News
The superbly marked cheek of a large Cumbrian brown trout.
In a county better known for the copper mining history of the Lake District, it was in fact the stunning golden-bellied brown trout of the wild Cumbrian rivers that had drawn me north from my home in Sussex in early May. I stayed at the wonderful Hole House Cottage courtesy of The Coppermines & Lakes Cottages and spent 2 days on the rivers with Paul Procter, fly fishing for large and superbly marked brown trout...
One of my all-time favourite photos features this year in the 2017 Salmon & Trout Conservation UK Gamefisher magazine on page 30 picturing Jeremy Lucas on the Upper Eden. I loved the way the river snakes off into the distance and the obvious concentration of an expert angler in action.
(By the way, that was also me on the cover of the 2016 issue!)
I trialled the ThermoTorch 5, the FireCel Mega 6 and the ThermoCharge 6 for FishandFly.com. Firstly, all great names – they just sound like they are exactly what you will need for your adventures in the great outdoors!...
Marina Gibson is a popular up-and-coming Orvis-endorsed fly fishing guide in the UK with a large and growing social media following who loves all sorts of fishing and getting new anglers of all ages into the sport. She is now a brand new member of the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust and will be sporting her new BTT shirt proudly on trips to Christmas Island and Belize this year. Photo courtesy of Patrick Camber.
Earlier this spring, the inaugural 2017 London Fly Fishing Fair was staged over two days in the impressive main hall of London's Business Design Centre. As their UK representative, I was on hand to fly the flag for Bonefish & Tarpon Trust. Hosted by Orvis UK in their booth, I had plenty of interest in the work of the Trust, handing out a full box of BTT journals, membership leaflets and merchandise to UK fly anglers who stopped to talk, many of whom travel internationally to flats locations around the world. The international support for this new kind of consumer fishing show in the UK (New York’s Urban Angler, the Bahamas and several destination companies offering flats fishing trips were represented) was very well received by the public. The Fair is set to grow even larger next year with plans already underway for 2018. If you would like more information, please CONTACT ME.
A strange catch of a fish with an extending mouth while on holiday in Thailand had me wondering what I had caught. The fish experts at SportFishing Magazine has me covered with the answer and a missed world record opportunity apparently!
The 2016 Azores Airlines Big Game Fishing Tournament drew in teams from both sides of the Atlantic to these idyllic islands and the weather was much better than my last visit 2 years ago. Being on the winning boat meant I got to see and photograph the winning blue marlin for my article published in Saltwater Boat Angling magazine.
>>Click the main title to see the full article...
It was a nice surprise to see my photograph of a pike being held low in the water prior to be being released named as Fly Dreamers photo of the week earlier in the month.
The eyes of the water wolf!
I had been saving this favourite Snook image of mine for the right feature article to come along and was very pleased when top US title Sport Fishing Magazine used it splashed across a double-page spread in the magazine's October 2016 issue.
You can read the full article online on their website at http://www.sportfishingmag.com/big-snook-fishing-tips
Last week I was delighted to be back in Ponta Delgada on beautiful Sao Miguel island in the Azores for the Azores Airlines 2016 Big Game Fishing Tournament ...
Sea trout like their cousins the salmon make their way upstream to spawn.
I was very pleased to be able to help out the Institute of Fisheries Management with their need for a sea trout image to grace the Spring 2016 cover of FISH, their very interesting members magazine.
Visiting likely locations to view and photograph leaping sea trout the last 3 years takes a lot of time and patience and there are plenty more occasions where nothing is seen than the few where I timed it just right. Still, having the chance to witness such a spectacular sight local to me in Sussex even just once a season makes all the cold muddy hikes across the countryside in the dead of winter worth it.
Zambuni PR organised a recent press day on the Orvis beat of the famous River Test in Hampshire. A collection of my fellow journalists and anglers braved the extreme conditions early on and were rewarded with some healthy brown and rainbow trout which were all returned. We also got to try out some of the latest Orvis fly rods and reels.
Wildlife Photography World is a brand new quarterly quality glossy magazine whose first issue has just been published for Spring 2016.
It features 120 pages of beautiful wildlife images from all around the world and I was very pleased for them to include my image of a Peacock Butterfly photographed last year at the RSPB's Pulborough Brooks reserve.
A tailing redfish - the stuff fishing dreams are made of!
The Boca Grande Pass from the Gulf of Mexico into the protected waters of Charlotte Harbour beyond at Boca Grande in south west Florida is famous amongst specimen tarpon hunters. Triple digit fish arrive in the high season which peaks around June, feeding on crabs and baitfish being washed out of the bay. During this time the pass can become like a parking lot with dozens and dozens of drifting boats hoping to hook their anglers into a fish. While you could try a fly on quieter days it is really a bait fishery best suited to heavy gear in the strong currents. Save the fly fishing for hunting along the beaches for pods of fish and inside Charlotte Harbour itself. As much as I love tarpon, it is the other species that live in the bays, channels and flats of Charlotte Harbour and Pine Island Sound to the south that really get me excited and none more so than the bull of the flats, the redfish.
Click on the photo above to read the full story - "Collateral Damage" on the Sport Fishing Magazine website.
FlyMage Magazine #26 - February 2016 issue is available to view free online. This issue includes my own feature story and photos from a very successful first visit to Eagle Brae near Beauly in the beautiful Scottish highlands last September fishing for salmon and pike.
Great hosts, wonderful luxury log cabin accommodation and some spectacular fishing on two local rivers - what more can you ask for!?
Full contact details are included at the end of the feature.
Click here to read it now -> http://bit.ly/eaglebrae
A hard-fighting fly-caught barramundi from Thailand.
This very nice specimen barramundi I caught on the fly in Thailand back in May 2015 made the news section of the August/September edition of top French destination fishing magazine Voyages de Peche who I write for occasionally.
I book my fishing in Thailand through my good friend and expert angler Francois Helias who operates the very well-known Fishing Adventures Thailand - tell him I sent you!
I was delighted to be interviewed by Media Kitty for their newsletter called The Instinct and talk a little about my writing and photography.
