In carp fishing circles, the name Donald Leney reverberates like the ripples from the crash of a fifty pounder – yet he himself was no angler. Instead, Leney was a fish farmer, working for a Surrey trout farm, when he travelled to the Netherlands and hand picked a strain of Galician carp to bring back …
Writer, musician, literary scholar and ‘conceptioner’, Ebba Durstewitz spends her life mixing art, music and science. She holds a PhD in Portuguese Studies and works as a freelance teacher at the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Hamburg University. Ebba is also a freelance writer, contributing to a variety of German magazines and newspapers. …
Back in May, a commercial fishing boat brought an enormous eel back into port. Despite being misreported by some sources as measuring 20 feet in length, it was still a considerable specimen and weighed over 130lbs. Sadly, such a fish used to be far more regularly encountered, as the conger eel (Congridae conger conger) is …
1969 is etched in history as a landmark year for Man. On a mid-September night on the Great Ouse, John Dean caught the last burbot (Lota lota) to be taken on rod and line in Britain. The burbot is the only member of the genus Lota and the only member of the cod family to be …
In the early 1950’s, a small group of anglers were revolutionising the notion of carp fishing. Deemed by many as uncatchable, these men discovered that not only could they be fooled, but thanks in part to the actions of Donald Leney (see People we Like) they could grow massive. One of these men was Dick …
Internet forums can be fractious places. Keyboard warriors hiding behind self given aliases (one of Fishpool’s particular gripes) – all bitching and moaning and throwing mud. The angling world is as bad as any, save a couple of peaceful, well mannered sanctuaries. The Traditional Fisherman’s Forum is one such place. Mark Sarul has bailiffed the …
The Mighty Trent – it is an apt moniker. The Trent is the UK’s third longest river and drains a vast area of central England. From its source at Biddulph Moor in Staffordshire, the river works its way north-east, picking up tributaries such as the Derbyshire Derwent, Dove, Idle, Mease and Soar, before emptying into …
Deep in the folds of southwest Herefordshire, just a few miles from the Welsh border, sits the most famous pond of them all. The waters of Bernithan Court, or Redmire Pool as it is more widely known, swirl through the dreams of every carp angler. It was here that Donald Leney (see People we Like) …
The world of fishing journalism is currently a bit of a no mans land. It lacks spunk, vigour and discipline, quite frankly. But if there’s one fellow capable of waging war on mediocrity it is Mr. Fallon with his rather splendid quarterly. Subscribe now or I will place military sanctions on you. – of Fishing …
Fallon has been thought bonkers for being bold enough to try something different in a hugely competitive and saturated market, but if the quality of the writing can be maintained I’m sure his doubters will be eating his words! Highly recommended. – from the pages of Flyfishing.co.uk
Somewhere, on a river or lake near you, casts an angler quite unlike any other. No man fishes with such efficiency or accuracy. No man is more driven or less distracted. This sport of ours isn’t about misty dawns or lazy, hazy afternoons. In the words of the General himself – fishing is not meant …
Perhaps it is because we spend too much time staring at rod-tips or motionless floats, but whatever the reason, anglers do seem particularly prone to seeing ghostly apparitions. Almost everyone has a creepy tale to tell, so what is it that makes people of sound mind go all aquiver – particularly at night? Many pools …
