Lure Fishing Diary

LinkedIn Network Updates, 2/09/2012

2012-02-08T19:06:00.001-08:00

LinkedIn Network Updates, Feb 2 - Feb 9 Featured Updates LinkedIn Network Updates, Jan 26 - Feb 2 Featured Updates Hi paddy, People with updated profiles get viewed more often. Improve your

LinkedIn Network Updates, 1/26/2012

2012-01-25T16:27:00.001-08:00

LinkedIn Network Updates, Jan 19 - Jan 26 Updates from Your Extended Network

LinkedIn Network Updates, 1/18/2012

2012-01-18T12:23:00.001-08:00

Twitter Can Expand Your LinkedIn Network - Add Your Twitter Account Now »

LinkedIn Network Updates, 1/11/2012

2012-01-11T11:36:00.001-08:00

Twitter Can Expand Your LinkedIn Network - Add Your Twitter Account Now »

paddy, join these 4 groups we've recommended for you

2012-01-11T04:15:00.001-08:00

paddy, Joining a LinkedIn group makes it easy to stay up-to-date with classmates, colleagues, and other professionals. Here are some groups your connections have joined.

Add skills like "Oil Painting" to make your profile easier to find

2012-01-04T03:35:00.001-08:00

Skills & Expertise paddy: Do you have skills that people are looking for? Every skill you add to your profile makes you easier to find. Start adding skills.

LinkedIn Network Updates, 1/04/2012

2012-01-03T19:18:00.001-08:00

Twitter Can Expand Your LinkedIn Network - Add Your Twitter Account Now »

LinkedIn Network Updates, 12/28/2011

2011-12-28T05:15:00.001-08:00

Twitter Can Expand Your LinkedIn Network - Add Your Twitter Account Now »

LinkedIn Network Updates, 12/22/2011

2011-12-21T16:13:00.001-08:00

Twitter Can Expand Your LinkedIn Network - Add Your Twitter Account Now »

Welcome to LinkedIn!

2011-12-20T15:21:00.001-08:00

Welcome Thank you for using LinkedIn! You have joined over 135 million professionals using LinkedIn to stay connected and reach new people through trusted referrals. Give us 5 minutes ... and we'll give you a tool you can use for the rest of your

Reminder about your invitation from John Cheyne

2011-12-19T01:32:00.001-08:00

This is a reminder that on December 5, John Cheyne sent you an invitation to become part of their professional network at LinkedIn. Accept John Cheyne's Invitation On December 5, John Cheyne wrote: > To: Blogger

Reminder about your invitation from John Cheyne

2011-12-12T05:13:00.001-08:00

John Cheyne wants to stay in touch on LinkedIn

2011-12-05T11:14:00.001-08:00

From John Cheyne Sales Manager at Finhaven Ltd Worcester, United Kingdom I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn. - John

Perch Frenzy at Chew

2009-11-28T05:28:00.000-08:00

I had an amazing days fishing at Chew last month. Spent 4 hours thrashing the water with big jerkbaits to no avail (turns out we were on the wrong side of the lake that day) then had a go with some 4" Kopyto's as we saw some perch activity...turned out to be very good decision...5 casts later I had landed 5 perch over 3lb!! We lost contact with the feeding shoal at that point but later on I had

High Winds at Pitsford

2009-10-19T00:39:00.000-07:00

I fished in the Zoota Lures LAS Competition at Pitsford recently with Steve "Trebles" Bates. The last time I fished with Steve was in the Pairs competiton up at Esthwaite, where we came second and had some lovely doubles in the boat, so I was very much looking forward to the event.Unfortunately the day in question coincided with some pretty high winds and fishing was restricted to the top area

Perch too

2009-08-26T04:53:00.001-07:00

We caught a lot of perch from the new stretch too. There seem to be a lot of perch around at the moment. A friend was telling me that he and his boat partner had over 100 out of the Warks Avon in a day recently. Most of the fish we had were pretty small, but Gary did manage to get a better fish on a jig.-- Post From My iPhone

New stretch produces a grand slam

2009-08-23T10:55:00.001-07:00

Gary and I fished a new stretch of the Severn yesterday and although it didn't produce anything massive, Gary did get a grand slam of perch, pike, chub & zander. I couldn't quite equal him as the zander proved illusive. -- Post From My iPhone

Heading for the Coast

2009-08-02T10:27:00.000-07:00

I'm getting quite excited about the coming weekend. I'm off to Cornwall on a family holiday, and although I will be spending most of the time on the beach with the kids, there will be a chance or two to throw some lures for Bass, pollock, garfish and anything else that fancies having a go!I'm busy going through my lures and trying to decide what to take with me. When it comes to lure fishing in

Franglais Stocking Specimen Gear Lures

2009-07-29T07:20:00.001-07:00

Steve at Franglais fishing has got some nice stuff available at the moment. I features his Dingo swimbaits in the last issue of Lure Angler and I've been looking at his range of Woody lures online. Steve was telling me the Wounded Woody topwater lures are selling very well at the moment and they do look interesting.Here's the blurb"The Wounded Woody 180 is an innovative top water jerk bait.

Blogging from an iPhone

2009-07-28T13:42:00.001-07:00

Ok so is it possible to blog whilst your actually fishing? Well it would seem the answer could well be yes! Now that I am the proud owner of an iPhone a whole new wat to blog is available. I can take pictures and even movies with this thing so in theory I should be able to catch a fish and blog about it straight away. The real question is.....do I want to!?well if it ever stops raining and I

New Lures

2009-07-28T10:04:00.001-07:00

Artur from www.lure-world.com has got some lovely new Gloog lures available. I've found the Gloogs to be very well built and great little fish catchers..I will have to get a couple more, some of those colour schemes look great!

catching up

2009-07-09T00:50:00.000-07:00

I seem to have let the blog slip rather in the last couple of months. A combination of work-pressure (it seems to be increasingly difficult to run your own business these days!) and getting the "Lure Angler" ready for Press. So I've got a bit of catching up to do. We had a great day at Esthwaite at the end of June, but I will blog about that when I get the piccies from Gary. In the meantime, here

Location, location, location

2009-04-21T04:06:00.000-07:00

I spent last night going through the articles I have lined up for the next issue of Lure Angler. There are some great articles, I really think it's going to be a "vintage" issue. One that stood out for me when I was reading them last night was a piece on Pike Location by Dave Pugh. It's the second article he's written for the magazine since I took over as editor and it's just as thought provoking

New Spro Goodies

2009-04-16T04:27:00.000-07:00

I work as the Sales Director of a small paper craft company. We make original and (we think) well produced products for people who make hand made greetings cards and other papercrafts. We only deal B2B but the end consumer is virtually always female. So my job very rarely has much to do with fishing. So you can imagine how pleased I was to discover that Sam Baxter of Baxter Angling has an

God is with us!!

2009-04-08T14:25:00.000-07:00

Ewan and me pose for a photo after doing a bit of fishing off the pier in Lyme Regis

Boat stuff

2009-04-08T04:48:00.000-07:00

Well I've been spending far too much money on stuff for the new boat. so far I've bought two Wise folding boat seatsA Jetmarine 4hp 4 stroke outboardA Berkley Horizontal Rod RackAs well as a new Tarpaulin, seat swivels and I've now ordered some down-east rod rests.The engine was a bargain, I picked it up for £250 from a bloke in devon and it;'s as new having been only run for about 6 hours.

Stripey Time

2009-03-29T12:29:00.000-07:00

Gary and I spent an hour or so on a canal venue that we had never fished before recently. I started out using a 6cm Kopyto shad and a 10g jighead. 3rd cast, something hit the lure hard on the drop. I struck, maybe a little too quickly and the lure came back with the tail nearly bitten clean through. I switched to a smaller 4cm kopyto and started casting again in the same area, within a few

New Boat!!

2009-03-24T16:14:00.000-07:00

Well I've gone and bought myself another boat! A friend was selling his rather unloved 12ft Sea Nymph aluminium V-Hull which had been sitting under a bush in his garden for a few years and it was just too good a deal to turn down. A good clean up and it will start to look a lot better. Then we can think about fitting a deck, to make it easier to stand and cast, some swivel seats, some extra

Triple for the Double

2009-03-16T15:03:00.000-07:00

Gary and I headed for The Cotswolds to test a few new lures recently and had a lot of fun in the process. We both had a few of the new Spro BBZ shads to try out and I had a belting big spinner in the shape of the Blue Fox Double Spin. The weather was overcast and with a fairly strong breeze, but the temperature wasn't too low so we felt fairly confident that we would get a bit of action. Gary

Paddle Tail First test

2009-02-19T04:41:00.000-08:00

I gave the New Pro Paddle Tail shad from Storm a quick go on the Grand Union canal earlier this week. Unfortunately I only had an hour and didn't manage to track down the fish, which tend to be shoaled up and difficult to locate at this time of the year. However it did give me a chance to put the lure through it's paces. The big paddle tail works very well and ensures that the lure gives a

Great Looking new "Pro" soft bait from Storm

2009-02-11T14:09:00.000-08:00

The Wildeye Pro Paddle Tail is a very nice concept! Take the body shape from the latest range of US and Japanese mini soft paddle tail swimbaits add a touch of Storm realism, come up with a multi weighting system and quick change system in one that includes three jig heads and three bodies and then package it neatly and sell it for less than a £10. Sound good ? It certainly looks good!THE "BAIT

Dragon rod finds me a fish

2009-02-10T14:19:00.000-08:00

Artur over at Lure World sent over a nice looking spinning rod for review last week and I took the opportunity to give it a couple of hours testing on the Warks Avon at Pershore last weekend. The rod performed beautifully and I had a lot of fun working lures through the tail of a nice weirpool at the top of the stretch. I'm terrible for changing lures a little too often so it was nice to be able

Spro BBZ-1 4"

2009-02-09T14:02:00.001-08:00

Take a look at the Spro shad in action

Shadadelic!

2009-02-09T13:43:00.000-08:00

I just got some absolutely gorgeous new lures through the post for review from Sam at Baxter Angling. They are the very sexy new Spro BBZ-1 Shad 4" swimbaits. I'm just desperate to get a chance to use these lures as they look fantastic. The construction is very sound, the design is awesome and the hardware that comes as standard is top quality, including a "sticky" sharp Gamakatsu treble. In fact

Where have I been

2009-02-08T10:12:00.001-08:00

Ok Ok, so I've been missing in action for rather along time...apologies. Those of you who visit the LAS Forum regularly will know that I'm still around, but that the job of being Editor of Lure Angler has made blogging a bit tricky. Add to that the fact that I am a partner in a small business trying to keep it's head above water in a recession and you'll understand why my posts have been

Going with the flow

2008-11-19T04:25:00.000-08:00

I was reading Nigel Green's excellent Ringtail blog for the first time today. He writes about fishing a weirpool in a flood and how much fun it was despite not catching anything. "The weirpool was a case study in fluid dynamics and you could really feel the differences between how the surface moves and how the undercurrents behave as the lure was buffetted around. Sure, it would have been nice to

Steve Wozniak

2008-11-16T15:30:00.000-08:00

One of the nicest thing about becoming the Editor of 'Lure Angler" magazine is that you get to correspond with some incredibly interesting people. One of those people is Steve Wozniak.Steve is a lure fisherman and a species hunter. He has travelled the world fishing and has an amazing record of fish catching wherever he goes. I can't remember exactly how many different species he has caught...but

New features

2008-11-14T12:17:00.000-08:00

Cool new feature on the blog that you might have missed is that you can now subscribe, meaning you will be emailed whenever the blog is updated...so you can pop back whenever I start spouting rubbish as usual! It's in the right hand panel.

Site of the Week

2008-11-13T01:05:00.000-08:00

I thought it might be a good idea if I structured things a bit more as far as blog posts are concerned. So from now on I will be listing a "Site of the Week". That way, even if I don't write anything worth reading, I can point you in the direction of someone who does! So here goes....TACKLE TOURTackle Tour is a US website dedicated to reviewing the latest lure fishing tackle from across the pond.

Smartwave 2400 boat review part 1

2008-11-12T13:21:00.000-08:00

NOTE THE DOLLY WHEELS IN "UP" POSITIONWell I've had the boat for about 4 months now, so it's time to put my thoughts down about how things have gone so far. One of the really strong points about the boat is the quality of it's manufacture, it's a very solidly built boat, made from UV stabilized polyethelene the hull has what the makers call a Tri hull design, which gives the boat a good deal of

Chucking it Down!

2008-11-10T14:44:00.000-08:00

Well I feel quite guilty for not posting for so long, but to be fair, fishing opportunities have been limited and I've been concentrating on getting my first issue of Lure Angler sorted.However I did manage to get out to the Cotswold Water Park on Sunday. How well is that place named?! it was water, water everywhere as the wind blew and the heavens opened. Thankfully Gary is pretty much as stupid

Little Lures and lots of wind

2008-10-19T13:21:00.001-07:00

Ewan and I managed to get a few hours on the Avon again this weekend, and although we didn't get as many fish as last week, we still had a fantastic time. As Dad's go I'm a very lucky man, not only do I have a wonderful daughter who makes me proud and makes me laugh every day, but I also have a son who loves coming out fishing. So I get to spend quality time with him and go fishing at the same

Ewan Get's a new PB

2008-10-12T15:53:00.000-07:00

Saturday saw Ewan and I out in the boat on the Avon. This was Ewan's first time out on the boat and it was certainly a day to remember! Full details to follow, but we caught nine good fish between us and Ewan topped the day off with a new PB Pike of 7lb...well done the lad!!It was a beautiful day, with the sun maybe a wee bit bright to be perfect fishing weather for the Zander, but thankfully one

PAC Convention continued

2008-10-12T14:49:00.000-07:00

After picking up "Crankbait Secrets" my next stop was Sovereign superbaits.Few UK retailers have a stock of products as extensive and impressive as Mark Kitson at Sovereign. I picked up a few lures on Mark's stand mostly Salmo's and after telling him that I was the new "Lure Angler" editor I also picked up a few tips on just what Mark thinks about the LAS. Unfortunately in the past Mark hasn't

PAC convention at Stoneleigh

2008-10-10T09:37:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a very busy two weeks both fishing wise and business wise. Add to that the extra work of editing my first "Lure Angler" magazine and I have had a very easy time coming up with excuses for not getting round to posting on here! Ok so it's catch up time! I'll start with the PAC event at Stoneleigh. This was the first one I have attended as I'm not a member of the PAC. however I was

Esthwaite

2008-09-26T13:25:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was up at a LAS event on Esthwaite near Hawkshead in the lake District. What a beautiful water! Gary, Wayne and I got there late on the Saturday afternoon and set up an impromptu camp next the the car park. From their the view up the lake is stunning and it's just a short walk to the boathouse. Paul turned up soon after, so the Cotswold chapter was well represented. We were all

Online suppliers part 2!

2008-09-17T13:42:00.000-07:00

As promised, the other supplier I have been using is AGMDiscountfishingAGM specialize in buying up bankrupt stock, end of line items and overstocks from the USA and selling them here in the UK. This means that they have a varied and eclectic mix of products, many of which are real bargains. There's always plenty of lures and items you are unlikely to find on any other UK suppliers website, as

Online suppliers

2008-09-12T13:16:00.000-07:00

There are a couple of online suppliers that I have been using recently who are well worth recommending. The first one is Lure-worldThe first items that attracted me to the site were some very nice looking little crankbaits made by a a polish company called Gloog. I've tried a few of the models they do, but my favourite by far is a little 6cm lure called a Hektor in Perch colouring.YOU MAY HAVE

Little Victories

2008-09-05T04:22:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I had a great day on the Avon last sunday, and managed to boat 12 fish in total. Nothing record breaking and most of the fish were Jacks, but a great day nonetheless. Funny thing is I started trying to remember all the fish I had actually caught this morning - what species, what size, what lure , what location - and it was actually really hard. Ok, it's true I did

Am I learning?

2008-09-02T05:22:00.000-07:00

An interesting question arose in my mind on Sunday. I had just brought the 12th and final fish of a very enjoyable session on the Avon to the boat and was busy unhooking him in the water, when I began to wonder how much I had actually learned from the last 10 hours fishing. Very often it seems that much of what we learn from our angling experiences is left unspecified. I certainly don't tend to

Nice Perch

2008-08-20T14:49:00.000-07:00

I had a very enjoyable day on Sunday fishing with Gary Palmer at the Cotswold Water park. The fishing was tough and we didn't see a pike all day, but we both managed to persuade a perch each from the crystal clear water.A SALMO HORNET WAS THE SUCCESSFUL LURE

Finland, and thoughts on trolling

2008-08-20T13:58:00.001-07:00

Well we had another great family holiday in Finland earlier this month. It's very much family time, so I didn't actually do a huge amount of fishing. When I did get a chance the fishing was pretty tough. There were a few pike to about 5lb, mostly taken on Berkeley Bat Wing Frogs and about a dozen small perch, mainly to small salmo hornets and various little softbaits.A TYPICAL FINNISH PERCHThe

An unexpected call

2008-08-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

Well it's been too long since I last posted, but what with 10 days in Finland, work to catch up on and a million other excuses time has slipped by.For once I think I'll move things a little out of chronological order and tell you my latest news first. I will post a report on my family trip to Finland and a few thoughts on my new boat and trolling tomorrow (with a bit of luck) but I have other

New Boat

2008-07-24T05:17:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately due to work and going off on holiday tomorrow I've not had a chance to do a proper write up of my first boat trip yet, so I thought I would pop a few pics on anyway. I'll tell more when I'm back from finland!

New Boat

2008-07-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

Well I've spent more money than I've caught fish in the last 2 weeks and most of it has gone on a boat and all the necessary bits! Unfortunately I've been up to my neck in it work and family wise for the last week and haven't had a chance to blog, but on saturday I will post a full breakdown of my new boat and equipment, then on Sunday I will be taking her out for her maiden voyage (river

Ewan get's his first Pike

2008-07-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

Saturday saw myself, the lad and Gary heading down to King Sedgemoor's drain for the LAS fish in. The weather didn't look too clever on the way down, but by the time we met up with Paul and a small band of other intrepid LAS members the rain had stopped. Ominously the wind seemed to be picking up, but we headed off toward a distant bridge anyway having been promised that there were plenty of pike

Carry on Up the Avon

2008-06-30T04:34:00.005-07:00

THE "BIG JESSE" THAT LURED MY NEW PB ZANDERSo having just boated my new PB and seen it safely returned I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. We carried on a bit further and Gary picked up a couple of Jacks, until we came to a tree-lined bay that just shouted "Perch". On went some tiny lures, a 2cm Salmo silver and blue crankbait for me, and a Yo-Zuri snap bean for Gary. Straight away we started

Avon Again

2008-06-29T00:21:00.000-07:00

Well after a few changes of plan on Saturday, I dropped Gary a quick text to see what he was up to. "I'm out in the boat - and there's room for you if you want to come." was the reply - I didn't need to think twice!For those of you who haven't worked it out yet, Gary is a bit of a Zander specialist. There are few people in the country who have caught more Zander than Gary, maybe Dave Pugh of

Ewan get's afloat!

2008-06-23T11:25:00.000-07:00

>Well Gary was kind enough to take me and the lad out for a bit of luring in his boat on the Avon, and despite the high winds on Sunday we had a great time!FORGET ABOUT SITTING WITH YOUR DAD! EWAN MUCH PREFERRED BEING WHERE HE COULD KEEP AN EYE ON THE FISHFINDER!Gary got us off to a great start with a small Zed in the first few minutes and then bagged a lively little pike about 30 mins later.

First fish of the Season

2008-06-16T04:39:00.000-07:00

Well it's June 16th and that means the official Coarse fishing season is under way. I've been desperate to get back to some river fishing and so like most other lure anglers, I've been counting down the days. The only trouble is, my escapades in Finland have meant that I just can't take any time off work at the moment and to make matters worse I'm busy this evening too!! Still that's not going to

Finland 2008

2008-06-15T04:42:00.001-07:00

Magnificent CountrySo we all met up at Stansted Airport last Friday afternoon and headed for the check-in desk labelled "TAMPERE". Tampere is a busy and quite large city in the Western half of South Finland.It takes about 2 and a half hours to fly there and it was then another 40 mins drive to our cabin in the shores of Lake Kulovesi (actually it took about 2 hours, but that's only because Gary

Just back!

2008-06-13T04:57:00.000-07:00

Well having arrived back home from finland a 4.00am and then had to dash around the country for work meetings for two days I am now completely knackered! However I thought I'd better post something about our big trip to Finland. so here is a brief synopsis...1) Accomodation 9/102) Scenery 10/103) Companions 10/104) Local tackle shop 9/104) Fishing 4/10Unfortunately decent fish were pretty much

Finland here we come!

2008-06-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

Well Gary, Wayne, Paul and myself are off to Finland tomorrow for a 4 day fishing trip, so tune in next week for a report on all our antics...we're heading for Lake Kuovesi, but there are about 400 lakes to choose from where we're going to be staying!!!LOOKS RUBBISH DOESN'T IT!See you all next week!

Zander breakthrough

2008-06-05T14:21:00.000-07:00

Ewan my lad and I popped up to the midlands canal I have been targeting for Zander at the weekend and for once I was surprisingly successful. In just under two hours I managed to hook and land three zander which compares to two in about 7 hours which was my previous best haul. I think the big difference was the weight of the jig heads I was using - having chatted things over with Gary and Wayne

Lure fishing in the Big Apple?

2008-06-05T13:47:00.000-07:00

So what can you get up to in Manhattan that actually involves lure fishing? well as it happens, probably more than you think. For starters there is Capitol Fishing Tackle which really has an amazing history...."Capitol Fishing Tackle Company was established in New York in 1897. It began in Germany circa 1845, focusing primarily on cutlery. Over fifty years time, the sharpening of surgical

New York, New York!

2008-05-25T05:34:00.000-07:00

I spent last week in the big apple on business, but that's not to say I went all week without thinking about fishing! Is this really a picture of a New Yorker flippin' senko's for bass? Plus I visited Capitol tackle in the heart of Manhattan to check out the lures on offer....full report to follow.

A Zander Lesson

2008-05-17T00:52:00.000-07:00

Well a had a chance to zip down to the canal last week for a couple of hours in the evening, to meet up with Gary and Wayne. It was a beautiful evening and as I got close to the canal I pulled over and called Wayne to check which part of the canal they were fishing. The good news was that both Wayne and Gary had already caught Zeds and were nearby, so I didn't waste any time getting to the

New websites and a bargain reel!

2008-04-30T03:48:00.000-07:00

I have ordered a few items from Sovereign Superbaits recently and the products and customer service have been excellent. When I first decided to order some 4" Manns shads from them I wasn't sure which size of jig head hook would be best. I sent them an email asking if they could give me some advice at 10.00pm on a Monday evening....by 11.10pm Mark Kitson who runs the company had replied to let me

Midlands Canal again

2008-04-26T10:25:00.000-07:00

I had a few free hours on Saturday, so decided to head back to the stretch of canal that had yielded my first canal Zander a few weeks ago. I made an early start, in the hope of cashing in on the low light conditions first thing in the morning, but as it turned out I didn't get my first fish till about 10.00AM. So I should have stayed in bed!Gary has been extolling the virtues of Manns shads to

Llangorse

2008-04-16T15:21:00.000-07:00

Well Gary and Wayne got us all organized and it was a rather changeable day weatherwise as we met up to fish Llangorse Lake in south Wales. The Lake nestles in a beautiful valley between the Black Mountains and The Brecon Beacons. Fishing is by boat only, and you can either bring your own and pay a launching fee or hire one of the fishing punts available at the lake. One point to note is that you

Lure angler in bait fishing shock!

2008-04-02T11:49:00.000-07:00

OK I know this is meant to be a Lure fishing diary, but right next to my work place there is a couple of lovely little lakes that hold carp, tench, bream, rudd and the odd little perch. So when the clocks went back, I couldn't resist watching a float for an hour and a half after work. The lakes are just showing signs of spring, but in the summer they are really quite beautiful.THE LITTLE LAKE IN

New Venue Grand Slam

2008-03-21T15:42:00.000-07:00

MY FIRST EVER CANAL ZANDER, WHAT A PRETTY FISH!After doing a fair bit of groundwork in the the last few weeks I headed off to a Stretch of Canal in the midlands that seemed to fit the bill. Just 30 mins drive from home, cheap day tickets available, countryside location and strong rumours that there were Pike, perch and Zander to be had. The good news is I think I've found a gem, because although

Smelly Mullet

2008-03-20T09:57:00.001-07:00

Managed to pop out for about two hours last Saturday to have another go at the Canal. It was pretty hard going, although I missed a good take whilst fishing the same lock that produced the Chub for me before. I was using the same white curl tail grub that has been my lucky lure of late, but found I was picking up a lot of dead leaves on it when bumping the bottom, so I decided to switch to a

You can Alpha-bet on Mr Crabtree

2008-03-16T02:42:00.000-07:00

There are two things in this world that can be relied on to end in a "Zed" - the alphabet and Gary Palmer's fishing season!!Mr Crabtree came up trumps again on the last day of the season, with this belter from a very muddy Warks Avon which tipped the scales at 10lb 2oz...ZED HEAD GARY STRIKES AGAINI'm still trying to wangle the details of lure and method from Mr Palmer!.

Pike at the Palace

2008-03-15T02:06:00.000-07:00

Saturday saw us meeting up at Blenheim Palace, to fish the beautiful lake there, for it's monster pike and perch. A quick look on the Blenheim webisite shows there have been some terrific fish caught in the last few months including plenty of perch over 3lb. The fishing is from boats at Blenheim so Gary and Wayne (or should that be Mr Crabtree and The Ghillie) took one boat a and myself and Nige

Cheers Eric!

2008-03-08T04:26:00.000-08:00

I was flicking through some old copies of The Lure Angler magazine (free to LAS members) last night, when i came upon an article by Eric Weight, in which he extold the virtues of curl tail grubs in canals. He also mentions how he had ignored his local canal for 15 years, before finally realizing just how many fish could be caught from a rather unpromising looking spot. Well It set my mind

Avon calling

2008-03-02T10:04:00.001-08:00

It's a few months since I'd managed to fish the Warks Avon, So once the Kids were safely ensconced at friends houses and my better half was dispatched to the hairdressers I headed off towards Pershore to fish one of the many BAA stretches of the river. I arrived to find the river in lovely nick, at a very normal sort of level and with just a bit of colour in the water. In the past I had only

Big Spoon Saves the Day

2008-02-24T13:44:00.000-08:00

Saturday saw me fishing the Severn and Avon at Tewkesbury Ham. I met up with Gary, Wayne and Paul who had arrived a fair bit earlier. Gary was kind enough to pick me up from the car park in his boat, and we had an hour or so of trolling and jigging, but despite Gary's high tech fish finder, finding the fish was one thing we just couldn't seem to do. The Severn seemed devoid of fish for once, so

New Poll

2008-02-23T00:28:00.000-08:00

It's always fun and enlightening to find out other peoples views when it comes to lure choice, so this months Poll is devoted to "Favourite Lures". So please do vote for your bait of choice so that we can have a snapshot overview of just how popular the various different styles of artificial are.

A BOAT THAT FOLDS TO 4 INCHES FLAT?

2008-02-21T14:22:00.001-08:00

Here's a promo video that shows the Porta-Bote in action.

Winter Sunset and maybe a boat

2008-02-20T04:28:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately I was working all this weekend, but i did manage to pop out for a few hours last Saturday. The weather was bitter and the fishing was rather un-productive, but it did give me a chance to get to know the Revo a bit better and try out some new spinnerbaits. It's trips like this that you just appreciate being out by the water, as the setting sun was really quite beautiful..SUNSET ON

Dean Steffen Lures

2008-02-13T00:13:00.000-08:00

Came across the work of this guy while searching around for nice lure images. His lures look absolutely gorgeous, I really am going to have to save up for a couple even if it's only to have them framed!MUSKIE FLAPTAIL (NOTE HOW THE LIP HAS BEEN PAINTED TO LOOK LIKE A BAIT FISH)OK SO OFFICIALLY THIS ONE IS A DECOY NOT A LURE??? BUT IF IT SWIMS GET A HOOK ON IT!You can check out all of his stuff at

The importance of being earnest

2008-02-10T11:02:00.000-08:00

The thing that really makes my wife laugh at my angling obsessions is when she sees me acting like I was today... taking things a bit seriously. In the past she's seen me do a few odd thing - checking lures I've weighted by dropping them into the kitchen sink, keeping jars of soft baits soaked in various fish and worm smell solutions in my study and lying on my back in the garden holding lures up

OK After this I promise to stop going on about it!

2008-02-04T13:55:00.000-08:00

Well I had a great Birthday meal with the family last night, and finally got my hands on the Revo. So here are my initial impressions.The reel comes in a fairly standard looking Abu box, but is well padded inside with foam to keep the reel safe. The box contains the reel, a small bottle of Lube, a warranty (1 year), a very short instruction book and an exploded diagram of the reel parts. The reel

Tough fishing in chocolate milkshake

2008-02-02T10:06:00.000-08:00

THE WATER WAS AT A GOOD LEVEL BUT STILL VERY COLOUREDSaturday afternoon saw me managing a quick two hours on the River Salwarpe just outside Worcester. Conditions were far from ideal, with ice on the shaded puddles and the water with only about 3-4 inches of visibility. I headed down to where the river meets the Severn, but the main river was even more coloured and so I soon headed back upstream

New Reel on the way!!

2008-01-29T09:49:00.001-08:00

With my birthday coming up, my darling wife suggested I should treat myself to something I really wanted. I've been talking about getting myself a low-profile baitcasting reel for some time now with friends, so it seemed like the obvious choice. After a fair bit of deliberation I settled on the ABU Revo stx, which is a gorgeous looking bit of kit...I just ordered one from The Friendly Fisherman..

Cotswold Crew get off the ground

2008-01-28T13:43:00.000-08:00

NIGEL, GARY AND WAYNE FISHING "MR CRABTREE'S HOTSPOT"The inaugural official meeting of the newly ordained "Cotswold Chapter" of the Lure Anglers Society was my destination on Sunday. Since the rivers were still unfishable we all met up at the ever dependable Costwold Water park. The weather was beautiful (though perhaps a little bright to be ideal for lure fishing) but spirits were high as nine

A Quick Plug for the Lure Anglers Society!

2008-01-21T05:49:00.000-08:00

>Just thought I ought to add a bit of a plug for the LAS (Lure Anglers Society) on here as they are a fantastic organization and an absolute must for anyone who loves their lure fishing and wants to improve. Full details of how to join and what the benefits are can be found on the LAS website. Suffice to say I've learned a huge amount about Lure fishing from the various members of the Society who

Re-cycling and modifying damaged lures

2008-01-20T13:22:00.000-08:00

One of my favourite plugs is a cheap double jointed slow sinking crank bait called a kogha Ultra jointed. They come in 3 sizes and 5 different colours, but my personal favourite is the largest 11cm size which they seem to have stopped producing!! Luckily I've still got a couple of perfect examples that I managed to get while they were still available, but I also have a couple that have seen

Secret Lake

2008-01-16T09:49:00.000-08:00

There can't be many anglers who don't dream about finding themselves a secret lake that is full of giant fish that have never even seen an angler before. The problem is, on an island the size of the UK with such an enormous number of keen fishermen around, it's next to impossible to actually fulfill that dream. None the less I have been studying local ordanance survey maps recently in the hope of

Cotswold Gravel Pit 12/01/08

2008-01-15T02:12:00.000-08:00

I had intended to get to the pit for dawn, but a few drinks the night before soon scuppered that idea, so I didn't get there till around 9.00am. It was a bright and sunny morning, but unfortunately a lot colder than it had been for the previous 3 days and all the puddles around the lake were covered in a thin crust of ice. I fished the bottom end of the lake where the water is deeper using a slow