Recent content by Mike Hodgkiss

Here in North Yorkshire it has been holing it down , all the spate rivers are rising fast but to be fair that's pretty normal for this time of year . It will be a brave angler who tries his luck for Barbel in the next day or two , cold water and tons of leaves , branches , trees , dead sheep...

I think the issue for me is multiple numbers of Barbel , placed immediately after landing in to a keepnet after a protracted fight with no room to move about and recover properly , that is poor form .Will it stop ? In big matches I doubt it very much ...

Kings Weir ?

Whether we like it or not this is the nature of competition angling . Yes a bigger landing net would have helped , but in a huge match like this you would need a lot of folks to be running up and down weighing individual fish like this specimen and then releasing them , not practical really...

Not in the middle ! Upstream swim you have first chance of intercepting /catching Barbel that are moving downstream , vice versa on the downstream swim . In match fishing drawing a downstream end peg is often seen as good as any fish moving upstream into the length meet your bait first ...

Easy solution to this plucks and pulls debate , just sit on your hands and wait for the rod to go round and stay round , most barbel either hook themselves on the weight of the lead or the resistance from the rod tip , Barbel are usually not the most delicate of feeders although they can be a...

That is a very fine Barbel , well done , what a beauty !

Interesting dilemma this one . In theory claiming the record should not in itself spoil things , it's not that hard to take a photo of the captor holding the fish making sure there is no background to identify where the fish was caught and of course do not identify the stretch of the river where...

I can see the sense in this Neil, but I very rarely put any feed in preferring to fish a single large smelly bait , the only exception being when fishing maggots in winter when I will use a feeder full of maggots . I primarily fish the Yorkshire Ouse , feeding lots of pellets , groundbait ...

With a 1/2 oz lead and a metre plus extra water I am presuming your lead wasn't sufficient to hold bottom and your bait/rig simply settled in the calmer water near the edge . I have often found that in high water conditions Barbel will come in very close to the edge of the river , often...

Hers my tips garnered from coming from a farming background and decades of fishing in areas where cows frequent . Bulls on their own in a field usually not a problem , don't bother them they won't bother you , they usually can't be arsed to go charging around . Herd of bullocks , they are nosey...

In essence Mike , you answered your own question , you changed bait and it worked ! When Barbel are present and feeding they will eat pretty much anything put in front of them , they are not fussy , changing baits can do no harm it's really all about the anglers confidence . Change baits that...

As the rod appears to be a fly fishing rod the reel fittings are in that position for a reason , essentially to balance the rod for fly fishing . I would doubt that the rod would be of much use for coarse fishing for Chub and Barbel as its not designed for that purpose ,it would be too soft an...

Yes it is upsetting to see a seal eating the fish in the Thames but what do you expect it to do, order a happy meal ? These seal incursions in to freshwater are not uncommon and to be honest there isn't a great deal we can do about it . A few years a go there was one resident at the weir at...

OK , didn't realise it was Great Ouse , he wasn't specific , lots of Ouse's !