There are few, if any, anglers who will be remembered as fondly as Bernard Venables. His very name conjures a sense of warmth and a source of considered, patient instruction. For many, Venables was Mr Crabtree. The man and the character he created smudging as one. Mr Crabtree Goes Fishing was published in 1949 with …
Alongside a life as a marine biologist and conservation officer for the National Trust, Mark Walsingham has caught some truly monstrous fish. His is a name well known in carp circles, and he is a regular contributor to Carpworld magazine, but Mark casts for all sorts of species. He has caught some very big river …
If the crucian (see last week’s Fish we Like) maddens a freshwater angler with his shy-biting ways, a similar infuriation will be found on various piers and harbour walls this summer. Floats will dive and rod tips rattle but a strike will only connect with thin air. The culprits are garfish (Belone belone), and the …
The greatest treasures to be unearthed by explorers of a past age were surely ecological. Horses wearing pyjamas, bald grey mammoths, talking birds and fish that live on land. ‘Gadzooks!’ the Royal Court may have cried at such absurdity, ‘a fish that can breathe?’ The mudskippers are members of the family Oxudercinae, a subspecies of …
Synonymous with that master tackle builder B. James, the Avocet is, for many, the perfect all round river rod. Typically eleven feet in length, the rod has a lovely through action that can tame big chub and barbel, and though a little stiff, is still soft enough to contend with the headshakes of perch and …
Should you be planning an early season barbel fishing trip with your recently acquired split cane rod, then make sure you pack the right avocet in your holdall. Those drowsy early hours can cause confusion but finding an avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) in your bag when you get to the riverbank will likely lessen your chances …
Deep in the wetlands of Somerset sits fourteen acres of angling paradise. Since 2006, Ashmead Fishery has been under the ownership of Mark and Shona Walsingham (see People we Like) – a poignant homecoming for Mark who had fished the lake since childhood. The site has been developed to embrace the stunning habitat that surrounds …
Some 80 miles north-west of Glasgow sits Scotland’s longest freshwater loch. Awe is aptly named – the scenery here, though perhaps not as dramatic as in the Great Glen, remains jaw-droppingly beautiful. And the fishing, though popular, is largely untapped. Loch Awe is twenty five miles long, and holds a good head of trout, perch, …
Flicking through the issue, I feel that this will almost certainly be a magazine that I will read completely, cover to cover. Member of The Path by the Water Forum
If you have not got a copy, get one. Each and every section is well written and more importantly to the Mole Mind, such as it is, entertaining. Also from ‘The Path’
Every year, in the Gulf of California, hundreds of rays congregate to take parting in a spot of jumping. The fish, some measuring more than ten feet across, will leap clear of the water before belly-slapping back into the sea – and no-one really knows why. It is a behaviour trait shared by all members …
Every spring sea anglers begin to gather around our coast in anticipation of the summer migration. Mackerel, garfish (see Fish we Like), mullet, sea bream and bass all move inshore as the weather warms to either breed or feed. Then, just as the fishing looks set to be spectacular, the May water comes and spoils …
