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Late Summer Pike - Full Circle
I can hardly believe it has been nearly a year since my first failed experiments with circle hooks. I had intended to try them again, having worked out precisely what I’d done wrong not long after I’d...
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Autumn Pike and Perch - Three Times a Stripey
Funny time of year this. Temperatures fluctuating by anything up to 15 degrees during a 24 hour cycle and fish shutting up shop completely for days on end, only to binge when they decide that...
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Canal Pike - Converted to the Way of the Circle
With fellow bloggers bringing a seemingly endless stream of oversized fish to their landing nets recently, I have been assessing and reassessing the possibilities for big fish close to home, as well as...
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Canal Zander - Tapping into the Network
It seems that canals and bloggers have a lot in common. Whenever I go on a short trip away, the local area invariably has at least one of each. And there is a network of each that I can tap into almost...
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Urban River Fishing - Hidden in Plain Sight
Honestly, you'd think there were zero fish left in the rivers the way some folk talk. And I'm not just talking about us ever-pessimistic anglers, but pretty much everyone whose ever seen me extract so...
View ArticleBlogger's Challenge - Halfway Stage
We are now six months into the year-long Blogger's Challenge. A time of reflection for some I don't doubt, particularly as summer has now given way to autumn, and a new host of species, as well as...
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Floodwater Dace - Laying On
I was eagerly anticipating a trip to the River Tone today as it looked in great nick when I was in town yesterday. I was doubly-disappointed when I arrived to first find the water muddy and then that...
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Canal Zander - Zedvember the 54th
Before setting off for the Midlands on Saturday to meet up with Jeff Hatt for his now annual zander fish-in on the Coventry Canal, I had the small matter of collecting bait to attend to. The rivers and...
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Canal Perch - Christmas is Cancelled
Fishing at least one Christmas match a year has become a Tales from the Towpath tradition. But not this year. The Bridgwater match has been shifted off of the canal and onto the two wildly contrasting...
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Hampshire Avon - Trout Chasing
Fished the historic Hampshire Avon for the first time today. I travelled with my dad and met up with James and his in the car park, but when faced with the river, we went separate ways and saw little...
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Stillwater Chub and Perch - 'Twas the Afternoon Before Christmas
I brought a lot of bait home from the river last week, including a couple hundred lobworms which I never got around to opening on the Avon. I took these down to a local pond on Christmas Eve, to try...
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The Year Ahead - Every Trip, Every Fish
Happy New Year everyone and I hope that the Christmas break was a relaxing and enjoyable one for each of you. This year, I am going to be donning my anorak and turning this blog into a true reflection...
View Article2016 Diary - Muddy Hell
Date: Friday 8th January 2016Venue: Dillington Pond, SomersetDuration: 40 minutesFish Caught: Blank Working from home, and not needing to get started until 10am, I thought I would pop out to the canal...
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2016 Diary - Playing with Orchids
Date: Monday 11th January 2016Venue: Grand Western Canal, DevonDuration: 15 minutesFish Caught: 1 perch Quick smash and grab on the canal on the way to work. Something definitely nobbled the jig on the...
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2016 Diary - Working From Home
Date: Friday 22nd January 2016Venue: Taunton to Bridgwater Canal, SomersetDuration: 30 minutesFish Caught: 1 chub, 1 pike I can jump in the car and be at the canal within ten minutes of leaving home...
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2016 Diary - Is This It?
Date: Tuesday 26th January 2016Venue: Grand Western Canal, DevonDuration: 15 minutesFish Caught: 1 perch As anglers, we are programmed to seek out anything and everything which might relate to our...
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2016 Diary - First Tench of the Year
Date: Saturday 30th January 2016 Venue: Taunton to Bridgwater Canal, SomersetDuration: 5½ hoursFish Caught: 47 silver bream, 20 roach, 9 rudd/silver bream hybrids, 4 perch, 1 rudd, 1 pike, 1 tench Like...
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2016 Diary - Ultralight Perch and Somerset Ruffe
Date: Monday 1st February 2016Venue: Taunton to Bridgwater Canal, SomersetDuration: 1 hourFish Caught: 3 perch You never know what state the canal is going to be in when you pull up beside it at the...
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2016 Diary - Canal Pike and River Roach
Date: Monday 15th February 2016Venue: Taunton to Bridgwater Canal, Somerset, and Grand Western Canal, DevonDuration: 5 hoursFish Caught: 8 pike, 14 rudd, 3 silver bream, 2 roach, 2 perch, 1 rudd/silver...
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2016 Diary - Recent Short Sessions
Date: Saturday 20th February 2016Venue: River Isle, Somerset, and Grand Western Canal, DevonDuration: 2¾ hoursFish Caught: 10 chub, 3 roach, 3 gudgeon, 2 dace, 1 minnow, 1 pike I do wish this weather...
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2016 Diary - A Hectic Morning on the Somerset Levels
Date: Friday 26th February 2016Venue: Somerset Levels, SomersetDuration: 1¾ hoursFish Caught: 8 pike, 4 perch I don't work from home often, but one of the perks of doing so is that it allows me to fish...
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2016 Diary - A Jig Surprise
Date: Sunday 28th February 2016Venue: Somerset Levels, SomersetDuration: 4¼ hours Perhaps the best indication of my current angling preferences is that I have had a full sack of dendrabena worms...
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2016 Diary - Ultralight Lure Fishing
Date: Friday 4th March 2016Venue: Somerset Levels, SomersetDuration: 50 minutesFish Caught: 5 pike, 1 perch I have a couple of friends to thank today for their kindness. Firstly Alan Palmer, who leant...
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2016 Diary - Fishing for Canal Tench
Date: Saturday 12th March 2016Venue: Taunton to Bridgwater Canal, Somerset Well this is my 200th blog post, and doesn't time fly. I was looking forward to this weekend, on account of the wind turning...
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2016 Diary - The End
Date: Sunday 13th March 2016Venue: River Tone, Somerset It might not be final day until tomorrow, but today was my last chance to cast a line on running water this season. It wouldn't be a whole day...
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