Looking forward.

It's too cold to go sitting on a river bank right now. The temperature is just above freezing, and the wind cuts like a cheese wire through your clothing. Thirty to forty years ago I'd have gone anyway despite the weather, and probably caught something. Fish still feed this weather but feeding times are to unpredictable for my liking.

I told him to come in hours ago!

So I'm sat at home watching season six of Game of Thrones, wrapped up all warm and snug. It's time to look at all the new fishing gear available on websites and eBay. I'm never surprised at the amount of new\used carp gear coming on eBay at this time of year. Too many have high expectations, buy all the gear, then realise it's not as easy as they make it look on Youtube.


Trapping, baiting up then putting a sophisticated rig in over it, is the way it's shown to be. Few new anglers learn any hunting skills. The human eye is replaced with heavy leads, and the latest bait. Stealth replaced with long sessions baiting programmes. It works sometimes, but it often doesn't, hence the short life of the modern carp angler. To learn about fishing you have to catch fish, so you can experiment. Catching nothing just damages your enthusiasm.

I really cannot not catch for long. A few sessions and then I have to go to an easy water.