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19 Jan

GET MAPPING!

If you have bought yourself an echo sounder with built-in GPS then there is a seriously useful bolt-on that you can add to it that won't cost you a penny, but which can give you some fascinating insights into why certain areas and spots are better than others. I'm talking about adding topographical maps showing the underwater contours of your favourite fisheries to your sounder that can be accessed whilst you are out on the water. Such maps don't exist for every waterbody yet, especially in the UK, but there are enough to get started and it is easy to record your own. Until recently you normally had to pay for software to create maps. My buddy and I...
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17 Dec

FISHING PHOTOGRAPHY PT 6

We have finally come to the last part of this mini-series, and this month I am going to talk less about actually taking pictures and more about what to do with them when you get back home. Although there is no substitue to getting your photographs as good as possible on the bank there is still some work that you can do to improve and safeguard your precious memories when you get back home. STORAGE I know so many people who just buy one big memory card and leave months or even years worth of images on the card and never make a back-up when they get home. This really is a crazy thing to do, as modern memory...
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21 Nov

Sonar Sense Part 2

In part one I covered the key features to look for in an echo sounder designed for predator fishing and how much you should be looking to pay. This time I am going to move on to looking at how I set up my sounder to give a clear image of what is going on below the surface. PORTABILITY With a few exceptions, most echo sounders are designed to be fixed permanently to a single boat. This is great if like our American and European cousins you fish from your own boat all the time, but as most of us in the UK use hire boats for much of our fishing this isn’t of great use to us. Fortunately,...
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1 Nov

FISHING PHOTOGRAPHY PT5

There are few more anxious moments in fishing when you have finally got a new personal best resting in the net and suddenly realize that you are the only one on the bank with no one to help you get a decent photo. Perhaps you might have a good mate that will come out and do the shots for you, but if you are anything like me, it is likely to be the middle of a wet night and you are many miles from home. The good news is that getting good self-take photographs is actually not that difficult, as long as you follow some simple rules and get yourself into a regular routine. Most of the steps are exactly the...
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19 Oct

EARLSWOOD LAKE VLOG

I am planning to put together some semi-regular blogs on my own fishing over the next few months. A lot of these will be combined with photo-shoots or other work, so hopefully will tie in nicely with some of my printed articles and give a 'behind-the-scenes' look at some of the things I get up to. Here is the first one, shot a while back at the prolific Earlswood Lakes in the West Midlands.   ...
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22 Jul

WHAT’S IN THE BOX? – TENCH

My tench box is looking a little worse for wear after quite an eventful spring. Whilst sorting it out the other day and replenishing some of the items that were running low I thought I would take the opportunity to get a few pictures for this feature and run through what I use. I think the first thing you might notice is that it is a lot less ‘carpy’ than my bream box that was featured a while back. OK, I carry a few lead clips and other bits ‘n’ bobs, but most of the items are orientated towards maggot and caster fishing. Hooks are smaller in general, my main hooklength material is 10lb Berkley fluorocarbon and I...
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16 Jul

FISHING PHOTOGRAPHY PT4

One of the main reasons I guess most of us carry a camera when we go fishing is to get decent shots of the fish our mates and we catch. This month I am going to concentrate on how to take shots of your mates with fish, before going on to self-takes next month. I must admit, I really enjoy taking pictures of my buddies with their fish, and getting them some lasting pictures to go with their memories. Catch shots aren’t really that technically challenging, after all it is just a ‘bloke with a fish’. Normally I follow a well-rehearsed routine to get the shots I want, which means the fish get back quickly and as much...
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25 May

FISHING PHOTOGRAPHY 3

All photography is reliant upon light, and generally the more of it that you have the better. Whilst modern digital cameras are in some ways more forgiving of the poor light conditions that we as anglers often have to cope with, the same rules apply as they did with film, and very often there are some big compromises to be made. Digital cameras work by little parcels of light, called photons, activating the millions of photo-reactive cells packed onto the cameras image sensor hidden away behind the lens. The more light there is the more often these cells are activated, giving a better image. We touched on the ISO button on the camera in part 2, and this...
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17 Apr

SPRING BREAK – Part 1

Winter 2016-17 must rank as my best ever in terms of big pike, but come March 14th and the start of the close season on rivers, I was glad that the pike gear could be packed away for a bit. It was almost time to start the spring campaigns, but rather than make a start on the mega-tough low-stocked gravel pits right away I decided to have a bit of fun and spend a few weeks fishing some day ticket fisheries. Now, partly this was to have a break and to get back to the simple enjoyment of catching a few fish, but also there was another motive - to get a few magazine features in the...
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