Welcome to my blog

I started fishing at a young age, visiting lakes and rivers with my dad back in the late 80's. In those days, the explosion of commercial carp venues was yet to happen and most of the fishing we did was on club waters or rivers and canals. I caught silvers on a float rod, bream on a ledger and the odd pike in the depths of winter...

My 1st memorable experience of carp fishing was being left at a local lake with a mate and a float rod, a can of luncheon meat and a loaf of bread. We spent a day in the sun catching carp off the surface and on the bottom and it was one of the earliest memories of catching these hard fighting fish.

There was a break while GCSE's, art collage and being a drummer in a band took over from fishing but I got back into it once I started working (fishing requires money after all!). The bug really took after a trip to Borde Hill (then a day ticket water) where a friend lent my sister and myself a couple of rods each and some 'magic paste' (which turned out to be scalded halibut pellets, a couple of eggs, marmite and ground dried breadcrumbs). It was an amazing days fishing, catching huge carp (well, a 15lb was a monster to us back then!) on freelined paste and bread flake in the margins and I remember coming home thinking that this was it and I wanted more.

Fast forward a couple of years and I was living in London fishing Regents Canal running through Kings Cross, the Walthamstow complex (never got a thing!) and a host of day ticket lakes in Chingford all from the back of my trusty 50cc Vespa scooter! The amount of gear I got on that thing was amazing... 3 rods, a landing net pole and sometimes an umbrella was strapped to the side of the bike, a huge rucksack on my back and a bait bag between my legs. It would take a good 40 minutes to get out to Claverhambury Lakes which is a tough ride in summer or winter but always worth it!

After an 8 year gap in Australia (where the fishing was amazing!) I finally made it back to the UK and fishing is now bordering on obsessive. These days I tend to fish with the seasons, pike fishing over the winter months, carp fishing in spring, river fishing for chub over the summer and returning to carp over the autumn.

I also design and code a couple of fishing related websites:

Bitterwell Lake is my local fishery and I try and get up there at least once a month, more over the summer as the surface action in the evening is amazing!

Innate Baits are a bait and tackle company based in Bristol. There boilies and pellets have been an absolute winner for me, catching fish from every venue I take them to.

Euro Carp Tours is a new venture run by Terry Smith, offering personalised all inclusive trips to some of the best 'big fish' venues Europe has to offer.

I've also a YouTube channel where I upload videos from loads of different fisheries and rivers around the Bristol and Somerset.

Life is busy! I hope the content on this blog is useful, tight lines and wet nets.