FishingMagic Magazine

Bass are sporting fish and they CAN grow big - imagine a 10lber on a fly rod! Here, our good friends at Sportfish give some advice on the tackle needed to catch one...

THERE'S a FREE tackle guide in the bagged issue of this week's Angler's Mail print magazine! Dr Ian Welch delves deep into the boom in UK heavyweight catfish, and the magazine reveals how a major change is afoot on where your rod licence money goes.

This chap's obviously not feeling too chipper... Is it the lack of fish or the state of the world? A domestic problem possibly? You decide!

The Environment Agency is set to award a landmark fisheries contract to the Angling Trust. This announcement follows a rigorous competitive process and is part of the continued drive towards greater partnership working leading to thriving fisheries and angling throughout England.

What the hell's this guy latched into? Is it even a fish? Give us your theory...

I had a feeling that 2015 was going to be a good year. With fishing trips lined up to the stunning landscapes of the Himalayas for golden mahseer, to the beautiful west coast of Ireland for bass and pollack and later in the year to the Scilly Islands for some big, brightly coloured wrasse it wasn't hard to see the basis for my optimism! However, the fishing has been pretty good back on the home patch and I can't really complain about my season so far with two personal bests in the bag and some nice hauls of other favourite species.

At five minutes past seven one morning in January 1973 - long before the days of the British National Lottery - a great, golden hand reached down from the clouds in a shimmering of stardust and tapped me on the shoulder... "It's you" boomed a voice, though at that precise moment I didn't know why.