FishingMagic Magazine

No bivvies here...no buzzers, no big-pits, no on-site tackle-shop. Read Altamash Kabir's intriguing tale of mystery and tragedy at Deola's Pool...

First up in the Fishing Magic Writing Competition is no other than yer very own Crow with a truly evocative story of childhood exploration.

Last month, we published Rod Sturdy's open letter to Elizabeth Truss MP which posed a number of questions. Perhaps inevitably, Rod's four main concerns were not addressed directly but, as you will see, there is cause for optimism...

Even as a fervent athiest I fleetingly pondered the possibility of holy intervention the day I discovered the most beautiful, un-fished stretch of the Gt. Ouse a few years back.

Here's an opportunity to have your ideas and questions on the future of angling directly addressed; it's also a great way of meeting the people behind those quotes we read so often. Canoeing, abstraction and pollution so often form the canon of questioning at such occasions but how about the rampant commercialization of formerly wild waters...the new bass-fishing ban...the allocation of the EA's £20,000,000 annual budget - and anything else that needs questioning?

We anglers are blessed. So diverse is our way of life we have a near limitless store of interesting experiences to relate; no other sport has so much literary excellence to offer.

In a radical departure from my normal barbel fishing break with a couple of grizzled old chums, combining fishing with a few good nights out, this year I went to the River Severn with my wife. She has a particular fondness for visiting National Trust properties, the more remote the better. We once went to stay for a week in a cottage in Wales that was half way down a cliff; I had to carry the luggage 400 yards, carefully avoiding boulders, steep drops and sheep shit. However, this one was very different; it was thirty yards from the River Severn.

THE angler who broke the British carp record with a 68 lb 1 oz giant tells his angling life story - and explains his main tactics - inside this week's essential Angler's Mail magazine.