Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get onto the bank for this final month of 2024. However, I have had the opportunity to take some time to think about my fishing this year and look forward to next year. This year the fishing has been a bit lacking due to one thing and another, and I'm hoping 2025 will permit more opportunities to wet a line. I haven't come up with a to-do list for the coming year; I'm going to see what happens and take it as it comes. Hopefully, this year the

My first session for a few months, and autumn has arrived. I went back to Stenson Bubble intending to fish next to bridge 20 again. However, a fellow piscator was there, so I fished further towards the lock. I didn't catch anything, unfortunately, even though I'd oiled up the Hardy Altex especially, and paired it with a Carter of London split cane rod, float-fishing some juicy worms. Oh well.

As I haven't done any fishing this month, I thought I'd look back and share some of the woodworking projects I've worked on over the past few years. I enjoyed woodworking at school, and several years ago I bought a shed. The Anglers Hut is a 9' by 8' space where I store my fishing tackle and have time to myself, and Shed Quarters is a garden shed! This box was one of my first projects in the shed. It was in a bit of a mess when I bought it, and after a tidy-up and some new fe

My only session this month was a short session, just a few hours. I generally wouldn't fish a short session when the days are longer. However, I enjoyed my time at Stenson Bubble on the Trent & Mersey Canal near bridge 20. I caught some small silvers with a cane rod and Mitchell 300 on sweetcorn. I've been able to fish every month over the summer which I consider a blessing. However, I've not fished as often as I'd liked due to busy weekends of weddings, christenings, birthda

At the beginning of August, I managed a few days camping at Blackbrook Campsite, near Belper, Derbyshire. I've enjoyed camping here before for the peace and steady fishing. I took my 10' Shakespeare Omni rod and Mitchell Match reel. They haven't netted the lake as they said they might, so it's easy fishing which is nice with a few beers and it's good to see some young anlgers' catching and getting into fishing. I was back at Woodrow's Pond on the Earl of Harrington ticket thi

My first proper Carp session of the year was rather late and half-hearted. I used my Golden Green fibreglass rod and Army & Navy split-cane Carp rods, with a Cardinal 157 and Mitchell 300 reels. I fished sweetcorn as I thought if the larger Carp aren't interested, the Rudd and smaller Carp might come out of the weed; I was wrong. Although I did see some nice fish further out in the weed, they didn't come my way, and I didn't get a nibble. A lovely sunny day though.

Thankfully the rains have subsided, so I went on the Trent & Mersey canal, where the towpaths have dried out, for an early-summer session of float fishing with a Woolworths Winfield Young Angler rod and Galion 12R reel. June is also the time of our annual Norfolk holiday, and this year we stayed on a houseboat in a marina in Wroxham... Along with some nice Rudd, I also caught this lovely Bream, probably a PB. During the last few years of our Norfolk holiday, we visited Fairha

May has been almost as wet as April, so I've been back to Robinwood where I can park next to the lakes as most of the banks I usually fish are too wet for my scooter. During three sessions this month, I had Lake 3 to myself, float-fishing maggots with a Milbro Prefect and Mitchell 300, a whole cane rod my brother found at an antiques fair and a Mitchell 206S, and I caught everything from Gudgeon to decent-sized Carp. I took along my first fishing book, Freshwater Fishing Prop

Well, we've had lots of rain recently, and it's made the bankside very muddy for the scooter, so I've been going to Robinwood Fishery, where I can park next to the lakeside.

This video, made at Birch House Lakes, includes a rod I’m pretty sure I had as a teenager. A 10’ Shakespeare Omni-Match rod. I recognised the rod amongst a job lot for sale locally. I bought my original rod from Belper Fishing Tackle Shop for around £70, which was a lot of money for a teenager in the mid-1980s. I also bought a small Shakespeare Cosmos reel, which was all I could afford after buying the rod. Unfortunately, the rod was stolen from my parents’ garage in the late