My monthly fishing diary...
Dear reader
This is the very last issue of Improve Your Coarse Fishing magazine and that means my final diary piece.
I’ve been sharing adventures in this slot for over 20 years, even longer in Angling Times. Whenever you’ve messaged me or we’ve bumped into each other, your feedback has been incredibly positive and encouraging. My wife is used to folk stopping me in supermarkets and airports to talk fishing, but can you believe I was once asked to sign a copy of the magazine on a beach in Dominica?
It will be nice if I can occasionally grace the pages of Angling Times going forward, and I will post more on the web, but nevertheless it is a sad day.
I’d already begun compiling this diary when the editor James rang with the sad news. The end of an era, but he suggested we scrap the regular format and go out in style with a six-page ‘highlights’ farewell feature. I was up for that, but then it dawned on me how difficult a task I’d accepted. Had he allocated me the whole magazine I could have filled it with ease, there were just so many great memories – enough for a book even!
During the era I’ve been writing for Improve (and AT) I’ve fished in England, Scotland, Wales, Southern and Northern Ireland. Then you can throw in France, Holland, USA, Canada, Egypt, Uganda, Zambia, India, Sri Lanka, multiple Caribbean Islands, the Andaman Sea, North Sea and probably a few more that slip my failing memory.
Species caught have ranged from tiny bitterling to 400lb sturgeon, and as for rivers fished, there are too many to mention, but you can throw in the Trent as my favourite, the Thames, Kennet, Lea, Hampshire Avon, Wye, Irfon, Severn, Teme, Warwickshire Avon, Ribble, Annan, Swale, Ure, Nidd, Wharfe, Yorkshire Derwent, Yorkshire Ouse, Foss, Hull, Don, Dearne, Idle, Poulter, Torne, Witham, Slea, Derbyshire Derwent, Derbyshire Dove, Nene, Great Ouse, Ivel... plus countless streams and becks and other waterways that slip my memory. I could even throw in the Mississippi, St Lawrence Seaway, the Arkansas, Nile, Zambezi plus so many commercial fisheries, lakes, locks, loughs, reservoirs, canals and drains galore. The list just goes on.
I’ve never stagnated for long. My fishing life has been a roller coaster ride and I don’t regret a moment. Thank you for allowing me to entertain you all these years. So, feast your eyes on just a sample of my highlights.
Frantic action on the float
Let’s kick off with a very special day I spent with Dave Harrell on the Scunthorpe AA stretch of the Trent at Lady Pitt Farm. It’s a unique piece of water, created where the river diverges around an island. Narrow, fast and shallow, it lends itself to trotting and loosefeeding. We had a blast catching so many fish, eventually taking it in turns on one rod and alternating on the camera duties. The fish were ravenous and we ea
