Bring on the mackerel

• No more than a bait fish to many anglers, the humble mackerel is so much more. I can't wait for them to turn up in proper numbers around here so that I can take my daughters out fishing off the shore for them. They may or may not like going fishing in the end, but at least I can give my girls a chance to find out for themselves. They love eating fish, so I reckon if I can get them to catch a few that we can cook up together, at least they can experience the whole thing and then see if they like it.

• I am off to the Isles of Scilly in a couple of weeks, mainly to spend a few days with my wife over our 10th wedding anniversary (where does time go ?), but also to have a bit of time fishing with my mate Del over on St. Mary's. If the weather allows us to, we have some decent tides for a bit of mullet and pollack fishing, and I can't wait to get back over there. One of the most special places on earth, with some mighty fine fishing when things come together.

• I was thinking a bit the other night about my own fishing, and I came to the conclusion that I need to get back into my mullet fishing in a proper way. Light, mobile fishing is what really gets me going these days, and I used to be really heavily into mullet fishing a few years ago when I had a whole lot more time. There are few better fish to go for around our coastline, so I am going to make a concentrated effort to have a few trips out.

• Mullet can do your head in a major way (and I can lose my temper at them occasionally), but when they do take and explode off on that first run, it is something really special. I accept that the majority of our shore fishing in the UK is based around long, heavy shore rods, but most anglers from the saltwater world can not believe the thrill at sight fishing for mullet on what is essentially freshwater fishing gear.

• And on the metal front, another classic death metal band from my past has reformed and released a pretty damned good comeback album. Pestilence were always at the forefront of the extreme metal world, but they seemed to fade away after their last album. But they are back now, and their brand new album "Devouring Frenzy" is heavy as hell and drives into the middle of your skull like a drill. Check out some new tracks right here. That voice (roar !!) is still as instantly recognisable as it always was. Monday morning is always a good time for some decent extreme metal. We had a big family wedding over the weekend up near Birmingham, and Pestilence's metal precision is certainly making me feel a whole lot better this morning.

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.

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.

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.....

Bass fishing - the future ?

• How on earth can such a seemingly simple bit of soft plastic like you can see above create such wanton desire among so many bass anglers ? A modern soft plastic lure like the MegaBass XLayer is to the untrained eye probably no more than a slightly dubious looking ribbed bit of strange rubber, but in the hands of a decent bass fisherman this thing comes alive. Watching the French guys demonstrating various hard and soft lures in the tanks was a real eye-opener. The XLayer for example is designed to be worked in slower tides, with a jig head roughly the shape of the one you can see above. You then literally make it jump and twitch up and down as you retrieve it. Kind of like the guys were using them when I was last over in Ireland in fact - and the bass were nailed big time. See the photos here.

• You need to be able to impart such subtle movements and twitches to these things, and the more information that is literally transmitted down the rod and through your hand and arm will mean more bass caught. Might sound like rubbish, but it's true. That is why I a starting to save up for the red Tenryu Super Mix 240. The right tool for the job.

• By no means am I am now saying that the only people who really know how to catch bass are the French, because that's rubbish. I know some pretty good bass anglers myself who can smash the fish big time. But on a personal level I like to learn all the time. I don't like standing still. The French are doing a lot of different things to us, and it fascinates me.

• The lure you can see above is one of the best looking hard plastic lures I have ever seen - the picture of it does no justice to the overall shape and appeal of this thing, but when I saw this IMA Imagene 130 sitting in a glass stand at the Nantes show, my eyes nearly popped out of my head. This is a shallow diving lure that is designed to worked fairly fast, much like the Maria Chase BW, the Tackle House Feed Shallow and the various Duo Tide Minnow lures, the IMA Imagene will soon be in my tackle box, and specifically in the colour you can see above. A top-end Japanese lure like this does not come cheap, and they can be really hard to get hold of, but I know that in a while you will be able to get them right here. Ask and ye shall receive !! (after abusing your credit card of course) I have heard such good reports about IMA lures, and there is also a slightly smaller 110 model of this one that swims even shallower. Not that I like lures or anything.......

• I had an email from my mate Cato over in Norway, and he caught a 17lb coalfish the other day when he was out ice fishing. That is some fish to catch off the shore !! A guy he knows was ice fishing last week and caught an 80lb ling - yes, you read it right, eighty pounds. Not off the boat, off the shore. OK, off the ice then. Wow. They have got some incredible fishing up in Norway. Cold but insane. Check out Cato's awesome drumming on this life-changing metal album here.

Yes, I am a grown-up

• At least that is what I keep telling myself. I am now nearer 40 than 30, I have a wife and two children, I am self-employed, I pay my taxes (wish I didn't have to though), and I read The Times and Terrorizer magazine at the weekend. But I am still a fishing junkie at heart, and there ain't anything that will ever change that....

• I am out in France, in my featureless, bland hotel room, slowly going up the wall. Bouncing off the ceiling in fact. Woke up at silly o'clock this morning thinking about all the shiny lures, (red) rods and assorted bits and pieces that I am going to see at this Nantes fishing show today. Remember, this is a work trip for me, but there is no harm in loving your job. I have already written a fishing feature on my laptop this morning, done my emails, listened to loads of proper metal on my iPOD (that will never change either), drunk far too much coffee, and still it is not even time for breakfast. I have been fishing since I was seven years old, and still I can get so excited by it all that I can't sleep properly. Who needs drugs when you've got fishing ? And this is just a fishing show - it's not even going fishing. Do I have a problem ? Mmmmmmm.........no comment.

• When I can I will report back on this blog with my thoughts on the show. It should be a real eye-opener and I can't wait for it to start. I have so much to learn and absorb, and it is this which has got me so buzzed-up (ok, plus the rods, reels, lures, boats etc.) I've been up for hours now and I need to calm myself down a bit. Some more coffee I think.....

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........

It's getting very hard.......

• .....to keep watching England play rugby. James and I got back into Heathrow on time on Saturday morning, and I made it back to Plymouth in plenty of time to watch England take on Italy in the opening match of the Six Nations. My wife and two daughters had made me a birthday cake, so I did the decent thing and Sky +ed the second half of the rugby......

• How bad can a game of rugby get ? I am a fanatical England rugby supporter, but I am finding it increasingly tough to keep watching the turgid rubbish that they keep playing. OK, so we essentially thrashed a very weak Italian side, and a win is a win, but it's just such boring, depressing stuff to watch. I am not one of those people who demands that England play expansive rugby all the time, but the stuff they are churning out at the moment would test the most hardy of souls. What on earth is going on ? England's greatest ever skipper (Martin Johnson is GOD) is in charge of the team, yet even he can't seem to get the team playing with any intelligence or "think on your feet" attitude. I am dreading the Wales game next weekend, and how often do you say that ? November 2003 seems like a lifetime ago.

• One bit of good news is the release of the first great metal album of the year - the mighty Kreator keep on churning out the classics, and their latest CD is a ferocious thrash metal assault that will make any morose rugby fan smile. I keep reading about the "rebirth of thrash metal", but as far as I can tell it has never gone away - how about The Haunted, Death Angel, Slayer, Kreator etc ? The new bands I have heard are not remotely fit to even polish the shoes of classic bands like these who are still releasing monstrous albums. Listen to a few tracks of Kreator's latest release "Hordes of Chaos" right here. The sweet sounds of anger pouring forth from my speakers have put a smile back on my face, and that takes some doing after the grim rugby and the even grimmer weather that has greeted me on my return from Belize. I have taken Jess for a walk twice today, and both times I have been dressed in full waterproofs - nice !! Thoughts of fishing are not in the forefront of my mind at the moment....

• If the weather lets us, Nick Hart and I will be out tomorrow to photograph a feature for Trout Fisherman magazine. A little different from photographing out in Belize, but considering the up and down weather we had out there I'll gladly get into my waders and photograph the entire day under a big golfing umbrella if I have to. I do not like being beaten by the conditions.

Now this is proper hardcore fishing

• I just had an email from Cato over in Norway, the drummer for one of the finest metal bands on this earth - scroll down to my post from yesterday and you will see exactly what I am on about. Not only can the guy drum like a human spider, but he is also a madly addicted and seriously good fisherman. I still owe him big time for the Norway programme we filmed a couple of years ago - without his knowledge I doubt whether anybody here in the UK would ever had heard of Rost to this day (see here for photos of the mad fishing).

• I thought my flounder job a week or so ago was properly cold (see the post here), but I now see that this was virtually a nice summer's day when you compare it to what Cato and his mates have been doing over in Norway. Look this at this page right here to see a photo or two of what they have been catching - I don't understand a word of it, but the fish speak for themselves.

• Proper ice fishing - I mean going out on the sea ice, cutting holes in it, and smashing some seriously good fish. How about thornback rays to 19lbs and spurdogs to 16lbs ? Awesome fish by anybody's standards, but now bear in mind that a couple of days ago they were fishing in -20 Celsius, right through the ice - no need for any casting either. Now that is serious cold, but the fishing sounds spectacular. Put me into cold like that and I reckon I'd curl up into a ball and start crying, but there is a big part of me that really wants to see this kind of fishing being done, and especially when you consider the fish they have been catching. Looks like very cool stuff to me.

• Cato also tells me that Enslaved have been nominated for a Norwegian Grammy for their outstanding album "Vertebrae" - if they don't win it, I'll be astounded. You see, as I always say, fishing and metal mix together just about perfectly. But perhaps not at -20.........

The best music of 2008

• Let's get a few things straight here - in another life I would have been a rock star, travelling the world, and ripping stages and audiences to pieces with the ferocity of our extreme metal assault. But there is one tiny problem, and that is that I never had more than an ounce of musical ability. I could but dream though, and believe me, I did. I used to have a recurring dream (no, not those kind) at school that I was a guitarist for Slayer, and waking up was always a complete let down.

• Fishing is what drives me, both as a passion and for my job, but my other obsession has always been music. I mean seriously obsessed as well. I have spent nearly seventeen years trying to convince my wife (then girlfriend many years ago) that there is no better music than metal, and that all other music means nothing at all. Seventeen years of trying, and still she dislikes it as much as the first time I played here Slowly we Rot by Obituary and told her that this had changed my life for the better. And she agreed to marry me !! Women eh ?

• 2008 was an epic year for metal, but then I feel this every single year. Just when you think that nothing can top your latest favourite album, another one comes along and blows you out of the water. Many awesome bands released great albums last year, such as Amon Amarth, Septic Flesh, Opeth, Keep of Kalessin, Deicide, The Haunted, Martriden, Meshuggah, Nachmystium, Satyricon, AC/DC, Hail of Bullets - you name it, I bought far too many as per usual, but they all give me countless hours of listening pleasure. Rest assured that many a fishing feature is written this end while nodding my head in time to the music. Writing about deftly casting a fly in some remote little river mixes just great with the mighty Amon Amarth pouring forth from my speakers......

• But there is one album from 2008 that stands head and shoulders above the rest. A release so good that I am still getting my head around it now, and that is after so many listens I know virtually every single drum beat off by heart. Norway's Enslaved are of course one of the most respected bands in metal, but even they have managed to surpass their previous efforts with the mighty "Vertebrae" - from the very first spin of the CD my eyes were popping out of my head. Can metal really be this layered, this textured, this subtle even, and just so damned good ? Anybody with any interest at all in heavier music should get hold of this CD, I can't praise it enough. A part of me thinks that I should be trying to find fault with the album because I know their drummer Cato through fishing, but I can't. Rarely does an album just keep on growing every single time you listen to it, but this one does. Cato's drumming is just immense.

• Don't just take my word for it - listen to a few tracks right here. Then listen to them again, because this music requires plenty of time to breathe. There is that much to it. Then get hold of the album here. There is no benefit to me saying where to buy Vertebrae, and there is no financial incentive to me saying it is as good as it is. I bought a copy of the CD, as I do with all my music, but it gets me going that much that I want loads more people to realise just how awesome Enslaved are. They have taken the term extreme metal and spun it so hard on its axis that I reckon many other bands are wondering what on earth to do next. Anybody with any interest in metal should have this CD in their collection.

• You could even stop working for a minute or two and watch an outstanding video off the new album, click here to see it. I see that the extreme music magazine Terrorizer also has this new Enslaved album as their no.1 release of 2008 - great minds think alike !! If they had not chosen it, I would have cancelled my subscription as a protest.

• So there you have it - 2008 was an emotional year on the music front, and I reckon there is a whole load more to look forward to this year. The new Kreator album is already on its way to me for starters. Rarely does an album rise so far above the rest though, but Vertebrae is just that. Enslaved are where it's at.

Stunning winter weather

• The weekend was about the most beautiful weather imaginable for December, and I have rarely seen the north coast of Cornwall looking so good (we certainly got no days like this in the summer !!). Friday was a howling west/northwest wind that was snorting into the Camel estuary, giving awesome conditions for the numerous windsurfers and wake-boarders who were out around the famous Doom Bar. And then on Saturday and Sunday there was hardly a breath of wind, with big blue skies and no clouds - the swell died right off and my two girls had a blast playing on the virtually deserted beaches, plus Jess could chase sea gulls for hours. A perfect weekend, especially with a round of golf at Trevose. I also reckon I found a couple of potentially interesting places to try for bass.......

• I heard from Graham over in Ireland, and he nailed five bass yesterday up to about 5lbs - great fishing, and all the fish came on these MegaBass XLayer soft plastic lures, on very neap tides. Modern hi-tech lures like these do not exactly come cheap, but they are proving to be lethally effective for the bass. You can get hold of them right here. It seems like the bassing over these has not slowed down at all.

• Monday morning could not pass without a decent dose of proper black metal to get you through. Check out a great black metal band from Germany called Paragon Belial - listen to some tracks here. I love coming across some of the more obscure metal bands out there, and the actual CD can be hard to track down. I got mine here. This is a website worth noting down if metal is your thing. I love the album artwork below. Classic extreme metal.

• Another great thing for a winter Monday morning is the news that there is a new video out out from the band who has in my mind released the metal album of the year (see here). Check out the video to the song "The Watcher" here, off Enslaved's very recent masterpiece "Vertebrae". Awesome video, and what a truly outstanding metal album - I am loving it that much that I am actually trying to limit the amount I listen to it for fear of overplaying it. Vertebrae seriously is that good. This one gets inside your skull and will not let go.

• I am out photographing with Nick Hart tomorrow, for a Trout Fisherman feature. The weather forecast continues to look good, so hopefully we might get those big blue skies for the shoot. There is something very cool indeed about being out and about when the winter weather is showing us just how fantastic this country can look.

On the ferry to Ireland

• We have just left Fishguard on the Stena Line ferry over to Rosslare - due to arrive over in Ireland about 6pm tonight, and then I will get myself to the hotel and meet Graham to make a plan for tomorrow. I am just a little bit excited to be heading back over !!

• It was an awesome gig last night at the ULU in London - Satyricon were immense, as I thought they might be, and the sound was generally outstanding. I have wanted to see these guys for ages now, and it was a blast. Norwegian black metal pouring off the stage in a wave of technical brilliance is as good as a gig is going to get, and they played a really strong selection of tracks. I am a bit gutted to be missing a gig on 1st December up in London - Cradle of Filth, Gorgoroth and Septic Flesh all on the same bill. I bet that is going to be immense !!

• I had a good couple of meetings up in London yesterday, so we shall see what comes of them. I learnt a lot about various ways to take some of my work related ideas forward to the next level, and I met some good people into the bargain. I now have to go away and develop a few ideas further......

• I got a text message from Graham yesterday to say that it has been fishing well, and that the weather forecast was looking pretty good for what we want to try and do. I had to try and keep my work face on all day, while inside I was in a complete state of over excitement about going fishing and photographing in Ireland. I just about managed to keep my sensible head on through my meetings, but now I am in full fishing work mode, itching to get to Rosslare. Reports and photos to come in due course.

Off to Ireland, via London

• I have not seen photographs yet of the monster Irish bass from Saturday, but I have spoken about it with Graham again - what a fish. Part of me wishes that it had at least been weighed and then released, so we could know exactly how huge this bass really was, but it does not really matter. It was a huge fish, and no doubt there are some larger ones there......

• I am heading over to Ireland on the Thursday morning Stena Line ferry from Fishguard to Rosslare, and if I can get hold of a photo of this huge fish when I am over there (people and computers/cameras eh ??!!) then I will post it up here as soon as I do. But before I can get myself over to one of my favourite places on earth (Ireland), I have to head up to London this evening for a couple of meetings there on Wednesday, and then I can get all emotional when I go to see the Satyricon gig with a friend of mine. Work, metal, off to Ireland for more work (that I love) - sounds good to me. This is our winter time and I'll take whatever weather we get over there, and I heave heard from Graham that there are also a few cod showing, as well as the bass. I don't reckon on getting much sleep over there on this trip, but who really cares ? Coffee, early morning extreme metal in the car and fishing photography can keep me going for days on end.

• Have a look at part 2 of my new modern bass fishing series in the latest issue of Sea Angler magazine - above is a photo from the feature on pages 50, 51, 52 and 53, all about where to go looking for bass. While it is impossible to cover everything you want to in just one feature, the issue of what I always call "watercraft" is in my mind the most vital part of any sort of fishing. Far too many of us spend far too much time worrying about rods, reels, and weird rigs, when in fact we should be spending far more time thinking about our quarry. This is partly why bass fishing drives me so much - I am forced to go back to the drawing board somewhat and learn new skills all over again.

• And as for last Saturday's rugby against the South Africans - gutted, truly gutted. As you can imagine, I had some "interesting" emails from some friends down there early on Monday morning, gloating over the record defeat, and generally asking what the hell happened. You tell me !! It has been hard to be an English rugby supporter since the glory of Sydney in November 2003 (the best day of my life), but we soldier on. One knock back after the other, but still we soldier on. The best man is in charge of the team, I truly believe that, but it looks like a team of scared kids on the pitch, almost frozen with indecision and a lack of free thought, endlessly recycling slow ball that moves laterally across the pitch with very little incision or depth. And we used to have a pack of forwards that were feared throughout world rugby, but not anymore. Come on England, let's get back to a squad of leaders like we had in 2003, and let's please start winning again. Make us proud, and save me from any more abuse from the South Africans I know. I need to be able to turn up there with my head held high.

• I am not sure when I will be posting here next, but most likely it will be when I am over in Ireland, so check back here for various trip reports - hopefully with a few photos of some decent fish and stunning light. We shall see !! This is my last trip away before Christmas, so it is going to be a great one whatever happens. Any trip to Ireland is just about perfect for me anyway. Bring it on.....

Outstanding black metal photo book

The cover of Peter Beste's book - "True Norwegian Black Metal"

• I have just got hold of the most awesome photo book called "True Norwegian Black Metal" that really should be part of any metal freaks' collection. Anybody with any interest in black metal will I am sure be aware of the US photographer Peter Beste - there is nobody I know of who has done what he has done. He has got right to the heart of this fascinating sub-culture and come out with a collection of incredible photos, many of which you will have seen in various music magazines etc. Check out Peter Beste's website right here, and check out some of his incredible black metal photos here. This guy has got proper talent and I am really pleased to have got hold of a copy of his new book. I know you can get it on Amazon., because that's where I got mine.

• The great thing about black metal (music aside) is that it is a highly visual, theatrical form of music that really lends itself to being properly photographed. Whatever your feelings are about what went on some years ago now, black metal has morphed into a thriving musical genre that covers the globe. Norway though is always referred to as the spiritual home of black metal, and they happen to have some awesome fishing as well. I have just heard of another monster halibut in fact, around the 400lb mark - that is some fish. See how easily I can slip between my two favourite subjects ? I am really glad that a decent photographer has dedicated proper time to covering the visual side of extreme metal.

• The photographer Peter Beste has also made a documentary on black metal, and more specifically the mighty Gorgoroth and their main guy Gaahl (listening to them as I type this, inspirational stuff !!), and you can go to his MySpace page right here and watch it. Scroll down the page, it is on the left hand side. Isn't the internet great for things like this ?

• I am getting very excited about heading over to Ireland later next week. I have got a couple of meetings in London next Wednesday, followed by the Satyricon gig that evening. Rock on !! Then on Thursday morning I will drive to Fishguard to catch the Stena Line ferry over to Rosslare, ready I hope for four days of intense fishing and photography for some cod and bass. All I can do is hope that the weather allows us to do as much as possible, but I'll take whatever comes along, especially at this time of year. It is meant to be getting properly cold down here over the weekend, so we shall see what happens.

Tournament casting

• A couple of friends of mine have just got into a bit of tournament casting, and I think they surprised themselves when they went to their first casting tournament in Cornwall on Sunday. They are both seriously talented anglers who catch more fish than a lot of us put together, and they can both put baits where they need to most of the time - but with a lot of anglers, there is always the question of "how far is my lead actually going ?" (and on the flip side, a lot of anglers wildly exaggerate how far they are casting. 200 yards with bait ? Dream on !!! Most guys have no idea how far 200 yards actually is.)

• I used to do a fair bit of tournament casting when I was at university down here in Plymouth (those were the days - as much time as I wanted), and I was taught how to pendulum cast by a really kind local angler called Kelvin Bedford. Never once did he clutter up our minds with endless technical rubbish, rather he helped me and a couple of mates to simply develop our casting to the point where we were doing pretty well. My mate Chris could chuck a lead an awesome distance.

• I did ok at a few casting tournaments (and I had huge fun doing so), but I had always promised myself that if I ever went casting instead of fishing, then the casting would be knocked on the head immediately. I caught myself one day heading off to practise casting when the weather and tides were perfect for fishing, and that was the last time for me. To this day I have never done a pendulum cast when I am out fishing, and I still believe there is no need for it at all on the beach or the rocks.

• Yes, learning to pendulum cast properly was a very good thing to do, but a full pendulum cast belongs on the tournament field only. It creates huge power if done properly, but it is impossible to hold on to a full blooded tournament pendulum cast when you are in a proper fishing situation. I have still yet to meet an angler who can execute what I would call a "really good pendulum cast" when out fishing. Instead I have had to duck far too many times as people give it a go and do nothing but endanger themselves and us guys around them. Leads and baits flying around all over the place is downright dangerous, and far too many anglers simply are not compressing their rods at all (look at the photo above - that is Julian Shambrook bending a rod properly). No compression ? No distance.................

• But, and this is a big but - learning to pendulum cast taught me one vital thing : how to bend a beachcasting rod properly. I learnt what it took to compress these things, and from that knowledge, I then developed my own kind of out and out "fishing cast" for those times when a bit of distance is required. It delivers huge power if needs be, but it is always under control and I am never swinging a big lead and bait around my head and causing danger to guys around me. It works just fine, it gets me out there if needs be, and I can repeat it again and again.

• And as we all know, more often than not we end up casting right over the fish !! Casting is a blast, and if whacking leads over grass is your thing, then that is fantastic. Me ? I've done it and I did fine, but personally I am more interested in learning all I can about the fish.

• Anyway, I need to tell you about another great extreme metal release - they keep on coming this year. 2008 is going to go down as a great metal year (that keeps denting my wallet far too often). And Norway has to be the most productive metal country on this earth. Satyricon have been around for ages, and they keep on putting out quality albums that offer a great mix of cold, harsh, but ever so catchy and memorable black metal (or whatever you want to call it), and their latest CD "The Age of Nero" is no exception. Pounding drums (Frost is awesome), a unique guitar sound, great production, and a bunch of songs destined to pummel my ear drums for many happy hours. This is a monster. My youngest daughter was 2 yesterday, and she loves it - how much more of a recommendation do you need ?

Fantastic fly fishing

• I spent yesterday up at Blakewell trout fishery, near to Barnstaple in north Devon, photographing with Nick Hart for Trout Fisherman magazine. It is a stunning place - really well-kept and full of great conditioned rainbow trout. As per usual, Nick did his part seriously well and nailed a few nice fish for my cameras. The light was up and down (mainly overcast), but we got a good looking feature out of it. Above you can see my attempt to make the landing of a fish look somewhat different - has it worked ? I reckon so, but we shall see what appears in the feature.....

• When the skies are grey, it somewhat cuts down your creative options, but I hate being dictated to by the weather and I am always on the lookout for some different angles to spice the day up a bit. I asked Nick to push this rainbow trout above right into my 16-35mm lens, and then I focused on the fish's eye and used a large aperture (f4) to blow the rest of the photo deliberately out of focus. Note that I am standing above him to make this shot jump out a bit. The other fishermen on the bank must have wondered what on earth we were up to !!

• Blakewell is a great place to fish and photograph, and I really like the way that the whole set-up is so well maintained and cared for. Above you can see Nick Hart pushing out a long line across the top part of the lake. There were some real bruisers moving around and chasing Nick's flies, but the monsters were resolutely refusing to be caught. Nick got some nice fish though, plenty enough to make a really strong article for Trout Fisherman.

• Below is Nick landing another hard scrapping rainbow trout - at this time of the year the fish are fighting fit, and yesterday the conditions were for fishing. Nick and I are out again tomorrow to photograph another stillwater feature. Gotta keep at it....

• I have just got hold of another great extreme metal release that you need to add to your collection if this is your kind of thing (check out the cover below). The UK band Cradle of Filth have always made good albums, but some have been better than others - I still rate their classic "Cruelty and the Beast" as one of their very best, but this new one called "Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder" is awesome, and it is really growing on me. Gloriously over the top as usual (come on, it's Cradle of Filth we are talking about, what would you expect ?), and with masses of proper metal riffs that get in your head big time. Listen to a few tracks here. Rest assured that this CD will be blasting out at proper volume early tomorrow morning as I drive to this trout fishery that Nick and I are going to be working at.

• And on the subject of metal, I posed the question the other day (see here) - is the new Enslaved album "Vertebrae" the greatest metal release of the year so far ? Well I can answer my own question with a very firm YES. This is a truly outstanding album that goes way beyond the confines of the term "extreme metal". I have listened to this immense CD I don't know how many times, and every single listen it grows on me more and more. Every single person with any interest in proper music should get "Vertebrae". We are not worthy.......

Slayer still rule !!

• I have just got back from a brief trip up to London – what on earth is wrong with our trains ? We got diverted at Exeter on the way up, because of “flooding on the line”, and then at Reading the train was cancelled !! Get out and find another one to London they said. Come on, seriously, is this possible ? I got to my meeting about half an hour late, but luckily it was all ok. It would have been easier to drive up.

• The main thing though is that Slayer still rule, big time. Few metal bands out there can rip a place to pieces like the mighty Slayer, and they did it in style last night. What an awesome gig. Many bands have tried, but no thrash metal band shreds like Slayer (and I include the once mighty Metallica in that statement - yes, they were once an awesome band, go and listen to Master of Puppets and you will see what I mean).

• Amon Amarth were first on, and I was really excited to see them live – they were majestic, and blasted through a good number of tracks. I like it when a band looks like they are having a blast, and these guys were up for it. Classic, rousing metal designed to rip you a new face. This band is going places.

• Mastodon are a good band, but sadly the intricacies of their music was drowned out in a terrible sound mix last night. I don’t know why Amon Amarth sounded so good and then Mastodon just sounded terrible. The drums were far too high in the mix and this completely killed what was going on. Sadly the same happened with Trivium, another band I like. Their latest album "Shogun" I reckon is really good, but they were actually too loud last night – if there can be such a thing !! Good songs somewhat ruined by another sound mix where the drums were just too loud and this meant you lost a lot of the guitars. A real shame as I have been looking forward to seeing these guys for a while now. Perhaps it is the acoustics in the Hammersmith Apollo ?

• But then Slayer took the stage – to be fair to the other bands, who on earth wants to come on before this lot ? Most of the crowd seemed to be there mainly for Slayer, and they were awesome. A far better sound mix, a classic selection of tracks (War Ensemble, South of Heaven, Chemical Warfare, Seasons in the Abyss etc.), and then they did what I hoped they would do – played the entire “Reign in Blood” album from start to finish !!!! I was "emotional" because it was so incredible – the first track “Angel of Death” seemed to jump off the stage and throttle you with the sheer intensity of it, and to be able to close a gig out with a monumental song like “Raining Blood” is off the scale powerful. Slayer still rule. Slayer are still the undisputed gods of proper thrash metal. Metallica, where on earth are you ? Slayer is a blueprint of how a thrash metal band should be and I love them for it. Worship at the church of Slayer !!

• Anyway, I had better check out what the weather is doing and see if there is any chance of getting out for a bit of bassing over the next few days. I have a lure that is new to me here and I am hearing that over in Jersey it has been catching some nice fish. Sounds like it might do the trick, so if I can get out and give it a go I will let you know how it does here.

Off to London

• Tomorrow morning I am taking the train from Plymouth to London, for an afternoon work meeting followed by what should be an awesome gig - The Unholy Alliance Tour at the Hammersmith Apollo. Slayer, Trivium, Mastodon and Amon Amarth on the same bill should be a proper assault on the ear drums.

• Our bass fishing on Monday evening was not a great success, and I am not sure why. There were plenty of fish moving through, of which some were of course mullet, but there were some bass around. Bob managed one small fish on a live sandeel, and I got at least three hits that did not pick up, but the fish seemed somewhat hesitant. Perhaps the rain we had last weekend did have an effect on them, although the colour of the water looked pretty good to me. The guys went out last night and had a couple of fish further towards the mouth of the estuary, and a big bass spat the hook right at the side of the boat, so they are around. I bet it was freezing last night out on the sea !!

• We had our first frost of the season where I live this morning, so I guess winter is well and truly on its way. What a stunning dawn it was, and really I should have been put fishing at first light. But work calls at the moment......

Check out my new bass fishing series in Sea Angler magazine

• I have been working on a whole series of features for Sea Angler magazine, based on modern bass fishing, and the first one is out right now, in issue 433 - take a look at pages 46, 47, 48 and 50. The photo above is the one they picked to go right across the intro double page spread, and I am really happy with it. It is of my friend Graham Hill casting out a bass lure at first light on the south east Irish coastline. See a bunch of photos from that particular trip right here. There are few more photographic styles of fishing than bassing, when the light goes off of course.

• Make sure to keep an eye out for these bass fishing features - I am working on presenting as much modern bass fishing info as I can, mixed together with a whole load of stuff about clothing, watercraft, lures, baits, locations and methods. This style of fishing really interests me, and I want to work on putting across a lot of what I have learnt, and am still learning day to day. I want the info to be both really helpful and very accessible, for I worry sometimes that a load of anglers coming into the sport can be somewhat overwhelmed initially. I have always believed that fishing is a pretty simple thing to do, and I work hard on trying to put that across. Strange rigs and fifteen different reels on the beach have never been my style at all.

• I am heading out later on today to try and nail a few photos of fishing live sandeels for bass, not far from where I live, and conditions are looking pretty good. We had a fair bit of rain over the weekend, but I am hoping not enough to be sending down so much freshwater that it turns the bass off. We shall see.......

• On Thursday morning I am heading off up to London for an afternoon meeting, and then that evening I am going to bang my head for a few glorious hours at the monumental Unholy Alliance Tour gig at the Hammersmith Apollo. The last time I saw Slayer live was at this venue, and they tore the place up big time. I can't wait to see the mighty Amon Amarth open the gig as well (see here). This one is going to be a blast.