Chinese Military Shovel WJQ-308 - Gotta Get One!

Stash this in the back of the car and you need never go without a tool that can level a bank, lop off branches, snip barbed wire, hack back rushes, serve as an oar, double as a saw, a hammer, a cleaver, grappling hook, pry, bottle opener, can opener, you name it and it does it. Would make a serviceable weed and snag rake too, no doubt. Only weighs two pounds but made of hardened steel. Has to be the best multi-purpose tool I have ever seen for those 101 unforeseen problems that crop up in a day's fishing but can't be solved, and for the long stay angler, indispensable.

Great video here, and set to the Silverado theme tune too!

Not cheap at around £50, but looks good to me!

Here's a review and spec

A Record Canal Zander? Or What...

Breaking news of a massive Ashby Canal zander had me wetting myself this morning. Checking my inbox Russel Hilton of Tales from the Towpath had alerted me to a Total Coarse Fishing news item so off I went to read it and sure enough there it was with two anglers holding it up at arms length in what looks like a pub and grinning their heads off. It was great story and very entertaining but the fish met a sad demise because it was killed and filleted, soaked in milk and eaten by our intrepid duo.

Wayward Chestnuts, Rioting Foxhounds and a Plucking Pheasant — The Spills and Spoils of a Day in the Country

What had started out as a mission to catch a few redfins, and big ones hopefully, soon transformed into an Ealing-style-comedy-turned-real-life-entertainment featuring a motley cast of clowns and crazed creatures all vying for centre stage whilst a guffawing audience of anglers looked on in bewildered amusement.

Flood!

'Flood' is an emotive word. A headache for those responsible for making sure they don't happen (but can't and know it) a potential disaster about to happen whenever the weather turns nasty for those who choose to live and work where they occur, but only ever a pain for anglers, a 'flood' is when the river rises over its banks, and it's as simple and as straightforward as that. If it doesn't burst its banks, then it's not a 'flood.'