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Flavouring it has advantages at times. For one it increases the range of scent. Secondly it can act as a trigger like Robin Red and aniseed do in baits used in certain waters. Then you have the theory of breaking the fish's suspicion with a blown bait by altering it. Of course in some...

Marmite is a good winter flavour. For summer to autumn I use smoked paprika or garlic salt. Aniseed is worth a try as is curry powder.

At this time of year I do what Arthur Ransome called 'Fishing in Lilliput', i.e. spending time on small rivers. I'll do a species hunt on one of tbe rivers and try and beat my record of 7. I have had 7 species three times and each time it has included at least one that wasn't in the other lists...

Today's Mole-Patrol took me to the Charente valley and there I found a little tributary. I found my bait under one of our patio chairs yesterday. 2 small chub in just less than a couple of hours.

Middle reach of the Vienne today. I had stopped off for a reccy. looking a bit low, but otherwise ok for a bash next week.

This explains it all

Spot the bat

Spent a day on the Charente. I had fished it last week and saw some good fish. There was a lot of drifting weed though last week that caused a lot of poblems. Very little weed today, but no fish either. Around 3pm a barn owl flew over then about 30 minutes later a bat fluttered around for ten...

It is a minefield. The vast majority of the time you won't be checked. But in the scenario whereby someone took offence to your being where you were fishing and mentioned, as the sometimes are prone to do, that you have a 'machete', then you could face some difficult questions. I would not...

When I helped out on a shoot I often came across trespassers, sometimes with dogs. Before going to speak with them I put my phone on voice recorder. That assisted to prevent a few spurious complaints. Also, most of the tools pictured above could get you in trouble with the law. Taking one with...

Just bear in mind that the bait and wait tactics cannot be employed sometimes because of the conditions at the time. When river fishing you can be thwarted by floating weed, leaves, etc. as I was yesterday. There is no point in laying out the dinner table if weed and / or leaves keep on dragging...

I used to fish the Wharfe and there were places where casting a feeder was like ringing the dinner bell. It would seem that is the case where you were fishing. If the other angler was drawing the fish from nearby there is little wonder that you remained fishless. It is not always the case in...

I thought that refraction only applied when the line of sight went through the water surface. So objects floating on the surface would not apply whether viewed from above or below?

It can't be invisible. Hard to see maybe. But not invisible. Good job barbel and carp for that matter cannot see what they are eating. I feed koi carp for a customer. They aim at the floating pellets as they close in, but often miss them if they are drifting in the current caused by the pumps...

I use around 4:1 ground maize : hemp usually. I know that barbel and carp love both these grains and I haven't had any issues with preoccupation. I really don't see what red dari and buckwheat seeds add to the attraction. I do think that the success of many pigeon conditioners comes from the...

This will be interpreted as a silly question, but why pigeon conditioner? It seems to be designed foor a warm blooded species that attains its maximum weight and size in a few weeks. Not a cold blooded creature that only reaches maximum size after a decade or more. And that is not considering...

Yes. Fortunately he had only caught bream ;)

The reason for the comments about them retaining water is simply down to the fact that some do retain water. The ones used out here are mostly what could be described as a hammock supported on an aluminium cradle about a foot or more off the ground. They are designed to hold water and if that...

I had some Hi Tec that lasted years despite the abuse they got fishing, beating and shooting. I replaced them with the updated version of the same boot and they fell apart within a few months. It was obviously a manufacturing issue that resulted from them changing the materials and cutting costs...

That's the thing with mats. You can flip them over quickly to put the cool / damp side up. If it has been wetted and kept, wet side down in the shade it should be cooler than a cradle that has been left out in the sun as happens over here. I can't speak for how angling has gone in the UK as I...