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There are often situations that arise whilst carp fishing when we have to decide whether to use a pop up or a bottom bait. As with most methods there are many different theories on both the success and downside to using either or method. I know of carp anglers…
After a month of not wetting a line, the prospect of fishing Lechlade Fly Fishery for some big rainbows and browns was getting almost too much for me to handle. As I sat at my office I started crossing the days off my work calendar with a big thick…
I had a play with the SK8 XTR today, it really is superb! It will definitely be my rod of choice from now on. I would totally recommend the rod to anyone, whatever the price it's without doubt the nicest, smoothest, most responsive rod I've tried, a pleasure to…
New Rods, New Bait, Gore-Tex Clothing, and Five Thirties to 39lb 7oz. There has been much going on since my return to Spain after my overdue Christmas break in the UK. With a gap before my first clients arriving, I knew I had plenty of time to try out…
When our fishing party landed in British Columbia the heavens opened - breaking the driest spell that part of Canada had experienced for 134 years. Ironically we arrived after escaping the wettest summer in the UK for more than 100 years! But as the level of the 40-mile long…
2012 has been a long year in more ways than one. It has been my second year guiding at Sierra Brava, and happily I have had the pleasure of guiding four times as many clients than in 2011. Lots of fish have been banked by my clients, which as…
I have had my Sonik NCT rods since May, but due to clients, and hot weather in Spain over the summer, I have only been using them over the last few weeks. I chose the 12ft 3.25lb/tc version on director Ian's recommendation, and also due to the fact I…
Just two hours after casting out, Krysztof Charmuszko landed this 46lb 12oz near leather on his very first trip to Darenth’s Big Lake. The Polish angler used two of Solar Tackle’s all-new Club & Cream baits along with a size 6 Solar Stronghold hook on the well-known Kent venue…
It’s the last week of the season and I had worked hard all year looking after my anglers and it was now time for me to have a fish. I decided to fish the lodge as I had seen fish crashing there all last week and knew I would…
It is fair to say that the UK has had a wet summer, our rivers are high and lakes and reservoirs are full. Over on the other side of the pond in Canada they have had the complete opposite. The wet stuff has hardly been seen. This has been…
Trip two: A “secret” Venue September 2012 My second and totally unexpected trip to France came about after chatting to a Belgian angler I know called Chris Vandenhaute. He happened to mention that he had been fishing in France on a little known venue and had caught fish to…
My First ever trip to France in search of carp was way back in 1992 when along with some friends I travelled the 619-mile journey to a little known lake in the Limousin region. Between us we caught numerous fish up to a respectful 42lb, which was a very…
Last week I was lucky enough to fish the fantastic Rainbow Lake and even better, swim 18! This is without doubt the most exciting and best big fish swim in the world. My friend Jan was joining me in swim 17. I had a plan to fish only days…
Sonik NCT rods certainly proved their effectiveness at landing huge carp with the capture of this 61lb 11oz mirror. The previously unknown fish fell to Polish angler Jan Zawada as he targeted a large gravel pit just outside the city of Katowice in southern Poland. He was using a…
This year’s Sonik & Solar Carp Team Poland Cup was held on the sizeable, Wigonin Lake in Poland. The winning pair, Krzysztof Charmuszko and Marcin Nowocin, both used Sonik rods and landed a total of 76.74kg of carp during the match, which ran from August 19th to August 23rd.…
After a week of hard practice all of the squad were bursting to start the competition. The practice had told us that some methods and flies would work on the three different rivers but as always there were flies that were required for one river, or even a particular…
Over the years I have witnessed and to a degree experienced an element of jealousy amongst anglers when somebody has caught a fish. This is something that I personally have never really understood and in my opinion if somebody has had a “result” through quality angling then fair play…
The weather was set to be a month’s worth of rain in one day - should I or should I not leave this week to wet my lines again? In the end it got the better of me and I decided to go, so Thursday morning off we set…
Having just returned from the recent World Fly Fishing Championships in Slovenia, I have a new understanding for the phrase ‘you don’t know what you had until it’s gone’. A place like Slovenia makes an angler feel at home, there can be little that you require as an angler…
Last week I hired a mobile home in the beautiful Aquitaine region of France. With plenty of enormous lakes, small gravel pits, the great city of Bordeaux and the rough Atlantic Ocean in the back yard of my mobile home, there is no chance of me getting bored. I…
