Growing up in and around the Norfolk broads, Octbox chief Rick Tyler thought he knew how to tackle rivers. That was until he found himself faced with the mighty River Ijssel…
The River Ijssel here in North Holland has to be one of my favourite river venues, and in truth it is unlike anywhere that you can really tackle on UK soil. It is perhaps best described as a much bigger version of the River Trent or River Yare, a massively powerful river with big shoals of hard-fighting fish.
The stretches that we fish are around the city of Zwolle, and here you regularly see ocean-going barges coming up and down the river, creating vast swills and waves as they past.
There is no simple answer to the question: What is best, braid or mono? So, put the kettle on, turn the TV off and sit back, as Joe Carass attempts to tackle one of angling’s trickiest subjects.
Few anglers can boast the number of match wins Andy Findlay has achieved in his angling career, and since lockdown he’s been taking everyone at The Glebe to the cleaners. Here’s how he approaches feeder fishing on this prolific venue.
Well-known for his commercial exploits, Adam Richards has taken the decision to enjoy some proper river fishing… and he’s been learning fast!
In recent years I have fallen in love with proper, natural river fishing, and I mean rivers where there isn’t a pole in sight and the walks are long! Rivers such as the Swale in North Yorkshire, where we are today, have really captured my imagination and I’ve had some great results.
I guess the key for me is how stripped back the fishing is. You don’t need loads of gear and the entire match is based around trying to outwit the crafty chub that inhabit the river.
The appeal for me of a winter day’s chub fishing means that I rarely go on commercials during these colder months.
I felt a little sorry for Match Fishing editor Alex Bones for the mauling he got in response to his editorial in the January issue of the magazine. If you didn’t read it, he was critical of a number of postings on various forums, which were, not to put to fine a point on it, simply rude, or ill-informed. The Internet is a wonderful vehicle and used properly it is a great source of learning and communicating. We (DHP) were the first angling publisher to launch an active angling forum (www.
Our resident Irishman Cathal Hughes travels to Cornwall to see what all the fuss is about at White Acres.
Having done very little fishing over the past month, I really thought that I’d be writing about yesterday’s charity match in this month’s magazine. But if it wasn’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all, and in typical fashion I blanked, and in doing so scuppered any chance of scraping a feature about the miserable two hours I stayed on the shores of Lough Garadice playing with my new SLR feeder rod.
Not for the first time in my life I found myself in a bit of a pickle and on my way home I was racking my brain trying to think about what I could write about.
Webb’s World
Dan Webb recalls the recent Northamptonshire County Cup, and a less than profitable trip to Ireland…
Well, there it is… 12 months have passed since I started writing these, er, chronicles. Yes, chronicles, I like that! Much has changed in that time, although I am a little disappointed that my two-page spread has now dropped to only one page and hasn’t in fact taken over at least 12 pages.
To try and remedy this, I’ve sent Tom 300 photos from my recent trip to Ireland, so he has no excuse for short changing me again! I’m sure at least one of them will be good enough for a cover shot. I may not be an Andy Geldart, but if Des Shipp is handsome enough to get on the cover then I’m sure I am!
Anyway, as I’m writing this I’ve just competed in the nationally prized and prestigious Northamptonshire County cup.
International Match Fishing
The License To Pull!
Match Fishing takes you to Italy’s most prolific match venue, the mighty River Arno, where Steve Gardener is victories in one of the most demanding matches on the calendar…
The River Arno in Pisa, Italy, is my favourite fishing venue in the world. It is totally unique by way of the species you catch and the style of fishing required to catch them. At over 100 metres wide at the narrowest point and ranging from eight to 16 feet deep, it’s not for the faint-hearted. One event on my calendar year after year is the Red Tetragon Pairs match on this venue, and this year I was lucky enough to win it with my partner, and Italian legend, Milo Colombo!
The target species are predominantly catfish, ranging from 1oz to double figures! The average stamp, however, is between 8oz and 2lb, and these fish have razor sharp fins that flare up to spike you.
The long and the short of it!
It’s been a good week for Joe’s Match Fishing Drawbags team and here he tells all!
Well it’s been another week and yet another winter league round at Tunnel Barn Farm. You may recall last week that we had suffered at the draw bag. Well this week we were hoping to get our campaign right back on track, which meant Jon Arthur taking up the reigns as the drawbag!
One thing I didn’t expect though was his keenness! In fact I arrived at 7. 55AM (20 minutes before the official draw time) and Jon had already drawn and was walking around the lakes! Luckily, it was decent news this week and I don’t mind admitting that my peg was the worst of the four in House 14, but it is a peg I've always fancied drawing so I wasn’t despondent at all! Steve Ringer was on Extension 34, which has been a decent area of late; Paul Bick was on Club 11 – again a good draw.
Lewis Breeze explains how to make the most of your peg, if you are lucky enough to draw opposite the moored boats in a marina.
Words and photos: Steve Martin
The UK’s canal system can be almost as busy as its motorway network during the summer months. However, once the cooler weather arrives, most canal boats are moved to moorings to overwinter in a marina. Once moored, the boats create the perfect sanctuary for fish to use as protection from predators in the clear-water conditions.
Joe Carass reflects on a summer of fishing that has seen him have more than a few up’s and down’s!What a summer of fishing! We have had a new English World Champion crowned in Sean Ashby, had the two big money matches won by Matrix anglers and the UK Champs won by a relatively unknown angler in Marc Rodger. It has been a funny summer too with endless rainfall across the nation that has not only caused the rivers to be unfishable at times but also the commercial fisheries have suffered! Nevertheless it has been a year to remember for many reasons!My fishing has largely revolved around the UK Champs this year. Going into Round Three at Larford Lakes I had a very realistic chance of winning the event. And going into the round I was full of confidence.
Something that provides plenty of opinion and conflict is the surge in people wanting to make their own floats, not for personal use but those wanting to make a few quid something I once did a fair few years back too before all the craze. For me and it really is only my opinion I have no issue with this as long as the ones making them are honest and offer something of balanced quality, and not just sell any old float as it really is easy to buy the ready to build kits off eBay or other internet sites and just slap them together and charge people.
The Floats on test up close and personal
For years floats have been built by hand and in recent years have become even more refined, I’m not sure who was the first to really make an impact on the pole fishing scene but the likes of Mick Wilkinson, Gaz Malham and Mick Bassett have been producing floats for years now, each have huge followings with some of the top names using them and for very good reason. They were the ones that started a craze that majority of the top tackle companies have failed to follow for many years; it was the fact that they built sturdy floats that lasted much longer than most commercially bought models.
