Recent front cover

• Here is a recent front cover of mine, for Trout Fisherman magazine - I believe it was in the shops very recently, but I have been away a lot and did not get to see it for a while. It makes me really happy when your editor or designer picks out a photograph like this for use on the cover, for in the end a cover shot is designed to get people to pick the magazine up of the shelf and buy it. I could shoot wild brown trout for evermore.....

• The issue of front covers really interests me, for I never get a say in it, and sometimes I am blown away by them, and of course other times I am left rather "cold" - granted, I have a slight bias towards the use of my photos, but in all honesty I love to see a cover that grabs you instantly and draws you in. Sometimes I am genuinely blown away by the magazine and catalogue covers I see, but on the flip side I think some of our publications could at times take a lot more time, care and effort over picking their covers.

• Take the fantastic cover below, of a magazine that I do a bit of work for - the awesome FlyLife, based down in Australia (check here). There is a big GT feature of mine in there this issue, but it is the current cover that really grabbed me. I am not sure who shot it, but I love the photo, and I really respect the fact that the editorial team decided to put it on the cover. It's a very simple but well thought out photo (these are always the best ones) that immediately grabs me, mainly because of the excellent use of a very shallow depth of field on a wideangle lens to pull you right onto the eye of the trout. This particular magazine continues to look fantastic every single time, and I am really proud to have got the cover twice now - see here for one of them.

• I can't believe how stunning the weather has been today, for I genuinely believed that I would not be wearing shorts any more this year - rest assured that they came out today though. I could take plenty more days like this, especially when I get proper time like to spend with my family. It has been fantastic being at home again. Many anglers' thoughts are now of course turning to cod fishing, but I have not let the bass go just yet..........