Recent content by Robert Richbell

It is with great personal sadness that we report on the passing of 1 of our best friends, a bit of a marmite character and at times very confrontational, but he was an incredibly talented angler and at 1 time held the Barbel record and the Grayling record as well as at least 1 river record for...

Another old trick if simply resting the fish in the flow isn't working and it's going belly up is to push your finger down it's throat. This also causes it to "burp" out the air

Bought a Shimano purist twin tip ( 2 n 3oz quivers)barbel travel rod marked down to 100 quid. Not black Friday just local tackle shop thinning out their rods

centre pins built in alarm. that said did use them on a night session a few weeks ago very useful for drop backs so might use them again after dark but on the lowest setting with just the light as the real indicator.

mate put me on to the US army Alice pack they have been around since the Vietnam war although the US soldiers use a new style now. Can be hard to find on surplus sites ebay etc but masses of carrying space, indestructible, quick release straps. Not the lightest but will last much longer than...

looks like it went cheap thought that sort of rod went for much more

first time in about 30 yrs i wont get on the rivers for the first week, cant get any leave until July so best i can hope for is a couple of short after work sessions as the weekends will be like a circus on the banks :-(

growing up it never went dry as far as i remember. far less people and water usage. dont think it even dried up in the summer of 76 but might be wrong about that Abstraction in my opinion is the cause.

lived not too far from there (borehamwood) and used to go to london colney to fish,,lovely little waterway was it also the colne that run by Bricket wood? used to go there as a kid to play. Couldnt even find that last time i was up that way. middle of nowhere 50 yrs ago.

The scale of habitat destruction is enormous, not just house building but pollution ( River Irwell the latest) and people wanting maintenance free gardens so pave, deck or plastic grass (ffs). As has been said decimation of trees and vegetation. When I was a kid there was rough ground we played...

Hi Joe with regards to your second point, minus the water voles where i thought mink had done the damage, i am sure someone posted the results of a scientific study, the dreaded otter poo, that on the river that the research took place in late spring, early summer indicated up to 40% of an...

arent these muppets supposed to carry out environmental impact studies before they carry out works like this. the EA seems to be about flood prevention, money making, boating, bio diversity and enforcement, in that order. Blaming the trees and bushes for the huge raft of reasons for increased...

So let me get this right, we allow houses to be built on flood plains, we concrete over thousands of square metres of green belt causing faster run offs in to the rivers. we create the "global warming" scenario with increased extreme weather. We take as much water as possible out of rivers in...

Yes Graham he still gets a few not fished much this season though

following advice from a Barbel fishing legend i fish with a fair bit, i rarely wait for the big hit and the rod bend. Barbel are very good and picking and spitting bait with little or no reaction on the rod tip. a few good fish have come with a very slight bounce of the tip followed by an...