Forgot to tell you about this one, it was caught a couple of weeks ago. Luckily I'd stepped up to 10lb line on the pole as I was targeting the bigger fish with bigger baits.

Anyway, I'll keep it brief, but I managed to catch a carp on the margin pole that must have been around 20lb. I didn't have any scales with me as I don't catch anything I'm interested in weighing when I'm pole fishing, but on this occasion I wished I had taken them with me.

It took me about 20 minutes...

People are always going on about not having the time to make bait, and how expensive it is to buy readymades. But a spare hour or so a week is all you need.

I've gone back to an "old skool" attractor profile - mainly because I know that no-one else will be using it. It can work against you, because you have to establish the bait, rather than jumping on a "bandwagon" of using whatever everyone else is

...

Peter Jacobs was the catalyst for my re-entry into the world of The Fly Fisher.

Having gleefully accepted his invitation to join his End of Season get together I then realised that the second day would be at Avon Springs Trout Fishery, Wiltshire.

I didn't take too long to decide to invest in some appropriate gear and suitably kitted out, I couldn't wait to get started.


...

After making the bait the other night, I nipped out for a quicky last night. Then when I finished, I went angling

I popped down to Furzebray Lakes as I'm thinking of fishing it over the winter - it's important to see the lakes over the summer as you may not get to see fish movement on overnighters later in the year - you arrive in the dark, leave in the dark and if it's chucking it down with rain, you aren't going to want to sit outside watching the lake!

I bought...

With the weather and tides being all wrong, I wasn't able to get back down during the week, but with a mid morning low tide, it gave me the chance to nip down to dig some bait before going fishing.

Digging bait can be hard work, but this time of year the lug beds tend to be fairly full. Just look for the tell tale signs...



Someone else had obviously dug here before.... a few years ago!...