For many anglers with a river fishing obsession, that period ending 14th March to the 16th June leaves us longing for a cast into the unpredictable and exciting ebbs and flows of running water. Traditionally, I always make a big fuss of the 16th, with trips booked well in advance with family and friends, making that date even more special and anticipated. This year, in 2025, it was no different, and a week on the mighty River Severn at the wonderful Bank Cottage was the chosen destination to kick off the new season. This angling mecca (comprising beautiful accomodation just yards from a private stretch of river) had historically produced some memorable fish for me and my dad, including bream close to 8lb, double-figure barbel, roach over 2lb, and the rarest catch on my life... a twaite shad! As we arrived on the eve of the 15th June, the river was running clear and low (just as it had been for the two months previous). However, by early evening the heavy rain quite a way upstream a few

It’s been a while since I got on the end of a large carp, having been blitzed by bream and tench on my local syndicate during recent efforts. With a slightly amended strategy of a boilies-only approach, a squid-Scopex snowman concoction was my chosen bait to target something a bit bigger. Sure enough, around 6 hours into my day session, the alarm sounded and I was in! It felt solid, but very little movement indicated a bream had likely taken the bait and picked up a large helping of weed from the bed I was casting over. Almost immediately, the fish broke the surface (about 70 yards out), which was classic bream behaviour, cementing my suspicions. As the fish wallowed toward me, still on the surface at about 40 yards, it looked strange – like a very long bar of gold – this was no bream… My Dad was manning the landing net, and as we looked on, a lovely big carp was voluntarily swimming towards us with absolutely no fight in it whatsoever. With a thick lily pad bed to my left margin, I wa

A fun part of fishing involves beating records – be that national, regional, by venue, or personal. That feeling of suspense and excitment as you watch the needle on your weigh scales creeping round to new highs is utterly indescribable. With the larger species like carp and pike often taking the limelight due to their gargantuan record sizes captured in jaw-dropping pictures, you can easily forget that some of our mini species have records too. Truth be told, most of the larger versions of our smaller fish are likely a bycatch when chasing other species, however, a specimen is a specimen! The humble (and much-loved) minnow has seen its record stand for many years now at a whopping 13.5 drams (which equates to around 0.85 of an ounce, or 24 grams). Over the years, many anglers have claimed bigger catches, however, the kind of scales needed to accurately measure something so small are not readily carried by your average fisherman. As for my own story, some years back I was long-trotting

This weekend, I dusted the carp rods off and headed to my local syndicate. I always have a terrible time deciding how to fish there, as along with carp over the magic 30lb mark, the water holds a great head of bream that average 5lb, huge swathes of quality roach, and some cracking tench fishing complete with all the thrills of fizzing bubbles and terrifying proximity to lily pads. It was a bivvy day though, and by 11am both rods were cast over to a submerged treeline which had been kind to me over the years. A good dose of boilies had been peppered around the hook baits (with the help of my throwing stick), and the traps were set for something special. Just 45 minutes into the session, it hadn’t quite gone how I’d planned it… with three bream to 5lb landed, it seemed as though it was likely going to be a busy (but carp-less) day. The runs (or single beeps from the bream) were consistent, and while playing an old snotty on a carp rod isn’t anywhere near as nice as playing one on a medi

Float making, in my opinion, is one of the finest arts in coarse fishing tackle creation. From the users perspective, there is nothing quite like using a handmade float that is delicate enough to show bites from the smallest of fish, but so hard wearing that it can withstand treacherous flows, being hurled through the air on the cast, and of course, take the battering of a heavy battle betwixt human and fish. My absolute favourite float maker is Ian Lewis. His floats are second to none, both for looks, affordability, and functionality. I find myself on his website frequently, and like a child in a sweet store, everything just looks so tempting. Having been lucky enough to acquire a few sets of these floats over the years, I enjoy these both on the bank and displayed in my home office. Below, I've shared a couple of pictures of some of these beauties, and an image of a greedy trout that was my very first capture on a grayling float (which I am still yet to catch a grayling on)!