Having spent a decade working as a journalist in London and the Middle East, Chris Berry decided he needed a change of pace. He opted for teaching, as a means of inspiring young minds and finding more time to fish. He is handy with a rod in hand, and has caught pike to well over …
(Thunnus thynnus) In the years either side of World War II, some of the finest fishermen in Britain discovered a new bluefin tuna Mecca. The North Sea. In 1929 noted angler R. F. Stapleton-Cotton hooked and lost two enormous tuna while fishing off Scarborough. The following year, and with more suitable tackle, the fishing got …
(Albula vulpes) The vast majority of prize saltwater fish grow to substantial size. Fish such as marlin, tarpon and tuna have the potential to grow as big as a man – and some many times the size. Catching such powerful fish is a war of attrition, with the stamina and fitness of the captor as …
More than 140 years have passed since the Hardy Brothers set up shop in Alnwick, a picturesque market town in eastern Northumberland. Initially gunsmiths, the Hardys made the sensible expansion into fishing and by the early 20th Century were developing a fine reputation for fly and coarse tackle production. The Conquest was designed with long …
A nice crusty loaf, still warm with a fluffy middle and a nutty nice. Few things are finer. It’s surely the best thing since sliced bread. As a bait, bread is extraordinarily versatile, and only hard-nosed predators will turn down a chunk. As the days begin to warm, most anglers are looking to use the …
Never drink sea water. This is the first rule of survival when shipwrecked or cast adrift. Unless, that is, you happen to be in the Baltic. Here, the salinity level here is so low that it can actually rehydrate. And though it might not taste too pleasant, it must be a reassurance to those living …
Anyone watching BBC4’s recent Slow TV season may have spent two very pleasant hours floating along the Kennet and Avon Canal. With a fixed camera and shot in real time, All Aboard! The Canal Trip was engrossing, and yet also a little infuriating. We anglers wanted to stop here and there and have a quick …
It (Fallon’s angler Issue 3) will provide a great antidote to all of this election nonsense. – wise words from the pages of Facebook.
Thank goodness for magazines like yours and a rallying cry against the onslaught of the “norm” – Master twittering from a master fly-angler.
The sun is high, the sky clear and every chub in the river is skulking under that far bank raft – thirty yards away. If you had brought a fixed spool reel then you’d have a five pounder on the bank within minutes, but you’re using a centrepin and you’ve yet to dance with the …
Research on Winterwatch earlier this year, revealed an alarming presence in otter spraints. 40% of the poo dissected was found to contain little plastic beads. These beads are found in cosmetics – particularly facial scrubs – and find their way through our sewage systems and into our rivers. Here they are swallowed by fish and …
Words and picture by Nick Fallowfield-Cooper Just over three months ago I had a long chat with Garrett in the Captain Kidd pub that stands by the Thames in Wapping. The conversation resulted with my experience as a picture editor and photographer being recruited to oversee the next stage in the development of Fallon’s Angler. …
Any angler worth his salt knows never to allow probability to detract from possibility – no matter how overwhelming. To this end, John Bickerdyke was something of a 19th Century Jeremy Wade. He was far from gullible, and more often intent to disprove rather than corroborate, but his angling travels provided a wealth of extraordinary …
President of The Barbel Society and author of The Fighting Barbel, it is the bewhiskered ‘River Prince’ that Peter Wheat is most often associated. In truth though, he is rather adept at all forms of fishing and has a back catalogue to prove it. With The Observer, he penned books covering coarse, sea and fly, …
The poor old minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus) has an unenviable life. Everywhere he swims he finds something that wants to eat him. Even when fully grown he’ll make a meal for a ruffe, and pike a thousand times his size will make a tic-tac size snack out of him. There is danger from above, with kingfishers, …
Imagine the picture of Miss Ballantyne with her record 64lb salmon. Now consider a fish twice as big – that hasn’t nipped off downstream to get fat on a seafood diet. Surely no such Salmonidae exists? Well, maybe not in the Tay but in the rivers of Russia and Mongolia swims a true giant. The …
It is May, and for many a trout angler a time to wait for the evening sky to fill with clouds. A mayfly hatch is not only a stunning spectacle, it represents a time when even the crappiest caster can catch a fish. The mayfly (Ephemera danica) has an extraordinary lifecycle. The naiad, or nymph, …
As the mayfly clouds billow, particularly across the southern streams, and the swallows and martins fill their beaks, the sharper eyed angler might notice a larger bird swooping among them. The hobby (Falco subbuteo) is our most graceful falcon. It winters in Africa and follows the hirundine migration north, and over the last half century …
Probably the most famous trout stream in the world, the Test is also surely the most exclusive. From its source in Ashe, just east of Overton, the Test curves a forty mile route through Hampshire, sparkling across the chalk and gravel. The natural stock of brown trout, salmon and sea trout are supplemented by reared …
Having spent an afternoon fishing a mayfly hatch in the River Test, with hobbies diving around your ears, the only decent thing to do is find a riverside pub. The Mayfly, at Fullerton tends to get busy, especially on a sunny weekend, but with good reason. The location is dreamy. The inside of the pub …
…a lovely new publication ‘Fallon’s Angler’ which describes itself as ‘a medley of piscatorial prose’ and with contributors like Chris Yates this… has got to be worth following
‘Exploring a little London River’ – good read. From the world of Twitter.
Anyone who read Issue One of Fallon’s angler will have been inspired/bemused/terrified of Dom Garnett’s after dark exploits in Torquay. To recap, Dom penned a rather brilliant piece about squid fishing, and one of the most fascinating aspects was the type of lures he used. Though the body resembled that of a standard lure (imitating …
A study published in Theoretical Ecology earlier this Spring suggests that invasive species find a foothold in new ecosystems by hanging out at familiar landmarks. Species such as the Asian carp, when finding themselves in a new environment, will seek out spots that look different, in the hope that a potential mate will have the …
Few, if any, people have influenced angling quite as much as Richard Walker. He was a pioneer, matching science with extraordinary watercraft in order to catch the uncatchable. His capture of a 44lb carp in 1952 created shockwaves that still ripple through the angling world today. Clarissa, as the fish was later named, added 18lb …
Known to many as ‘The Sweetcorn Kid’, Stuart has been scribbling about his angling exploits for many years. He has a sharp eye for a photograph, as the images on his blog testify, and a knack for catching big fish. Carp dominate his angling, but he can also be found chasing perch, tench, crucians and …
The very name stirs the emotions. The Ferox (Salmo ferox) is one angry brown trout who ate his brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles and simply grew and grew. These are fish of the wildest waters; the lochs of Scotland and loughs of Ireland, where the water runs as deep as a mountain is tall. They …
A tide in ebb is like a lifting fog. The world revealed remains familiar and yet is always slightly different. This is a time of opportunity – a time for serious rock-pooling. Crabs, anemones and starfish have their place, but nothing excites quite like a fish. The flash of movement that quickens the pulse – …
Some chap called ‘Yates’ once suggested that the Kelly Kettle be the greatest steam engine since Stephenson’s ‘Rocket’. It’s a bold statement, but in truth an accurate one. A bankside cup of tea is essential on a cold winter’s day. Or a warm summer day come to think about it. In fact, an autumn cuppa …
A true antidote to indifference, Caught by the River has been soothing and smoothing us for over seven years. With daily online sermons from an array of anglers, naturalists, musicians and ne’er-do-wells, CBTR offers online sanity amid an onslaught of material madness. There are books – the anthologies Words on Water and On Nature – …
Few rivers conjure imagery to match the Tweed. This is one of the foremost salmon rivers in the world and lays claim to the fact that it produces more fly-caught salmon than any other British river. For 19 miles the Tweed actually forms the boundary between Scotland and England, and made a useful barrier against …
No, not the pub, but the other place where you pick up a pint. Most Tackle Shops are facing an uncertain future. Margins are tight with online shops and auction sites squeezing them ever tighter. There is nothing quite like a decent local though. A smile as you walk in, a boiling kettle, and a …
I really like the magazine and website, the blend between old and new. Keep up the good work.
A cracking little piece (on Fallon’s Angler blog) about the River Ravensbourne in London. It really is amazing what is around you, even in the middle of London, when you stop and take in your surroundings. Keep up the great work on the publication.
Having filled your Kelly Kettle (see Things we Like) with water, the next step is ignition. Newspapers ain’t what they used to be. Even the broadsheets seem to just blacken and smoulder like a pile of wet leaves. Fire lighters might be an option, but are morally unacceptable and they stink. Kerosene tainted cheese paste …
Regular readers of Bits ‘n Pieces will have had their taste buds tickled in recent weeks with talk of Cormorant soup and Heron pudding. Such delicacies require something decent to wash them down with, and having resisted the temptation to pull a Kingfisher beer, Fishpool has been sampling something rather more pleasant. Butts brewery are based …
Words and photography by Stuart Harris It was the sudden flash of blue that brought me back to earth and out of my daydream. It happens a lot you see, lazy, hazy spring days where the sun’s rays warm my shoulders, I slip out of reality and into a faraway land where nothing matters and …
So good they named him twice. Or at least he named himself twice. Francis devoted his life to angling – he was angling editor of The Field; a passionate supporter and protector of the Thames; helped bring the brown trout to Australasia; landed a foul-hooked 6 pound barbel on a single (horse) hair; and was …
Forget Newsnight, University Challenge, and that beard, Paxo’s true identity can be found on the river bank. He is an avid fly-fisher, and a vice President of the Wild Trout Trust. In between his journalism, broadcasting and Spey-casting, Paxman has also written books on subjects as diverse as Chemical Warfare and Volcanoes. We anglers know …
From clear, natural water, no British freshwater fish is as stunning as the rudd (Scardinius erythropthalmus). The bronze flanks glisten like butter in a pan and cut sharp contrast with blood-red fins. It is a shame they are not as widespread as they once were, for they are the perfect child’s catch. Lovers of the …
One of those creatures that leaves children open-mouthed. A fish? – that lives in the sea? – that can fly? Woaahhh! There are in fact 64 species of Exocoetida, and though they don’t really fly in the conventional sense, they can stay airborne for a considerable time. By swimming at speeds of over 40mph they …
A sidestream of the Salmon and Trout Association, the Riverfly Partnership represents almost 100 partner organisations. A mixed shoal of anglers, entomologists, conservationists, scientists and regional authorities, all working together to protect the water quality of our rivers. This is achieved by furthering the understanding of riverfly populations through monitoring and research, and seeking the …
Anglers will curse at cormorants, shout ‘Oi!’ at an obstinate otter and even hurl hatred at herons, but we are always kind to the kingfisher. It might be their small size – we certainly don’t begrudge them the minnows – or their quite absurd beauty, but that piped whistle and electric flash is only ever …
Back in the 70’s and 80’s the River Shannon didn’t hold any water. Instead, it consisted only of bream – great bronze shoals from bank to bank. So many that ‘You can walk across their backs!’ It may not be the fishery it once was, but the Shannon remains a life source in a sea …
It is, technically, a place. And if it were included in the ‘Things we like’ section then it might be confused with the Redtop of the same name. For the last couple of weeks the Sun has warmed us wonderfully (with an apology to those in the far north). Yes, we do need a shower …
Love bits’n’pieces, keep ’em coming… An especially astute observation made on the Fallon’s Angler Facebook page….
Lovely shot on the cover of Fallon’s Angler issue 2, by Team Trakker’s Alex Audi…(Alex Norgate to us) – From @accordbw on Twitter – How right he is.
Those folk at Google recently took to a boat in order to photograph the surface of Loch Ness. While this gives people from around the world an opportunity to search for floating logs and mysterious shadows, it also gives anglers a nudge toward a handy tool. There is no suggestion that we all go Nessie …
The perfect starter for the Heron Pudding mentioned in last week’s Bits and Pieces is surely to be found in Vicoria R Rumble’s Soup Through the Ages. In the nineteenth century, Cormorant Soup regularly featured in the diets of those living in the Western Isles of Scotland. The thought of it is, frankly, repulsive but …
Dennis Watkins Pitchford was an illustrator and naturalist of great note, but is more familiar by his nom-de-plume. As BB, he was a prolific writer of children’s fiction and countryside pursuits. His Bedside books are still great favourites – not least the Fisherman’s selection, whereas his Confessions of a Carp Fisher captures the psyche of …
Successful writing is all about creating rhythm and the majority of angling writing reflects in rhythm the water being described. On this basis, John Gierach must spend his life beside a tumult. Gierach is one of the most loved and prolific angling writers of the last 50 years, and when he isn’t bouncing along like …
It won’t be long now. The mackerel will be gathering off the south west in their millions before they trail the whitebait shoals around our coasts. Fresh from the surf they are pure muscle and shine – and taste quite extraordinary. It is a shame so many are plundered for fun and not food, not …
In the small streams, the bullhead strikes fear like a great white in a swimming pool. With a huge head and full of bristle, Cottus gobio is found in rivers across Europe and is an adaptable fish – even swimming in the brackish waters of the Baltic. He does not grow large, the British record …
Each winter, a mysterious figure creeps among the trees of the Kent Weald, loitering near the hazel coppices as he searches for the perfect fork. RB Traditional (Rob) fettles his rod rests for fun and friends, though bidders at auctions in aid of The Avon Roach Project and the Barbel Society may be fortunate enough …
At some point in every car owner’s life comes a vehicle that is indestructible. It starts on the coldest of mornings; sails through every MOT; has tyres that last forever and fits a rod bag snugly in the boot. If such a car were a fishing reel, then it could only ever be a Mitchell …
Multum in Parvo is the motto of Rutland – England’s smallest county – ‘Much in Little’. It is most apt. There is a distinct identity within the gentle rolls of Rutland fields, where woodland creases belie the true lack of expanse. Then, there in the centre, lies more than 4 square miles of watery fun. …
Fed by the Dee, the Llangollen Canal has a steady flow, particularly in its upper reaches. In fact, as you approach Llangollen itself, dace are the most plentiful fish and best caught on a stick float. Crossing the border into England, the canal offers some stunning ruffe fishing – with specimens of several ounces possible. …
Fallons Angler – in-flight entertainment – Antigua for the 1st test match – who cares who wins. Via Twitter @BooGilbraith
I have just read my copy going to and returning from work in Manchester. All the articles were first class and I really enjoyed reading it. From the pages of The Traditional Anglers Forum.
A rather curious looking pot of relish recently bobbed into the Fishpool – a recognition of an anniversary of age. The advice on the label of The Angler’s Finest Relish is to ‘use very sparingly’. A dab of a finger shows why. The taste is intense – it is saltier than salt itself. Marmite on …
Not sure to do with that heron in your swim? Perhaps May Byron’s 100 year old recipe for Heron Pudding could be the answer. The bird should be picked and flayed before slices of meat are taken, placed into a crust (such as one would use for steak and kidney), and then boiled for ‘many’ …
Garrett had mentioned many times before the huge shoal of bream that swam up and down the canal near his home. He had seen them during the spawning season where they congregated in vast numbers on the stretch of water between an aqueduct and a road bridge, a 60 yard shoal. He had watched them …
As Election fever grips the nation, the residents of Grimsby were treated this week to the sight of reality star ‘Joey Essex’ and wannabe MP ‘Nigel Farage’ boarding a fishing boat in order to ‘discuss’ EU fishing policy. This is a serious issue, as Grimbsy folk know only too well, so what was the main …
Hide it in the laundry basket and hope the washing fairies work their magic. Cleanliness rating – 0/5 Definitely not recommended – the doghouse is a lonely shack.
It is a refreshing change from the normal fishing mags. This is 96 pages long and I have not yet seen an advert. Just well written articles. In fact the layout is like a good book. I bet these will be collectors items of the future. From the forum pages of Fishingmagic.com
Easter. No fishing, a cup of tea, and the damn fine first 2 issues of Fallon’s angler. Cheers! …. Am looking forward to the next one. Via Facebook
She is a fickle stream. Bursting her banks in a muddy rage only to settle and clear as you sit and watch. Sometimes the fishing is absurd – a bite a cast as she smiles and glistens. Then, two days later, her mood has changed and she snags your hook in weed and sends your …
Declared a Royal Forest by William I around 935 years ago, the New Forest is now a National Park and amid the clutter of south of England is a sea of beauty. Many anglers only see the Forest as a blur through a car window, there is little fishing to be had but with rivers …
More than just a home for grass cuttings and vegetable peelings. This is a place for amphibians to survive the winter, where grass snakes lay their eggs, and where an angler can fill a tub with worms in about ten minutes. All hail the compost!
Forget the bloomin’ daffs, you need to look closer to the ground to find true spring gold. The lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) is a jewel of early spring covering our verges with warmth in beauty, but to an angler its appearance is bittersweet. Winter may be nearly over, but so too is the river fishing …
It doesn’t matter really. We angle for our souls and cherish any capture – regardless of size. And yet, when we get that first glimpse of a fish bigger than anything we have seen, our hearts thump and our legs turn to jelly. It shouldn’t be too guilty a pleasure – just remember to smile …
A perfect hand-sized fish, the dace (Leuciscus leuciscus) really doesn’t know it’s small. A six ouncer will twist its wiry frame in the current like a fish twice the size and the speed at which they dip a float is perfect for sharpening one’s ninja reactions. But it also takes the fly, and makes excellent …
Even eighty-five years after its first publication, Swallows and Amazons casts a magical spell. Sailing, exploring, battles with bows and arrows and even drowning duffers – Ransome’s book had it all. But best of all was the fishing, and young Roger’s encounter with a monster pike. The author clearly knew his subject matter, as well …
Matthew Tanner grew up on a hill farm in the Welsh mountains. After being struck by an incurable addiction to fishing at the age of 8, he now spends his time fishing for wild carp in the Welsh mountains as well as chub or barbel in the river Wye. He now documents his fishing adventures …
In the first of a new, occasional series, we examine novel ways of cleaning out your tackle bag after a hard season. #1 – Leaving it open in a chicken coop. A disappointing effort from the chooks who seemed utterly disinterested in pecking all the grotty grittiness from the inside of the bag. Cleanliness rating …
This chap was literally found in the back of the Editors tackle shed. Despite widespread Daily Mail inspired panic, they’re a non-aggressive arachnid. Four species of Steatoda (False Widow) are native to Britain, and even the slightly poisonous nobilis strain (which this one appears to be) have been here for at least 150 years…
“The next best thing to being on the bank” via twitter
“If you like reading a good fishing story, then this magazine is for you. It focuses on quality writing.”
Whatever the weather and whatever the time of year, step into a pine forest and there is a strange sense of eerie calm. Soft and cool on a summer’s day the blanket of dead needles make a comfortable, dry seat in a winter storm. Find a young, dense plantation and it is downright cosy. Then …
Arguments continue regarding the creation of Chesil Beach, but fishermen don’t worry themselves with such trivia. This is one of the top marks on the south coast and is particularly noted for its trigger fish. In early summer the mackerel are the biggest draw, with shoal after shoal crashing into the shingle when the whitebait …
Admittedly, if you get within ten yards of a singing nightingale then the hairs on the back of your neck do actually stand on end, but no song lifts the soul quite like a blackbirds’. The notes are lazy and yet so rich in tone, and they’re not so rare that you have to escape …
Our prevailing wind has been rather scarce this year, with a steady string of northerlies bringing cold air from the Arctic. As a result, many of our migrants have been backing up around the Mediterranean, waiting for an incentive to carry on to our shores. Come on wind – sort it out – we want …
‘You don’t know what you’ve got, until it’s gone’, sang Peter Cetera of American rockers Chicago. Unfortunately, this sentiment is all too true when it comes to the eel (Anguilla anguilla). For years they tangled lines, swallowed hooks and snotted up trousers but today their dramatic demise is a major conservation concern. If you catch …
Our rivers may be off limits until June, but we are already thinking about that initial cast and what it might produce. There is something magical about the first fish of the season – that reconnection – and even fish that we might not normally care for get special attention on the Glorious 16th.
Too modest to have included himself here, but Fishpool is happy to make him blush. Words are in his blood, and he tells a story rather well. He can spot a good story too though, and then present it quite beautifully….long may it continue. He is pictured below with an Angler Unknown.
Perhaps the most famous advocate of the Transcendentalist movement during the 1820’s and 30’s, Thoreau was a thinker whose beliefs echo within every angler. In his book Walden, he immerses himself fully into the natural world, learning lessons that are ever more relevant today: “We need the tonic of wildness…At the same time that we …
The Ocean sunfish (Mola mola) is one of the more peculiar looking fish in our seas, but their love of the sun was until recently unexplained. Research detailed in the Journal of Animal Ecology has found that sunfish are actually deep-diving feeders and their large body shape is less susceptible to the colder temperatures they …
Remember the Fish-Slapping Dance in Monty Python? Of course you do. But such wonderful buffoonery might not be out of place were you to happen upon a Korean wedding. Sort of. In some areas it is customary for the grooms to have their feet beaten with dead fish in order to prove their strength before …
“Fallon’s Angler is a great read and mixes new with old. Great to see that my old hero Dexter Petley is still writing.” Via Facebook
“There are chapters about trout, chapters about barbel, even a chapter about squid. I could go on all night about how splendid a read this is, but I fear I might spoil it a touch for those yet to receive theirs.” Thank you SK. http://thesweetcornkid.blogspot.co.uk/
The Lady of the South has not been at her best in recent years. Over-extraction, boat traffic on the adjacent K&A canal and the march of signal crayfish are all potential causes, but ultimately the Kennet is a poorly river. Gone are the beds of ranunculus, clouds of insects and shoals of silver fish. Yes, …
At the head of Loch Scridain on the Hebridean island of Mull, sits a little body of water called Loch Beg. There are fish here, enough to keep the otters fed, but this is no place to angle. Instead, grab an ice-cream from the Post Office, take a seat on the grass and enjoy the …
It’s just a quill with a painted red tip and a coat of varnish. Isn’t it? Of course not. A favourite float has more memories and adventures attached to it than any diary. This one was lost twice in the final week of the season, the second time to a far bank tree in the …
Spanning only two or three feet and a good distance from any path or deer run, this bridge can only have been built by pixies, desperate to reach the prime bullhead swims on the other bank.
(Salmo trutta) – Across Britain, anglers are dusting off their fly rods with the bravest few even venturing out to embark on a new brown trout season. A wild brown trout is a beautiful thing. Lithe and lively, a buttery belly and deep bronze back dripped with ink in black and red. He will gobble …
(Platichthys flesus) –A humble flatfish who swims in the shadow of more culinary prized cousins, the flounder is actually a rather special creature. Winter estuaries are dotted with anglers whose pockets are heavy with beads and spoons, but sometimes they should cast further inland. This chap interrupted a string of grayling from a Hampshire chalkstream …
Jack’s interest in fishing is founded on fond childhood memories of spinning from the rocky Purbeck and Norwegian coasts and float fishing midgey rivers with his pa on holiday. An occasional Caught by the River contributor, he makes a living through the translation industry and spends it all collecting records and taking trips out of …
He was an actor, playwright and prolific novelist, but we like Applin best of all for his Philandering Angler. Published in 1948, just a year before his death, and illustrated by BB, this memoir nudges and winks through some wonderful tales and includes the best ‘forced off the river’ excuse ever. Having found a stream …
Henri Bresson (1925-2011) was a celebrated French fly fisherman, known best as creator of the French Tricolore fly. Jack Sellen has put a short extract from Bresson’s biography into English with kind permission from the rights owners and he hopes to translate the whole book, ‘Le Sorcier de Vesoul’ (Vincent Lalu, 2nd edition, La Vie …
Written by Matthew Tanner For too many years I suffered from a prolonged bout of naivety, the sort normally associated with the folly of youth, turning down multiple requests from my Mum’s friend Steve, that I accompany him on a days fly fishing. In the end it became a running joke between us. However, I …
