Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 3702 i Angling Times

AS THIS is our final issue of 2024, it’s the ideal opportunity for us to reflect on who we believe have been the most influential people in the sport over the past year. From top anglers and entrepreneurial notables, to inspirational individuals, we wanted to highlight all those who have been a driving force in angling and who had a big impact on how we enjoy our hobby. After drawing up an extensive list of more than 100 nominees, our editorial team spent many hours scoring them all on a number of pre-agreed factors to whittle it down to a final top 50 ranking. As an exercise, it really drives home just how many people there are who have a positive impact in our industry. There are several new entries…

KINGS WEIR JUST KEEPS ON GIVING! Nathan Buckingham – 19lb 8oz barbel AFTER producing a new British Record barbel, the River Lea at Kings Weir has continued its blistering run of big-fish form, this time in the form of a 19lb 8oz specimen. It was caught by Nathan Buckingham from a swim that many anglers walk past – and one which had little previous form for the species. Nathan had been away in Yorkshire over the weekend and had taken the Monday off work to recover from the long drive, so he spent the day fishing. After starting in a different swim, he then moved into the usually unfancied area. Shortly after casting out a luncheon meat hookbait, he received the bite from the powerful fish, which smashes his previous…

ANDY Bennett and Steve Ringer are two of the most skilled anglers in the land. With decades of experience, they’ve won dozens of mega money titles along the way, so you’d think that their tactics would be as good as they come. But the rise of underwater filming has made even the most talented of anglers sit up and think – and often have their eyes opened to what’s really going on beneath the surface. And that’s certainly true of the latest project that the two angling superstars have been involved in. For the filming of the widely-anticipated Guru Underwater 3 film, the team headed to Shropshire’s Weston Pools, where a number of cameras were positioned among the crystal-clear waters of the venue’s Clay Pit. What they saw provided plenty…

JOIN TOP MATCH anglers Lee Kerry and Rob Wootton each week as they unveil the tactics and techniques that really make a difference JUST when you think you have got a tactic down to a tee, something comes along to derail your thinking and make you change the way you act. If you want to keep putting fish in the net, you must be willing to learn and move with the times. Like any other year in my career, 2024 was a learning curve, and there were plenty of flashpoints throughout it that made me adjust the way I thought about certain things. ANALYSE THE CONDITIONS I’ve been enjoying long-range feeder fishing at Boddington Reservoir in recent weeks, but I was taught a real lesson on my first outing. I…

DO YOU NEED RINGER’S HELP? Send your question to: askringer@anglingtimes.co.uk Should I prioritise depth or fishing to features when targeting F1s? Brian Stringer, Reading THIS is a great question and I’m going to get straight to the point – fishing at the correct depth is the key to keeping the bites coming. I don’t do as much F1 fishing as I used to, but the one thing I’ve always loved about them is that they tell you where they want to be! But some anglers miss these signs, and it is reading the situation correctly that will help you to find the optimum depth for that day. READ THE SWIM Quick decision-making is vital when F1 fishing , and there is little doubt that the most successful anglers work things…

TIME TO BURY THE HATCHET I’m amazed at the ongoing ‘spat’ between certain high-profile anglers and the Angling Trust. We anglers, all one million of us, need to get our act together, bury the proverbial hatchet and join forces for the fights ahead. Many carp anglers rarely encounter the issues that river anglers experience. I see more otters than just about every other species. I see far fewer kingfishers than I used to, rarely see owls over the meadows. Otters are the apex predator, they are eating the fish, the birds and rodents, meaning lesser predators are struggling. That’s not the otters fault, it’s all ‘man made’ problems. Pollution, abstraction, destruction of habitat by land owners, angling clubs, and the Environment Agency – all are having an effect. Poor water…

WINTER for me means predators. Pike, perch and – probably the species that excites me the most – zander. If there was one target I would love to achieve it would be to bank a big Tidal Thames ‘zed’, one in excess of 12lb. Venues holding them, unfortunately, are limited compared to other species, but the Trent is one to watch, and the Severn has always produced big zander. There are also many miles of canal in the Midlands and, of course, the Thames. So you shouldn’t have to look too far to find a promising venue. What really ignites my imagination on the Thames is, I never know what the next bite will bring. It might be a tiny zander of less than a pound, but then again it…

How do anglers make every loop on their hooklinks the exact same size? Also, what’s best practice for attaching two loops together? Rich Turner, email A The simple answer to that, Rich, is that top anglers are likely to have been doing it for decades, so it has become second nature. But if you’re struggling, then an easy fix is to use a loop tyer. These come in different sizes, so you can make all sizes of loop, and are incredibly easy to use with practice. I’ve included a sequence below to show the process. Regarding the second point, there is definitely a correct way to join two loops – such as the connection between a hooklink and the mainline. Get it wrong and you’ll create a weak link in…

Honest advice to help you to catch more fish on every trip, without breaking the bank ALL COARSE fish have a fantastic sense of smell. Of all the senses, this is the one that is most useful to anglers, as we can tailor our baits to attract and stimulate fish into feeding, often from some distance away. Yet, not all flavours are equal. Many are better for certain species, or at specific points in the year. From the huge range available, can we draw any conclusions as to when and where to use them? This area is certainly a minefield, but I think there are some rules that we can follow. DON’T OVERDO IT! It is important to say at the outset that not all flavours carrying the same name…

WHICH RECORD NEXT? THE LATEST record to go is the barbel, and what a creature! I’m still of the age and the opinion that a 10lb barbel is a big fish, and anything upwards of 12 is a bloomin’ biggun! Add those two weights together and you have an incredible 22lb, which is potentially the new record for the species caught by James Crosby at Kings Weir on the Lea. Well done, James. The Lea haș a great record for big barbel, and perch and chub, but 22lb? Wow. Prodigious strain; good at evading capture; grown fat on Signal crayfish? Who knows just what’s responsible for the huge weight. The current record, almost a pound less than this one, was from Sussex, and now this great fish from the Lea…

DAIWA TOURNAMENT SLR 10FT + TOURNAMENT 20 QD 3010 REEL IF MONEY is no object, then this top-end pairing is solid gold. The 10ft Tournament SLR is hailed by many as the finest all-round short feeder rod available. Constructed using the best X45 carbons and quality fittings, it comes with three special SLR quivertips. The eye-catching Tournament 20 QD 3010-sized reel is feature packed and technically quite superb. Its Zion Air rotor and 4.7:1 gear ratio deliver a superbly smooth performance, while the QD drag system and LC (long cast) spool add to its all-round impeccable performance. Prices: Rod £539.99, Reel £385, www.daiwasports.co.uk NYTRO MARVELIST LIGHT CARP FEEDER 10FT + MARVELIST 4000 POWER FEEDER REEL AFTER a serious feeder rod that can handle big carp as well as F1s and…

DONE AND DUSTED! QUALIFYING for both major silverfish finals has freed winter up and given me a chance to explore the open scene, which I rarely get to dabble in these days. First up I headed over to Chester Lakes for the midweek silverfish match, and found myself on peg 13 on Pulford Lake. This is a little bit set back, and the slope didn’t end until 13m. As I wanted to fish on a flat bottom, it was a simple case of one line at 14.5m for the day. Using tiny nuggets of groundbait packed with worm and maggots, I managed to keep bites coming and ended the day with 16lb 4oz, enough to win. It’s amazing how the slightest tactical changes can have an impact, and there was…

THE hook is without doubt the most important part of any fishing set-up. You can be fishing the greatest venue in the land, but get the sharp end of your rig wrong and your chances of catching rapidly diminish. It stands to reason that a pattern which works well with maggots when targeting roach will be next to useless when trying to tempt a bite from a monster carp using boilie hookbaits. Much of it is down to common sense – the bigger the fish you’re targeting , the bigger and stronger the hook needs to be. But there’s more to it than that. First and foremost, you have to match the hook to the bait. You wouldn’t use a size 20 hook with a big chunk of breadflake when…

Miley Ball 21lb 8oz common carp, undisclosed stillwater, boilie Ollie Forbes 3lb 4oz common, Drumtassie Coarse Fishery, Scotland, corn Michael Scott 10lb 9oz common, Hundred Oaks, Yorkshire, pellet Louis Cosnett 5lb 11oz chub, River Teme, Shropshire, pellet Laney Ball 21lb 8oz common carp, undisclosed stillwater, boilie Freddie Smith 15lb pike, local club lake, Devon, deadbait Thomas Baldry 3lb pike, River Ivel, Bedfordshire, lure Will Rowe 15lb pike, Denton Reservoir, Grantham, Lincs, deadbait Joel Parsons 1lb 4oz perch, Longshaw Fishery, Canterbury, Kent Reuben Price 7lb 9oz mirror carp, holiday lake, France, Spam Toby Furness Mirror carp, local lake, Huntingdonshire, boilie Rhys Copleston 4lb pike, Semtex Lake, South Wales, spinner Danel Devey 12lb 6oz common, Coppice Hill, West Midlands, pop-up Harvey Jay 3lb 7oz pike, Salford Quays, Manchester, lure Blake James 31lb…