There’s no doubt that to the purist, float fishing is the preferred way to catch these superb fish and indeed the method is effective, challenging and always glamorous. Back a while, I travelled to the Trent with float maker maestro Andy Field and there we caught extraordinary numbers of barbel on 5BB floats and maggot,
So, after blog 2, we have the outline of how I go about things. It’s all about travelling light, fishing light and fishing where the fish are. In essence I take a rod, generally now a Thomas Turner Classic+ Avon, a reel loaded with 10lb line, pouch full of replacement hooks, SSG shot, scissors and
What a summer and autumn it has been down on the Wye with endless big chub and, of course, barbel. Despite what you read in the media about phosphate issues, the coarse fish are nowhere near as disturbed by them as the salmonids are. Nor did extreme heat put the fish off in the least.
Peter Orchard, the truly brilliant riverkeeper at Longford Estates on the Hampshire Avon, put into words what I have long been fretting about. “You know, John, I think coarse fishing as we used to know it as kids will be gone in twenty years if someone doesn’t do something about it. The magic that we
TIGHT SPOTS Trends are always changing in angling, to the extent once successful tactics sometimes get brushed aside, even completely forgotten. That’s what happened to me with bomb rod fishing. But after recently getting to grips with some awkward “birdcage” swims, where heavy foliage made longer quivertip blanks impossible to use, the only solution was
Vlad was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and started fishing in his childhood with the help of his Uncle and Grandpa. He started VR DESIGN Mechanical Design and Manufacturing back in August 2000. Prior to this, he has an impressive CV of skills and experience in the fields of mechanical engineering and helicopter design. He has
THE BEGINNINGS When I first met John Bailey we were working on Hardy Marksman rods and I remember he was particularly passionate about Avon designs, which he uses a lot, particularly on his favourite River Wye. Many years later I joined John on the Wye near Hereford at the famous Red Lion Hotel. The plan
EVOLUTION My first proper float rod was a 13ft Hardy Matchmaker. It had a brown finish, orange whippings, metal line guides, old style aluminium reel collars, and was made from fibreglass. The blank was heavy by modern standards, but at the time it was state of the art for a budding young angler. It went
A NEW ERA After leaving Hardy and Greys in the chilly northeast, I quickly discovered lots of great fishing when I moved to the East Midlands. The rivers Trent and Witham were close by, also a couple of canals, along with many drains and lakes to explore. But after just a few weeks in Lincolnshire,
