Agree with all that.
Rewatched all 4 episodes of Days and Ways now - stunning photography but.....there isn't a big fish in all 4 programs. Lovely nick, good for the river they're on etc etc but nothing truly big. That guide on the Teme going nuts about them being Teme Tigers...sorry mate, gorgeous river but those were small fish. Trying too hard to sell his river I think.
I know it's not all about size etc but the Up Close/Even Closer DVDs show out and out beasts - record fish on several rivers.
Alan - I know you say the sizes didn't matter a jot but surely it was reassuring to see in Even Closer the 18.02 Thames record come from the upper reaches you always say there's no fish in? :wh
Ha ha,touche Steve,but i have to reply to that,the Thames has still got fish in it,but populations are well down,especially on the barbel front,the
upper river,although ive fished it a fair bit,not in ten years or so,so i bow to Mark Todd's knowledge(and others),i fish the river below Oxford and i know of a 15 and a 16 lber in the last 3 years,but if you can seriously target barbel and catch ten a year(of any size)from where ive been fishing it would be newsbreaking material,i think that Guy's fish was brilliant,as he'd been chasing such a fish for some time...but the timing of the capture fell ideally for the dvd,if days and ways would have coincided with such a capture it also would have been included