A SHORE angler has rocked the British record for a common skate, with a huge 167lb 8oz fish caught on the west coast of the island of Skye.Alaistair Bews, of Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancs, was fishing for conger when the big skate took a large mackerel bait mounted on a 6/0 hook. He used a Penn Progression bass […]

A BLIND cod, saved by a Norwegian fisherman after having been caught in nets and estimated forty times, is clinging to life after surviving a medical operation.The fisherman sent the cod to a marine park rather than throw it back into the water yet again, but it had to undergo an emergency operation to release gases […]

ESSEX fish dealer Mark Dallas of Premier Fish Supplies, Battlesbridge and Lee Coles of Chelmsford  face Crown Court after pleading guilty to charges of illegally importing live fish through the Channel Tunnel and failing to notify the authorities of the intended importation. Magistrates at Folkestone heard how 1.8 tonnes of diseased live fish were smuggled […]

COARSE angling’s governing body, the National Federation of Anglers, has teamed up with the Environment Agency in a unique initiative which will give many thousands of young people the chance to try angling for the first time. NFA officials have already contacted over three thousand National Association of Clubs for Young People, issuing an open […]

HUNDREDS or young people from around world are expected to join British actor Tom Felton in search of the biggest carp in America’s St Lawrence River and a whopping $10,000 top prize.The first ever St Lawrence International Junior Carp Tournament will take place hand in had with a new ‘I Love NY Carp Fishing School’ […]

PIKE & Predators, the only monthly newsstand magazine for the pike and freshwater predator angler in the UK, is set to announce a major new big fish competition in the next issue. Fox Tackle, who will provide prizes on a monthly basis for what the judges feel are the most worthy captures of a predator, […]

The Environment Agency is sending more than 600,000 letters to anglers urging them to buy their 2003/04 rod licence by Direct Debit.Letters will start arriving from today (Monday) and anglers have until the February 4 to return the completed mandates. In 2001/2 a pilot Direct Debit project was launched in the Agency’s Anglian and Midlands […]

 EX charter skipper Tony Way thinks this tremendous 43lb 0oz 8dr cod taken from a mark of Poole Bay is the biggest from anywhere around the UK for at least two years. The 63-year-old Parkstone, Dorset angler tempted the port record fish during a trip aboard ‘True Blue’ with Pennell rigged squid on size 6/0 […]

Spain’s Lower Ebro river has produced this magnificent wels weighing a staggering 165lb. . The fish was caught by Swedish angler Emill Hjeteberg, who was fishing with English guide Gary Sheridan. Emill fished an eel livebait four feet under the surface to lure the big cat, beating it after a heart-stopping 25 minute battle using […]

BIRMINGHAM Anglers Association vice president John Williams is the star guest speaker at an angling conference being organised by British Waterways. John will be speaking in favour of lifting the close season on rivers at the forum, which is being held in Reading on February 22. Angling writer John Bailey will be putting the case […]

WE’RE not sure what’s going on but for the second time in a week a match record has gone in the middle of winter.First it was the record at British Waterways’ Blythe Waters that went, thanks to an amazing 106-2-0 bag Sheldon’s Wayne Russon took from peg 12 of the Bridge Pool. Amazingly Wayne fished […]

ONE of the Midlands’ best veteran match anglers, Fred Bailey, passed away peacefully last week aged 87.Fred, who lived close to the River Severn, didn’t started match fishing until he was 40, yet he took to it like a duck to water and was probably the most prolific winner of matches in his heyday of […]

LABOUR backbenchers may revolt against parts of the Government’sHunting Bill because they believe it sets a legal precedent that could leadto the abolition of angling, horseracing or dog racing.Under pressure from Britain’s three million coarse, game and sea anglers,MPs are backing amendments scrapping the tests of “utility” and “leastsuffering” against which the Bill says any form […]

EXPERTS at the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea are warning that deep sea fish stocks are in danger of collapse. Any fishing done at depths over 400 metres is regarded as deep sea, but this activity has increased rapidly in recent years as it’s become harder and harder to catch fish like […]

HALF a million pounds of extra funding is being made available for fisheries projects as a result of an increase in the sale of fishing licences. The money will come from the Environment Agency, who say sales are five per cent up and that they can consequently help fund an extra 47 projects on coarse […]