Innehållsförteckning för Issue 3654 från Angling Times

WITH a bit of luck, by the time you’re reading this most of the country’s rivers will be back within their banks again and no longer resemble inland seas! I’m sure there will be plenty of readers itching to get back on running water again now that the closed season is rapidly approaching. I managed a couple of short chubbing sessions in between Christmas and New Year but so far, in 2024, my kit has remained in the garage. Even a local little backwater that I can normally rely on for a spot of perch fishing when the main river is in flood has been completely unfishable over the last couple of weeks, and at one point it flooded on to the road running alongside it. As well as the…

HELP FOR FLOODING DAMAGE HAS YOUR club or fishery been affected by the floods? If so, help is potentially at hand, thanks to a flood relief fund from Sport England. Recent rainfall has caused devastation for many fisheries. The water is still high in places, and who knows where the fish are likely to end up. Lakes spilling into rivers often lead to them being washed downstream or, even worse, being lost in fields. Then there’s the clean-up operation. Many fisheries will be a complete mess. Pegs will be damaged, banks inaccessible with fallen trees and, of course, there will be debris and rubbish everywhere. Fortunately, there is some funding on offer to help. As we know, there are Environment Agency and Angling Trust funds for fishery improvement, but Sport…

RETURN TRIP PRODUCES ROACH OF A LIFETIME TWO years ago, Leigh Holman landed a 2lb 14oz roach from his local club water, prompting a thought that there could be something a little bit special hiding in the venue’s depths. Since then, the Sussex angler been figuring out how to single out the larger roach, and finally cracked it with this 3lb 4oz redfin. He arrived at 11am, armed with a pint of spicy red maggots and damp bloodworm pellets, which he fished through feeders over two spots at 40 and 50 yards. At 3pm his more distant rod registered a positive bite and he hooked into a fish that gave plenty of headshakes as it headed to the net. And when it surfaced a few rodlengths out, he knew this…

TACKLE GUIDELIVE TEST ANYONE whose fishing trips don’t always go exactly to plan can relate to this week’s live test. And that means all of you! Traditional match fishing lore dictates that in the chilly waters of winter we should cut right down on how much bait we use. And okay, I confess that my sixth cast in 20 minutes using a big Method feeder full of micros might have been over the top. The truth is, I was struggling. There’d been a frost that morning, an easterly wind was howling across the water, and I didn’t really know much about the Bain Valley Fisheries’ Halifax Lake, where I’d pitched up to put Preston Innovations’ turbo-charged 13ft 2ins Distance Master rod through its paces. I clocked the chap two pegs…

THIRD TIME LUCKY! WE ALL remember our first fishing trip, and Jenson Parr won’t be forgetting his in a hurry after landing this impressive 8lb pike from Jumbles Reservoir in the North West. Fishing alongside his grandad, Tony, the six-year-old unfortunately lost the first runs of the trip when the fish threw the hooks. Despite this initial setback, his perseverance finally paid off when his float slipped under for the third time as a predator picked up his float-legered mackerel. "It really was a case of third time lucky,” said Tony. “It's a memory we'll cherish forever, and Jenson was delighted to have caught his first-ever pike. I’m sure it’ll be the first of many!” he added. SEND IN YOUR PICTURES Email us your child’s details, including their name, the…

STEVE RINGER World Feeder champ and a constantly successful matchman DAN BRACKLEY England International, predator expert and top lure angler TOMMY PICKERING Fomer world champion and match fishing legend DARREN COX Team England Feeder squad member hailing from Yorkshire ALEX DOCKERTY Angling coach and top-flight match angler PAUL GARNER Angling Times columnist and bait expert LEE KERRY England International and professional angling coach ALEX’S COMMERCIAL FISHERY ROACH RIG Are light floats still best for catching roach on the pole on commercial fisheries? Brett Paton, Rugby A Roach will often come off bottom, even in winter. That said, they won’t do it immediately, so if you begin by fishing with a light float through the water I think you’ll be wasting too much time waiting for the rig to settle before…

BAIT CLINIC Honest advice to help you to catch more fish on every trip, without breaking the bank CATCHING carp in winter is a realistic prospect for most of us, as long as you choose the right venue. I prefer to get a few bites and catch some pristine winter fish from a well-stocked water, and in recent years I have witnessed some remarkable catches, as the carp are often tightly shoaled up. Location is key, but once you have found the fish, a couple of tactics have proved their worth. time after time. BAG UP IN WINTER When carp can be caught on the bottom, my favourite tactic at this time of the year is to use small solid PVA bags. This is a little trickier to use than…

MATCH SCENE Drennan Lindholme Lakes Feeder & Bomb League (Sat) Laurels, Bonsai, Loco & Beeches Lakes (70 pegs) A GOOD peg is always handy at any time of year, especially in the depths of winter, and that’s just what Sean Cameron pulled out of the bag to win the latest instalment of the Lindholme Feeder and Bomb League with an 87-8-0 total. That swim was peg 78 on Bonsai Lake, one with good recent form, and the Shimano/ Dynamite Baits man ended the day with 10lb in hand over runner-up George Robinson’s 77-6-0 bag from peg 19 on Loco Lake. Third placce was snapped up by Dave Shires on Loco peg 37 with 75-9-0. Unusually, Sean didn’t fish the feeder at all, instead relying on the bomh for his win,…

FISH the feeder on commercial carp waters today and you’ll have a choice between an elasticated or inline feeder, which basically tells you how the feeder is connected to the mainline. With an elasticated feeder the hooklength and mainline are attached at either end of a piece of strong pole elastic running through the middle of the feeder, while an inline allows the feeder to run freely along the mainline, stopped by a quick-change bead or similar. Neither will make any difference to how many fish you hook, or how well you see bites, but as a hooked fish nears the net it’s a different story. At this stage, it will be thrashing about, and the hook can easily pull without the shock-absorbing qualities of the elastic which is why,…

SHIMANO AERO X1 13FT 90G DISTANCE FEEDER A LITTLE heavy to wield, and with an aggressive fish playing action, but all can be forgiven as it offers extreme range capability at an outrageously low price. You get two carbon quivers, EVA upper and lower grips and a cork mid-handle on a classy carbon blank with a custom-made look. Perfect for big fish and heavy feeders. Price: £74.99, www.fish.shimano.com GURU A-CLASS 13FT HEAVY FEEDER ALTHOUGH primarily designed as a ‘heavy’ feeder rod for powerful fish and big feeders on both lakes and rivers, we think Guru has missed a trick by not calling it a distance rod. In our tests, we proved it is capable of distances of up to 100m with a Hybrid feeder set-up. We’d have preferred slightly larger…

SO GOOD TO BE BACK! THROUGH the 1970s and 1980s I was a fishing fanatic. I used to pleasure and match fish as a member of the Newstead Welfare Fishing Club. I managed to get to fish in Denmark and Ireland, but the last time I fished was in 1993. I’ve been saying I’ll go fishing every year since, but never got round to it. But last year, I thought sod it, I'll go again! So I went through my old tackle and, once I’d sorted everything out, the only thing I had to get was a few packets of barbless hooks. I'd heard about a place called Aldercar Lane Fishery in Langley Mill, and back in June I went to fish it to get back into the swing of…

Would you go down the groundbait or loosefeed route for roach on commercials? JAMES WATSON, EMAIL THIS is an interesting question, and while there is no definitive answer, I can give you a few pointers as to where to start! Roach respond better to loosefeed than groundbait, but I will often use groundbait at the start to attract them. Loosefeed alone tends to bring a slower initial response. I’d then only use groundbait to try and tighten the fish up or if bites slow and I feel I need to try and pull more fish into the swim. ALWAYS USE FISHMEAL The type of groundbait mix can be important, as it does affect the stamp of fish you catch on a commercial. For example, a sweet mix will work, but…

NOTHING WORKED! THIS week I was back to Chester Lakes on the silverfish open, drawing peg 17 on Eccleston Lake. This is full of small roach, so despite the cold weather, bites should be guaranteed. When the fish are small, as they are here, that does mean clocking into the right method and feeding quickly, and that’s what I never got right from the word go. I’d planned to fish long and short on the pole, feeding groundbait and loosefeeding a bit over the top. It’s a deep lake at 10ft and, very quickly, the roach came off bottom. I think my groundbait was too active, and I then loosefed too heavily, thinking I could catch off bottom. No dice! Stodging the groundbait up didn’t work, and I ended up…

THE TUTOR DARREN COX Garbolino UK boss and England feeder man with a long and distinguished match angling CV on natural and commercial waters THE LESSON 1 TAKE ACCOUNT OF THE TOW Tow may move with or against the wind, causing light feeds to drift as the feeder falls or just hits bottom. The fish can move with it, leading to a biteless spell. The stronger the tow, the further the groundbait will be from where your feeder has landed – up to 5m in a strong wind. 2 WATCH THE ROD-TIP After casting out, I watch to see how far the tip is being pulled round. A strong tow will ‘lock up’ the tip until it can bend no more, or the tip may pull off to the left…

WHETHER it’s an online forum or the local tackle shop, one of the most common questions in angling is “where can I fish for free”? In truth, the answer is often a postcode lottery, with some areas blessed and others barren. Information isn’t always easy to find, while available stretches vary from local gems to fisheries blighted by things like litter and anti-social behaviour. Nothing is completely “free” of course, but in many other countries the standard fishing licence grants access to far more water. Much like the UK countryside, our river stretches tend to be privately owned or leased out rather than available to all. But is the current system adequate, or do rod licence holders deserve better management and access? PROS AND CONS One angler who’s seen both…

REEL IF THE rod is the most important item for distance feeder fishing, the reel comes a close second. Choose the wrong reel and it’s like casting with the brakes on! You need a large spool that freely releases the line on the cast – one that is too small and looks empty after a big cast will create a lot of drag. When it comes to line lay, you get what you pay for, and it isn’t something you can judge just by looking. More expensive reels have slower oscillations (the forward and backward motion of the spool when winding), giving a flatter and tighter line lay, which adds metres to your cast. BUDGET CHOICE: Preston Extremity 620 Surprising performance from a cheaper reel. It might lack the style…

• Local know-how for bumper nets• Your tried & tested top waters• Expert venue tactics RIVER WEAVER, NORTHWICH, CHESHIRE You’ll find some quality bream in the Weaver, along with smaller fish. Northwich AA controls the fishing, and day tickets are available from local outlets. Contact: Vale Royal Angling Centre, 01606 46060 RIVER AIRE, LEEDS, WEST YORKSHIRE The stretch running through Leeds city centre holds a wide range of species. You’ve the chance of barbel, chub, and plenty of silvers. Contact: BobCo Tackle, 0113 2499943 RIVER OUSE, YORK, NORTH YORKSHIRE On this wide bit of river you’ll find some superb bream on groundbait feeder tactics. There are also quality pike about. Contact: York Tackle, 01904 411210 RIVER WELLAND, SPALDING, LINCOLNSHIRE Momentous roach bags can be had from this prolific stretch of…

CAN you believe I was voted among the Angling Times top 50 ‘influential anglers’ at 72 years of age? As such, this week I’d like to discuss the topic of getting kids into angling. By dint of much window dressing and box-ticking, the Angling Trust would have you believe they are coming in by the thousand, when the truth is, they are not. Apart from the influx of new anglers during the Covid outbreak, recruitment to the sport has been pitiful. And I’ll tell you why – the people in charge of coaching our kids seem to think that if you give them a carbon whip and a pole rig, and they can pull out fish after fish, they will become anglers for life. In reality, this is just boring,…

FLYER pegs have the habit of not always producing, especially in winter – but often all it needs is a more realistic set of expectations from the angler to get the best out of them when the cold bites. Peg 124 at Barston Lakes was the perfect example of this in the latest MFM Barston Masters qualifier. Maver Milton Keynes/ Dynamite Baits man Ian Smith won it with a very low 58-0-0 net of carp and a few F1s. Normally, you’d be looking at 100lb to win off there, which were Ian’s pre-match thoughts, but faced with cold weather, highly coloured water and carp anglers on the peg when he arrived, it was going to be a very different match to the norm to win off this famous peg! He…

LAST CAST WITH DOM I’VE always maintained that it’s not gratification, but the delay of it, that makes angling addictive. If a particular fish species or goal is elusive, one of two things tends to happen. We either give up and move on, or we become hell-bent on beating the odds. With jaw-droppingly big fish, this is perhaps understandable. On my part, however, the current desire is slightly embarrassing. This winter, I am desperate to catch a decent flounder from local estuaries. Actually, let’s revise that – right now I am desperate to catch any flatfish at all, and would happily take one the size of a beer mat. Why fall for such a modest, comical-looking fish? Nostalgia plays a big part. As a kid moving from London to Devon…