Sea Angler cover and lure fishing bag

• Here's my cover photo on the current issue of Sea Angler magazine that I was talking about the other day (see here) - I like what they have done with my photograph, and this cover is a tight crop of a shot I took of a decent bass over in Ireland. Anybody with any interest in photography will most likely recognise that a fisheye lens has been used to get in really tight on the fish and emphasise that predator head with a very slight degree of natural distortion that comes from using this sort of lens in a situation like this.

• The exact lens was the Canon 15mm f2.8 fisheye, but to be perfectly honest, the reason for using a lens like this makes more sense when you look at the original photo that the Sea Angler designers cropped from to make the front cover. See my original shot of the bass below. The photo being cropped so tightly for a front cover shows how clean and flexible high resolution digital files are these days from professional SLR cameras. The current issue of Sea Angler is going to take some beating I reckon, but they have some good people working for them who keep on finding really good looking UK sea fishing material.

• I am always trying to keep an eye out for products that I reckon will work well for our fishing, and I came across a really good looking waterproof rucksack the other day that should make for an excellent kind of mobile lure fishing bag for bass fishing. Snowbee make this waterproof rucksack, and these guys will need no introduction if you are from the fly fishing world. They also do a load of sea fishing gear as well that you should check out.

• Here's a photograph of the bag I am on about, and you can see a bunch of details right here. I believe I am right in saying that this bit of kit retails for around £50, and for a purpose built waterproof rucksack, I reckon this is really good value for money. A lot of us bass fishermen for a start want to make sure that our stuff stays dry, whatever the weather, and wherever we are fishing, and the idea of a lightweight rucksack that you can walk with all day long really appeals to me. The simplest things in fishing are often the most useful. I would guess that a load of UK saltwater anglers would fine a bag like this to be of use, whatever you fish for.

• There seems to be a lot more "crossover" of products these days between the different fishing disciplines. I know we tend to split our fishing up into game, sea and coarse in the UK, but in my mind that is somewhat counter-productive, and I tend to believe we are all just fishermen, however we choose to catch our fish. Word of mouth and the power of the internet I believe is making it far easier for fishermen to see lots of different kinds of products and cherry-pick the ones that they want to use for their own fishing, regardless of what the original purpose for the product was.

• Take breathable chest waders for starters - I see more and more guys in the sea fishing world wearing these things, but of course they were originally designed for the game fishing market. But we find them useful, so we use them. How about wearing short wading jackets from the game world instead of those somewhat (generally) heavier and bulkier specialist sea fishing waterproof tops ? Being able to roll a lightweight wading jacket up and stuff it in my bag is so useful to me, and again, I see more and more mobile sea anglers doing this.

• Times are a changing, and I would guess that the tackle companies and retail outlets who can retain the flexibility to adapt to change swiftly and efficiently will be the ones who come out on top. Making the same old stuff and marketing it in the same old way in my mind does not cut the mustard any more. You want an example ? Why are so many switched-on, internet-savvy bass anglers increasingly buying rods, reels and lures with heavy Japanese and French influences that are not designed in the UK ?

Plaice showing from the boats

• Plaice are not a fish I have spent much time chasing over the years, but I fully understand their appeal and I would love to catch more of them. There's something about these flatfish that really get lots of anglers going. Although they had north east winds up on the famous Skerries banks off Dartmouth over the weekend, Malcolm Jones of the charter boat Sea Angler II tells me that the fishing was still pretty good. A fair few nice plaice were taken during the huge annual plaice festival they have up there every year. Check here for getting hold of one of the south west's best charter skippers. I can not recommend Malcolm highly enough.

• I spoke to Malcolm this morning as he was steaming back to Plymouth and he said it was about as beautiful as possible out at sea. How good was the weather yesterday ? I am not sure what the actual temperature was, but to me if felt like the warmest day of the year so far down here - so sunny and warm in fact that I even got my shorts on for the first time in the UK in 2009. Now that is an event !!

• Nobody can mistake the distinctive orange spots on a plaice - I have heard so many stories of when shore fishing for them over on the tiny Channel Island of Alderney was frankly awesome. We are talking about serious numbers of big, 5lb plus plaice coming to shore anglers, but as is usual on planet earth, the stocks were commercially hammered and what was once a world class shore fishery for them is now a shadow of its former glories. There is still some very good fishing over there at various times of the year, but imagine what it once was....................kind of like too many places on earth (sadly). Speak to these guys here for local info, guiding, tackle, bait and charter boats.

• I also spoke to a friend of mine over in south east Ireland this morning - Cian told me that north east winds and an incredibly small tide did them no favours at all on the bass fishing front this weekend, but persistence paid off and he managed to land a solid 5lb fish on a Duo Tide Minnow lure. See here for getting some of these awesome lures. Cian said he had at least five decent follows from bass, but that they then turned away at the last moment. Why ?

• The Wolves are howling - if you are into any kind of extreme metal music, do yourself the biggest favour possible this week and get hold of the new album by the US black metal band Wolves in the Throne Room. These guys get in your head in a big way, and their new CD called "Black Cascade" is a proper masterpiece. Listen here for some short samples of what this band is about. They play long, textured songs that won't leave you alone, and I reckon that's just about perfect. Kind of like a faster Drudkh if you get my drift. Monumental metal for the true connoisseur. Get the CD here.

Have a good Easter weekend

• I hope all of you have a fantastic, long Easter weekend - may the fish bite big time !! Perhaps this bit of weather we have got down here at the moment might kick start the bass fishing off properly, especially with the larger tides.........

• Talking of bass (not that I have a problem or anything), a friend of mine over in south east Ireland emailed me the other day to give me a report of some more good fish they have nailed recently. Patrick and Cian had a number of fish, with one he estimated around 9 to 10lbs. That's another awesome bass for these guys. Honestly, I don't know how much longer I can take NOT living over there.

• I have put a bunch of photos up here from a Trout Fisherman shoot I did the other day with Nick Hart - the weather remained nearly perfect all day (perfect for me and my photos, perhaps not so perfect for the actual fishing), but the fish did not really switch on right until the end. When we are shooting a fishing feature, if no fish are caught then it's a day we can't use, so this puts a lot of pressure on Nick. But he can live with it !! Not that I ever remind him of the stakes during a shoot or anything like that. Nice one.

• I am spending the long weekend with my family, no fishing for me this time. Please catch a few for me and have a complete blast doing so. I have a feeling that this year might just be a decent one, there seem to be plenty of reports of pockets of good fish around. The launce are turning up on the reefs down here off Plymouth, and the pollack are feeding hard. This is such a fantastic way to go boat fishing - light gear, shallower water, fresh, scrappy fish, a perfect day out. Get hold of one of Plymouth's best charter skippers right here - Malcolm always works his socks off to give his clients a great day out and I can not recommend him highly enough.

Monday morning metal madness

• Monday morning is always a bit of a shock, so I tend to turn to a bit of extreme metal to get me through it. In reality I should have gone and tried for a bass or two around first light this morning, the conditions are really good for another crack at it, but work calls. More's the pity.

• I am hearing more and more reports from all over the place of bass just about starting to turn up on the lures, and Kevin Brain tells me that he is still smashing big numbers of bass over on the west coast of Ireland. I bet he's still got the place virtually to himself.

• At times like this I think back to my Plymouth university days - if there was ever a question back then of going fishing or going to lectures (three hours of marine law anyone ??!!), you can guess which way won every time. How times have changed. Regression is an option that crosses my mind from time to time, I can tell you. Drop out, fade away, go fishing.

• Check out the new album by a band called Absu - the CD is called Absu as well, so there's no chance of getting this one wrong. Feels like a really good dose of fast paced death/thrash metal to me, perfect for the start of another working week. Heavy as hell, and really catchy in places. Listen to a few tracks here. Rest assured that it is playing here at my desk while I am typing this blog post. Nice........

• The new look Trout Fisherman magazine that I told you about the other day (see here) is now out in the shops, and I reckon it looks really good. If any kind of fly fishing floats your boat, pick this issue up. Just to make me feel good, above is my cover shot (again) - I had a close look at this on the shelves and I reckon it fairly "jumps" at you, and that surely is the point of a cover. "Buy me, I look really interesting" kind of thing.

How hard can you fight bass ?

• I really like seeing how different anglers around the world play or fight "their" fish when they hook them - whatever they are using. Bait, fly or lure, it makes no difference to me - fishing is just fishing. But ever since I began to travel for my work and thus saw how different anglers would behave with their hooked fish, I have come to the conclusion that we tend to play our fish here in the UK somewhat on the "light side".

• Granted, we do not really have lots of big powerful fish that are going to make us learn early on how to fight fish really hard, but on the other hand, I reckon lots of us could push our fishing gear a hell of a lot harder on some of the fish we hook (and sometimes lose). It is the nature of fishing though - we are not going to land everything we ever hook, but a lot of time I see anglers over here who simply do not know how far they can push their gear on a fish. This is in no way a criticism, merely an observation. Why do I want to fight my fish so hard ? Firstly because I do not want them doing me on a snag, and secondly, because I believe that a "green" fish can be released far more easily. A tired fish that has fought for ages take a lot of reviving, whereas a still very lively ("green") fish that has come in (relatively) quickly tends to swim off far stronger. And how about doing all you can to keep those hooks in ? Remember that I am always crushing the barbs on the treble hooks on my lures.

• Check out how much a rod can bend for starters - look at the casting shot above, of my mate Graham whacking out a lure on a very powerful and fast action Tenryu Red Dragon Express. These are strong rods, but they will bend, indeed they are meant to !! How about putting a whole load of that bend (or pressure) onto a hooked fish ?

• Now look at the photo above - this is an angler using a powerful carp rod on a bass that I reckon went around 12lbs. Nothing was wrong, he landed the (awesome) fish, but I would bet Mick thought he was really piling the pressure on the fish. The bass went back fine, but all I wanted to illustrate here was that a whole load more grief could have been given to the fish as it ran in the tide. The rod will bend a load more, and it will also easily cushion the light line against the lunges of the bass. OK, so it would be wise to slacken off a tightish drag when the fish gets in close, but rest assured that rods bend a whole lot more than we think they do. There were no snags we knew of that the bass could have run into, but what if there had been ?

• Note how Pat is putting a lot of pressure on a nice bass that he hooked fairly close in - the rod (a Tenryu Rod Bar 270) is bending nicely, but Pat knows exactly what he is doing and is what I call going with the fish slightly as it tries to run. He is allowing the rod to come down from high up and provide extra cushioning to the hook hold. But the rod is still bent hard into the fish.

• I am lucky enough to know and fish with some awesome anglers from all over the world. Some of the south west, Irish and Channel Island anglers I am lucky enough to call my friends for the most part do not know how much I respect what they do in fishing. A lot of these guys have caught more awesome fish than I am ever going to catch in a million years.

• I still believe though that in general, the people who fight their fish the hardest are the South Africans (and I include Namibia in this). Yes, this has to be because they have lots of far larger fish than we are ever going to see over here, and they either learn to fight them hard or lose them all. I remember being completely stunned the first time I saw a good local angler fighting a big shark off the Skeleton Coast beaches. I could not believe how hard a fish could be played, and it was like a light bulb going off in my head. There was me thinking I was giving my shark a bucket load of hell, and I wasn't even close. The shark must have thought he had mere toothache when he picked up my bait !! But I began to learn........

• I want to enjoy the playing of my fish, but ultimately I want to get them in. I remember filming a cod fishing programme up on the Bristol Channel a few days after a Namibia trip, and the first few unfortunate codling I hooked were water skiing almost the moment I struck into them !! Not ideal, but I want to get my fish up and away from snags. Losing fish when you are filming is not good news. Losing fish winds us all up, and it's always the true monsters that get away is it not ?

• Check out the photo above - that is a South African friend of mine called John Crabb giving a pretty big catfish a load of stick on a very light spinning rod. Was he ever going to lose the fish because he was playing it too hard ? No. You should have seen this guy fighting a big ragged tooth shark off the beach at Kosi Bay - my jaw hit the floor !! John has had no choice but to learn how far he can push his gear on fish.

• But all things being equal, I reckon we do pretty well over here. I would never say that one set of anglers are better than the others. This is not the case at all. Some guys have to really learn how to play fish on their drags because their fish run hard, whereas some have to develop techniques to drag fish out of horribly rough ground etc. It just depends on where you fish and what you are fishing for. Sometimes you have to protect a very light leader being used on shy fish (mullet anyone ?) But there is no doubt that a lot of us over here could push our tackle a lot harder and get more fish in.

• The photo above is what I would call "horsing a fish" !! Not a very technical term I know, but it works for me. "Giving it the gears" is another expression. This is a fly fisherman pushing a powerful 12 weight fly rod to the max on a rampaging giant trevally (GT) that has nailed his fly. Play a fish like this too light and you would be there all day. "Our" bass are mighty fine fish that occupy a lot my time (and dreams), but we need a sense of perspective on them. It is often where you are fishing that provides more of a challenge in the fight than the actual power or weight of the fish - put a 6lb bass on a light spinning rod over clean ground with no tide and you'll love every second of it. Now put the same fish in amongst rough as hell terrain or in a rampaging tide, and you'll love it a whole lot more. Has the fish suddenly gained weight ? No, of course not, but the fish will naturally try to use the conditions to do you. That's fishing. We love it so much because it is never the same.

OK, so I gave in...........

• I felt almost no confidence, but I simply could not resist getting out on the coastline yesterday late afternoon and early evening to chuck a few lures. The expectation of actually catching a bass was about zero, but this stunning weather has got to me. Me, my red rod, a few lures (ok, quite a few lures), and my sheepdog Jess. It felt a little like summer until the sun dropped further in the sky, but I have been promising myself not to head out lure fishing for bass until at least April. Are we not eternal optimists though ? And yes, I was right, I saw not a sniff of a fish.

• To be perfectly honest, it was not really a proper fishing session as such - I wanted to get a few photos of the coastline as the sun dropped low, and I also wanted to have a really good walk/scramble around to check out where I reckon the fish might be hanging around when they are in. My feelings are that where I was fishing is going to be a back tide mark, with acres of rocks and weed shallowing out nicely as the tide clears. Yesterday was deliberately timed to be over the low water period so that I could see the lie of the land properly.

• The light yesterday evening did not end up as impressive as I thought it might, but I took a few photos I was fairly happy with. Just sitting there with my camera on a tripod and watching the sun dip over south Devon kind of does it for me really. Nobody else was around, and more's the pity that no bass were around either !! To be fair, the water was about as clear as possible and bigger tides are going to help. But as I said, how can you resist going plugging when the weather is so good ?

• In years gone by I would now be chasing bull huss in a big way around south Devon, with regular trips thrown in to the shallow reefs up in the Bristol Channel (Hinkley, Lilstock etc.) for the thornback ray and spring codling, but I tend not to spend much time these days with beachasters in tripods. It's awesome fishing, and it always will be, but I am restless person by nature and I live for different experiences. And I simply do not have as much time as I used to.

• My feeling is that it won't be long until we connect with a few bass around here. Reports of bass turning up in various places are increasingly frequent - and I don't include Ireland here, that place is a (bountiful) freak of nature. Jealous, me ? I have a feeling that certain methods might work in very specific places around here (cryptic eh ?), and much as these east winds are blowing in lovely blue skies and relatively warm day time temperatures, I am going to feel a whole bit more confident when we get a nice set of spring tides and more onshore conditions to inject a bit of "life" to the sea. We shall see.....

• I would imagine that a few of you watched that mightily impressive Yellowstone programme on BBC2 on Sunday night ? I made myself wait until it was on in HD last night, and I have to admit to sitting there open mouthed in complete astonishment at such awesome programme making. Some of the shots in there were breathtaking. What a place, what a brutal winter. If you missed it, watch it here on the BBC iPlayer. Nick Hart and I spent a day in Yellowstone last summer when we were out doing a job in Montana, and just that brief glimpse of the place left a lasting impression on me. The mighty Yellowstone river was still blown out with snow melt in late June when we were there. It continues to stagger me at how impressive this world can look. Too much to see, too little time.

How about this weather ?

• There is nothing like the first proper taste of spring here in the UK - big blue skies and (relative) warmth is about as good as it gets, and I for one am loving it. Granted, I would rather not be working when the sun is out, but that is not the point. Living in Devon when the weather is like this is a privilege.

• The photo above is actually from one of those extremely rare days last summer when we actually did see the sun !! Other countries I know think we are all a little mad to be so obsessed with the weather, and we are, and we make no apologies for it. The moment the sun comes out and we all go a little bit loopy. Kind of like werewolves in reverse.

• Make sure to check out my latest article in my modern bass fishing series in the new issue of Sea Angler - look at pages 48, 49, 50 and 51. The opening DPS photo is exactly the one that I hoped they might use. The article itself is all about fishing for bass with surface lures, and as I said yesterday, the magazine is looking awesome. If there is a more exciting way to fish than with topwater lures or flies, then I have yet to come across it. Anybody who doesn't shake with adrenaline when a fish swirls on a surface lure is not really alive.

• I left my office behind yesterday afternoon to go and check a few potential bass marks out. I have walked and explored most of the south Devon coastline before, but for some reason this particular little area had escaped me. And it looked great.........I was looking out for likely looking bass spots, but really I spent most of the time looking for treasure with my eldest daughter. My sheepdog Jess was happy chasing sea gulls, and my daughter and I trawled the beach and rocks looking for shells with holes in them and those smooth bits of worn down green glass you find. That is the treasure, and we came back with masses. The things we do as parents !! It won't be long though until I am down there chucking a few lures for the bass. It was properly warm when we tucked out of the east breeze as well. Stunning.

• I love living in Devon, indeed there is nowhere in the UK that I would rather live. The south west peninsular is a great part of the world, and for the keen fisherman there is a wealth of fishing on offer. I will talk up the merits of Devon until the cows come home, and I have a serious soft spot for Plymouth. It's a great place to live and work, and my family and I have a fantastic life here.

• But then you go and hear about the recent bass fishing they have been having over in Ireland recently, and in truth, the better quality of shore fishing overall, and you do begin to wonder. Less people, wide open spaces, countless spots that are simply never fished, lots of big bass, I could go on. The grass is not always greener, we all know that, and Devon is my home, but I will admit to dreaming. I am fairly restless by nature. You never know..........

Brand new look Trout Fisherman - out soon

• It fascinates me to see such a well known and well established fishing magazine like Trout Fisherman being completely overhauled and then relaunched. On March 26th you will be able to see the results of the new look Trout Fisherman magazine when it hits the shops, and here is a sneak preview. I know I work for them, but I have to say that I am hugely impressed by what has been going on, as you can see here. Magazines have to overhauled from time to time, and it takes a lot of hard work and vision to ring these changes. Sea Angler had the same thing a little while ago (see here), and the magazine looks better and better to me every month.

• What makes me even happier is that the powers that be have chosen one of my photos to go on the cover of the relaunch issue. Nice one !! OK, so I might be a bit biased towards their choice, but I really like what has been done with the photo of Nick Hart you can see on the forthcoming cover above. What a strong way to launch this brand new fly casting series we have been shooting recently - with words from Nick of course.

• The whole style of the magazine looks that bit "cleaner" to me, and personally I believe that is a good thing. So much information has to be crammed into these kinds of publications, and the trick is to make sure this info is put across in a way that can appeal to fishermen of very different skill levels. Plus you want a big dollop of inspiration in there. I reckon they have done this here, and the proof will be on the shelves at the end of this month.

• Those Irish bass keep on coming. Keven Brain emailed me from Kerry to tell me of more bass up to 8lbs over the weekend, all returned. I would hazard a guess that he has the spots all to himself as well.

• And from south east Ireland, I hear that my mates Graham, Pat and Cian had a ball over the weekend, with numerous bass coming to lures and baits - the biggest going a cracking 10lbs (on a soft plastic lure), to the efforts of Mr. Hill himself. Check out the full report on Graham's blog here. That is some fishing, and again it proves two points to me - there is no better shore fishing for bass that I know of than over in Ireland, and that they can have awesome fishing all year round for them if the conditions play ball. I can't wait to start "discovering" a bit of the French bass fishing, but it is going to have to go a long way to match the fishing I know of in Ireland. Outstanding stuff indeed. The urge to emigrate has never been stronger !!

• How about the rugby on Sunday ? A day to warm the heart. The first half of England v France had me jumping up and down in delight, and I can't help but feel that those forty odd minutes had been coming for a while now. We just had to let go and play rugby if that makes any sense. It had to happen sometime, and perhaps it was just good timing that it happened against the French at Twickenham, and in perfect spring weather as well. The second half could never live up to the first, but what a fantastic game. I reckon England were almost so shocked at what they had achieved in the first half that they went back into their shells somewhat. Still, we won properly, and the big test now is to see how we perform against Scotland on Saturday. If we play well and win properly, I reckon we are allowed to hope again. Perhaps even dream again. But we shall see............

• While my website is undergoing a rebuild, I have come across a great way of putting up really good looking web-based galleries of my photos, and I have put a few up recently. Check out a load of black and white photos here for starters. For more, check out the links on the right hand side page of this blog, under the "My Photos - various galleries" heading. There is plenty of bass stuff up there if that floats your boat.

Lots of west coast Irish bass

Photo courtesy of Kevin Brain

K.B. Fishing Ireland

• What perfect timing !! There I was writing yesterday about the value I attach to fishing with decent guides, and then shore fishing guide Kevin Brain emails me from Waterville on the west coast of Ireland to tell me it's almost not fair the numbers of bass he has been catching. Nice one. Above you can see Kevin with a cracking 9.5lb bass he took recently, and this morning I found photos in my inbox of some nice ones he has yesterday to around 7lbs. I told you, the guy can catch bass - Kevin is a great shore fishing guide, and you can book him right here.

• Above is a photo I took of Kevin on one of his favourite bass marks a few years ago - the moody tones of black and white really work well I reckon for this very classical type of "standing in the surf and touch ledgering" kind of bass fishing. There can be little argument that one of the spiritual homes of bass fishing is the rugged west coast of Ireland. A place like Kerry is very accessible to anglers who are prepared to make a bit of an effort and want a real adventure.

• Going back to a point I made yesterday - I get plenty of emails asking when and where to go for some decent bass fishing, but lots of anglers still think that it's a late spring/summer/autumn thing only. Most people do not realise that the wild west coast of Ireland often fishes best when the conditions come right during winter - they can have awesome fishing nearly all year out there, but when the tourists have long gone is often when the bassing really fires. Just look at the top photo for proof !!

• I am extremely honoured to have a few of my photos featured on one of the web's most highly regarded fly fishing sites - Midcurrent is an awesome resource for anybody with any interest in fly fishing (or fishing full stop), and it makes me really proud to see my work up there with some truly outstanding photographers. See here for the photo page. Scroll down the page and you will see little old me, the token Brit !! If you have any interest in how good fishing can look, take a little time to check these photographers out - there are plenty of links to their respective websites. Fishing done well is truly inspirational.

• If you want to see some (non-fishing) outstanding nature and wildlife photos, then check this link here, and scroll through the winning images. The world is a stunning place when it is photographed well. This kind of photography blows me away.

• Bearing in mind that I am setting up my first bass fishing trip over to France for later on this year, it is with great trepidation that I await Sunday's Six Nations clash between our two great countries. I love France and I hugely respect the French, but I can't take losing to them in the rugby. Form says we should be beaten, but me being the eternal optimist, here's hoping that England turns France over and wins a glorious match. Imagine, a proper England win !! And then at least I can hold my head up high when I cruise on down to Brittany and wax lyrical about the "good old days" of English rugby - 2003 still brings tears to my eyes..........

Bass and shore fishing guides

• A great way to learn more about fishing is of course to pay for the services of a guide. In UK saltwater fishing we have plenty of professional charter skippers, but there are not very many shore guides that I am aware of. While it is perfectly normal in say fly fishing to hire a guide (or a ghillie) and work with their knowledge to better your fishing, our UK sea fishing culture is not really ingrained with using the services of a guide.

• My post from the other day about lure fishing confusion got me thinking about this, as did an email from Tim Griffin alerting me to a bass guide I had never heard of (thank you). Yes, of course we all like to go out and do things ourselves, and I know that the idea of actually paying somebody to take you out shore fishing is anathema to many anglers, but I know of few more shortcuts to success than working with a decent guide. I have worked with loads of different guides and operations all over the world, but what about in the UK and Ireland ?

• And also bear in mind that there are loads of professional bass fishing guides over in France, where their bass fishing "culture" tends to revolve around fast open boats and wildly exciting waters. As I learn more about this, so will you. Isn't it strange how working with guides and the attitudes surrounding it is so different from country to country, and also between the various fishing disciplines ?

• The guide I can most wholeheartedly recommend for bass and also general shore fishing over in north Cornwall is of course Ed Schliffke (aka "Ed the Bass"). Ed used to take me and my brother out shore fishing some years ago now when we were down on family holidays near Padstow, and he is still one of the best there is. I will never forget those trips, and I lay some of the blame for my fishing addiction firmly at his door !! Ed knows his bass fishing big time. You can contact him here. Take on board what he advises you go for and you will have an awesome time. Take the kids out as well and spend time on one of the most beautiful coastlines there is.

• I have worked a couple of times with an excellent bass and shore fishing guide over on the outrageously stunning Ring of Kerry in south west Ireland (in Waterville to be precise). Kevin Brain has a bad bass fishing addiction, and he puts lots of clients into plenty of fish. He emailed me the other day to say they have been having a spectacular winter on the bass. Why on earth do more bass freaks not spend more time over there in winter ? They also have a B&B where you can stay. Contact Kevin here and see a feature on him right here.

• Bill Ryan works further up the coast from Kevin, on the equally pretty, wild, and rugged Clare coastline. He's one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet, and I very much look forward to working with Bill again. See a feature on Bill here, and contact him here. There is a huge amount of good fishing around here.

• Tim Griffin told me of a professional bass fishing guide on the west coast of Wales, see here for all the details. I have not fished with these guys, but the operation they run comes highly recommended. I am also in contact with another angler setting up as a bass guide in Wales, so as and when I have more info, I will post it here.

• There is of course my mate Nick Hart who is one of the best fly fishing guides and instructors I have ever worked with, anywhere. Nick also guides a fair bit of bass fishing on the fly, so do make sure to contact him here if you are coming to the westcountry. If you are from the saltwater or coarse fishing worlds, why not have a go at fly fishing ? It's a blast.

• This is by no means the definitive list of bass and shore fishing guides, but I hope it helps for the moment. As I come across and fish/photograph with more, I will get the details up here and in the various fishing magazines I work for. Think about the time and money that can be spent on going to different places for fishing, and then work in the costs of a decent guide - suddenly it all makes sense when you are into fish that you might never have caught on your own. Local knowledge is key.

Fishing for real men

• Although I am somewhat loathe to have to admit it, I have become something of a "warm weather" specialist over the last few years. Any kind of fishing that involves t-shirts and suncream over floatation suits gets my vote every time. To think that some years ago now I used to moan about summer and jump for joy when winter was on the way and the cod started showing up off our shores (distant dreams down here ?). How life changes.

• But this ice fishing that I keep hearing about up in Norway has really got me interested - my mate Cato has emailed me again to tell me about some staggeringly big cod some guys have caught recently. Check out these frankly insane photos right here (scroll down the link). You will see pictures of cod to roughly 45lbs taken from under the ice - mad, completely mad. Look at the shots of the guys fighting these fish through the ice. Now this is fishing for real men. Not warm weather wimps like me !! Just the thought of possibly heading over there next winter to photograph this sends me rushing to the nearest radiator for a reassuring blast of warm air. But I have got to see this stuff. I guess the old floatation suits I have here are going to have to come out of retirement.

• Cato also had a 6lb char from his local river up in Norway the other day. Great country, awesome music. Cato drums for one of the finest metal bands on this earth, Enslaved - if you have been following this blog, you will know how much I rate their latest album. see here. Enslaved are off on a big US tour soon (see here), along with another fantastic band, the mighty Opeth. I would hazard a guess that Cato will be stopping off along the way to smash a few nice fish !! As I keep saying, how can you get better than a mix of metal and fishing ?

• And to prove that I can take a bit of cold weather fishing - my last trip out to Ireland late last year (see a stack of bass photos here) saw us having to wrap up against some properly icy conditions. Bitter north winds in our faces, frozen roads and beaches, but the bass were on big time. Real men like me wore no more than a pair of shorts and a t-shirt (my nose is growing....), while the other lads had to wear virtually every single bit of fishing clothing they possessed. No gloves, hat, fleece Buff or thermal tights for me !! Yeah, right.....

• Roll on the English summer. I went out walking a stretch of coastline yesterday morning with a mate from Cornwall, and like an idiot I thought it would be fine to leave my wet waterproof jacket in the back of the car. Nice one Henry. Those big blue skies soon gave way to driving, icy rain and a gale on our backs - you know when the backs of your jeans are soaking wet but the front is completely dry ? That will teach me not to heed the weather forecast. Saw some nice looking plugging water though.....

Fishing on islands

• I have always had a thing for fishing on islands - I am not sure why this is the case, but I guess the idea of being slightly cut off and even further away from what we might call "civilisation" appeals to me. I will never forget spending a day over on Dursey island on the west coast of Ireland for a TV show we made a while back. I don't remember any particularly big fish, but I do always remember the sense of adventure at getting that ropey cable car over there and then walking until we found somewhere that looked worth fishing. If you want to fish this part of the world, I would seriously recommend reading this photo essay here on my website, and then contacting the people whose details I have put in there.

• How about the insane cod and coalfish fishing we filmed off the coast of Norway on the tiny island of Rost ? See what I mean ? A long way from lots of people and the fishing was off the scale it was so good. Check out a load of photos here if you don't believe me.

• The photo you can see above was shot early one morning last year on the Minquiers, a huge reef system that lies a few miles off the coast of Jersey. I have been in love with the different Channel Islands for years now, and there are plenty of smaller islands around them that can be accessed and fished if you know what you are doing or go with experienced people (if you have seen me trying to navigate a boat, you will know why I choose the latter option !!). I have dreamed of going to the Minquiers for ages, and it was a huge thrill to spend a night out there. Check out how good that water looks for bass fishing - it was tough when we were out there, but anybody with half a brain is going to get excited about tide, reefs, islands, rips and eddies when it comes to bass fishing.

• Above is Jersey bass-freak Trevor Sangan fishing a popper off the back of the little island we stayed on at the Minquiers. What a perfect morning. There is also the famous Ecrehous reef system that lies off Jersey, plus numerous others. The bass guys over there have got access to such a vast area of fishable waters. I know that they guys here are always happy to help out with local advice, and they stock the rods, reels and lures that smash the bass big time.

• It just so happens that this exploratory French bass fishing/photography trip of mine that I am in the process of planning will most likely be based around an island or two. Perhaps the fact that islands get me going to much is partly down to the fact that you have to cross water to get to them, and that crossing of water always gives me that slightly increased sense of adventure. I don't care if it involves a boat, a ferry, a plane, a kayak or even a bit of a swim (preferably not), that crossing from the mainland over to an island always increases the heart rate. Fishing is an exciting thing to do in my book.

• I can't talk about islands without mentioning one of the most stunning places on earth - the Isles of Scilly. OK, so they don't have bass fishing, but they have insane shore fishing for species like mullet (monsters), pollack, huss, wrasse, conger etc. Accessing the different islands out there is like entering a new world every day. It's been too long......

• And on a different note, I watched a programme last night about the English 2003 Rugby World Cup campaign - mainly to remind myself of how great we once were, and to try and rid myself of all this heartache at being an English rugby supporter at the moment. The emotion of those days came flooding back and I think my wife caught me wiping the odd tear from the corner of my eyes - "got a bit of dust in there". She thinks I'm mad, but those were the days were they not ? We were world beaters once, with a team full of awesome rugby players who could do what it took under the severest of pressure. Can we ever be like that again ?

New issue of Catch mag now online

• There is a brand new issue of the online magazine Catch out now - see here. It does not matter what kind of fishing you do, whether it's saltwater, fly or coarse, because I presume that most fishermen like to check out awesome looking fishing. Catch magazine continues to blow me away with the quality of the work in there, and this issue they have gone mad and dropped a photo of mine in there - have a look in the Light Series for my shot.

• The first photo in that First Light section is simply outstanding, and it was shot by the famous US fly fishing photographer Val Atkinson. Check out more of his work here. OK, so some of us may never go to some of the places featured in Catch magazine, but that is not the point. This online magazine in my mind is a simple celebration of all that is good about fishing - the fact that if photographed well, fishing can look so inviting and impressive. The better we make fishing look to everybody, the better our chances are for keeping this great sport going. That is how I see things anyway.

• I am a fairly useless fly fisherman myself, but to photograph fly fishing is just plain awesome. Many of the world's most beautiful and remote areas are regularly accessed by pioneering fly fishermen, and it this spirit of adventure that I find such an appealing part of fishing. Sure, we tend to all love our "home" fishing the best (give me a bass any day of the week), but just the sniff of a chance to experience different species, cultures, techniques and people is what drives a large part of my work. I know that lots of anglers are never going to venture overseas to fish, but surely there is no harm in dreaming ?

• And my favourite place on earth ? It has to be Ireland. I fell for Africa ages ago, indeed a part of me would love to live and work in South Africa, but Ireland just feels that extra bit special to me. It did the first time I ever went. Every time I go over there I can hardly sleep for the excitement. OK, so Ireland has some outstanding bass fishing, but what most sea anglers do not realise is that there are so many miles of basically unexplored and unfished coastline over there. The more effort you put into a place like Ireland, the more you will get out. In these credit crunch times, and even with the Euro being so bad for us, you can still do Ireland very cheaply. And of course there is some fantastic fly and coarse fishing over there as well.

• I like my shore-based fishing to be as far away from the crowds as possible, and it still amazes me how few people I see shore fishing in Ireland. The guys who know their fishing tend to fish out of the way places, much like around here, but there is so much easily accessible water over there that can chuck up such good fishing. I defy anybody's jaw not to hit the floor when you are fishing areas like the Beara peninsular, the Ring of Kerry and the Clare coastline. What about heading west from Cork ? And what about the virtually deserted coast of the south east ? Ireland is simply stunning. There is so much more I want to see out there - wild islands offshore on the west coast where I hear rumours of mind-blowing pollack fishing. Acres of water stuffed full or rays and huss. Huge mullet swimming around with nobody to fish for them.......

• See what I mean about dreaming ? Fishing is about dreaming, and something like Catch magazine simply stokes the fires further. One of these days I am going to do what I have dreamt about for years now, and that is to jump in a camper van and take myself off to remote parts of Ireland I have never been to and simply roam and fish until I drop. To dream is good.

Winter blue sky front cover

• I was really pleased to get the cover of the latest issue of Trout Fisherman magazine, as you can see above. Check out my photos on pages 14, 18, 19, 20, 21 , 22 and 23 - Nick Hart wrote all the words. The blue skies on the cover were like what we had down here over the weekend, but they are forecasting a decent storm coming in later today. We shall see....

• I am sorting out an exploratory bass fishing trip down to Brittany in north west France - there is a particular area that really interests me, and some of the people I met at the Salon de Peches show the other weekend down at Nantes are helping me out with tides, contacts and dates. I can not tell you how much I am looking forward to the chance of photographing and fishing for bass in France, it is such an awesome country, and I hope that this trip might be the start of another love affair - like I have for Ireland and the fishing over there.

• I told you yesterday about the bass that were caught by my friends over in Ireland over the weekend - check out the photos on Graham Hill's new bass blog. Keep an eye on this one. Over time I fully expect his blog to become a place that I am going to have to avoid looking at too much in case I do what I keep thinking about - dropping out, moving over there to live, and just fishing my socks off until the day I die !! Not very realistic I know, but hard not to think about doing.........

• I have just been sent a PDF of a photo essay of mine that is in the awesome Norwegian fishing magazine Alt om Fiske - I really like getting my work in this publication. Granted, I don't understand a word of it, but it looks fantastic !! The salmon photos of mine were shot out on the Gaspe peninsular over on the east coast of Canada - pure sight fishing for Atlantic salmon in the clearest rivers I have ever seen. What a lot of fly anglers don't know is that most of this east coast Canadian salmon fishing is really cost effective, and it takes hardly any time to get over there. Flights are usually dirt cheap as well. Talk to Pete or Charlotte at Aardvark McLeod about going there.

• I also received a copy of the German fishing magazine Blinker yesterday, and in there is a big feature of mine on the frankly scary-awesome lure and fly fishing for giant golden dorado in Argentina. I am especially pleased with the big double-page spread photo of mine that they used, of a jumping dorado with a popper in its mouth. Heading to this particular location that is in the feature is not cheap, but they are virtually fully booked up because it is THE best place on earth to chase the biggest golden dorado. These magnificent fish are still one of the most impressive freshwater species I have ever come across, and I really want to do a lot more with them. Again, if this kind of fishing floats your boat, talk to Aardvark McLeod. I would never do this kind of thing if it was not an important part of my work, and I never thought for one second that when I started out working in fishing that I would get to see things like this. But as I always say, it ain't ever close to what it seems.........

A perfect day - very nearly ruined.....

• Yesterday was just about the best day I could have had without going fishing - my girls and I went over to north Cornwall to see some friends, and with the stunning weather, we all had a picnic down on the Camel estuary and basically had a blast building sandcastles, collecting shells and walking out on the sand at low tide. Out of the wind and it was really warm, and my sheepdog Jess was happy to chase sea gulls until we had to head home to Plymouth. What an awesome way to spend a Sunday.

• But the rugby on Saturday afternoon came close to completely ruining my weekend - I know the mature me should rise with ease above such an outright disappointment, but to do this took real strength of will. To say that England were awful (once again) is something I hate having to admit, but surely the time has come now to start dropping players who can not stop giving away daft penalties. I would hate to be Danny Care when Martin Johnson gives him hell - and the idiot deserves it, what an insane way to get yellow-carded. "Professional fouls" I can understand when you have no choice but to try and prevent a score, but the penalties we kept on giving away were mad. The only reason the game was so close was because Ronan O'Gara momentarily forgot how to kick at goal. How much longer can I keep on watching the England rugby team do so badly ?

• I heard from a friend over in Ireland that they had a couple of bass at the weekend, including a fish nudging the 5lb mark. These fish came on crab baits, proving once again that if you go to the right areas, bass are a real possibility all year round. I fully expect reports of good lure caught bass fairly soon from over there. They also had a huge flounder and some small sea trout.

• I generally have a fisheye lens in my camera bag, but it rarely gets used. It's the kind of lens to bring out only on the odd occasion, like the shot you can see above - sometimes a shot simply "jumps" at you, and I took this one a few years ago with my friend Graham Hill. Yet again he was smashing decent fish on lures, and with the generally pretty poor light we had that particular day, I was keen on trying something else photography wise to try and emphasise the majestic lines of these fish. The head of a bass always makes a strong impression on me, and getting in really tight with a fisheye allows me to make something of that feature. Personally I really like the shot, but I do have reservations about using fisheye lenses too much......

Shore fishing for bass in France ?

• Although the photo you can see above was shot in Jersey, in truth it could just as easily be over in France - a huge amount of French bass fishermen are fishing from fast, open boats with spinning rods and reels, doing the exact same thing you can see here. Tide, features, more tide, more features, bass love them all. Note the red Tenryu rod - these things are turning up everywhere, and this has to say something about how good they are. Starting to save up now for my Tenryu Super Mix 240..........

• Therefore a lot of the development we see with "their" fishing is related to catching bass off a boat. Of course there is a lot of crossover between this more modern style light tackle bass fishing, but you also need to bear in mind that a rod and lure that has been developed for fishing say twenty to forty metres down in a fast tide is most likely going to be of little use to us for our shore fishing.

• But I did spend a fair bit of time talking to various people at the Nantes show about the shore fishing opportunities in France. My spoken French is not nearly as strong as it once was, but I can get by. I love fishing from boats, and I hope to do plenty more of it in the future, but at heart I am most contented when I have to get out and walk serious miles. And I think I have come across some awesome shore fishing potential over in France for smashing proper numbers of bass and also wrasse on lures - I presume pollack as well, and those three species keep me more than happy.

• When I asked one of the French guys whether they caught any wrasse off the shore on soft plastics, he laughed !! They catch stacks of them (100 in two days last year), and some monsters as well - wrasse to over 8lbs from the shore, on lures. Bring it on. Plus when conditions are right, big numbers of bass on hard and soft plastic lures. One angler was describing a particular technique to me where he was working a very small, 25g vertical jig rigged with assist hooks to fish a particular area of the shoreline in a very precise way, and in three consecutive casts he landed three bass over 9lbs. Insanity prevails. The exact places they are fishing are of course not heavily publicised, especially with the pressure the French fish receive from so many mad-keen anglers, but it seems that you can have some decent shore sport if you look around. We shall see......

• As soon as time allows, I am going to try and head over to the west coast of France and begin to try and unravel more of what these guys are doing over there - and I really want to do a mixture of shore and boat fishing. It's perfect for me as I can just jump on the Plymouth-Roscoff ferry that departs about ten minutes from my front door. Seems to me that the open-minded, adventurous bass angler can find world class fishing in a lot of different places. Sure, it takes time, effort and money, but if you want to find the best fishing, it certainly ain't going to come to you. There is a part of me forever lost to the deserted coastlines of Ireland.

• I shot a feature yesterday with Nick Hart, for Trout Fisherman magazine. We never saw the sun all day, but we had a fantastic time with some stunning rainbow trout in great surroundings. There was not a breath of wind and this allowed me to shoot the kind of photo that you can see above - Nick casting a perfect line with that awesome looking tree perfectly reflected on the flat calm surface of the lake. A modern digital camera tends to want to try and slightly over-expose a scene like this, and as a result a lot of the contrast and "punch" can be lost. In a situation like this I have deliberately dialled in a bit of minus exposure compensation to try and retain the overall look.

• The trout that Nick caught were in fantastic condition, and this monster was the last one of the day. I lined this up as a cover-style photo, and in my head I could see the layout of the page already, but you never quite know what is going to actually end up on the front cover. We shall see what happens, but perhaps it is too far removed from "man plus fish" to make on to the front page. I really like how the guys at Trout Fisherman are making the magazine look, and I know how much hard work goes into it.

Off to France tomorrow

• I have the dubious pleasure of having to drive all the way to Stansted airport tomorrow morning to fly down to this big fishing show in Nantes on the west coast of France. The show is on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and if internet connections allow then I will do all I can to keep this blog updated with my findings at the event - especially on the bass fishing front. I have a feeling it will be a fascinating few days. All I have to do is to remain calm and not completely empty my wallet on lots of shiny new lures, rods, reels, and bits of soft plastic. From a phonecall with a friend of mine over in Cornwall last night, it seems that we who have lure fishing problems number many. He knows who he is, and he has got it really bad. I bet he blames me when his family question the arrival of yet another parcel at the front door !!

• Great timing as well because the Six Nations rugby is having a weekend off, so I won't miss a game. I feel a little better now about the future of English rugby, but perhaps that's just me willing them ever onwards and forever hoping eternally !! Think positive.

• For a bit of nostalgia, above is a photo of mine that was from the first time I ever met and fished/photographed with Graham Hill over in south east Ireland. He has become a very good friend and I look forward to many more days over in paradise - this picture made the front cover of Sea Angler magazine, where they cropped it to work on the page. See here for the cover.

• If like me you are chomping at the bit to get through winter over here and back into the proper light tackle bass fishing season, help yourself through these lean times with an eyeful of how bass fishing can look. Check here and here for a load of photos of great days in the past - and here's to hoping for plenty more this year.......

• I have just had a phonecall from my friend Rodney of Fish the Dream over in the Florida Keys to say that they have had a last minute cancellation. They now have the first two weeks of April free, and I know Rodney will do a deal on the fishing - this is prime tarpon time for starters, so if you can make it, get hold of Rodney right here. He is awesome on the tarpon and you will see a load of big fish hooked up - whether you can land these outrageously powerful fish is another matter entirely !! I should be heading out there in May to fish with Rodney. I can't think of a more cost effective way to fish the magical waters of the legendary Florida Keys than with Rodney.

• Some news on another monster metal release to bring a delightful ray of darkness into your life. Vreid was born from the ashes of the mighty Windir (RIP), and the new CD "Milorg" is a huge album. Riff after riff of shredding Norwegian style metal, all in the best possible taste. You can here some tracks here. This one is really growing on me, and I will make sure to blast this through my skull on the plane down to France tomorrow.

Going to the Nantes fishing show

• Like a kid in a candy store - I am in a high state of excitement about heading over to France later this week for the huge "Salon Europeen des Peches en Mer" show (see here). This will be the first time I have ever gone to this major sea fishing show, and with the emphasis being on bass fishing you can now understand my "mild" excitement at going. On the serious side, an event like this is work for me, and on a less serious note, hell, it's a chance to feed my (lure) addiction even more !! Soft plastic heaven here we come.....

• I am flying from Stansted to Nantes on Thursday and will be spending Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the show and then coming back home at the end of the weekend. My role there is to quite simply learn as much as possible about the rapidly expanding bass fishing market - I have various reasons for heading down there. If you have followed this blog for a while now, you will know how much I value what the switched-on French bass anglers are doing, and how much we are learning and still have to learn from them.

• Take the bass you can see above - this is one of the largest bass I have ever seen caught, and it was nailed on a peeler crab bait over in south east Ireland a couple of years ago. I love my bait fishing for most things that swim, but the more I learn about the increasingly modern ways of fishing with lures, the more I am convinced that bass like this one can be more regularly taken on hard and soft lures. Go to the right places at the right time, use the right tactics and mix it all up with a big dollop of luck and you might just see a magnificent fish like this on the end of your line.

• Allow these rabid mongrels into your life - you have to check out the new album from the British stalwarts Napalm Death, called "Time Waits for No Slave" - it is what I would term the second monster metal release of the year so far, right after this one here. A lot of people think that Napalm Death are just a load of noise, but you need to listen to them to hear just how downright groovy they are - yes, you heard it, groovy !! Heavy as hell, faster than a bolt of lightening frying your brain, but always willing to slow it down a tad and abuse your senses in the most proper of ways. Check out some tracks from the new album right here. If this does not get any self-respecting metal fan jumping up and down like a cat on a hot tin roof then you need to see somebody about it. Monday is getting better and better.

• And onto the Six Nations rugby - a glimmer of hope is how I would term the England performance on Saturday. OK, so the Welsh beat us (grudging respect to you lot over the border), but we actually stood up and showed some proper guts. We played some decent rugby and we began to look like a team who can think for themselves a bit under proper pressure. If we had not given away so many stupid penalties and lost two players to the sin bin we might have actually been able to win the game (ok, maybe I am dreaming). It always hurts to get beaten by the Welsh, but they were by far the better side and even then they have had much better days. They are growing into an awesome team (it hurts to have to type that) Is this the first sign of an English revival though ? Should I start getting excited again about England rugby ? Time will tell, but at least we saw a glimmer........

My favourite bass lure of 2008

• As we move swiftly into a chilly 2009, here are some thoughts on my stand out favourite bass lure of 2008. Anybody who has been following this blog will know that I have a bit of a problem when it comes to (shiny new) bass lures, but there was without doubt one single lure that stood out for me last year. Bear in mind that I am talking about a combination of what I saw caught, plus what I caught myself, for most of the time I tend to put my fishing gear down and take photos when the fish come on the feed.

• So my top bass lure of 2008 has to be the Tackle House Feed Shallow, as you can see in these photos. I saw a huge amount of good bass taken on these lures last year, and I actually managed a few myself as well !! Lures like this are not easy to track down, but you can get them from Mick at Mr. Fish. No, they are not cheap, and yes, you would be well advised to replace the (rubbish) trebles with some decent ones, but the lure kills, plain and simple. But why on earth does a company like Tackle House put such awful hooks on such a good lure ?

• There are of course many outstanding bass lures out there, and some need not cost a bomb. The continuously outstanding Maria Chase BW in holographic silver is going to keep on catching plenty of fish (get them here), and last year I really learnt a hell of a lot about modern bass fishing, and some of the tools we can use to improve our catch rates. Lures such as the various and outstanding Duo Tide Minnow and Terrif range, the Xorus Patchinko, of course the excellent Lucky Craft Flash Minnow, GunFish and Sammy (see here) are always in my lure box now, together with an expanding range of soft plastics such as the Slug-Go and the MegaBass XLayer. If you want to see a load of decent bass taken on various lures last year, there are loads of my photos here, here, here and here.

• But it was the Tackle House Feed Shallow that I saw the most bass caught on - bear in mind of course that a lot of the guys I fished with were using it a lot of the time, but there is obviously something about it. The lure casts well and fishes just below the surface at a fairly fast rate, with a stunning "side to side kind of slightly slashing" action, and this suits a lot of the bass marks I fish very well. The silvery/reflective colours are my favourites as I remain convinced that bass switch on to these colours both in bright and dull conditions. I remember one flat calm morning we fished in Ireland when nothing was happening - the sea was like glass and the clarity was almost too good, but eventually a nice fish obviously could not resist roaring out from behind a rock and smashing into my Feed Shallow. That was the only bass of the morning.

• If you have any interest in sharks and the sea, I really hope you watched the recent Natural World programme on the BBC - this was some of the most impressive great white footage that I have ever been fortunate enough to see, and the South African guy involved in the story has my utmost respect. This seriously was a hugely inspirational and stunning programme that every single person with any saltwater interest should make sure they watch. Great white sharks have always fascinated me, and they will continue to do so. If you live in the UK and missed this programme, you can watch it on the BBC iPlayer service right here. Immense in every way.

• Anyway, back at work and 2009 stretches out in front of us all - here's to the best possible year in what we all know are going to be some turbulent times. But if there is one thing to get us all through whatever happens, it has to be fishing. What else can provide such a release and a rush at the same time ? What else forces us to keep learning new stuff all the time ? Here is to a successful fishing year for us all, whatever you choose to fish for, and wherever you do it.