For the first blog of 2020, I've entered the 21st century! I recently bought a new action camera and microphone, and after much procrastinating, I've finally made another video, and this video features me talking.

The final month of the year was busy with work, Christmas, and of course, family, so fishing took a back seat to the festivities. I did spend some time in my shed preparing tackle for the New Year, and I took a picture of my vintage rod pod, which I'll be using in the summer. Looking back at my plans for 2019, I did go camping and fishing, which I'll do again in 2020. I didn't fish every month; however, I'm now working part-time, so I should have the opportunity to get on th

I didn't get a chance to go fishing this month due to the weather and being busy. One of those things was refurbishing a Garcia Mitchell 300 reel I bought for £3 at an antique fair over the summer. The reel had a lot of paint loss, and once I'd taken it apart, I sanded it to remove all the paint. Then I washed all the parts in soapy water before cleaning everything and leaving them to soak in degreaser. After washing, degreasing and washing again, I painted on two coats of m

A 9 foot Daiwa Matchman ledger rod sold this month. It's been at least 18 months since I fished the canal, so it was good to get back to one of my favourite stretches. I went to Willington on the Trent & Mersey Canal and found my usual spot, where the towpath is wider, was full of narrow boats. I continued down the towpath where I found a good spot. The far bank looked fishy, the towpath was still wide, and there weren't any overhanging trees to get caught in when casting m

This month's blog starts at Kilburn Lake with my friend Dan. He wanted to see if fishing was something he'd like to do. He turned out to be a helpful gillie and keen spectator. I started float fishing red maggots in the margins and landed some Roach, before casting further out. It wasn't long before I caught my first Carp of the day, shortly followed by another. I cast in the margins and deeper water and had a pleasant day with good company, although I'm not sure Dan will tak

This month I did something I'd not done for many years. I spent the night under canvas. I loaded up the car and went to Springwood Fisheries, where I've fished before. I arrived on a sunny Saturday morning, set up my tent, then headed to the top lake. After rigging up my Lee split cane rod and Mitchell 304 with a small float, I had a great afternoon catching Ide and Carp on sweetcorn and red maggots. My partner came in the evening, but for some reason wanted to go home to a

As I didn't get out fishing this month, I thought I'd share a few vintage items I sold this month for a few quid online. A job lot of old Silstar reels sold for spares/repairs. The FT 33 (left) was missing its handle, the FX 40 (middle) the handle didn’t tighten, and the ET 2020 (right) worked fine.

Although it was the start of the season this month, unfortunately I didn't get the chance to wet a line. Even though my partner and I enjoyed a ten day holiday driving round Scotland and passing all that water! Maybe next time we go to Scotland I'll sneak a rod and some tackle in the car! On the way, I visited the House of Hardy Fishing Tackle Museum in Alnwick, which is very interesting and definitely worth a look if you're in the area. I did however on our return, enjoy a d

As I've said before, fishing sessions are like buses, and this month I managed three very enjoyable and productive sessions. For my first session this month I went to Robin Wood Fishery. I float fished my Redmayne & Todd rod and Mitchell Match reel, with red maggots on a size 14 hook. Temperatures were in the low to mid-fifties with sunshine and showers. Carp were topping and rolling as I baited up swims in the margins and a few rod lengths out. Several Roach and Skimmers gr

After three months of 2019 without fishing, I finally managed to get out, my New Year's resolution royally broken! During the Easter weekend I headed to local Birch House Fishery. The day was bright, warm and sunny, one of the first this year. Temperatures reaching 56 degrees around midday. As it was a Bank Holiday, and quite busy, I headed for Teal Lake, the furthest from the entrance and mostly Silvers. I fished a 13' unnamed fibreglass 3 piece rod with an Intrepid Classic