Small Stream Adventures — Satellite Tracks

The set of circumstances I'd set in motion whereby a couple of deep (enough!) pools were created by the December floods immediately downstream of a rock and brick groyne I'd made under an overhanging willow attracted fish. I saw one, thought it a roach when my dog sprang it from behind a submerged shopping trolly, and ever since I've had a burning desire to turn that fleeting glimpse into something like reality.

Canal Roach — Beancounting

There's a two-pound roach with my name on it swimming about in the local canals. The Oxford canal four years ago, under similar conditions with snow on the ground and by fishing a stranded hole in the ice cap threw up a fish just half an ounce under and ever since I've thought that the next bite there would be the one to break through, but though plenty of fish have come well over the pound suggesting that it's certainly possible, it hasn't happened yet.

Small Stream Adventures — A Surprise Find

What's a winter without snow? Last winter was a non-event with just one fall of about half an inch in Coventry, the two winters preceding were proper ones, this year looked like a wash out through November and December, but yesterday it finally came in abundance so naturally I went fishing

James Denison — Angler of the Year?

If you haven't stumbled across James Denison on your Internet travels then you've missed out on one of the best angling blogs this country has to offer written by one of our most promising up-and-coming coarse anglers. I have no hesitation recommending his work to you as nothing short of essential reading.

Small Stream Adventures — Transformations

Now that water levels have fallen and the stream runs clear and bright I've been able to see what amazing alterations were made to the river during the floods that followed my experiment on the River Sowe.

British Canal Records — Battle of the Billies

Two contenders for British record canal perch were brought to my notice a couple of days ago and what great fish they are. Dan Sales had one at 4lb 4oz from the Grand Union, probably in

Hertfordshire...

Canal Roach & Rudd — Ivan making Marks

Ivan ledgering on the Coventry Canal last summer

Coventry based canal specialist Ivan Scallon made full use of the recent mild weather to go plunder a nearby stretch of the Grand Union. Ledgering a homemade feeder packed with garlic flavoured liquidised bread and bread on the hook, he then cast almost under a moored boat to take a succession of prime silvers topped by two remarkable specimens.

Small Stream Adventures — The Butterfly Effect

A few years ago I discovered caches of roach, perch and pike in my local River Sowe. It's a very small stream where I live in Longford but quite large enough to support fish populations along its entire length from Bedworth all the way to its confluence with the Warwickshire Avon at Stoneleigh. The trouble is the river has been extensively altered over the past century and that has resulted in a progressive denuding of possible habitats to the point where fish actually can live in very few places today.

In the Year Ahead I'll be Mostly... Breaking Records!

Above are the British Canal Records for fifteen principal coarse species, a list compiled last year by myself with the much appreciated help of others — Mark Wintle and Russel Hilton of Tales from The Towpath, especially.

It was not an easy task! Information was sketchy to say the least but in the end it began to look like a real record list with serious targets to beat. What started out as a project whereby I'd have a few realistic targets to aim for soon turned into a list of proper challenges to test the mettle of the finest angler. My aim for this year is to get myself back on it! I did have three or four records early doors because I couldn't find reports of anything better, but they didn't last for very long once the net was cast wider...

Avon Chub - After the Flood...

Here's an interesting map of the British Isles from drought to complete saturation —and with almost every drop of  the water that achieved the astonishing feat falling in just the last two months. It was a remarkable time when even non-anglers were forced to notice what a surfeit of the wet stuff really can achieve, but with the evidence everywhere to see we don't need a map to tell us anglers that!