Recent content by grayson

I now own a Kriega back pack- and the workmanship and materials makes my Greys pack feel like something from a Poundshop . Many thanks for the recommendation

I live in North Yorkshire but certainly aren't wasting a day going up to Alnwick. As I said, I am now far more annoyed about my contact having been being ignored than I am by the faults in the product and I can't see the point a near 200mile round trip in order just to shout at them . The...

In late 2017 I bought a Greys rucksack. Ideal for my early spring and winter fishing. After less than 6 months one of the zip pulls on main compartment jammed . Stupidly I didn't complain there and then- after all the thing cost me 70 quid. Fast forward 8 months and - you guessed - other zip...

Just a heads up for anyone interested in trout fishing on the middle Swale below Richmond. My Club has a short waiting list and we are always keen on recruiting new members on our waters; we have about 2.5 miles and offer trout (stocked and wild trout) , grayling and the opportunity for fly...

Is it still open ? I emailed them a week ago and nothing yet . I am wanting to do some winter perch fishing there again with dropshot etc. Any info welcomed

I have several of these and rate them highly. I am toying with the 7-6 - and my query is about its action. All the Streamflex rods are described as medium/fast action and whilst the 8ft and 8-6 I have are crisp enough the 6-6 is almost comically slow . It's a nice enough little thing but I...

Yes- not poundshop stuff I agree. But compared to the utterly absurd prices for designer fly reels (it's a reel, it needs a ratchet and a handle - job done -not too many Giant Trevally or Tarpon on the Swale ) it's cheap. And as for upmarket big pit carp reels ..... ***

I have owned an Aerial for nearly 50 years and have owned stuff like Adcock Stanton and Leeds reels . They have their fans but by far the best pin I have used (and it is streets ahead of an Aerial ) is a cheap as chips Okuma Adventi, which is a joy to use .

I have recently been catching tench to 6lb plus on coarse gear and they fight extraordinarily well , if not quite as manically as barbel - which outfight anything I've caught . Chub ? Some summer chub can be docile but hook a 4 or 5 pound chub in February and it will try to pull your arm...

Pleased that I am not the only one whose enthusiasm for Mr Patterson's trousers on fire style is firmly in check. As Dorothy Parker said, not a book to be put aside lightly, but hurled with great force .

Dropshotting with a natural worm (especially dendrobena ) I find even more effective - except when the perch are visibly hammering fry. Hugely enjoyable method I have become addicted to - but it is a primarily a winter thing for me. I fish canals etc but also small commercials-not normally my...

And I find the opposite- I use 8s and 10s dry flies. The takes are very slow and leisurely and you must wait longer to strike than with trout . Barbel boring fighters? Not where I fish they're not. They may not leap but they pull like donkeys.

Chub- Hoppers, Chernobyl Ant and Woolly Buggers.Fish Hoppers on as hot a day as you can when fish are basking in shallows. My best bag doing this was 31 chub weighing 100lb plus. Really - it is deadly. Barbel-after many attempts with just one barbel hooked fairly in the pectoral I am not...

Oh God - I stopped being a lawyer four years ago and I am already getting flashbacks ....I will stick to being a full time layabout and hedonist!

Fishermen (especially coarse anglers- and I am one too) often have several defining characteristics- they are convinced things were better in the past ; that things are getting worse ; they often use anecdote and rumour as a substitute for evidence; they mistrust all experts (except when they...