Blogs

Barbel and Absolute Seafood - My way.

The Absolute Seafood came about from my want of a good fishy type bait in the Quest Baits range but not containing much in the way of bulk oils and fat. I wanted a bait that would leak out its attraction quickly and would be very easy for the fish to digest particularly during the cold. 

Four double figure barbel in four very short evening sessions

The conditions on the river had been superb for catching Barbel on the Trent right from last week-end yet alas things conspired to keep me away. How I wanted to get out last Sunday after the long awaited rise in river levels but other things had to be done. I was desperate for a picture of a carp laying at the side of a bag of the new ‘Magnum Duo’ for something I was working on so Sunday saw me getting a bit of carp gear together and venturing over to a water I had not cast into for 10 years or so. It can be a tricky place but time wasn’t allowing me to travel too far so I took a gamble.

8 x mini Spombs and 6 x pouches of the Magnum Duo scattered loosely in the area in front turned out to be the right approach. I was lucky, my 3 hour session rewarded me with what I wanted and it was lovely to re-acquaint myself with one of the Rosehip Pool fish. It had fallen to a bait right on dark on the Sunday evening so a pleasant end to my week-end escape from the office.

Big Barbel ground bait cage feeder mix

It has become a daily question both in emails and phone calls about my feeder mix I have been using for the barbel I have been catching, so hopefully this will make things clearer.

Thwacky Racers - Barbel Indicators

I regularly get asked about the coiled white cylinder visual indicators I have connected on my line whilst barbel angling that allow me to wander my gaze taking in the surrounding wild life. Here is a step by step reason I use them and how to make your own.

Barbel Landing Net Endorsement

I would say that one of the best endorsements of any angling product would be from someone with no connection to the company whatsoever, who angles a lot and has used the product for over a 12 month period which is ample testing time to encounter lots of differing situations. Then due to losing the said product (don’t ask) the angler goes out the very next day to replace with exactly the same product.

Barbel Thoughts and Musings a Month Into the Season - 2013

A look back over the first month of my 2013 river season which produced many double figure barbel.

Angling's Fine Things

I make no apology for taking the words from Nigel ‘Fennel’ Hudson for part of the title of this short Blog as ‘Fine Things’ to me is such a great description of those special and delightful things we gather in our lives.

My ‘Fine Things’ are indeed very special to me and in most cases these objects, belongings, inheritances and so on, are usually quite old items with a long story to tell. As I think about these ‘Fine Things’ I wonder if they always were ‘Fine Things’?

Were they considered ‘Fine Things’ when they were new, or did they become more so in later years?

My first 5 days of the 2013 river season.

Notes from my diary covering the first few days of a new river season.

Shaun Harrison 2013 Angling Journal – the first week.

I am not one for making new year resolutions but I guess deep down for a while now I have promised myself a little more time angling on my local patch and to try and not keep pestering the carp week in and week out. It is so easy to find yourself in a routine simply because it suits. For years now I have pointed my Land Rover bonnet south or west and driven for a couple of hours for most all of my angling and in doing so, I invariably pass so much incredible fishing along the way.

Bonus Perch Between Carp Feeding Times

Why not have a cast with a lighter rod out of the main feeding times to see what else lurks in the water you are carp fishing? I did and was amazed at my results.