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you think you can cast a fly ?

To all those carp anglers who boast about 200 yard casts… try with a fly rod ?

I came across this video today showing Steve Rajeff casting a fly line over 120 foot with an obstruction behind him… I am amazed, simply amazed. Like all masters of their art he makes it seem all too easy. To all coarse anglers, next time you get a chance to have a go with a fly rod, give it a try. You will get such a sense of achievement in just getting the fly vaguely where you wanted it, catching becomes a secondary goal

The video curtesy of you tube

Think you can do better ? why not post it up here 🙂

Piking with lures – Stay mobile

Well the winter is now fully here with temperature fully in to the negatives each night. with this in mind my efforts have swapped over to predator fishing and in particular to the pike. Now i know that a lot of you will point out that many of the lakes are frozen solid at the moment but the rivers are running free and this is where you should concentrate. As it is so cold I am not really the kind of angler that likes to sit on my back side swapping the sit and wait style of carping for the pike… no I prefer to keep moving and adopt a roving approach. If something is not working get moving, if you are cold… get moving.

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We have a winner !

Hi all

we have a winner in the spomb competition, I will be contacting the 2 lucky winners in the next day or so and hope to have the spombs winging their way over to you be the weekend

the winning weight was 99grams, yes salmon fry crumb is light 🙂

I will be contacting Cosimo and Serena to get their postal addresses to send on their prizes. Well done to both of you and happy spombing !

My thanks go to all that entered, and if you were not lucky this time then there will be more competitions running over the winter so keep checking back soon

Thanks to all of you who entered and if you have any suggestions for the site, please do drop me a mail via the contact me button at the top of the page or leave a comment.

Sadly the weather has turned for the worse in the UK and the lakes all seem to have frozen solid with the bad weather we have been having recently so apart from a few river piking sessions it will be a few weeks before I can get back on the bank again.

Competition time – Win a Spomb !

It is that time of the year again ! I have 2 Spomb‘s that I will give away courtesy of Mr Spomb at www.spomb.com my review of them can be found here and suffice to say I loved it as a product. Like Ronseal, it does exactly what it says on the tin and if you need to get out humongous amounts of bait out into the lake the easiest way possible – look no further.

Anyway to be in with a chance of winning one of the above spomb’s all you need to do is tell me How much in grams does a spomb fully loaded with salmon fry crumb pellet weigh ?

To enter click here ( Note competition has closed) and type your answer, the closest 2 answers by the 13:00 (GMT) on the 29th November 2010 will win a spomb each, in case of duplicate answers the 1st received in my mailbox will count. Please ensure that you put the correct email address in the form, if I have to mail a winner and it bounces then you have lost and I will award the prize to the next closest entry. Please dont send me your postal address unless you have received a mail from me indicating you have won. There is no cash alternative this is all in good faith and a bit of fun and only one entry per person please.

Good luck

Korda Kaptor hooks, hype or not ?

It has been a while since a company introduced a new design into the hook market. Virtually all ideas have been tried before whether it be in carp fishing or in another branch of angling. Where do you think the curved hooks came from ? yep that was from the fly tying fraternity, beaked points you get the picture.

It was then with some interest that I saw the release of the new korda kaptor hooks, I was particularly interested to see how the measured up to the other hooks on the market and whilst this is not a full test it is a 1st look and some opinion

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Attaching your line to your reel, the Arbor knot

Well this is the 1st post after quite a while and as it has been a while I thought I would start with another “How to” and this time on a knot that you use so infrequently many anglers forget how to tie it. The knot I am referring to is of course the Arbor knot. As it stands the only use for it is to attach the main line to the spool ( it is not load bearing) but don’t let that put you off. It is quick and easy to tie and packs down nice and small. Some anglers use a load of granny knots or even tape but this knot is far far better as it is small, quick and will not affect your line at all ( unlike tape).

So lets see how to tie it ( click any picture to make it larger) .

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Its been a bit quiet recently

Sorry it has been a bit quiet recently, there has been a lot going on personally namely that I have become a parent for the 1st time ! Baby Ellie was born a few days ago and both she is Mum are doing fine. For all those people out there who are considering being a dad, do it ! it is really fulfilling and though it is early days ( and we have loads of support at the moment) I think we will be OK.

The above picture shows me with very little sleep about 5 mins after she had emerged into the world. The new regime of feeding, burping and nappy changing has started in earnest ! Whilst she will have a serious dent in my long stay carp fishing this year ( well for the 1st 6-8 weeks) I can still go for short sessions and as the winter is coming in this may be for the best.

Fishing wise whilst the articles front has been a little slow recently, fear not there are articles on :

Arbor knot – used to attach your line onto the spool
A pike fishing session report
Fluff chucking for coarse fish
The back lead article I have been working on for ages
Review of the Blue Sky Angling Pocket Rocket
Competition ( with actual prizes )

Stay tuned for the above and the 1st 2 and last 1 should be ready this week

The Pike season is upon us

What can be said about this year… well I moved country, and I moved lakes and err I didn’t move the world fish wise. My grand total so far for carp this year in the UK stands at….1 I really cant be accused of not putting in the hours either. I worked out that I spent 20+ nights at Thorney Weir this year for a big fat zero. I lost 1 carp in the weed when an ESP raptor opened up on me and that has been my lot. I have had some big ( and I mean doubles or close to double) figure bream and tench this year but on 3lb TC rods they are not the same. By the way if you are a specimen bream or tench fisherman you really need to get yourself over there, they are virtually untargeted. I think I might put in some effort somewhere else next year, Thorney is nice and I would recommend it however I just couldn’t get into my stride there. In the 20+ days I have just realised that not only did I not catch anything I haven’t even seen a fish on the bank. Sure I have seen wet slings and mats but so far I have not seen a Thorney Weir fish on the bank at all. So next year I may start to use some of the other tickets I have and really put in some time on Harefield pit 1 or the Watford Piscators complex and then come back to thorney for a campaign in late October 2011.

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Echo Magazine Issue 16

Just a quick note to let you know that one of my articles in in ECHOES magazine issue 16 ( page 8 and 9 if you are curious) on one of my favourite subjects – Photography ! I am rubbing shoulders with such giants as Julian Cundiff Keith Arthur and of course Ruth Lockwood ( not forgetting Richard Crimp with out whom this would not have been possible) and whilst they are speaking about fishing, I thought I would take the easy way out and concentrate on photography 🙂

If you are not already a member of ECHO then I can only ask why not ? go to www.echocarp.co.uk and join up now and do something worth while today !

If, after reading the article, you have photography questions please do not hesitate to contact me either by posting a comment here, or by using the “Contact Me” button at the top of this page I do reply to all questions and and if you have a query on fishing ( or other aspects of photography) let me know.

The most over used photoeffect – ever

Ok I am about to vent, prepare for it….. please oh please will angling magazine editors please, oh please stop using the article authors face as an out of focus background …gggaaaahhhhhhhh !

It has to be the most over used and most annoying photo effect that has ever been used it is almost more annoying when, during the mid 90’s, every fashion magazine “discovered” the ring flash. To give some examples without naming names, have a look in some of the carp angling monthly magazines ( not carpworld thankfully) and you will notice page after page, shot after shot of the sponsored anglers ugly mug as the out of focus background.

Let show you what I mean, and please note that this one was taken for comedy effect to show you.

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