do I position my rod and tension the tip on the feeder? SAM MARSHALL, NUNEATON THE days of downward-pointing rods and target boards are long gone. Many matchmen now have the rod pointed almost directly in front of them. With so little angle between rod-tip and line, it’s the positivity of the bite that enables us to react. Carp will pull the tip right round, as will bream and skimmers on occasions. Even so, I like to maintain a good angle from rod to feeder. It’s what I choose to do for all my feeder work on both commercial and natural venues. On natural waters, I don’t think pointing the rod straight out in front of you gives you enough of an angle to read bites properly. I like…

THE VOICE OF MATCH FISHING MAKING one big final would be enough for most match anglers. But England Feeder man Mick Vials has now got three of the UK’s biggest events to get stuck into this month after he made it through to the Angling Trust RiverFest finale by winning the final qualifier of the season on the tidal River Trent. The NuFish boss, who has also qualified for the Feedermasters and FeederKing finals, won through on the Trent courtesy of a fine 46-14-0 mixed bag on the feeder from peg 15 at Dunham upstream, enough to comfortably take the zone. Joining him in the final are fellow zone winners Jake Dye, who took second overall with 43-7-0, Rob Perkins, and five times World Champion Alan Scotthorne – it’s going…

A FISHERY owner is aiming to get youngsters in foster care hooked on angling so that they can enjoy the many therapeutic benefits that the sport offers. David Duff, from Ledyatt Fishery in Scotland, recently invited a group of young people and their carers from Swiis Foster Care for a free day on the bank. David, who himself was brought up in foster care, said: “The carers really do have hearts of gold, and I wanted to do my bit by putting on a special day for everyone.” “I invited them along so that they could have fun, enjoy themselves, but also learn new skills and hopefully fall in love with angling.” He added that all the participants had a great time on the bank, despite the gloomy weather conditions,…

LRF (Light Rock Fishing) YOU WILL NEED: A toothpick rod and microscopic lures, along with braid as fine as human hair. With its origins in Japan and elsewhere, this relatively new style of fishing now has a cult following in the UK. Perfectly suited to piers, harbours and rock marks, it challenges the angler to catch a whole galaxy of weird and wonderful mini species using artificial lures. And while fish like gobies, flounders and wrasse might not sound very extreme, they produce sensational sport on the ultra-light tackle used. Perhaps the greatest charm of “Lerfing” is its mixture of technical wizardry alongside childishly innocent fun. Near-weightless rods can cast artificials of just half-a-gram, while the arsenal of lures and presentations is endless. Extreme it might be, but this is…

MATRIX ETHOS LUGGAGE WHAT THEY SAY: Eleven recently improved items cover all angling styles and individual needs. There is a two-rod and a four-rod holdall, a six-to-eight-tube holdall, a rigid holdall, a feeder bag with feeder boxes, tackle and bait bag, a large carryall, an XL accessory bag and three sizes of EVA net bag. Hard-wearing, oversized zips feature on the hardcase items, made from tough polyester with EVA bases and rigid PE board. WHAT WE SAY: Smart yet discreet, this highly functional range is sure to be as popular as the original. Price: £44.99 - £114.99, www.fishmatrix.co.uk MATRIX S25 & S36 PRO WHAT THEY SAY: Modernised versions of the hugely popular S25, 25mm legged and S36, 36mm diameter leg boxes. Both have a new minimal backplate design, frame plate…

WESTWOOD LAKES, BOSTON, LINCOLNSHIRE Home to the Fish O’Mania final, Westwood is also a great bet for the pleasure angler. Kingfisher is home to quality carp and bream. Contact: 01205 724162 PARTRIDGE LAKES, WARRINGTON, CHESHIRE Many of the best commercial fishery anglers cut their teeth at this superb complex, and you can enjoy a day’s fishing here too. Holbar is home to a good head of silvers. Contact: 07734 940100 LINDHOLME LAKES, EPWORTH, LINCOLNSHIRE One of Britain’s most prolific and popular match venues, you can enjoy a great day’s sport across the complex. Loco and Beeches are good bets for quality carp. Contact: 01427 875555 LARFORD LAKES, STOURPORT-ON-SEVERN, WORCESTERSHIRE The Speci Lake is, as its name suggests, the place to head to for the largest fish on the site. Feeder…

BAIT CLINIC Honest advice to help you to catch more fish on every trip, without breaking the bank. FEW people bother with making their own boilies these days, such is the availability of ready-made baits. But if you want to cut costs, or come up with a superior bait, there’s still plenty of scope for the home-made enthusiast. I know several top anglers who still make their own baits, even if this is limited to custom hookbaits to fish over a bed of ready-mades. You can up the expensive ingredients in home-made baits, and alter their texture, shape, and solubility too, giving you a unique take on what a boilie can be. What’s not to like? Well, the only major drawback is that these baits needs to be frozen. They…

MATCH SCENE Fishing Association Supercup Wild Card Semi-Final (Sun) MAP Marston Fields Fishery, Elm & Laurels Lakes (36 pegs) SAM Brown put the disappointment of the Maver Match This Final the day before behind him as the Maver/ Dynamite Baits star took out this special one-off match to book his place in this month’s big final at Woodland Lakes and earn a shot at another big title. The outgoing Match This champion lined up against 34 other anglers, all looking to progress to the Thirsk venue. But it was Sam who did the damage from peg 28 on Elm Lake with 95-10-0 of carp. That gave him enough to win with a bit to spare over Oli Stringer’s second-best 68-2-0 from peg 13 on the same lake. Steve Barraclough…

LAST CAST WITH DOM AS USEFUL as pellets and boilies are, there’s something oddly satisfying about old-school baits. We’re all well versed in maggots and worms, but others are scarcely used these days. One reason for this is the time and faff to get them, compared to ‘convenience baits’, although the flipside is that things like berries come free of charge! During a walk to the local park recently I found an absolute ton of elderberries in one place. Unlike blackberries and apples, nobody picks them, but I was soon heading back with a full bait tub. Could they work on a commercial fishery, though? My window of opportunity followed a coaching sesson at Goodiford Mill – where I was encouraged by the sight of a large elderberry tree right…

‘ONE SESSION A YEAR’ WATER PRODUCES SPECIMEN EEL BY DOING just one session a year on a certain eel water, Richard Mills believes he swings the odds of a big fish in his favour – as he proved with this 6lb 2oz specimen. The big-eel fanatic limits himself to just one three-night trip a year to the three-acre southern stillwater, knowing full well that the fishing will become increasingly difficult the more time he spends on the bank. Even with his self-imposed restriction, he’s noticed the fishing become more challenging over the years. But his frugal approach was rewarded when this fine eel picked up his roach deadbait. Initially, he thought he’d hooked a carp, having landed several already on both dead and live fish. But, on lifting into the…

ROCKLANDS Mere Fishery is a long way from my home patch, but quality crucian fishing is such a rare commodity these days that I was quite happy to make the three-and-half-hour drive down the motorway to this magical little Norfolk venue. The Old Mere was dug in the early 1940s, to extract the peat that heated homes in the village of Rockland St Peter when bitter east winds blew across the flatlands in winter. Then, in 2001, James Harrold saw the potential of this silted-up little water as a fishery and, following a lot of hard work, he created a one-acre lake with depths of between four and six feet. With reed mace, stonewort and lily pads, it’s now the kind of place that transports you back in time, especially…

WHIPPED INTO SHAPE! A SURE-FIRE way to ensure kids will enjoy their fishing from the word go is to get them to try a whip. Oliver Ellis-Emery used this simple tactic on his debut trip to catch a wide range of species, and this cracking roach – his first-ever fish – was the highlight of the day. Fishing with his mother and her partner, Chris, on the Grand Union Canal at Leighton Buzzard, Ellis used a 4m whip with maggots to land roach, skimmers, perch and gudgeon. Chris said: “After learning how to attach the rig, use a disgorger and plumb the swim, he fed maggots and hooked into this lovely roach on his first put-in. In a few hours he’d caught a number of fish all by himself. Now…

STEVE RINGER World Feeder champ abd a constantly successful matchman MARK POLLARD England international and an expert on natural water fishing BOB NUDD Four-times World Champn and still a force to be reckoned with MIKE LYDDON Specimen hunter with a string of huge coarse fish to his name DES SHIPP England ace and multiple Parkdean Masters champion GRAHAM WEST Captain of Preston Innovations Black Horse match squad NICK SPEED Match legend and winner of multiple big titles Is there a right and a wrong way to load a pellet feeder? Jon McIntosh, Northfield A Filling a pellet feeder is easy enough, but the one time when things can go wrong is where the hookbait is placed inside it. The aim is to have the bait masked by just a pinch…

SECOND – YET AGAIN! AFTER drawing peg 13 in this year’s Maver Match This final at Hayfield Lakes, I felt I had a chance of victory. With hundreds of carp basking in the hot and still conditions it looked ripe for a bagging session fishing shallow or mugging, just as in the practice match the week before, which I won with 280lb. All went well for the first few minutes – a mugged 10lb carp came first drop-in to a pale 6mm pellet. Then the carp got harder to catch, even though lots were still about. I must have put the rig in front of hundreds, but I was picking the odd fish off and having little spells of a couple of quick carp so I was still in the…