Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 3658 i Angling Times

IF THERE’S one thing guaranteed to cause a frenzy of excitement in the Angling Times office, it’s the capture of a British record fish. These outstanding feats don’t happen that often but I’ve been fortunate enough to see record carp, bream, chub, barbel, perch and zander reported during my time on the title. When word of a pike capture reached us that would beat Roy Lewis’ 46lb 13oz fish from Llandegfedd in Wales, which had held the record since 1992, we couldn’t wait to see the images. And they didn’t disappoint. I’d like to pass my congratulations on to the captor, Lloyd Watson, and you can read all about his history-making catch on the following pages. Will we have to wait over 30 years before we see another record pike…

WYCHWOOD TACTICAL HD COMPACT RUCKSACK A COMPACT rucksack made from the same 1200D hard-wearing material as the rest of the Tactical HD Luggage range. Designed with the mobile angler in mind, this rucksack is packed full of features such as external bank stick holders, multiple webbing loop attachment points and a heavy duty, wipe-clean base. A zip-round D flap allows easy access to the main compartment, whilst further storage is provided by a rear pocket and two full height side pockets. WHY WE LOVE IT: Carries all you need without too much bulk, with plenty of additional attachment points should they be required. Price: £69.99, www.wychwoodcarp.co.uk KORDA COMPAC RUCKSACK 60L A 60-LITRE rucksack that’s great for keeping you organised. Four outer side pockets fit the Compac 100, 110 and 125…

TIPS & TACTICS HOW many anglers are happy just to get regular bites and catch a few fish in winter? Most, I’d say, but what if I was to say that you could go from catching steadily to bagging up – simply by tweaking how you feed? The old ‘little and often’ adage has worked for years, and still does for carp, F1s and silverfish on commercials. But within that framework, there’s plenty of wriggle room to make the fishing even better. To my mind, that all begins with the regularity of your feeding. If you’re putting in six maggots each time and getting a bite very quickly, that tells me the fish are responding to the feed and are there in numbers. But why settle for ‘slow and steady’…

Expert help to give your match fishing the edge THE LESSON 1 GO FOR LIGHTER TIPS If you’ve hit the right spot, you don’t want the feeder to move underwater. A lighter quivertip will prevent this, enabling you to pick up the slack in the mainline and put a slight bend in the tip without dragging the feeder off-line. Go with a half-ounce tip, even when using reasonably large feeders. 2 USE A BALANCED MAINLINE The diameter of a mainline is more important than its breaking strain. Too thin a line won’t stand up to regular casting and playing big fish, while one that is too thick will create too much resistance on the cast. Something in the 0.22mm to 0.25mm range is perfect, with a breaking strain of around…

THIS WEEKEVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW FROM THE WORLD OF FISHING CAPPING off an exceptional season, even by Chew Valley’s high standards, Manchester angler Lloyd Watson this week made history by landing a 47lb 5oz pike that looks certain to break the existing record. “I’m not sure it’s sunk in yet. It’s just crazy, absolutely surreal. I feel like I’m going to wake up in a minute!” the lifelong angler told us, direct from the famous Somerset venue. While he has targeted pike for 30 years, it was Lloyd’s first-ever trip to Chew, but he’d done his homework on recent captures before choosing a swim on the Woodford Lodge bank. From there he bait-boated out a smelt deadbait on a running leger rig. “It was right on bite o’clock, around…

“A MESMERISING JOINT PB!” Mike Davidson – 3lb 8oz grayling “I’VE JUST returned from a memorable grayling session on the Scottish rivers, where I was testing a new prototype 17ft float rod for Drennan. “My first bite was from a fish of 3lb 4oz! What a way to christen the new rod, which performed excellently in challenging conditions. “Unfortunately, the first day’s fishing was cut short as the weather rolled in and the river started rising. The only saving grace was that, as it’s quite a small tributary, the river recovered quickly for us to fish the next day. “I didn’t have many bites on that second outing, but those I had were all from quality fish, weighing 2lb 7oz, 2lb 11oz, and a mesmerising joint PB of 3lb 8oz.…

THE FINAL four weeks of the coarse fishing season are prime time for the river angler. With any luck the weather will be kinder, with no need for sub-zero clothing. And, with lengthening daylight, fish will be feeding. They sense the change and know spring is on its way, which in turn stimulates feeding – spawning time isn’t far away either, and they need to build themselves up for this. So make sure you’ve got at least one river trip planned before March 14, because the hardest part will be choosing your target fish. Many options are open to you, so let’s look at three of them – although I should stress these are just the tip of the iceberg! The pike season seems so short to me because I…

ASHBY CANAL, MOIRA, LEICS The near- and far-side banks of this non-navigable canal are packed with reeds, which are an obvious holding area for the pike. Look for small silverfish topping, and your target species won’t be far away. Travel light and keep on the move to get plenty of bites. Tel: 01283 224667 RIVER WEAVER, WINSFORD, CHESHIRE The boards by the Red Lion pub provide comfortable fishing with the chance of several double-figure fish in a day. Cover the whole width of the river, dropping one rig a few rodlengths out and another into the main current. Small roach livebaits and deadbaits will both work well. Tel: 07717 471220 STAINFORTH & KEADBY CANAL, THORNE, SOUTH YORKSHIRE The stretch by the Canal Tavern pub is home to lots of silverfish…

YOU often hear anglers describe a day’s fishing as ‘hard work’. Usually, it’s a bit of an exaggeration, but in the case of Simon Daley, the term certainly rings true. Over recent seasons he’s been one of the most in-form specimen anglers in the country and, after a day on the bank with him, it’s easy to see why. Although he grew up in Leeds, Simon now lives in Hampshire, near some of the best big-fish rivers Britain has to offer. The iconic Dorset Stour and Hampshire Avon are both within easy reach of his house but, while living near such prime rivers is a blessing, one of the issues he must combat is intense fishing pressure. This is often from some of the best anglers in the country too,…

TRY HEAVY LEADS Most anglers have a ‘go-to’ size of lead, regardless of the fishing situation they find themselves faced with. If a nationwide poll were taken, the chances are that a 2oz or 2.5oz lead would undoubtedly rank as the most common size used. But did you know that lead clip rigs tend to work a lot better with heavier leads? Carp have far more problems dealing with a clip loaded with a 4oz or even a 5oz flat lead, than they do one carrying a bog-standard 2oz dumpy pear. So, especially if you’re fishing close-in, why not give big fat leads a test drive this season? SET UP A RUNNING RIG Be honest. When was the last time you used a running rig? What once was pretty much…

PLAN ON CATCHING SHORT IT MAKES perfect sense to have a long pole line well away from the bank in the deepest water, typically from 13m to 16m out, but how many anglers also fish closer in? We’re not talking the margins, more a classic short pole line at 5m or so, just where the marginal slope meets the main depth of the lake. This can be dynamite late in the day, but make sure it’s fished off to an angle, well away from where you will be unshipping and playing hooked fish in front of you. SEARCH WITH THE BOMB LITTLE beats the bomb in the cold for investigating a swim while doing as little damage as possible. If you were to use a feeder, small patches of bait…

FOR BRITAIN’S many match anglers, the glory days of the sport can often seem like an impossible dream. The chances of simply making it to a big final, let alone beating the best to the big jackpot, seem remote to the majority of us. But could a different kind of competition be about to change all that? That’s exactly the concept behind the Ultimate Fishing Competition. Gone are the oversubscribed qualifiers against elite level anglers, along with endless travel and expense. Instead, the new contest will follow a simple draw format, whereby thousands of anglers will go into the hat from just £1.99 a ticket. Twenty lucky entrants will then be called up to fish a dream final, with at least seven of those due a four-figure prize. Sound promising?…

LOTS of anglers cut their teeth on rivers, and most of us live within a reasonable distance of a running water venue. There are few better ways to learn about watercraft, fish feeding habits, or generally blending in with nature, than spending a few hours wetting a line on a river. When it comes to the rods, what we use generally reflect our targeted species and they often come labelled up as ‘Carp Feeder’ or ‘Barbel Power’ rods, for example. However, when it comes to casting a line for chub, it’s a very different kettle of fish, as a named ‘chub rod’ is rarer than rocking horse poo! So, to make your life easier, we’ve picked out 10 rods that are perfect for the job… DRENNAN ACOLYTE SPECIMEN FLOAT RODS…

AN ICONIC venue has reopened following a major £2.4m revamp, and the initial sport has been nothing short of spectacular! Worsbrough Reservoir, in South Yorkshire, was closed for most of 2023 for long-overdue bank restoration work, during which the water levels were lowered to make it possible. Anglers were welcomed back last month and, in a bid to make sure that the fishing would be just as good if not better than before, over 2,400lb of carp and 1,000lb of silverfish were stocked during the shutdown. The move certainly seems to have done the trick, with the first match after reopening resulting in the previous venue record being obliterated as Nick Askey banked an eye-opening 215lb 15oz haul of mirror and common carp. It wasn’t a fluke either, as second-placed…

SEND YOUR PICS AND LETTERS TO: ATLETTERS@BAUERMEDIA.CO.UK STARTING LIKE WILSON HAVING read the John Wilson tribute book you produced, I was surprised how much John’s foray into fishing mirrored my own. My first rod was also made from a tank aerial. I made a cork handle and taped an old reel to it. I had one float, a bobber, and some tie-on hooks, and away I went to the River Chelmer where my uncle and cousins fished. At the weir they were fishing for roach, but I crossed over to sit on the concrete bank on the other side. Sitting there, I noticed minnows suddenly trying to go up the weir and thought they must be trying to get away from something. So I scrambled down and grabbed a…

WHO’D have thought that over 50 years ago perhaps the finest angling communicator of the day would be wading in on the subject of bringing more young people into the sport of angling? Well, in 1970, Richard Walker was doing just that. Most of the problems seem to be remarkably similar to those of today. He tells of small streams and rivers drying up through abstraction, and the loss of park lakes and ‘open’ fisheries for various reasons. His opinion, one I’m not about to argue with, was ‘build it and they will come’. His ideal situation for youngsters to take their first step would be a small pond stocked with small roach, rudd and perch – fish that are relatively simple to catch. He advocates an island in the…