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A Tale of Two Canals
Ahh, finally a chance to give my new pole a good workout. It seems ages since it hasn't been raining and blowing a gale, so a pole that reaches 16.5 metres has been useless. The wind dropped enough on...
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Throwing a Wobbly
A break from banging my mouse against the desk in frustration at having to work with Devon County Council's slowest computer has been needed this week. When I fished the Grand Western Canal the other...
View ArticleMini Sweep On Tivvy
Aside from the decent fishing that canals can offer, they also bring the potential for contact with, or observing, some of the biggest oddballs and funniest social interactions that take place on the...
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Catching Up
It's been a while since I last blogged, but finding the time to fish, let alone write about it, has been difficult for the past couple of months. Some bitterly cold mornings have't helped to stir my...
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This pond ain't big enough for the both of us...
The opportunity to avenge an angling battering from my dad is not usually swift these days, as we don't get to fish together as often as we used to. In the week, however, I managed to wangle a day off...
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Chopping and Changing
The temperature has been gradually picking up over the course of the week and looks set to plummet again tomorrow, so prospects were good for today's trip with Jason Parr, in the hope of finally...
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Two Tones; fast and slow
There are several decent clubs within an hour's drive of my house, all reasonably priced and offering excellent fishing on a real variety of waters. Taunton AA's 'Fast Stretch' of the River Tone is...
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Silver Lining
Silver bream are pretty rare, right? Not so. I've actually found them to be quite plentiful in a number of venues I've fished on the Somerset Levels, and so far, they've been more reliable than the...
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Micro-piking
Sneaking out for a couple of hours in the afternoon to try and catch a single fish wasn't quite what I had in mind when I booked this week off some months ago, but thoughts of catching a netful of...
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Paying The Price
Fishing can be an expensive hobby to pursue. It could be tackle, costly syndicate membership, petrol or even bait that makes it that way. How perverse that something so simple and readily available as...
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Bridgwater Canal Knock-Up
Another little sweep with some friends; this time on the Taunton - Bridgwater Canal. Given that there has been very little rain for the past week and that there was far more about when I was here last...
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A Pinch and a Punch
Bit tired and short of time after a third consecutive fishing trip (hard life I know, but then my week's holiday was a dud thanks to the weather), so I'll just sum it up briefly. I try to keep varying...
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Docks and Dead Ducks
I've fished some rough, dirty polluted stretches of canal in my life, but this particular stretch of the Bridgwater Canal takes some beating. I took one look at it back in March, and decided not to...
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Catching The Sun
Today's trip was fruitful, if a little boring. Sometimes fishing can be a little too easy, even on the canals of the south-west region. I'd forgotten to bring my worms, and deliberately left behind any...
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Musings of what is being missed
It's been a case of a week of intense fishing at the end of April for me and then more or less nothing since, other than a single tench of 4lb 8oz in a four hour session on the Exeter Canal, and a...
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Canal carping? (and other outings)
Here's a few photographs from the last six weeks or so, as I never blogged for the whole of June, though I did get out fishing a couple of times.I only managed two full days fishing, the first of which...
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Commercial style canal fishing
As a canal angler you often get the luxury of choosing almost any swim you like, but that doesn't always mean we get the place to ourselves. Such was the case for my second visit to Bude Canal - this...
View ArticleThis is where it begins...
A lot of people reflect on the past 12 months and set their angling targets for the next twelve at the turn of the year, or at the end of traditional fishing season. It never seems an appropriate time...
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Tidal Exe Mullet
So long cricket season; I can now go fishing regularly again. I suppose September might seem a funny time of year to take stock and set targets for the next twelve months - most anglers would use the...
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Bridgwater Docks - Silver Bream on Elderberries
I don't think there is one hookbait more singularly associated with a particular species than hemp. Hemp is a roach bait, right? Well, no. A recent trip out with my good friend, and top angling writer,...
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