Meanders : Browse our articles
GameMill Brook
- by Phil on 09/06/10Phil's cooler, smarter sibling, Swythyn Troutbeck, has sent in a lovely new piece reflecting on the slower pace of angling on a French mill stream. Dream on, Dear Reader...............
GeneralThey Say 'Never Go Back'
- by Mike on 12/05/10They say 'never go back, you will only be disappointed'..................Mike is back in the UK for a final visit and seeks out old haunts before he returns to France. Unfortunately, all is not as he would wish to find it.
GeneralA Fresh Cast
- by Mike on 04/05/10"I guess it's ironic really; purepiscator.com comes to an end and my employment in the UK comes to an end also". .............in "A Fresh Cast", PurePiscator favourite Mike finally breaks with the UK and contemplates a new life of gallic challenges.
GeneralEarly Days Part Two: Yer Dad's 'Ere
- by James on 15/04/10"Although those early sea trips were my introduction to this fishing life, it wasn't until my first coarse fish were caught, in the summer holidays of the late 1960s, that I was really hooked." In the second part of his early recollections, James learns that disobediecne has severe consequences.......
GeneralGreen Flag
- by Colin on 13/04/10Before 8am I sit in a coffee shop (where have all the caffs gone?) with what passes for breakfast, an ersatz fry-up toastie plus coffee (Italian for coffee? Go to Italy, they have the mutt’s knuts, coffee-wise)..................Colin keeps his angling eye "in" whilst ostensibly out and about, working .
GeneralThe chalkstreams of Norfolk; an occasional series. Part One: The Glaven
- by Danny on 25/03/10"A waft of smoky eel or cod or something from the smokehouse drifted through the car window as I drove through the narrow, right-angled, main street of Cley-Next-The-Sea"....................Danny begins a new series on the chalkstreams of Norfolk, that most unspoilt of English counties. First up is the Glaven.
Salt WaterEarly Days Part One: Sea Legs
- by James on 12/03/10"Sea fishing boat trips were my introduction to the glorious agony of anticipation. Waiting for those early morning adventures would drive me mad in the last few days before the off." James begins a four part series on his early fishing life with a salty memoir.
GameIn Spring a Young Man's Fancy Lightly Turns...
- by Michael on 12/03/10St. Patrick's Day approaches, the gorse begins to bloom and once again our thoughts turn from roach and perch to fair and fabled fario. In this first new article on Piscatoribus Sacrum, Michael patiently anticipates the return of Spring and the chance to fish for brown trout.
GeneralTackle Jumble
- by Michael on 13/10/09(published previously on PurePiscator)
Every coarsefisher owns more floats than a lifetime could require; nay, even unto the seventh generation. Michael gets biblical about our ability to accumulate tackle.
GameA Pleb, and a Wild Brown Trout
- by Danny on 03/09/09(published previously on PurePiscator)
A relative novice at fly-fishing - I took it up last year - I had, until this May, caught a mixture of stocked rainbow and brown trout, and one grayling. The grayling was caught last year from The London Angling Association's stretch of the Avon just below Salisbury. It had taken some sort of gold-headed nymph bumped repeatedly against its snout until, rather resignedly, it decided to put me out of my misery and become my first wild fish caught on the fly.
Salt WaterThe International Language
- by Doug on 25/08/09(published previously on PurePiscator)
This year my Summer Outing was in the South of France – I've never been so was looking forward to going. However, there was one serious drawback, Matron had issued 'starters orders' not to bring any fishing tackle! She did not want a repeat of the International Incident last year at Faro Airport involving yours truly, a metal detector, half a dozen heavily armed guards and a tiny packet of hooks; I suppose she was right. Being a resourceful sort, with a cunning, the direct result of 25 years of marriage, I sneaked a couple of hand-lines into the suitcase. Surely nobody could object – could they?
CoarseThe Anguilla Cup
- by Danny on 07/07/09(published previously on PurePiscator)
Many of you out there may never have heard of the Anguilla Cup. This seems almost inconceivable to those of us who participated. Those who fought in this fiercely contested event, both adult and junior divisions, still remain bemused that the angling world never picked up on the intense rivalry, bitter personal battles, and the agonies and the ecstasies of such dedicated competitors.
CoarseThe Joy of Pond Fishing
- by Daniel on 07/07/09(published previously on PurePiscator)
I don't think I have had as much fun recently as I did a few nights ago while fishing my local club pond. With just a float rod, maggots and a few worms you can have the most enjoyable day, and the other great thing is you never no what your going to catch, perch, rudd, roach, crucians and tench are just some of the species that may appear in your net at the end of the day.
CoarseThe Retiring Angler
- by Dave on 05/06/09(published previously on PurePiscator)
It was mid February and I was within a few months of retirement from the large organisation where I'd worked in variety of capacities for forty years. The gradual process of handover to my deputy and tidying up many loose ends seemed to be taking for ever.
CoarsePike fishing - on the rocks!
- by Fredrik on 15/02/09(published previously on PurePiscator)
Ideas for this article actually arose when reading a piece in Pike & Predators regarding ice-fishing for pike in Canada. As most of you might know, winter climate of northern Scandinavia also provide fishable ice covers every year, and being so, the ice-fishing tradition is very strong over here. Nowadays, serious pike anglers use short ice-fishing rods, bait runners, unhooking mats, and different alarm/indicator systems when ice-fishing for pike. The scene is more of a combination of general ice-fishing and standard pike fishing on the bank. But add one really important aspect - it's a truly effective method for catching big pike!
This article is meant as a short introduction to modern ice-piking in Sweden. Neither comprehensive nor complete, but hopefully interesting.
CoarseA ghoost-story - with a helping of Swedish beaver
- by Henrik on 07/02/09(published previously on PurePiscator)
When I was young I laughed at the old daft fishermen who had the whole year sorted with fishing-trips they just HAD to repeat every year. Hah! There can be no progress without testing new methods and new places, I thought. They will stop making discoveries, get locked in old thinking, and stop learning. Poor bastards.
CoarseBurbot and lunar eclipse
- by Henrik on 06/02/09(published previously on PurePiscator)
This day I was meant to meet William (a.k.a the perpetual blanker). However, he has not yet realized that a mean of transport is much more important than the latest, or oldest rather, in his case, centre-pin reel. So I am out alone. In total darkness. Not total, of course, but it is bloody dark. And it most certainly is not midsummer. In fact, burbot fishing is the total opposite of tench fishing at midsummer. Cold, dark, the fish smell bad, crude gear is used, no birds – except owls. So, it is with mixed feelings that I fish for burbot.
CoarseMemories of Cheshunt
- by Dave on 11/12/08(published previously on PurePiscator)
It all seems so long ago and yet I can recall my wonderful sessions at Cheshunt reservoir as if they happened last week. Mind you, I have to refer to my fishing diary for greater technical detail. The diary, written in longhand, often supplemented by sketches and recently the discovery, in my late father's attic, of boxes full of my fishing experiences recorded on 35mm transparencies.
GeneralStill Digging for Victory
- by Ian on 17/11/08(published previously on PurePiscator)
Nearly 18 months have passed since I penned the first report on Marmont Mere and its surrounding woodland. At that time, the trees were quite small, the lake was seemingly immature with semi-naked banks and the fish were relatively newly-introduced. What a difference a year and a half can make.
GeneralOn Reflection
- by Ian on 02/03/08(published previously on PurePiscator)
"Fond memory brings the light of other days around me." Sir Thomas More, 1477-1535
It is said that you should not chase a memory in case it has changed for the worse, or is not as you remembered. Well, having written about my first ever fish in a previous article 'The First Time', a family need arose to revisit old haunts, and I could not resist the temptation to include a trip to the scene of my angling initiation.
