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Decided to give the very low clear river a miss and see if there was any surface feeding activity on the reservoir yet. Though some midges were on the water the answer turned out to be not quite. My first fish was on a black hard as nails buzzer and looked like it had been in a while...

I think the Trent sturgeon are probably flood escapees or abandoned pets. A local commercial coarse fishery holds a couple of sturgeon that have been there decades, one is around fifty pounds, the other a mid double. I don't what what species these are. Two mid double figure sturgeon were...

Me too, it'd be a nice upgrade to my trusty old Masterline.....

A good point, especially if your game bird wings are old and the hackling feathers are a bit moth eaten and fragile.

First day on the river for four months, floods and restricted lockdown travel having kept me away since last November, so I made an early start despite the forecast. It was snowing as I tackled up, flakes as big as a ten pence piece swirling around, but it had stopped by the time I made my...

I use a Barrio Smallstream #4 on a small stillwater where most of the pegs have a limited back cast. It goes out very well, (by my standards at least). Smallstreams go up to #5.

I think this is excellent advice for someone inexperienced, fishing an early spring trout stream. I'd only use one spider to start with. Either a #14 or #16. I wouldn't be that bothered which pattern out of the traditional ones, partridge & orange is a good one to kick off with. My first...

I wouldn't be without these in #21, #19, #17. The ones I turn out are "industrial" looking, but they sit well, float well, last well, are easy to see, quick to tie and they catch fish.

I've got a Wychwood Drift 10 foot #3 for nymphing and I'm very pleased with it. If I needed a 9 foot #3, I'd certainly be looking at the Drift.

I had Kane, Son and Bale in my fantasy team for the Palace match, they boosted my points up, but I'm still last in our family league. Almiron has repaid my selection by getting injured, out til 3rd April. I can doom a player by selecting them, Harvey Barnes was my latest victim, though he...

One rod. That's one of the attractions of fly fishing for me, no surplus gear to carry.

Dave?? Not me. I think my wife's "system" is based on cold logic, looking at the stats/form and getting the best out of her budget. My daughter is much the same, though she has an unbreakable rule of no Gooners in her team. Whereas my "system" isn't logical and leads me to buy players like...

I used these hooks a lot for hair rigs/banding, fishing matches for F1's & Carp. I always thought they'd make a decent straight eyed barbless spider hook. First try with some #14's's & #16

My daughter, (dedicated Spurs fan, goes to a lot of home matches), managed to get me a ticket to the equivalent fixture last season. Possibly because a lot of the regular bricktops thought it was going to be a frustrating burnleyfication type of match. But Spurs scored fairly quickly resulting...

I think I first read a version of that tale in BB’s compilation, “The Fisherman’s Bedside Book”. That version’s more detailed in that the deceased angler is met by some kind of keeper or manservant, (so maybe it is the Test). When the angler gets fed up of repeatedly catching identical trout...

It wasn’t boredom that got to me. I was still enjoying matches on the rivers, canals and “natural” stillwaters. But I was starting to really dread humping all the gear before and after. It came to head after a summer match on the river a couple of years ago, which involved a lengthy walk...

The places I fly fish are pleasant places to be, regardless of whether I fish or not. I'd still visit them if I could, even if I'd given up fishing them. I don't have an arbitrary number I have to reach to make a day good, it's all relative to the venue and conditions, method and challenge...

My "stoopid" hand. The grip can be unreliable, (the claw! the claw!), and currently the little finger's cocked at an angle like I'm taking tea with Hyacinth Bucket..........Dupuytren's contracture, (Viking Hand).

I've got the Redington Classic Trout in 8ft 6ins #4, as Sean says a brilliant rod. I bought it from a shop in Crediton last year when I was in Devon overnight, they do mail order: https://www.fly-fishing-tackle.co.uk/acatalog/redington_classic_trout_fly_rods.html

Linsley Brothers, they also had a shop in Leeds, now gone...........