This Winning Ways video was a welcome popup on YouTube over the weekend. Casters are a hot topic at the moment – and not just because we are coming into the summer! There are few smells worse than minging, sour casters. Keeping them in bottles looks like a decent option and seems to keep them usable for a long time. Looking at the ones in the clip, they don’t appear to get burn marks on them either. This is a common problem if you keep them in the fridge inside a plastic bag. On a recent trip to White Acres we put casters in paper bags and then inside plastic bags with all of the air squeezed ..read more

2022 Fishomania Qualifier Dates Fishomania returns in 2022. The qualifying matches are now annonced at fisheries around the UK, with the season finale at a new venue which is yet to be announced. Saturday 26th March – Weston Pools Wednesday 30th March – Tunnel Barn Farm Saturday 2nd April – Moorlands Farm Saturday 9th April – Heronbrook Fisheries Saturday 16th April – Partridge Lakes Saturday 23rd April – Old Hough Coarse Fishery Saturday 30th April – The Oaks Lakes Wednesday 11th May – Weston Pools Saturday 14th May – Tunnel Barn Farm Saturday 21st May – Lindholme Lakes Wednesday 1st June – T ..read more

The update many people have been waiting for. The dates and venues for this years Fishomania qualifiers have been announced. This list is subject to change, it relies on the current Covid lockdown rules being eased up in order to allow all match fishing to resume. In keeping with recent years, the final will be held at Hayfield Lakes. This is a popular choice. Many fans will be hoping that this year spectators will be allowed to attend the final. Last year, due to Covid restrictions, this was a closed door event. 2021 Fishomania Dates Saturday 3rd April – Moorlands Farm (Possible reserve date ..read more

It’s approaching that time of year again. Depending on your particular views about capitalism, love it or hate it, Black Friday does present a good opportunity to pick up some discounted fishing tackle. If you are buying for someone else, it is a good time to buy early Christmas presents. It must be a tricky time for shops, many seem to be struggling to get stock after the upturn in people going fishing and Covid restricting supplies. Fingers crossed that the increase in people on the bank compensates for the impact the promotions have on margins. I’ll keep updating the post with different off ..read more

I’ve been using the Preston Innovations Reflo Accu Power line for the past year or so to make all of my pole rigs and hooklengths. I still have a few spools of the Reflo Power line in my box, but when they run out I’ve started replacing them with the Accu Power line instead. Performance wise, I’ve been impressed. For pole rigs its pretty robust. The rigs store well on winders, so even rigs that have been in the box for a while unravel as expected. Despite what people recommend, I tend to move shot a lot up and down the line – this line seems not be affected too much by that. I don’t normally ..read more

The 2018 Angling Trust Division One National Championship was held on the non-tidal River Trent on Saturday 18th August. The team event was held a week after the Individual National Championship, on the same sections of the river. There were 47 teams who took part in the match, meaning there was a fairly staggering 470 anglers in total. Many had expectations of big weights. The river had been fishing well through the summer and the short spell of cooler damp weather meant the river had risen slightly and had some extra pace. As with the match the week before, it wasn’t really clear which speci ..read more

The 2018 Angling Trust Individual National Championship was held on the non-tidal River Trent on Saturday 11th August. In recent years, the fishing on the Trent really has exploded. Many would argue that the fishing now is equal to or even better than the sport in the 80s which gained the river a soft spot in many anglers hearts. The number of silverfish or barbel in the river mush be approaching record levels. It was an interesting build up to the big day, due to the heatwate through August many stretches of the river had been closed based on advice from the Environment Agency. A small spell ..read more

We have all been there, you get back from the tackle shop ready to make your rigs with your new pole floats only to find that the weight on the side refers to styls rather than shot. Fear not, here is a handy guide you can use to convert the styl guide to the correct amount of standard shot. Pole Float Size / Styl Weight (g) Shot Equivalent 3 x 10 0.10g 2 x No 10 4 x 10 0.15g 3 x No 9 4 x 12 0.20g 5 x No 10 4 x 14 0.40g 6 x No 8 4 x 16 0.50g 8 x No 8 4 x 18 0.75g 3 x No 3 4 x 20 1.00g 4 x No 3 5 x 20 1.25g 5 x No 3 6 x 20 1.50g 6 x No 3 The post Pole Float Conversion ..read more

So.. New years eve, the end of another year and the beginning of a new one. I had a bit of a break from fishing over the past year but started again a few months ago – just as the cold weather started. I’m looking forward to the new year and have already started getting ready for 2016. For the past few years I have really spent most time fishing for barbel on the rivers, so that means my match tackle has been slightly neglected. I think the dark January nights will be taken up tying new hook lengths and making pole rigs. Where to Fish in 2016 Hallcroft Fishery – After a good day fishing on t ..read more

Let’s flashback to last Monday to a conversation with Rich at work: Rich “Have you even been fishing yet this year” Me “Err” Rich “You’re not really a proper angler are you?” Me “Eh?” Rich “Why don’t you come on this weeks match?” Me “N..” Rich “Go on, I will book you in” Me “Yeah, ok” That was that. It might be hard to believe, but for someone who runs a website that mostly features commercial venues, it must be around 12 years since I fished one. On reflection it would seem like an odd decision to give myself a few evenings to get ready to fish somewhere I hadn’t been to before. I think Dav ..read more