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.........

Please support this fishing event

• I have been emailed about this hugely worthwhile charity fishing competition that is being held in aid of Help for Heroes (click on the poster for a larger view) - if you can do anything to help, please do so. One of the organisers can be contacted here.

• Help for Heroes can be found here - it is a charity that was launched last year to raise money for service men and women who have been injured in various conflicts around the world, and the amount they have raised so far is just staggering. This fishing competition is taking place on Saturday 25th October at Calshot Beach in Hampshire. The people involved in organising this have my utmost respect.

• Well done to Nick Hart for nailing a westcountry salmon for the cameras, see here for full details. I know how hard it is to go after a specific species when making TV programmes, so the fact that Nick and Shaun did it is great news, and I know how much the pressure must suddenly have lifted from Nick's shoulders the very moment the net slipped safely under the salmon. These programmes are due to air on a forthcoming internet TV station - when I hear more about their transmission dates, I will post the details here. I have seen one completed episode and it is awesome - Shaun Fenton is the guy who has produced and directed my last two series, and he knows exactly how to make good fishing television. Nick aint half bad either !! I am really looking forward to seeing the completed series.

• I am out this afternoon and early evening taking photos of some local bass fishing, right up a stunning estuary that shall remain nameless. We will be fishing from a moored boat, mainly with live sandeels, but of course I am going to fling a few lures to see what might happen. It should be a blast, but as is rather typical, we now have low cloud and grey skies that contrast somewhat with that stunning weekend we had. A picnic on the beach with the family in mid-October can't be bad, and that is exactly what we did on Sunday. And I was wearing shorts.............

Truly wild salmon fishing

• Yesterday over here was one of those days that I will remember for the rest of my life - we were taken into the middle of nowhere to fish for these famous salmon, miles up some logging trail, down what might loosely be termed a "track", and into the deep recesses of the woods !! Kind of sounds a bit like Deliverance I know, but it was truly special. We came upon this magical pool on the Little South West, a tributary of the Miramachi river, and for photos it was sublime. It is a big holding pool for the salmon, and with some rain the day before, our guides reckoned we should experience a bit of wild Canada. I am so lucky to have been to a place like this.

• To get to the remote salmon fishing out here, you need a serious four wheel drive vehicle, a compass in your head, and a deep understanding of your surroundings. I would get so lost out here. The guides that Country Haven Lodge work with are first rate, and salmon fishing runs through their veins - numerous generations of famous local guiding families have been involved in salmon fishing for ages around here. There is so much fly fishing for salmon out here that you could spend a lifetime fishing and still have more water left to discover - if you want to experience some hugely affordable (yes, salmon fishing does not have to cost the earth), world class salmon fishing, get in touch with Aardvark McLeod as soon as you can. This whole area is a hidden gem which we in the UK know far too little about.......

• There were a few salmon moving through the pool yesterday, and Pete managed to hook one on a dry fly - this is about as exciting as salmon fishing can be, taking these magnificent fish off the surface like a trout. The sun even came out to light up the scene just about perfectly.

• Here is Pete McLeod with his fish prior to release. What a special trip it has been out here - we fly back tonight, getting into Gatwick sometime on Wednesday morning UK time, and then I am heading back home to see my family. A couple of days later and I will be packing my gear up to head over to Ireland on Saturday to photograph some more of the awesome bass fishing. I hear that the weather has not been up to much, but surely that will change for me ? What a "summer" we have had !!

• More fly fishermen need to check out this eastern part of Canada, for there is so much awesome stuff out here. It staggers me that I have heard so little of rivers like the Bonaventure, Cascapedia and Miramachi - why is that so ? Easy flights from the UK, the fishing is not very expensive, and the salmon are all over the place. There is also great trout and striped bass fishing, plus whale watching, wildlife tours, and of course, the finest coffee in the world - Tim Hortons. Their coffee is my new addiction - far too nice !!

• Part of the reason that yesterday was so special was because we were give the most awesome barbecue right out in the middle of nowhere, on the side of the river. I have heard plenty about how good moose is to eat, and finally Pete and I got the chance yesterday to have some. This was the whole experience rolled into one perfect day. Our guide expertly cooked a whole hunk of moose on a portable barbecue, and it was one of the finest meats I have ever eaten - easily as good as everybody over here says it is. Just look at how civilised the whole thing was yesterday. These people out here really know their stuff big time. I really fancy wandering off into the woods to hunt me a moose of my own and bring it back for the freezer, but considering that the big bulls can weigh over 1200lbs, I think it might be a little hard to fit it all in my hold luggage !! Perhaps just a leg then......

On the Miramachi

• We fished for one more day up on the crystal clear Bonaventure river, and Pete hooked a couple of salmon - but both decided to come off !! One was a proper fish as well, but that's salmon fishing. You can see the big blue skies we have been having, which is somewhat different to the "changeable" weather that I am hearing about back home. Please be nice weather for my trip over to Ireland next weekend......

• Sight fishing to fish as magnificent as the Atlantic salmon is something very special indeed, and all reports around here are of a very good season this year. We left the Bonaventure early yesterday morning and drove further south into New Brunswick and the mighty Miramachi, one of the world's most famous salmon rivers. Pete and I are staying right on the riverbank at the Country Haven Lodge, another fantastic place where the people can not do enough to help you. Canada is a country that is easy to fall in love with, and I am even hearing about some awesome striped bass fishing not that far south from where we are right now.

• The Miramachi is a huge river system, with many tributaries that fish well on various water levels, and conditions here at the moment are pretty good. The river is a kind of tea colour, so it is not sight fishing, but still the guys are using lots of dry fly techniques and single handed rods to fish these waters. A 50lb plus salmon was landed recently, and one of the guys here took one of 22lbs yesterday morning.

• This is our guide Pete from yesterday - he lives right on the banks of the Miramachi and tells me that in winter they race up and down the frozen river on snow-mobiles. Salmon fishing out here is a religion, and everybody seems to be involved with it somehow. I am blown away by how few people there are in this part of the world, and just how friendly they are. When you come to a place like this, it certainly opens up your eyes.

• This is Pete McLeod wading the mighty Miramachi just as we lost the light last night - he hooked a really good salmon which decided to practise its own form of catch and release and come off !! Mildly frustrating, but we have a few days here to get the job done. Loads of fish are moving through the river system at the moment, so with some time on the river we will hopefully see a few nice fish. Anyway, it's about breakfast time here right now, so I had better grab some food, get the camera gear together, and head back out.

Dry fly fishing for salmon

• We had an awesome day yesterday on the Bonaventure river. Eventually the cloud cover gave way to big blue skies, and the rise in temperature really switched the salmon on. The water out here is crystal clear and you can see the fish lying up in the pools - the fact though that you can see them does not make them easy to catch !! These fish take real skill to nail, so it's good that I'm taking the photos and not fishing for them - my fly fishing ain't exactly pretty.

• Pete McLeod caught three fish, lost another, and rose perhaps ten more to his flies. There was nothing massive landed, but seeing salmon come up and take dry flies right off the top is seriously exciting stuff, and is a very unique way of fishing for them. There are some US clients here in the lodge who have been coming for this style of fishing every single year for ages now, it is that good. One of them had a fish around 25lbs yesterday on a dry fly.

• We saw some huge fish lying in the pools, some salmon had to be around the 30lb mark, and a couple of really big fish did rise to Pete's flies. The heart stops momentarily every time !!

• The dry flies are generally enormous bombers that sit high on the surface of the water and obviously annoy the salmon into having a go occasionally. It's very technically demanding fly fishing, something for the angler who really likes a proper challenge.

• Here is Pete leaning into one of his salmon as our guide Jean-Marc gets ready with the net. Such an exciting day and by the time the end of supper came I was falling asleep in my chair - the lack of sleep caught up on me big time. We are just about ready now to grab some more coffee and head out onto another stretch of river.

Arrived in Canada

• We arrived at Camp Bonaventure around 11pm local time last night, after an easy flight from Gatwick to Fredericton via Halifax (Novia Scotia), and then a five hour drive north up onto the Gaspe peninsular. The weather when we arrived was stunning - warm, huge blue skies, and then we drove north as night came in. The roads out here are seriously empty and the people are as friendly as ever. Canada is an awesome country.

• Bearing in mind that we arrived here at Camp Bonaventure around 4am UK time, obviously the body clock is a bit off, so I collapsed into bed last night and went straight to sleep. But it was less than four hours later when I woke up, thinking I had somehow had a lie in, when in fact it was 3am local time. So I have been pacing around waiting for breakfast while other more normal people are asleep, doing my best to keep quiet (yeah, right), sorting out my camera gear, doing some work on my laptop (as is the norm, it's free wireless access here - why is there not more of this in the UK ?) and thinking plenty about the job I am here to do. Plus drinking lots of coffee to keep the brain engaged. The first day on a trip like this is always done on adrenaline anyway.

• Current reports are of some good salmon fishing - we are going to be on a couple or rivers around here where it is all about sight fishing for them, and then in a few days we will drive further south and spend some time around the huge Miramichi river system. There have been Atlantic salmon taken to over 50lbs fairly recently, so we shall see what happens !! That is a serious lump of fish.....

• The place we are staying at is fantastic - right on the banks of the Bonaventure river on the edge of the wood. I know Pete is really keen to check this place out properly for his clients, so make sure to check back with him here in due course about trips out here. The lack of people out here is simply incredible, I love it.

• Nick Hart's Open Day last Saturday was a roaring success, and I was sad not to be able to make it. They had perfect weather and had stacks of people around to check out what was going on. Nick has put a full report up on his blog here.

• I am hearing fantastic feedback about this new online "Catch Magazine" that I posted about a couple of days ago - reports from the guys in the US are more than positive, so that is great news. I am proud to be involved with something like this.

• Anyway, it's about breakfast time here, so it's time to get something to eat, load up the trucks and then go and nail this stuff properly. I will put some photos up when I can. You have no idea how excited I am to be able to call this kind of thing my job.

Awesome new online fishing magazine

• Check here for a brand new online fly fishing magazine, concentrating primarily on outstanding, inspiring photography from the world of fishing. "Catch Magazine" has been created by Brian O'Keefe and Todd Moen over in the US, and considering that Brian is one of the fishing photographers who I most respect, I naturally jumped at the chance to become involved when they asked me. This publication is just awesome - the guys have pulled away from pages and pages of "look at how well I can write" text and instead have filled the online pages with "look at how scarily impressive fishing is" photography - kind of like fishing porn for the connoisseur. And I reckon the thing looks simply breathtaking - well done guys, I am proud to be involved.

• This is the premier issue, and they will be bringing a new issue out every two months I believe. I love this new kind of online publishing where there are loads of video clips and hotlinks inserted throughout the pages, meaning that there is far more than meets the eye if you are prepared to look. For those of you not up on these new forms of publications, there are full instructions on how to get the most out of Catch magazine if you click on the bottom of the cover page on "click here for navigation help". The pages "turn" just like a paper magazine if you click on the "Forward One" button on the bottom right of the page. You can also click on any of the features direct from the contents page.

• There are a whole load of breathtaking photographs in there from some outstanding photographers in the world of fishing, proving once again just how impressive fishing can look if it is done properly by people who really love the sport. I seem to be the only Brit in there, so I am doing my best to keep our end up strong !!

• Check out my "Greatest Hits" feature in there from page 17 onwards - I love what they have done with my material, and click on the "i" symbols on the bottom right of the pages to see more info on the photographs. As I said, few words, loads of awesome images, and a hell of a good concept. There is some seriously cool stuff throughout the magazine, including a couple of film shorts - it certainly opens up one's mind to where this kind of thing might go.....

• You can subscribe for free here - what have you got to lose ? It costs nothing, and when the nights draw in and the temperature drops towards winter (ok, so we've hardly had what might be called a summer), fire up your computer and drool over this new online magazine. This kind of thing really inspires me and I know that there are plenty of people out there who will really enjoy this new magazine.

• I am packing up for my trip to the east coast of Canada tomorrow - I am travelling with Pete from Aardvark McLeod, and current reports are of some outstanding Atlantic salmon fishing at all the three lodges we will be visiting. I will do my best to keep this blog updated throughout the trip. I am seriously looking forward to this one. The few days we had over there on the Gaspe peninsular last autumn were hugely special (see the photos here), and I am told this time that there is a real chance of seeing some salmon coming up to dry flies. Bring it on as they say !!

• Pete has got hold of some very good looking new gear from Hardy for this trip, and I know he is really looking forward to putting the stuff through its paces - not that he is a tackle tart or anything like that, but the guy has got a lot of rods and reels.

• My wife is much better now and I have been released from looking after my girls full time, so that makes it a whole lot easier to get myself ready and go away on this trip. Nothing in life is more important than family, and while I love everything about my job, it can be hard to spend so much time away from them all. Come the middle of October and I have plans to try and be around here for a proper length of time. But with what I do, work is work, and you never quite know what is going to come up from time to time.

• Anyway, next time I update this blog I will be over in Canada, so I wish you all good weather and stacks of nice fish. Please save a few for me.

It's perfect weather for fishing.......

• .......and I can't go. Light onshore winds, building spring tides, it's been settled all week, this is the time to get out and smash some decent fish. But I am babysitting my two young girls as my wife is has not been well at all and needs to be in bed to rest up - don't let anybody ever tell you that changing nappies is easy, because it isn't. Take it from me, I've got first hand experience at the moment. Changing nappies takes great strength of character, plus something to wrap around your nose to kill the smell and stop the gagging. My wife is on the mend thankfully. Fishing is naturally out of the window at the moment. I reckon a certain mark I know of would have worked incredibly well today for a bit of plugging for bass...........oh well, another day. I'd far rather be changing nappies on my youngest ?

• I took a few photos on Thursday afternoon of some light tackle freelining for bass just outside of the stunning Erme estuary here in south Devon. We spend lots of time on the beach down here with the family when the sun is out, but to head out of the shallow estuary on a boat was a real treat. If I could have a house overlooking this place I would never leave, it is that special, and it is rare to see many people around here. Above are the guys loading up the tender before heading out.

• Here's bass fanatic Nick Oatway freelining with live sandeel for bass - you can see how close to shore we were fishing, and it was a perfect afternoon's fishing. We had plenty of fish, including a fair few bass to around 3lbs, and lots of pollack that hit the eels hard and stayed typically deep. The guys have had some big bass around here in the past and the fishing just gets better as the year goes on - we have plans to do this again closer to winter when they fish in a very particular way for some big bass. If I get to do it, you'll see the results here in due course.

• This is Fraser Sanderson with one of the bass that was caught on live sandeel - I am going to have to admit here to catching plenty of pollack myself, but not one bass to my rod. There's always next time though. Light tackle fishing is the way forward in my book - you simply can not beat a balanced fishing outfit being put through its paces by fighting fish.

• Anyway, my sheepdog Jess had her stitches out on Friday morning, and we are allowed to give her progressively more exercise until her paw is fully healed. So, this morning I'm walking Jess and my two girls in the park when my mobile goes - it's Rob Yorke ringing to tell me about some fantastic ray fishing they had last night off some undisclosed rock mark. Rob caught and released a 16lb plus blonde ray, and was done properly by a bigger fish, and James Langdon caught some double figure small-eyed rays in the same session. Did I want to head out tonight to see if the rays were still around ? Perfect weather and tides, they've got loads of bait, what about meeting up at around 8pm ? Yeah, I'd love to Rob, but I've got a slight problem this end - I'm babysitting. What was that snigger I heard ? Gutted ? No, never, you go right ahead and smash a load more for me, I'd hate to get photos of big blondes off the shore !! No worries Rob, I'm changing nappies this end, seriously, it's a blast - I know you were really good at them in the past !!

• I'm off to the east coast of Canada early on Tuesday morning, so while the kids are asleep I had better get myself sorted for this one. I will be taking a load of camera gear to get as many different shots as I can - it could be a really special few days. I'll do my best to keep the blog updated as we go along, hopefully with some photos of some decent Atlantic salmon and awesome locations.

Monday morning - back to it

• By rights I should be posting a photo of the current dire weather conditions, but I can't face that on a Monday morning. Instead, here is a shot of one of my most favourite places on earth, the Isles of Scilly. Yes, we love to talk about the weather here in the UK, indeed some would say that we are mildly obsessed with it, but come on, let's be honest here, just how bad has this "summer" been so far ? Can it get any worse ?

• I had an awesome week on the Isle of Wight with my family, taking full advantage of any sunshine we got to head to the beach and go fishing for crabs, blennies and prawns with my two young girls. Luckily they still think their dad is quite sane when he jumps into the water and comes out clutching a crab in his hands !! How long they will think I am relatively cool for is anybody's guess though. But we had a blast - on one day we would all be whacking the suncream on, and on the next my wife and I would be walking across the beach in a bracing 50mph breeze. We got the lot and I loved it.

• The week started off fairly costly though as my sheepdog Jess cut her paw really badly on a rock and we had to take her to the vet to get the wound stitched up properly - not cheap, but vets know we'll pay virtually anything to look after our pets. Jess is still not allowed to go for proper walks, it was not a nice cut at all, but hopefully soon she will be fully healed so I can take her fishing again.

• Anyway, back to work with a vengeance, and life is about to get properly hectic again. I am off over to Jersey to photograph some bass fishing later this week for a few days, flying straight out of my local airport here in Plymouth - very handy.

• Another week or so here after Jersey and I then head over to the east coast of Canada to photograph some more of this awesome Atlantic salmon fishing they have in these incredible crystal clear rivers. Sight fishing for these fish blew me away last year, and I can't wait for this trip. There are a load of photos from that trip here, and you can find a photo essay here. Like last year, I will be travelling with Pete from Aardvark McLeod. And I rather bet Pete is hoping that we will not be sharing rooms so he can get some sleep - I tend to take a while to adjust to time differences and I seriously struggle to keep quiet when I wake up at 3am all the time. All I want to do is get out there and get the pictures, and I can't stand having to wait for dawn !!

• Virtually straight after this trip to Canada, I am turning around and heading back over to south east Ireland to get a load more bass fishing photos - plus some fishing of course !! As always for this kind of trip, I will be getting the Stena Line ferry from Fishguard to Rosslare. This is such a good way of getting to Ireland as you can carry all the gear you need and not worry for one second about weight restrictions etc. Check out a load of photos from my trip there a while back, see here.

• I have been keeping in close contact with Graham over in Ireland, and when the weather has relented they have been catching some fantastic bass as always. Jealous, me ? Never.....

• I am getting back from Ireland in time for my eldest daughter's 4th birthday - where does time go ? Then a week or so here at home before heading off to South Africa for ten days to photograph some rock and surf fishing near to the Mozambique border, and then some fly fishing for yellowfish on the Vaal river. See here for some yellowfish photos that I shot a while back. I can't wait to get back to Africa, it has been too long. There is no place on earth that feels the same as Africa.

• And then in October I am trying to plan it that I will be here in the UK for a decent length of time. It's all very well shooting all this material, but I then need time here to sell it properly, and I am also rather hoping that an Indian summer might just come along to give me a few more weeks on the bass fishing around here. Not much is happening right now with near gale force onshore winds, but a friend of mine had a load of nice bass on bait early last week before the monster winds. The fish are there, but too often we can't get at them. I am hearing of a few fish to plugs as well, but again, only when the weather allows it.

• I heard last week from my mate Cato over in Norway that a friend of his had just landed a 50lb halibut on the fly !!! I am really pleased to hear of this being done in Europe, so well done to the angler concerned - to actually go out and do this far out fly fishing takes some doing, believe me. I know that big halibut on the fly are a real possibility out at Rost, where we made a fishing programme and also I shot a load of monster coalfish on the fly, see here for the photos. April, May and into June are your best times for a go at the halibut.

• Make sure to check out Nick Hart's blog here. Not only has he gone and revamped the look of it, but you should check out his post here about an open day he is holding at Exe Valley Fishery on Saturday 30th August. Get yourself along for the day, it will be a blast.

Front cover

• I just received the latest issue of Sea Angler magazine in the post with a shot of mine on the front cover - it is a photo of Graham Hill over in south east Ireland with a nice bass from a shoot we did last autumn. It is always a kick to get a cover, especially with a photo of such a nice guy. I would not be fishing that part of the world if Graham had not contacted me out of the blue a few years ago now, so I am eternally grateful to the man.

• Check out the feature that goes with this front cover on pages 112, 113, 114, 115 and 116 - I really like the DPS shot they have used that covers 112/113. I like to shoot off-angles when the light and situation enables me to, and it is great when a designer picks up on it and uses the shot. Guess how many other anglers were about when we shot that feature ? Yes, you've guessed it - none, nada, squat, zero.

• For fear of moaning any more about the #':*"^&! weather, guess what ? It's raining and blowing hard outside yet again. Seriously, come on, surely we can't be having a summer like last year's ? On a more positive note, I reckon we are going to get a cracking late summer/autumn and the bass will be crawling up the line...............(somebody wake me up please, I'm dreaming again).

• I spoke to Danny Parkins yesterday and he told me about some nice bass he and his dad caught on lures on Sunday morning, when they had rather different sea conditions to the ones I faced. They also caught a scary amount of decent wrasse, with most going over the 4lb mark, and topping out at 7lbs !! Nice one guys, please can I come ? That is some fantastic fishing, especially considering the wrasse were all caught on heavy spinning rods.

• My mate Cato Bekkevold over in Norway sent me a link to some insane photos of a swordfish that was seen swimming in shallow water close to Oslo the other day, and he tells me that they are seen fairly regularly in the summer months. See here for one of the photos. That is far out.

• Scroll down the page of this Norwegian fishing forum here and you will see some scary photos of Cato in hospital the other day with a dirty great pike treble stuck in his hand !! I seriously hope that this does not affect his awesome drumming, for his band Enslaved are heading off at the weekend to film a video for one of the tracks off their forthcoming album. It will be called "The Watcher" and it will be in shops from 29th September. You can expect a full review on this blog of course. Now it is a case of counting down the days until the monster metal release...........

• It is great to be at home for a while, seeing my family and catching up on all the stuff I need to do, and on Thursday I am heading off for a week with my family, away from computers, fishing talk and the phone. We are off down to the Isle of Wight, and it is such fun to mess around on the beach with my girls and take my dog for long walks. Then things get seriously hectic again......

• Later this month I am going to head across to Jersey to do some bass photography from the boats, and then in early September I am off to the east coast of Canada to photograph Atlantic salmon fishing with Pete McLeod of Aardvark McLeod. I then head straight across to Ireland again to photograph some more bass fishing, back home for about a week, and then it's off down to South Africa to photograph some rock and surf fishing, plus yellowfish on the Vaal river with the guys from FlyCastaway. Phew !! I am not sure how life gets so hectic, but I am just happy to be working and making a living in fishing.

What a place.......

Canon 1D MK111, 70-200mm f2.8L IS lens (at125mm), ISO 400, f8, 1/100th

• This is an incredible place out here - the Namsen is one of the mighty European salmon rivers, and each year some monster salmon are taken during the season. We have been unlucky fishing wise and have come right in the middle of some unseasonal low water conditions, but above you can see the size of fish possible from this stunning river. When the water is up a bit more, fishermen are averaging over nine salmon plus per rod per day on the good beats, and that is some fishing. Lots of big fish are landed every week. I guess I am going to have to come back.....

• Is it not somewhat ironic that conditions back home in the west country have been good for the salmon, with a silly amount of rain, yet over here in big salmon country, we are hoping for just any rain at all ? I love the fact that fishing is so much bigger than all of us mere mortals who try to tame it - as it gives to us so generously at times, does it not at other times try to break our will with the sheer levels of frustration we can be presented with ? How is that for profound on a Sunday morning ?

Canon 1D MK111, 70-200mm f2.8: IS lens (at 125mm), ISO 400, f5.6, 1/500th

• In the end, I am here to do a job for Hardy & Greys Ltd., regardless of how the actual fishing conditions are - the salmon might be off the boil, but the weather conditions and light levels have been just about perfect for nailing a whack load of double-hander fishing and casting shots. Fishermen out here use a two-handed rod as naturally as we might use a single-hander. It is such a graceful way of fly fishing and I am really enjoying being around it again. Above is the Hardy & Greys Marketing Manager John Wolstenholme in the middle of a cast - the fact that he is a South African has been by the by. I never mentioned the cricket at all yesterday !! ( I am bad). Come on England.

Canon 1D MK111, 70-200mm f2.8L IS lens (at 140mm), ISO 400, f8, 1/320th

• As well as shots of fishing and casting, of course we need a bit of tight stuff of the tackle being used. Fly fishing gear often looks so good when photographed in the most natural way possible, and all I had to do here was to ask Ian Gordon to just keep his hand still for a few seconds as I lined the shot up. It is very deliberate here to focus on the reel and have the rest of the rod gradually de-focusing to the front of the shot.

Canon 1D M111, 70-200mm f2.8L IS lens (at 95mm), ISO 400, f5.6, 1/400th

• We have been working with an outstanding guide called Thomas Jonasson, who is originally from Sweden. He fell in love with the Namsen as he fished it many times every year, and one day swore to move to Norway and work as a guide. I asked him if he would fish a bit, and as is often the way with the guide, he has the most laid back and easy casting style that repeats itself time and time again. Thomas casts an incredible line, and he makes it looks just so easy. I really like the way this railway bridge has helped to frame some of these casting shots. This river is a dream to be spending time around, so I can only imagine what it is like when the fishing is going off big time.

Canon 1D MK111, 70-200mm f2.8L IS lens (at 150mm), ISO 400, f6.3, 1/1000th

• I could happily photograph Ian Gordon Spey casting all day long - he is on another level entirely when he is putting lines out. Ian is raving about the river out here, but he knows more than us about the need for a bit more water moving through. It is no different in Scotland - when conditions are right, salmon fishing has been really good Ian tells me, but when the rivers are low, fishermen are going to struggle anywhere. Ian is going to be at the CLA Game Fair, so make sure to grab hold of him and ask about Spey casting.

• It is my last day here today, and we are moving closer to the coast to try a different river, and from the sounds of it, we have a good chance of seeing some fish. A couple of small salmon were actually landed yesterday, and I met a Dutch fisherman who had been fishing for trout and then got torn to pieces by a good salmon that hit his fly - always the way !!

• When I get back home tomorrow, I need to unpack and then re-pack with all my Ireland stuff, ready to drive over there on Tuesday afternoon. I sincerely hope that the weather is going to behave a little bit - I can't wait to get into some decent bass fishing. And then it is on to the Game Fair - I hope to see some of you there.

Stunning double-handed casting

Canon 1D MK111, 16-35mm f2.8L lens (at 16mm), ISO 400, f5, 1/400, polarising filter

• I had an easy journey out here to the Namsen river in Norway - a couple of short flights and then a fairly long drive to where are staying. This place is stunning, although the river level is very low - somewhat different to the UK !! Today has been a beautiful day and it was a time to shoot a lot of casting photos. The main guy I am working with is Ian Gordon from Scotland, who is working closely with Hardy Greys on their salmon and double-handed gear - you would not believe how awesome this guy is with a two-handed fly rod. It is pure magic to watch Ian cast, and nailing it on camera is a blast. There is very little Ian does not know about Atlantic salmon fishing and using double-handed rods, but he is just so modest about it all. The local guys here who have watched him cast today were somewhat blown away. There is simply no thrashing of the air and water as there is with my own fly casting - Ian puts immense power in, make no mistake, but it is all used at the right time and in the right way.

• There are some monster salmon in the Namsen, indeed we saw plenty of fish of all sizes moving around and jumping today, but the light was very bright and only one smallish one was actually landed. But we are just about to head out again to take advantage of the lower light levels - bearing in mind that it is never going to get properly dark at this time of year where we are. I am very glad that my hotel room has got black-out blinds, otherwise my time clock would be all over the place. The chances of a few fish this evening are very good we are told..........

1D MK111, 16-35mm f2.8L lens (at 16mm), ISO 200, f16, 1/30th, polarising filter, Gitzo Traveller tripod

• Above is a stunning little church that overlooks the mighty Namsen river, something that I just had to photograph against this massive blue sky and fluffy white clouds. There is just so much fishing out here in Norway, something that we in the UK really should cotton on to more - we come across and do a bit of "bash big cod" fishing, and there is nowhere like it for that, but there is so much more.......

Canon 1D MK111, 70-200mm f2.8L IS lens (at 70mm), ISO 400, f8, 1/640th

• I was walking back to the top of the best to pick up my camera bag when I saw Martin Kelly fishing the head of a stunning looking pool you can see above. The secret here was to underexpose the shot to keep the contrast on the angler and the water, thus keeping the de-focused trees I have used to frame the shots nice and dark.

Canon 1D MK111, 70-200mm f2.8L IS lens (at 70mm), ISO 400, f5, 1/500th, Gitzo Traveller tripod

• We pulled away from the fishing just after lunch to go and nail some proper casting shots further down river where it was more open, and the light remained perfect. Ian had been casting all morning with this 16' Hardy Swift rod, and when required, was putting out huge lines and covering lots of water. The trained eye will know how good an example of a Snake Roll this is.

• Anyway, I had better clear my memory cards and get back out there - what a place to be working. I love my job !! And how well is the cricket going ? Come on England, we can do it.

Some of my favourite bass fishing photos

Canon 1D MK11, 16-35mm f2.8L lens (at 16mm), ISO 200, f8. 1/125th, polarising filter

• I thought it might be a bit of fun to create a web gallery of some of my favourite bass fishing photographs that I have shot over the last few years - mainly over in Ireland, but a few from the south west as well. Bass are without doubt one of the fish I most enjoy being around, from both a photographic and a sporting angle, and I have built up a vast library of bass related material. Check here for the bass fishing photo gallery. There is also a link to it on the homepage of this blog.

• I shot the photo above on the west coast of Ireland, on the stunning and wild Clare coastline - this is local angler Bill Ryan touch ledgering for bass on a remote beach as storm clouds gather. Check here for a photo essay on my trip over there a while back.

• I have just found out that a couple of "new" fishing programmes of mine were premiered on Discovery RealTime Extra last night - these two half hour programmes, called "Bass Fishing with Henry Gilbey" were cut from the footage of a bass DVD we shot a while back, and I have not seen them yet. But we had a complete blast filming the DVD (my producer/director Shaun is about as good as it gets), and the fishing was insane, so I would imagine that the programmes have turned out ok ..............and you know Discovery, I have a sneaking suspicion that the shows might just get repeated a few times more !!

• There are a whack load more bassing photos on my website, click here to have a look at them. I am looking at all kinds of things at the moment to give me a dollop of inspiration, for the weather is still completely pants here - how much wind and heavy rain are we going to get ? You've guessed it, I'm fed up with it !! I have worn full waterproofs to walk my dog Jess more in the last few weeks than I did almost the entire winter, and that can't be right. As for going plugging...............

• But of course there are some guys who are thriving in this wet weather - check out Nick Hart's blog for a report on some fantastic local salmon fishing they are having at the moment. After reading this, it seems a bit strange to be heading over to Norway tomorrow to photograph the same fish !! But it should be a good few days, they have been getting some really big salmon over there this season, so we shall see what happens. I will keep the blog updated as much connections allow me.

• There is a nice feature of mine in the new Sea Angler (pages 80, 81, 82 and 83), on the steenbras and kob fishing in Namibia (Africa) - I shot these a while ago, but I can never forget the outstanding fishing I have been lucky enough to experience out there. A bunch more photos can be found here as well. Out of this world.

• Dark, sullen skies outside call for a bit of extreme metal, and this is especially relevant to me, as Norway is of course the spiritual home of black metal - you all knew that didn't you ??!! But this particular band hails from the US, and their latest album is so immense that I can't really put it into words - "Assasins - Black Meddle Part 1" by Nachtmystium is a huge release, and you should be adding this to your collection as soon as possible. Check out a few tracks here. The kind of CD that takes multiple listens to fully open up to you, this is a true "grower" of an album. So good it brings tears of emotion to my eyes - just the kind of thing to have blasting at full volume in my car when I leave for Heathrow at 4.30am tomorrow morning. Ah, the joys of the M5 and M4 motorways........

My new fishing book in Germany

• I have just heard from the German branch of my book publishers Dorling Kindersley (DK) that my new fishing book has been translated into German and will be on sale there soon - with the new style cover that you can see above. I really like their choice of main cover photo, it is a shot I took out in British Columbia (Canada) last autumn, of the legendary steelhead fishing. Come to think of it, the weather we had out there was very much like our current British summer !! You can see a load of photos from the trip here.

• If you had no idea that I have even got a new fishing book out, then please check here for all the details, and then click here and get yourself a copy. I still can't really believe I did this book, it was a scary amount of work to cram into the last six months of 2007, but we did it in the end.

• I am starting to get my gear together for my Norway trip, leaving Heathrow on Thursday morning - flying to Oslo and then connecting up to Trondheim from there. All I want is perfect light and a load of big Norwegian salmon - not too much to ask is it ? I seriously can not wait to photograph this fishing, and I will keep this blog updated as much as internet connections allow me to.

• I am also getting my gear together for my bass trip over to Ireland, and then north Wales on the way back - I have just under a day when I touch down at Heathrow on Monday to drive back to Plymouth, see my family, transfer and back up all the Norway salmon photos, do as many emails and phone calls as possible, clear the memory cards and portable hard drives, and then drive across to south east Ireland. Tight, but it should all be ok. When you work for yourself and on your own in the fishing world, you need to be able to move fast and remain flexible. Modern technology and communications have helped me no end in my work.

• I'll take my lure and light bait fishing gear, plus all kinds of clothes, from t-shirts to wet weather gear - you never know what you'll get over in Ireland, but we have nailed bass whatever the weather so I am not unduly bothered. I would never even think of going bass fishing without my chest waders and wading boots, and on this trip I'll take my Hardy EWS breathable waders and wading boots, plus a pair of Greys GRX breathable waders as back up. If a mobile style of bass fishing is your thing, you seriously owe it to yourself to get some proper chest waders and wading boots - they will revolutionise your fishing.

• I had a long chat yesterday with Nick Hart, discussing our fishing demonstrations that we will be doing at the CLA Game Fair at the end of this month (full details here). I reckon we have got these ones nailed down tight, and they should be a blast to do, and to come and see of course - hope you can make it, please give us a little clap at the end in case nobody else does !! I really like doing these demonstrations and the feedback has always been very good in the past. It is going to be a fantastic three days at Blenheim.

• It seems as though the bass are around in fairly good numbers at the moment, but the weather is preventing a lot of us from getting at them. A friend of mine managed a decent plugging session before these big winds came in, and he had some nice bass to about 4lbs, plus he was smashed by a really good fish that crash dived on him and did him in the rocks. There are some nice fish coming from Jersey, but again when the weather gives way a bit, and the same over in Ireland. There seem to be a decent number of smallish bass on baits around South Devon at the moment (with the odd good one thrown in), but the sea is going to have to calm down for the lures to work again. There is so much colour to the water at the moment that it looks more like the Bristol Channel in close.

OK, joke over - give us back our summer

Canon 1D MK111, 70-200mm f4L IS lens (at 90mm), ISO 200, f11, 1/500

• Above is a photo looking across to Constantine and down the north Cornwall coastline, from Wednesday morning this week. I was on the beach with the kids and managed to get a few photos of the big skies and rough conditions just before my two young daughters turned totally blue from the cold wind. But as I said the other day, we are nothing if not hearty us Brits, and my girls were swimming/paddling in a rock pool as I took this photo, in little wetsuits of course. With the sea running at less than 15C, I reckon that is pretty hardcore - but you won't find me swimming in these temperatures, it's far too cold.

• I am really feeling for our charter skippers at the moment - this is a busy time of year for them all right now, and the weather is dire, plus it is forecast to get even worse. They are saying that we might get gales to severe gales tonight and tomorrow. These winds are playing havoc with their trade, and I only hope that we get a prolonged settled spell sometime soon. The fish are out there, but we can't get at them.........

• I am off over to Norway on Thursday, to photograph some salmon fishing up near Trondheim. I believe that it will be 24hr daylight when we are up there, so it should give me a chance to really push things hard and get some awesome photos. I have been wanting to photograph the salmon fishing in Norway for ages now, so this is my chance to get things started. I am travelling with a couple of guys from Hardy & Greys Ltd., so it should be a blast.

• I then get back to the UK four days later (the 14th), and the day after that (the 15th), I am driving over to SE Ireland for this bassing photography trip. It's not too bad a drive at all from Plymouth, about four hours to Fishguard, jump on the StenaLine fast ferry over to Fishguard, and then less than hour over to where my mate Graham Hill lives. I have done this journey loads of times, and I expect to be doing it plenty more in the future - the fishing is that good over there.

• I am travelling back from Ireland on the StenaLine Dunlaoghaire to Holyhead route, to do a couple of jobs up in north Wales, which I can't wait for. I will have more info in due course, but you can guess that it revolves around bass fishing !!

• And then straight after I get back from north Wales, I am heading up to Blenheim Palace for the CLA Game Fair, where over the three days (25th, 26th, 27th July) I am doing some fishing demonstrations with Nick Hart. The Game Fair is always huge fun, and if you have any interest at all in the outdoors (fishing, shooting, hunting, animals etc.), then you should try and come along. Please come and find me if you do, I will mostly be around the fishing area. If you have not been to the Game Fair before, you will be staggered at just how huge this event is, and there is far too much to do and see in just one day.

• I have just found out the exact times of our fishing demonstrations, and these are :

Friday 25th July : 12.15 - 12.45

Saturday 26th July : 13.00 - 13.30

Sunday 27th July : 10.45 - 11.15

• Remember to check out the photos from my recent trip over to Montana, check here for them. What a place, and both Nick and I are itching to get back over there sometime soon. In the meantime, speak to Aardvark McLeod about a trip somewhere nice and warm, with plenty of good fishing !!

• To sit perfectly alongside this vile weather, how about some old school, classic-style death metal to warm you up ? Hail of Bullets play it proper, and that means awesome riffs, sick vocals and a warming glow of nostalgia working its way around your body. If you remember the band Asphyx, you will recognise the vocalist immediately. "....Of Frost and War" is the title of the new album from Hail of Bullets, and you can listen to a couple of tracks here. Track this one down and I assure you that any die-hard metal freaks among you (and I include me here) will be banging your heads in time to this one. Ah, they don't make 'em like that anymore.............

Montana photo gallery online

Canon 1D MK111, 70-200mm f4L IS lens (at 70mm), ISO 400, f8, 1/200, polarising filter

• Check out an online gallery I have just created of some of the photos I took out in Montana last week - click here to have a look, or alternatively, look at the Links section on the right hand side of this page and get to it from there. I hope you like them - what a place.

• Nick Hart and I arrived back in the UK after lunch on Monday, and I got back home just in time to see my two girls before they went to bed. Going away for work is a blast, but nothing ever beats getting home and seeing my family - obviously I could not resist showing my daughters the clothes that I had got for them in Bozeman, and they insisted on wearing their new dresses down to breakfast the next morning. I never thought I would say this, but shopping for clothes for my girls is more fun than buying fishing gear or CDs - mad I know, but it's true.

• The trip to Montana was simply out of this world, indeed the place was everything that I hoped it would be and more. Where we were was without doubt one of the most stunning places that I have ever been lucky enough to see, and Nick and I are already planning a return trip to try and nail the Yellowstone river when it is firing properly. Talk to Aardvark McLeod about getting yourself out there sometime soon - it really is that special.

• It has been eyes down here since I got back, trying to process all the photos I took out in Montana in time to take up to Hardy Greys - I fly up to Newcastle tonight and then go through what I got up there tomorrow for their catalogues etc. On Thursday night I fly back down here and then go away on Friday for a few days with my family over to Cornwall. Yes, of course, the bassing gear is packed and ready to go - what on earth are early mornings and evenings for ?

• Above is one of the photos that I really like - moody light over the mountains, a really pretty little spring creek, and a fly angler looking carefully into the water for some willing trout. I deliberately under-exposed this image slightly, to accentuate the sky and retain the different colours in the sky and the grass, and I think it's worked pretty well. This is the sort of photo that I would really like a magazine designer to pick up on and run it across two pages, but you never quite know what your features will come out like. That is the nature of the business. You take the photos, hand them over, and then see what the various designers end up doing with your material.

Canon 1D MK111, 70-200mm f4L IS lens (at 75mm), ISO 200, f11, 1/400

• Above is the last photo I shot out in Montana, of Nick getting out of his waders and slinging the fishing gear in the back of the car for the last time before heading home. The sun behind is rising on another perfect Montana day, and I grabbed the shot just before it became impossible to place the glare behind the car and create a silhouette. These kinds of photos are not planned, for I like to shoot as much as possible "as it happens" - I tend to think that fishing never looks any good when things are set up and staged.

• I am really looking forward to getting back out and slinging some lures for bass. The weather seems a bit up and down, but it looks ok to me for a bit of plugging - reports are a bit sketchy it seems, but I know of a few fish showing. I really can't wait now to head over to Ireland in July to fish and photograph, especially after that huge 72cms bass the other day that I heard about. To get a bass that size on a lure would be something very special indeed......

• On the metal front, it is also very cool to get back home and find a new CD or two waiting for you - take it from me on this one, you need to go and buy "Kolossus" by the Norwegian band Keep of Kalessin. You can see a video of one of the new tracks here. Their last album "Armada" was immense, but this new one is off the scale it is so good - fantastic levels of brutality mixed with insane melodies that get you right between the eyes. The drummer is off another planet he is so good. This is without doubt one of the great extreme metal releases of the year so far. What on earth do they put in the water over in Norway to keep producing such immense metal ? I put it on yesterday while my daughters were having their tea, and they loved it (and my wife hated it) - that is all the recommendation you need !!

• Both Nick and I bought the most incredible book just before we left Montana on Sunday - it is not a fishing book, but it is without doubt one of the most awesome publications I have ever seen. Called "Yellowstone to Yukon - Freedom to Roam", it is a series of breathtaking photographs and short essays on this amazing part of the world - scenery and wildlife. The photographer is called Florian Schulz, and you can see more of his incredible work here. Some more details on the book can be found here, and you can buy it here for not very much at all. This kind of publication really inspires me to keep working on trying to improve my photography all the time.

• A friend of mine up in Scotland has just emailed to tell me about a 17lb rainbow trout he caught the other day on a size 16 fly, from a float tube !! Stuart is one of the nicest guys you could hope to meet, and he is an excellent fly fisherman into the bargain - I bet the fish towed him around for a fair while. He also tells me about some really big salmon coming off the Dee very recently........

Yellowstone National Park fishing

Canon 1D MK111, 70-200mm f4L IS lens (at 135mm), ISO 200, f10, 1/200

• Waking up yesterday morning well before dawn was inevitable, but it did give me the chance to watch the sun rising over the huge valley we are in here. Above is about the coolest site for a caravan that I have ever seen, just outside of Yellowstone Valley Ranch where we are staying. The snow that still tops many of the mountains around here gives a clue as to why the fishing is tough at the moment though.....

• They are having one of their latest ever springs out here - the snow-melt should have happened a while ago, but we are right in the middle of it now. The decision was taken yesterday to head right up into the world famous Yellowstone National Park to fish a few rivers in there. You can guess the levels of excitement from Nick and I as we made our way through the gates to the park and very soon encountered bison, deer and even a few elk. I had not realised just how huge bison are, but when you see one crossing the road like cattle of sheep would on Dartmoor, you get a full sense of their scale. Below are a couple of bison - I would love time to really try and nail some decent wildlife shots out here, but we have a job to do, and that concerns fishing.

Canon 1D MK111, 300mm f4L IS lens + 1.4TC (420mm), ISO320, f8, 1/640

• Now I would love to say that we smashed more trout yesterday than you can shake a stick out, but in the end we were skunked (bear in mind that this was a "play" day, in that we were unguided. Things change today !!). Make no mistake, Nick Hart worked his socks off on loads of different stretches of water, using plenty of different methods, but the local trout population were simply not playing ball at all. It is very much worth checking out Nick's blog for the technical details of what went on yesterday, but for me it was just a dream to be photographing fishing in such a place like Yellowstone National Park. We probably saw about 1% of this vast park, and still I came away totally in a complete state of awe.

• Nick and I are getting a load of photos together for Hardy & Greys Ltd., and the gear is doing great. Nick is using and wearing a bunch of brand new Hardy products for the shoot (some of which have yet to hit the market), and to put the stuff against the kinds of places we are seeing is just outrageous.

Canon 1D MK111, 16-35mm f2.8L lens (at 16mm), ISO 320, f8, 1/160, polarising filter

• Above you can see Nick tackling up on the side of the Firehole river - those deep blue skies and fluffy white clouds do it for me in a big way!! We parked up and dropped down the side of a remote valley to get in here, and both of us were surprised to say the least that a monster local brown trout did not go and impale itself on Nick's fly. Today is always another day.......

Canon 1D M111, 16-35mm f2.8L lens, ISO 250, f8, 1/80, polarising filter

• Above is the last bit of water we tried before heading out of the park and back for a late and welcome supper (the food here is far too good). This is a stretch of the Gibbon river that winds across a stunning meadow in the park, and to Nick's right were loads of bison, no doubt amused at us guys doing what we do. It was a frustrating day, for most of the waters literally breathed of fish, but sometimes fishing likes to kick you hard and remind you that it takes a bit of extra hard work to begin to come to grips with a place.

• I remain utterly blown away with this part of the world. Yellowstone Valley Ranch is one of the best and friendliest places I have ever had the privilege to stay, and the setting on the banks of the Yellowstone river is simply magical. This valley is on a vast scale - what a great place it would be for a family holiday. The great outdoors and masses to do - fishing, horse riding, white water rafting, hiking, skiing, or just taking it easy, you name it, you can do it all out here and I can't wait to come back already. Not that many hardcore fishing places make a great destination for the whole family, but here is in my mind just about perfect. If you want wide open spaces, stunning waters and a true sense of what it is all about, speak to Aardvark McLeod and get yourself out to Montana as soon as you can. Honestly, I can not rave about this place enough, and it does not cost half as much as you think it should. It's also very easy to get out here from the UK.

• A friend of mine over in SE Ireland has emailed me a photo of a 72cm long bass he had on the first day of their new bass season, 16th June - what a fish to open the account with, and of course it went back. They smashed a load of fish, so you can guess I am sure how excited I am to be heading over there in mid-July, right after photographing some Atlantic salmon fishing on the Namsen river over in Norway.

• And you might be wondering how on earth I have got the time to update this blog out here ? At the moment it is just after 5am, and I am typing this and watching the valley here light up for another perfect day in paradise. As always, I am struggling to get my body on US time - I woke up just before 4am this morning, thinking about photos, fishing and extreme metal of course. Lots of sleep is never really an option on trips like this, it's far too exciting to waste time grabbing loads of kip, and I can always catch up a bit on the flight home. Sleeping pills, headphones, iPOD, Norwegian black metal and eye shades soon knock me out. Anyway, it is fast getting light outside and in half an hour the chef will have filled the coffee pot up......