Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 3682 i Angling Times

IT DOESN’T seem five minutes ago since I was full of optimism for this year’s tench fishing at the beginning of spring. Then, suddenly, I found myself sitting here with nothing to show for my efforts and the grim realisation that the tench season was all but over! For one reason or other I hadn’t fished the venue I’d been focusing on for a few weeks and, when I popped down with a leading rod to have a chuck around, the spots which had previously been fishable were now solid with weed. Knowing that the tench may well have already spawned, I just couldn’t muster the enthusiasm to get the rake out and undertake the back-breaking task of clearing a few areas again. So, rather than ending my summer’s tench…

CHAMP’S DIARY THE past week for me has been all about the Fish O’Mania final, and when my daughter drew match day peg 18 for me, I wasn’t sure what to think. It was an area of Westwood’s Falcon Lake I’d never been on and, with the wind looking favourable, it gave me a little early optimism, despite it being no more than 11.5m wide. Hope slowly petered out once I put the plummet on, though, as it was just 2ft deep down the middle, and a thick layer of floating scum pushing several feet out into the lake made the margins unfishable. You can’t let your head drop in these events, however, or it’s ‘game over’ straight away. So I started by fishing casters across to the far bank…

PRESTON INNOVATIONS DURA POLE 6M WHAT THEY SAY: This short 6m pole offers the perfect blend of strength, balance and rigidity. Featuring super strong section walls and reinforced joints, it can handle strong elastics and large, powerful fish with ease – the perfect tool for those demanding situations where a strong pole is required. Weighing just 405g, it has a transportable length of 138cm. WHAT WE SAY: 6m of pole at this price should be absolute junk, but it’s impressively fishable and ideal for newcomers to the sport. Look out for the Live Test in next week’s issue. Price: £69.99, spare top kit £24.99 PRESTON INNOVATIONS BAIT SAFE & BAIT SAFE CONTAINERS WHAT THEY SAY: Bait Safe containers are just the job for keeping a range of fresh or dry…

THE EDGE Join top match anglers Lee Kerry and Rob Wootton each week as they unveil the tactics and techniques that really make a difference I ABSOLUTELY love fishing with my Drennan Barnsley Blacks team mates, and this week saw us head off on a long-haul journey to Slovenia to take part in the World Club Float Champs. As the name suggests, this pits the best clubs in the world up against each other for the title, with 38 other elite squads descending upon the venue alongside us. The River Sava is an absolute beast, and the match length is a huge, dammed section over 700m wide in places! The event itself is two days, but there were also five days of official practice. We were determined to come up…

The skimmers in my local commercial love to sit shallow. How can I catch them? Gareth Bramley, Northallerton SKIMMERS love to come off the bottom, in fact all my biggest catches of these fish have come by fishing shallow. This style works best when the average stamp is big. If 2oz-6oz fish are on the agenda it’s probably not going to work effectively, but if they are all 12oz-2lb you could be in for a red-letter day. If you’ve ever fished shallow for carp or F1s you can rely on some of the same skills, but there are plenty of subtle differences. Making the right rig and feeding decisions can be key to putting together a bulging netful of skimmers. BAIT CHOICES Skimmers aren’t that fussy, and you can…

LET’S face it, the day-ticket circuit can be pretty tough at any time of the year but right now, at the height of the summer, it can get really testing. In my view, one of the worst scenarios comes courtesy of the good old booking system. Almost every single time I go carp fishing , I end up moving swims at some point. I’ve just come back from a two-night trip to Bluebell Lakes in Northants and, again, I did one night in two different swims. That’s pretty standard, because carp can be highly mobile and I need to react accordingly. Nine times out of 10, a move will result in some success, but on lakes where you have to book a swim, not only is that option often removed,…

OUR MAN ON THE BANK IMAGINE an Atlantic salmon hatching in the upper reaches of a river system, and a couple of years later making its way back down to the sea, avoiding all the perils and dangers on the way. Then, once in salt water, this small fish arrives in waters off Greenland and grows big on the rich pickings that are there for the taking. Then, and only then, will it feel the urge to return to its birthplace – the self-same spot where its parent fish came before it. After avoiding otters, mink, seals, pollution and much more, it will be back in the river of its birth and making its way upstream. On this day Des Taylor – a much-travelled angler who has spent thousands of…

(* indicates an anagram) ACROSS 1Keeps weight right distance from hook but may weaken line (5,4)6 Uses shallow rig to put bait in front of fish (4)8/7 It holds landing net's arms firmly open (*drops reel back) (8,5)9 Sarah ___, Ladies National champ 2022 (6)10 Harold___, four times Fish O’ finalist (4)11 Glossy, as spinners should be (5) 12 Diving sea birds – turn back skua! (4)13 Protects pole butt on shipping back (4,4)14 Sea's ebb and flow events (5)16 Cut into cubes, e.g. for bait (5)18 Pre-cooked, tinned ___meat (8)20 Small, mottled seed used in boilies – some Chianti? (4)22 Nickname for elastic (5)23 ___ Sheppard, 3 x Golden Reel Finalist as at 2024 (4)24 ___ Jennings, member of England Under20s World Champs 2023 (6) 25 Adjusts tautness of…

THERE is no questioning the pulling power of meat, which is a far more versatile bait than many anglers believe. Using it in a cubed format is the most common approach, but it is probably even more effective once it has been turned into a mush. A brilliant bait for a range of species including carp, F1s and quality silverfish, luncheon meat has plenty of plus points that will help you put more fish in the net. It’s an inexpensive way of fishing , too, even though the cost of meat has rocketed in the past couple of years. That said, a couple of tins are all that you will need for an action-packed session at your favourite fishery. GIVE IT A GO 1 CREATE THE SLOP Run a tin…

THE JOY OF FISHING HOPEFULLY, summer is now in full swing, and for me that means barbecues and barbel! Bright sun is no barrier to bites, so why not devote a few sessions to the Prince of the River? Many other species will be in the doldrums but, when a barbel bites, it’s a roller coaster ride from the moment your rod buckles over until the battle is done. And, as always, there are a few tricks to get the legendary three-foot twitch! GET ON THE FLOAT My first piece of advice may come as a surprise, and that’s to go floatfishing – not a tactic normally associated with barbel, but the fight is spectacular. In low and shallow water, you can actually catch more than with a lead or…

STEVE RINGER World Feeder champ and a constantly successful matchman JAMIE HUGHES Angling Times columnist, Fish O’Mania and Match This champ RICH WILBY Top specimen-hunter and winner of the Drennan Cup DARRAN GOULDER All-rounder and youngest-ever Drennan Cup winner DES SHIPP England ace and multiple Parkdean Masters champion PAUL GARNER Weekly Angling Times columnist and bait expert IAN JONES All-round angler and lure fishing expert CRUCIAN FLOAT RIG There’s a small pond near me which holds a few crucians. I’ve caught on the waggler, but the bites are so delicate I miss a lot. Any advice, chaps? Darren Martin, email A Hi Darren. Crucians can give very delicate bites when they are not feeding confidently, because they remain almost static when sucking in and blowing out morsels of food. Naturally,…

BAIT CLINIC Honest advice to help you to catch more fish on every trip, without breaking the bank DO YOU struggle to catch barbel during the summer months? Low, clear river conditions can make river fish wary of feeding in daylight. When the fish aren’t confident, they can be difficult to tempt with larger offerings, as they have too much time to inspect each item, and avoid the hookbait. Fortunately, there is often an answer – something that is as old as the hills, yet often overlooked in our quest to use modern baits. This could be the key to keeping the bites coming this year. HEMP – THE ULTIMATE ATTRACTOR My barbel fishing approach at almost any time of the year always includes plenty of hemp. You can’t beat…

Kayden Hadwin Black bass, Heart Lake, France, pop-up boilie Rosie Thompson 8lb 1oz barbel, River Swale, North Yorkshire, boilie George Wood Eel, Chesterfield Canal, Derbyshire, deadbait Kaiden Barnard 4lb mirror carp, Shireoaks Pond, Worksop, Notts, maggot Riley Hodgkin 12lb 3oz barbel, River Aire, Yorkshire, meat Morgan Payne F1, Mill Cotton Fishery, Ringstead, Northants, maggot Alfie Anderson Tench, local lake, Bedford, maggot Angelica Zawada-Sharp 3lb bream, Hickling Broad, Norfolk, pellet Ben Ross 3lb 6oz brown trout, Keran Lough, N. Ireland, dry fly Corey Hadwin Mirror carp, Heart Lake, France, pop-up boilie Alice Anderson Barbel, local lake, Bedford, maggot Henry Thornton 11lb common carp, Hilton Fishery, Stockton, pellet Connie Hadwin Koi carp, Heart Lake, France, pop-up boilie Cameron Cartledge 5lb mirror carp, local club lake, The Wirral, boilie Harry & George Freeman…

LAST CAST WITH DOM FOR almost the whole of 2024 so far, I’ve been testing the water on my local River Exe. While that might sound dangerously close to science homework for some readers, it’s been interesting to see my home river flow through the changing seasons. I’ve had plenty of revealing encounters with local walkers and anglers along the way. No longer is Joe Public blind to the troubles of our waterways, I’m relieved to report. As for the angling community, however, it feels like we constantly yo-yo between hope and despair. On the one hand, we bang on about how everything was better 20 years ago. On the other, we’re prone to a woolly, dangerous optimism that everything will be okay. My monthly tests reveal that while levels…