Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 3649 i Angling Times

INCREDIBLY, we’re now in the final month of yet another year. And we’re now getting the weather that really tests all those romanticised views of winter angling we have earlier in the season! No matter how well-intentioned we are, there’s no doubting it’s much easier to find a reason to stay at home rather than head off to the bank at this time of year. I often find myself saying that I’ll just give the fishing kit a bit of a tidy up, or use the time to refill my rig boxes in a bid to get my ‘fix’ without actually venturing out. And then I hear the accusatory voice of Des Taylor in my head, reprimanding me for making excuses when really I should just go fishing! As appealing…

LUGGAGE: COTSWOLD AQUARIUS Much like its ultra-durable products, the company has been going for many years to provide discerning anglers with top-notch rod holdalls, cool bags, carryalls and much more. British made and built to last, the company also produces bespoke, made-to-order items. www.cotswoldaquarius.co.uk ROD BUILDERS: MARK TUNLEY While imports dominate today’s rod market, there is still space closer to home for this oldest of angling crafts. Mark Tunley is a great example, turning out beautiful rods and catering for tastes not always covered by the big brands, whether that means a classic Avon rod or the perfect catfish weapon. www.marktunley.com FLOATS: IAN EVERETT Turning out thousands of items each season, Ian’s Floats is a great example of one man’s passion becoming a profession. Producing everything from pellet wagglers to…

COLOURED baits all work, otherwise they wouldn’t be on sale in the first place, but is there a way of narrowing your choices down? Now that the colder weather is here, there are four or five colours that I’d recommend for use in gin-clear and murkier water, respectively The important thing to consider when picking a colour is visibility – how easily can a fish locate what’s on the hook and then pick it up? That’s why, in clear water, lighter shades are better than bright fluoro baits, which struggle to have much of an impact. In coloured water, though, pinks and oranges are definitely the baits to be on. GIVE IT A GO 1 WHEN BRIGHT IS RIGHT... As far as bright baits are concerned, I have a rule…

WINTER FISHING SPECIAL PART TWO THE JOY OF FISHING LAST week I started to try and convince you that there’s plenty of fun to come over the next few months, and it’s certainly not the time to put the rods away. Predators were on the agenda then, but now let’s look at the wealth of other species that will dip your float or pull your tip round. Low pressure, heavy rain and swollen rivers are the classic combination for barbel fishing, so when the water looks like coffee and the temperature is rising it’s the best time to rendezvous with the Prince of the River. But this species is willing to feed in colder conditions too. I recall catching a big fish at Adams Mill, the Great Ouse record-breaking venue,…

Now’s the time to stock up with everything you need for the new carp season FROM distance-casting monos, to braids and fast-sinking fluorocarbons, there’s a huge variety of options when it comes to filling your reels, and picking the right mainline will ultimately make your sessions more productive. But where do you start? A lot of anglers mainly just consider breaking strain when spooling up, but that’s only one very small part of the equation. You’ll be better served by basing your choice on the time of year you intend to use the line, the venues you’re targeting and the sort of range you’re likely to be casting. That’s because modern monos tend to boast different ‘properties’. Some come with smooth coatings and low diameters to help you hit long…

OUR MAN ON THE BANK ONE of the great advantages of being an all-rounder is that, no matter what the conditions, there’s always a species or a venue that will produce. But I must admit that for me the past couple of weeks have been the most trying for years, and it’s all down to the wind and the rain. The wind has kept me off the sea and the floods have stopped me getting to the venues I wanted to fish. This week I was due to have a couple of days’ pike fishing in Oxford, but the fishery manager has shut the venue because the water is over the swims and the roads are flooded after the nearby river burst its banks. It’s the same at Lechlade, where…

BAIT CLINIC Honest advice to help you to catch more fish on every trip, without breaking the bank. HIGH-LEAKAGE pastes are among my favourite baits of all for big winter chub and barbel. I can envisage the trail of attraction created by the melting bait washing downstream, and grabbing the attention of any hungry fish. Pastes create more attraction than almost any other bait, making them ideal when you want maximum impact with minimal bait in the swim. THE PASTE LADDER I know a lot of anglers struggle to get the texture of their paste baits spot-on. Especially in the cold, pastes can go hard, and be difficult to strike through. Fortunately, we can start off with ready-made pastes, and slowly work up to making our own. Think of this…

MATCH SCENE On The Flyer TV Winter Classic Qualifier (Weds) The Riddings Fishery, Match & Folly Pools (23 pegs) THEY say that practice is only good for finding the depth, but that’s not how Lee Kerry will see it after the England Feeder ace took top spot in this latest qualifier – from the same swim he fished 24 hours earlier in a two-day festival at the fishery! That was peg 10 on the Match Pool and, with small skimmers the target, Preston Innovations man Lee took what he’d learned the day before and made a few tweaks. The end result was a level 24-0-0 of skimmers, a zone win, qualification into the £10,000 big final and a match win overall. Fishing maggot and worm pieces over fishmeal groundbait at…

TACKLE GUIDEHOW WE TEST OUR GEAR Our team of tackle experts use their years of angling experience to test new gear to its limits. BANKSIDE PROMISE • Genuine on-the-bank tests• By anglers, for anglers• Unrivalled insight• Every week H AVE you ever thought about designing your own ‘dream’ feeder rod? I’m sure it would be built on the lightest, slimmest, quickest-recovering super blank, and made from the highest-grade carbon cloths available. No doubt it would also be fitted out with ultra-lightweight yet strong and durable anti-tangle guides – so discreet that they would hardly influence the blank at all. You’d probably choose a contoured EVA material for the handle, designed in such a way that the reel seat appears almost invisible, making the rod and reel appear nigh-on inseparable to…

TWO months ago, parts of the UK were hit by terrible flooding, and Nottinghamshire had it particularly bad. Hallcroft Fishery in Retford bore the brunt of it. Lakes overflowed, and there was no fishing for many weeks, leaving the owners and regular anglers wondering what impact the deluge would have on this historic complex. The answer is ‘not much’, judging by the early signs! Good match weights are being recorded, while pleasure anglers are enjoying great sport across the five lakes, with silverfish playing as big a part as carp. One of the UK’s original commercial fisheries, created by Bryan Talbot in the 1990s, Hallcroft has had a few owners since then, but it remains one of our best commercial fisheries, welcoming big matches and legions of day-ticket anglers –…

PREDATOR GETS AMBUSHED! AFTER months of trying, Elliot Tilley finally caught his first pike in the shape of this 6lb beauty from the River Avon. Targeting a stretch of the waterway in Swineford, Bristol, the 13-year-old presented a deadbait on a float-paternoster rig close to an overflow pipe on the far bank. It proved to be the ideal feature because, with plenty of small prey fish feeding in the vicinity, the pike weren’t far behind. Elliot’s dad, Simon, told Angling Times:“Another pike angler suggested to us that the pike would sit under the far bank, waiting to ambush the small silverfish. “We were both very appreciative of the advice, as my son has been wanting to catch a pike for months!” SEND IN YOUR PICTURES Email us your child’s details,…

I don’t have much confidence in fishing bread on the bomb. Do you have any tips that would help? Eddie Fowler, Retford A Carp are becoming ever more lethargic at this time of the year, and they won’t go looking for bait, so you have to stick something right in front of their noses. Even if you do that, they might completely ignore it unless it really takes their fancy, which is why bread is such a brilliant bait – but there are plenty of ways to make it even more appealing. I have four different ways of presenting my bread hookbaits, and I’ll rotate between them throughout the day to keep picking off fish. Darren Hudson 1 Straight out of the bag Three or four 10mm discs of hair-rigged…

ONE ERROR COST ME! I LIKE silverfish matches at this time of year, so I was looking forward to the On The Flyer TV/RW Floats two-day festival at The Riddings Fishery, which has two lakes full of skimmers. Day one saw me off to peg 22 on Folly Lake, where I had skimmers between 2oz and 10oz on small expanders, as well as small carp, goldfish, fantails and brown goldfish – none of which would count! My 26lb got me second in section behind Danny Harding, but I tried to catch short, fishing on the slope, whereas he caught better further out on to the flat bottom. By the time I cottoned on to that and changed, it was way too late. On day two I was gunning for a…

AFTER lengthy consultation, the Angling Trust has declared that transitioned anglers will not be able to compete in ladies’ fishing events. It follows an episode in which the England Ladies’ Shore Angling Team refused to compete in the 2023 World Champs, due to the selection of a team mate who’d transitioned from male to female. “This is a very emotive issue, and we’ve never seen it as ‘woke vs anti-woke,’” Trust CEO Jamie Cook told us. “We don’t want barriers, but in some cases the need for fairness trumps inclusion. This applies in all disciplines where strength and other physical attributes could compromise fair competition.” However, Cook was keen to reassert a commitment to keeping angling as widely accessible as possible. “Angling already has a rich heritage of…

BUSY BARBEL SESSION TOPPED BY NEW PB ON A TRIP to the Warwickshire Avon, Gloucestershire angler James Benfield landed this 17lb 6oz barbel alongside two other double-figure specimens. Usually, James fishes the lower Severn – the venue where he caught his 21lb 5oz British Record zander back in 2007 – but this time he fancied a change and spent a night fishing the Avon. With the river running 18ins up and hammering through, James used 5oz leads to hold bottom, with 10mm pellets as hookbaits. Over the course of the night he had seven bites, losing three fish, but the one he really wanted was safely landed after having given him a savage take in the early hours. EFFORT PAYS OFF WITH HUGE PERCH HAVING spent many hours perch fishing…

WHEN it comes to getting out on the bank without the privilege of having a car, I feel I’m speaking from a pretty high level of expertise! Some say I’m mad, others just can’t comprehend why I would choose to use public transport as opposed to a van. Considering I can get a company vehicle, you may question why on Earth I would still use trains and buses! Well, here’s why… since I moved to London, I’ve been fascinated by the angling opportunities that the city has to offer. Initially, getting around was the big stumbling block. However, I was determined to make it work. From talking to friends and work colleagues it became apparent just how difficult driving in the city can be. Congestion charges, lack of parking and…

A BIRTHDAY TREAT SHARED WITH DES! FURTHER to the recent article by your columnist Des Taylor about his Spanish catfish adventure (Angling Times,November 21), my husband and son were on the same trip, and my husband, Richard Alder, is the ‘70-year-old guy,’ who caught the 244lb Ebro record catfish that Des mentioned in the last sentence of his piece. He would be thrilled to see his ‘fish of a lifetime’ featured in your magazine! My son, Brook Alder, took his dad on this trip as a 70th birthday treat. The last thing they expected was to land a fish like this! Loraine Alder, by email THE ANGLER'S CROSSWORD (* indicates an anagram) ACROSS 1__ feeder has nodules to hold it fast in running water (*prep rig) (7)5Small, edible bivalve liked…

SEALEY Fishing Tackle, more commonly known in my day as Edgar Sealey, was a rod builder and tackle wholesaler based, as were so many tackle firms, in Redditch, Worcestershire. Like many other fishing tackle brands down the decades, Edgar Sealey never quite succeeded to the point where a large number of top match anglers were using the company’s rods, but was still very successful at selling to club and pleasure anglers. Perhaps the most famous rod that the company produced was called the Blue Match. This was a spigot-ferruled hollow-glass rod with, as the advertising stated, a ‘tip’ action. The diagram in the ad indicates it was stiffer than some of the more fashionable Hardy Matchmaker and Bruce and Walker CTMA models… which made it a pretty stiff rod! An…

I fish a shallow lake where the carp spook when the feeder lands. Any advice? DEREK GORDON, EMAIL THIS IS A common scenario once the water temperature drops and the carp are no longer responding to any appreciable amount of bait. It’s also where what I call ‘dobbing with a feeder’ comes into its own. In case you’re a bit puzzled, this means using a mini-sized feeder and casting about to try and keep in touch with the fish. The theory is that instead of trying to build a swim, you feed just enough bait to catch one fish. For example, you might find a few fish at 50m, before they move. This then means going out to 53m, 56m, 60m and so on to keep in touch with them.…

THE FIRST proper cold blast of winter weather was always likely to play havoc with the fishing – and so it proved in this latest Golden Rod qualifier at Boddington Reservoir. A full house of 60 anglers found bites hard to come by, and one fish was enough to bag a place in the final for Gav Wright, who landed a 15lb 9oz carp to win his zone. There were, though, a few more pulls on the rod-tip for some anglers, including Stu Fotheringham. The double Golden Reel champ made it through to his fifth Golden Reel final in a row at Larford Lakes by landing three carp from peg 11 on the yacht club bank. His 33-0-0 tally took the zone and the whole match. That left the final…