Of the 13,000 anglers checked for a valid licence, 965 were fishing illegally. Environment Agency enforcement teams continue clamping down on rod-licence cheats, notching up more than 13,000 licence checks across England in May.
Of the 13,000 anglers checked for a valid licence, 965 were fishing illegally and could face a court appearance and a substantial fine. A recent penalty was more than £800 when an annual licence costs just £27.
Dicks in for Gardener -Drennan Team England shake-up. The Angling Trust is pleased to announce the England call-up of Callum Dicks, who will be joining the Drennan Team England squad for the FIPSed Nations World Championship in Croatia on 13th and 14th September, 2014. Joining Callum are Will Raison, Alan Scotthorne, Sean Ashby, Des Shipp and Steve Hemingray, plus (joint managers) Mark Downes and Mark Addy. Mark Downes said of the selection: “Callum has done brilliantly this week in the European Championship in Belgium.
Crystal Dibber creates huge demand for Drennan
The Crystal Dibber has captured the imagination of anglers the length and breadth of the country with tens of thousands already sold since Drennan unveiled them just a couple of months ago.
A spokesman for Drennan commented: “We knew these floats would be popular, but no-one could have quite predicted the unprecedented level of demand. Shops have been placing reorders for 100 or more trade packs of each of the three sizes currently available. That’s 3,000 Dibbers!
“We’ve put a considerable amount of time into developing our unique machinery, capable of blow-moulding these tiny clear-plastic bodies, so it’s great to see so many anglers appreciating it!”
Shops are hailing the float as a huge success.
Big-money festival gets the go-ahead at The Oaks Popular North Yorkshire venue The Oaks has announced they are running their popular three-day August festival – with the winner guaranteed £1,000!
Held between August 23rd and 25th, the festival will feature five of the venue's prolific match lakes – Maple, Cedar, Beech, Sycamore and Ash.
Venue owner Tom Kay was delighted to announce the festival: “The venue is fishing unbelievably well at the moment with the three newer lakes – Beech, Ash and Sycamore –producing weights up to 300lb. Combined with the technical fishing of Maple and Cedar, we have a great three-dayer on our hands. Nick Howarth solicitors have once again sponsored the match, allowing us to guarantee a £1,000 first prize with a great main list of prizes also.
Headline sponsor ‘unlikely’ but big prizes still on offer.
Organisers of the Evesham Festival have released details of the 2014 prize fund – and there’s still bags of cash up for grabs despite the loss of one of the event’s long-standing sponsors. Event director Roger Mortimer, announced the revised prize structure after a search for a headline sponsor for this year’s festival looked unlikely to produce new backers in time for the final weekend. “We’d love to have kept the prize fund at the same level as last year and one of the reasons we’ve been slow in announcing the payout was a hope that a new sponsor could be found,” explained Roger.
Drennan Team England take European gold in dramatic fashion! Faced with an ultra-hard Hensies-Pommeroeul Canal, England were staring down the barrel with just 30 minutes remaining of Day Two.
Both Will Raison and Sean Ashby latched into a bream in the last half an hour, which catapulted them both up to third in section. This meant the team took the gold by a ‘comfortable’ margin of just one point ahead of a determined Russian team.
The fishing required ‘balls of steel’ as just one bream meant excellent points on a canal where the odd bream could only be backed up with tiny perch and bullheads.
Shakespeare man makes Wychavon Final. A flush of rainwater brought extra colour and pace to the Warwickshire Avon for the latest of the Wychavon Championship qualifiers. Making the most of his end-peg draw, local expert Leigh Gardener banked a succession of good skimmers and hybrids on long-pole tactics. Leigh fished maggots over groundbait for an impressive total weight of 15-8-0.
This Saturday, June 28th, sees the grand opening of tackle retailer Angling Direct’s new Halesowen store. To celebrate the opening of its 10th retail branch, Angling Direct is offering 10 per cent off everything on the day, including price-checked items. There will also be exclusive special offers available and a free prize draw to enter. The shop, which is the tackle giant’s first Midlands-based store, will cater for all types of fishing, including carp, coarse and match, and will stock thousands of items of tackle, from the smallest accessories to top-of-the-range poles – including all the top brand names and Angling Direct’s very own ADvanta product range.
This seems to be a regular report these days, but the Barston record has been smashed yet again!
Venue regular and former Fish ‘O’ Mania champion Mick Bull was the man to do the damage after drawing Peg 2 on the main lake. It was a dream draw with carp after carp falling to Method feeder and pole tactics.
After a prolific five hours, Mick weighed an awesome 199lb 2oz, adding 5lb to Suzi Smith’s previous record.
Venue owner Nigel Harrhy was overjoyed with the weight: “Barston has been in phenomenal form over the last two weeks so it was only a matter of time before a new record was caught.
Tackle Fanatics, one of the UK’s fastest-growing fishing retailers, has announced the launch of Rewards4Fishing – the nation’s first-ever coalition rewards programme dedicated to fishermen. In addition to Tackle Fanatics, more than 4,000 online retailers and high-street brands have signed up to a fantastic new loyalty programme that offers its members the ability to collect valuable Rewards4Fishing points and save money on fishing purchases. Rewards4Fishing is completely free of charge to join – either when shopping with Tackle Fanatics or on www. rewards4fishing.
Drennan ace qualifies for two big finals in as many days. Drennan rod, Dan Varney has enjoyed a weekend to remember, after qualifying for both the Evesham Championship, and the Wychavon Championship finals in successive matches. Even more remarkably, Dan did so from the same peg!After finishing second in the 83-peg Evesham Championship qualifier on Saturday, Dan drew the same number for Sunday's match, Peg 36 below the mouth of the River Isbourne. This time he went one better than his previous day’s performance, however, winning the match with an 11-5-0 net of chub, chublets and perch.
River legend, Paul Glenfield books his place in Wychavon Final. Oxford-based river ace, and Match Fishing regular, Paul Glenfield has booked his place in the Wychavon Final after winning the first Evesham Festival qualifying match of the year. With the river carrying a tinge of extra colour and a healthy pace, the Warwickshire Avon threw up some very pleasing weights. Paul caught three bream, and around 5lb of smaller skimmers and perch on chopped worm tactics from Peg 1 at the top of the Crown Meadow.
Annual random pairs match in memory of Jenny Hamlington and departed friends of Tunnel Barn Farm. Jenny and Mike Hamlington built the fishery together, over the years, from a small pond which became the Bottom Pool. The venue has continued to grow and flourish into the super-popular complex of today.
The memorial match will be held on Tuesday, July 8th and the cost is £10 per person with an additional, optional £10 super pool for those who wish to enter it.
David Hall Publishing (DHP Ltd. ) is looking for a web designer/developer to maintain and grow its online presence.
Web designer/developerApplicants will need to be proficient in HTML, HTML5, WordPress, JavaScript, CSS, InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and SEO. An interest in angling will be necessary.
June 14thand 15th saw the European Feeder Championships take place on the Gent to Terneuzen Canal in Holland. In an effort to equal their previous best, three teams from England entered the two-day 23-team, 115 angler European Feeder Challenge. Held on the Gent to Terneuzen Canal, Holland, they returned with respectable overall team positions – second, fourth and fifth along with a collection of individual silverware, too.
While they all missed out on team gold this year to Belgium team – Mega Fish T – it was Team GURU, partially consisting of full international team members Steve Ringer, Phil Ringer and Dean Barlow along with Feeder International fringe anglers Rob Wootton and Adam Rooney completing the five-man strong outfit, who took the second team spot with 61 points behind Mega Fish T’s tally of 52.
