Having started my barbel fishing journey around 15 years ago – when the allure of specimen hunting started to edge out match fishing – I’ve seen many changes in my local Warwickshire Avon. This venue has always been my regular choice when chasing barbel; and while I have never experienced days of 10+ barbel in a session there, I have been lucky enough to enjoy a few days where select stretches have delivered multiple good barbel in a single session, including the odd double-figure specimen. Taking you back over a decade, I targeted barbel for around 15 to 20 sessions a season. Of those sessions (all on the Warwickshire Avon, split between 4 or 5 stretches) I’d expect a couple of red-letter days where I’d catch between 3 and 5 barbel. Just under half the sessions rewarded me with 1 or 2 fish, and the remainder (approximately 50% of sessions) were blanks. While this many blanks does not read well, those days always taught me way more than days where I caught, and certainly heightened the

Each September, the Canal & River Trust hosts the UK’s largest fishing event for young people, the National Celebration of Young People & Fishing. The aim of the event is to bring together budding anglers from across the country for a weekend of friendly competition, skill-building, and – most important of all – fun! Unlike other angling events aimed at the younger generation, the ethos is less around winning and more about falling in love with fishing – encouraging young people aged 6 to 20 to enjoy the sport, improve in confidence and technique, and connect with peers. Having fished (and won an individual, and two team) Junior National Chapionships, I remember the buzz and thrill of competing when I was a youngster. Months of practice, trials to make the team, squad strategy, and hundreds of miles driven all around the country (chauffeured by our Mums and Dads) was compulsory if you wanted to stand a chance of winning. As amazing as it was to fish and win National Championships, it a

Coarse fish such as roach, perch, bream, and carp may appear ordinary at first glance, yet their anatomy reveals clever adaptations for survival in Britain’s waterways. One of the most intriguing features is the shape and position of their mouths. Species like chub have forward-facing mouths designed for snatching food drifting in the current, while bottom-feeders such as bream and tench possess downturned, extendable lips, perfectly engineered for sifting through mud and silt in search of worms, larvae, and detritus. Another fascinating aspect is their use of taste buds. Many coarse fish have sensory organs not only inside their mouths but in a multitude of other places on their anatomy. Carp, for instance, can use this superpower to detect flavours in incredibly dilute concentrations, giving them an edge in murky waters where sight is limited. Swim bladders also play a role beyond buoyancy control. In some species, the bladder is connected to the inner ear through tiny bones called t

The humble loop tyer is a very basic bit of kit – to put it simply – it ties loops! While this is of course true, the loop tyer actually offers so much more than this. Imagine yourself latched into a huge fish… now throw in the heavy flow of a bulging river, plus rakes of weed straddling your mainline. When your gear is under this kind of additional pressure, it is essential you have 100% trust in your loops and knots. A failure there is not an acceptable way to lose a fish, and you will never forgive yourself if that is what ultimately lets you down. Tying a neat and trusted loop can give you additional confidence, so when you do have to pull that bit harder, you can rest assured that loop and knot won't let you down. While there are many loop typers on the market, the vast majority are made of plastic, and more often than not in some hideous fluorescent shade. If this is not your cup of tea, there is an alternative… Made from beautifully sanded and varnished iroko wood, complete with

The Angling Trust is a fantastic organisation that makes a really positive difference to fishing in the UK. With a multitude of incentives to get fishing, inspiring the next generation to get out on the bank, you can understand why we desperately need them to keep doing what they are doing. To that end, each year the Angling Trust hosts a charity auction whereby angling clubs and tackle traders donate items in order for the proceeds of the auction to go to the Trust. With a wide variety of goodies (for just a few pounds to several thousand pounds) on offer, there is something for everyone. This year, Sean Simms Fishing Tackle donated the current, full set of Children's fishing books for this cause, as just a small thank you for the work that the Angling Trust does. As the month-long auction drew to a close there was some heated bidding on many of the lots, and the books bundle made a grand total of £30, which far exceeded the £19.99 RRP for the set. It's those kind people out there, ac