Where do I get my fishing information from? Fishery owners, mates, magazines? Yes to all of these, but there is one more that I couldn't do without - the tackle shop.

It might not be fashionable but the tried and tested tackle dealer is hard to beat for up to the minute local information. They see the whole angling community come through their door every week, passing on tit-bits of information. So if there's a man who can give you an overview of the regional scene, it's him.

My local shop in Chippenham is Premier Angling. The proprietor, Colin Gittins is typical of a new breed of owner. Gone are the dark and dingy match only orientated shops, replaced by a good cross section of disciplines in bright surroundings. Catering for anglers with all needs, whether you are after roach or carp. Friendliness is vital in maintaning a healthy business and Colin, like most shop owners, is a mine of information.
Yes, the internet may supply cheaper products but I firmly believe that we should support our local shops. Who will sell you maggots? Local licences? Who will help put the kids on the first rung of the angling ladder? The fishing community needs tackle shops even if prices may be at a slight premium.

Not that using the shop should be a one way trade. By tapping into their wealthy of knowledge you can greatly increase your prospects for the trip ahead. Don't be afraid to ask for information - I'm certainly not.

So with this in mind I set myself the mission of using the local tackle shop for this weeks feature. Colin was given the following restriction - a club water open to anyone. To be honest he came up with a list as long as your arm, so I closed my eyes and used a pin.

The chosen lake is within 15 minutes of my house and held, evidently a large head of mid-sized bream and a few tench plus roach and perch. Its most popular species though is carp up to 30lbs. A typical mixed fishery available up and down the country which would provide a great challenge.

Writing the Big Fish pages it may surprise you that I opted out of targetting the carp. I'll let you into a secret - I'm much more of a pleasure angler who like better than average fish rather than a hard nosed specimen angler. I suppose I'm just a sucker for bites and if I'm getting them I'm happy. Taking his duty further than I expected, Colin announced that he would accompany me so arrangements were made for a mid morning rendezvous at the lake.

My first glimpse was very pleasing - 10 acres fo reed fringed water splayed out before me. A steady south easterly rippled across the surface giving me a head start in location. Colin and I followed the breeze into the far bank corner. Here a water outflow added to the surface movement and we both happily placed our seat boxes in adjacent swims.

Today I would be concentrating on the smaller species - tench, bream and roach. Although by a national standard the lake didn't hold monsters it meant little to my enjoyment. Remember as well, that catching fish helps you improve, blanking doesn't. Succesful tactics can then be adopted on harder venues with total confidence.

In front of me the waters depth fell away rapidly to 14 feet. Bream love wide open spaces so I was happy with this area for them. A feeding zone at 20 metres was marked against a far bank tree and 10 orange size balls of groundbait were fed on this line. My mix contained a bag of Swim Stim green betaine and natural Swim Stim groundbait. To this I added a 500gm bag of crushed hemp along with half a bottle of SBS Edge powder. The dry mix was then blended thoroughly before I poured over a bottle of Dynamite pineapplie hi-attract liquid. Slowly water was added until the required consistency was achieved. Finally 1 pint of caster and 500gm of 3mm pellet was included.

This mix would not only cover my balling requirements but also be used in the cage feeder. Over the bait I opted for an 11ft 10 inch Drennan bomb rod combined with 3.2lb Super Specialist line and a running paternoster rig to a size 20 hook and two red maggots. I also intended to feed red maggot to my right alongside a reeded bay. On this line I would use a waggler set up.

Lining up with my far bank marker I made a gentle lob onto the groundbait and placed my line in the spool clip.

Over the next hour I became increasingly frustrated by a series of liners which although indicated fish present, highlighted their lack of interest in my bait. I decided to go for 'all or nothing' and balled in an identical quantity of groundbait as originally introduced. My thinking being that I could force the fish to become interested by sheer quantity.

While the swim settle I spent half an hour on the waggler catching a string of palm size roach.

Time to go back over the feed and first put in the tip dragged round confidently. A pound skimmer came to the net and we were on our way. The fish had got their heads down and it was a ' bite a chuck' from then on. Bream up to 4lbs provided the mainstay of the sport interspersed with the occasional tench, perch and roach. I found that I could increase the rate of bites by reducing my tail length such was the fishes' ferocity to attack my feeder. Another tip was to cast to the far extremities of my feeding zone. This would then allow an additional strike should I miss the first bite, normally the result of a liner.

Colin, meanwhile had also found sport slow but once the second feed went in he didn't look back with a similar stamp of fish. A cracking roach of 1 and a half pounds plus fell foul to his tactics adding to the fun.

By 5 o'clock both our nets were bulging and it was a strain to lift them from the water. Between the two of us I guess we had easily reached the 100 pounds.

The quality of action available on my doorstep surprised me and just goes to show how useful your local tackle dealer can be.

Martin's Tackle

Rod 11ft 10 inch Drennan Bomb Rod combined with a half ounce tip - with only a short cast required I opted for a very soft rod to exagerate bites, plus it's an absolute joy to play fish on
Reel Okuma Epix Pro 30 - good ine lay and well balanced
Line 3.2lb Super Specialist - strong, tough and robust, ideal for feeder fishing
Hook 1lb 12oz bottom to a Kamasan B520

Martin's Bait

Groundbait/feeder mix
1 kilo of Swim Stim Natural
1 kilo of SwimStim Green (betaine)
500gms of crushed hemp
500gms of 3mm Swim Stim pellet (betaine)
Half pot of SBS Edge powder
1 bottle of Dynamite Pineapple Hi-attract Liquid
1 pint of casters
I also used approximately 1 pint of red maggot

5 Top Tackle Dealer Tips (Colin Gittins)

1 If possible on still waters fish into the wind as this will normally be the best spot.
2 When using groundbait always add a particle to it, ie caster, sweetcorn, hemp or pellet as this will keep the fish interested longer.
3 Don't be afraid of a second feed in mild weather to force the fish to get their heads down.
4 Don't skimp on quantity or quality of bait - it will only result in a failed trip.
5 Please ask for advice from your tackle dealer - he or she wants you to catch and will be only too pleased to help.

For information on fishing in and around Chippenham, Colin can be contacted at Premier Angling on 01249 659210 or www.premierangling.com.

With the farmers busy harvesting the last of the hay and fruit hanging ripe in the trees, it was time for me to dip into Mother Nature's larder. Some tactics, although sucessful, have all the presence of a Skoda - there is however an Aston Martin of methods which sums up why angling should never be judged by how many but instead how much fun - the elderberry. This rich, juicy, dark berry hangs ripened through the countries hedgerows just waiting to provide an angler with a roach and chub bait par excellence.

The upper reaches of the Bristol Avon in Wiltshire is flanked by rolling fields and arable land, truly 'sleepy' countryside if ever there was. Within the clear water vast shoals of ravenous bleak swarm on anglers laden with maggots. Their escape from the office turned into an unholy frenzy of frustration. Hanging beside them though all the time was the answer; unseen, unused, unknown.

My companion for the morning was local tackle dealer Colin Gittins and together we intended to embark on a spot of leisurely angling. Nothing too serious I may add - elderberry fishing and stress just don't go. Like a fine wine the method needs to be savoured and enjoyed as much as the result. With the most important part of the day being the lunchtime finish, a bottle of ale and a ploughmans lunch replenishes the energy levels nicely.

A flick of the coin to decide swins, one for roach, one for chub. I got the chub.

In my swim the river bed sunk away from the shallows into a mysterious run, lined and shrouded by bushes and overhanging trees. Perhaps it would have ben best to have stayed on dry land drawing fish up to me before picking them off. I had though the urge to wade standing knee keep in flowing water, keep net to one side, rod in hand and bait apron around the waist. I would be a simple case then of dropping hempseed at my feet and following its path downstream with the float.

Elderberries like tares will help you temp a better stamp of fish, preventing the hungry hoards of bleak from devouring your bait.

Tackle was simple, a DRX 13ft Drennan float rod, combined with a small fixed spool Okuma. 2.6lb floatfished sprayed with line floatant saw a small stubby 0.5g carp pole float connected to it. These are excellent for fishing in shallow running water, their wire stem giving you in effect a mini stick float.

For a hooklength I combined 0.10mm Team England with a size 18 barbless carp spade end hook. Perhaps if I had drawn the roach swim a finer wire pattern would have been selected but at close quarters with battling chub I didn't want to take any chances. Far better, in my opinion, to land everything I hooked than win a bonus bite.

Five minutes of 'little and often' with the hempseed saw the first boils on the surface of feeding fish.

My rig sat at full depth (3ft) but with a shirt button shotting pattern of no 8s I hoped to take fish at any stage of the descent.

A handful of hemp and my berry hookbait was dropped under the rod tip. The orange tip of the float cocked and was swept away by the flow searching out the swim. Weaving down a few yeards its path became blocked by a mouth and the float slid away. The days first strike saw a giant gudgeon hit the surface with a liking for 'fruit'.

Feed the hemp and the same ritual was followed but this time the mouth was cavernous. My strike temporarily hit a brick wall before the line began to sing under the tension. With potential obstacles on either bank I was loathe to budge an inch. With balanced tackle it's amazing what strain you can apply, to break line via the bend in your rod is a near impossible feat.

Cranking away a pair of white lips hit the surface and was scooped into the net. At about 3lbs it wasn't going to break any records but was enjoyable all the same. Safe in the net I fed the swim prior to unhooking keen to distract the fish's attention from any potential danger.

Over the next couple of hours my hands became stained purple with elderberry juice, but with each trot a fish would gulp down the bait, be it a roach, chub or dace the berry was hard to resist.

Unlike using tares I find it best to bury the hook inside the elderberry with its soft skin not proving a hindrance to striking. Bites with tares and hemp can also prove to be frustratingly quick but for some reason the fish hang on to the berry for longer - perhaps they're too busy drinking in the juice.

With 8 good chub and a jumble of bits I stepped out of the water to investigate Colin's progress.

A handful of hemp saw a flash of silver flanks in a swim full of 'goers' to steal an old match term. A click of the bail arm, a sideways cast and the float entered the melee. Not that it remained above water for long, a palm of silver headed in Colin's direction. Although the swim had taken a while to build, which is common in hempseed fishing it had now switched on to a bite a chuck!

His tactics had too seen a little and often approach with a switch between elderberry and tare hookbait. Bites were quick and rapid with the pole in all probability providing a more ruthless answer. Colin's ethos though was similar to mine: an Indian summer should be savoured with an extra couple of pounds of roach and 12m of carbon just too stressful to contemplate.

Walking back to my swim I watched dace play on the shallow drifting from one side to another as they jostled in the flow. I couldn't resist a cast.

Such was the lack of depth I held the berry back hard as it swept alont the gravel into the shadow of dace. For such a small fish its bite was forecful actually plucking the rod tip. Skimming it along the surface a silvery flank twisted and turned into my hand. Well that was me occupied till lunch!

With the sun sitting directly overhead at last came the moment to break. Stuffed keepnets emptied for another day we propped ourselves up against a haystack and popped the lid off two bottles of beer. A toast to 'happy days'!

Martin's Tackle

Rod 13ft DRX Float (Drennan) - it's fashionable to use long rods but in narrow rivers they only prove a hindrance
Reel Okuma VS 30 - this state of the art 16 ball bearing reel takes Okuma into a whole new playing field
Line 2.6lb Drennan Floatfish - for river work I treat this tough and durable line with line floatant
Hooklength 0.10mm Team England - clear, soft and subtle with excellent knotting properties
Hook Size 18 barbless carp (Drennan) - this spade end pattern is ultra strong and sharp; great for chub fishing

Martin's Bait

2 tins frenzied hemp
4 sprigs of elderberries

Martin's Top 5 Elderberry Tips

1 Be patient when building up a swim with hempseed - little and often is the key.
2 Bury the hook inside the berry to disguise it.
3 When using stubby pole floats use 3 pieces of silicone along the stems to keep the line flush to the float.
4 If roach are being particularly finickety use hempseed directly on the hook.
5 For lunch I can strongly recommend a beer called Golden Promise and a mature cheddar known as Gob Burner.

For details about fishing in and around Chippenham call:

Colin at Premier Angling on 01249 659210.
Website: www.premierangling.com

Imagine a fish which has grown to specimen proportions not by angler’s bait but by mother nature’s staple diet of snails, caddis and silkweed. Over a decade she has shown no reliance on the fishermen who would like to meet her. Occasionally she may sup down a caster or two, usually at dusk but that’s where the dietary requirements stop. As another hapless soul breaks down the rod in the fading light, she rolls tormenting him mid river and pouring petrol on the fire of failure.

Roach, I’m afraid are enigmatic creatures I just don’t understand. Come to think of it, I have never met anyone else who does either. Unlike a barbel or a carp they can’t be trained like a circus animal on a pellet diet. Sure, once a season they may go mad and fall to a large lump of flake and 6lb line but the rest of the year will see them have a higher IQ than Mastermind.

Big roach, in my opinion, are the hardest fish to catch or should I say river roach are. To compare these wily creatures with their still water cousins is unfair to say the least. Don’t get me wrong I have no objection to catching them but a ‘proper’ roach in my book dwells in our stream and rivers.

Just to make the task of catching specimen roach even more tricky let’s chuck in to the mix cormorants, who have thinned the stocks by 90%, and the challenge just became the Everest of angling. A 3 pounder is so rare I don’t even look on it as a viable proposition. Two pounds is the target and that is far from easy, better I think to follow my mindset that any roach is a good roach and a pound plus fish is cause for celebration.

Perhaps because the goal is so unattainable, yet so tempting, I find myself allocating a few winter days every year in pursuit or at the very least a joyful waste of time. Walking back to the van crestfallen I buoy my mind with the thought that next time will be different.

Chippenham’s local tackle dealer, Colin Gittins, had invited me to an afternoon on the Bristol Avon, the stretch he assured me was full of roach with the prospect of a decent stamp possibly appearing. I was more than happy to go no matter what the size, so with the river fining down we set forth in pursuit of bars of silver.

While Colin opted for a topper float and running line – the traditional Avon method – I decided on the pole. This tactic has transformed my perch fishing and I had a sneaky feeling it may just turn the tide on my roaching failures. Situated just above a weir the river ran slow and deep, some 12 feet in fact making my choice of method appeal even more.

If it had been summer I might have expected to catch at all levels of the water column, but today I felt feeding and fishing hard on the bottom was the way to go. A 50/50 mixture of damp leam and silver X black roach was passed through the riddle before moistening with a blend of frenzied hemp liquid and river water. My aim here being to give maximum attraction and minimum feed. Finally the mix was laced with casters, fluro pinkie and hemp seed. I hoped this would then keep the roach concentrated in front of me.

Six balls were cupped in at 13 metres for pin point accuracy. I would only need to feed again if bites began to dry up. As I lowered in 2 red maggots the float didn’t have time to settle before it sunk from view. For the next 5 hours I had a bite every ‘put in’. Pleasing as it was to see a booming roach population I am no match angler and I would have quite happily swapped them all for one fish over a pound!!
Colin meanwhile had fared better with a bigger stamp of fish. It was a joy to see the red tip of a topper make its way downstream only to be dragged under followed by the thump, thump of the rod tip.

Had I been wrong in my faith with the pole? Was it the tool of sprat bashers? I felt that I had some unfinished business with both the pole and the river.

Three days later found me once again on the bank but now faced with a brown, swirling, debris strewn cauldron of an Avon. Relentless rain had pushed the levels back up and swim selection was going to prove vital. Carefully I studied the flow. Pushing and pulling in all directions a small but distinguishable flat spot sat clam in the confusion. If I could place my bait in the eye of the storm, perhaps I would have a chance. Legering or rod and line could not give me the presentation required, in fact it was impossible. Time I felt for the pole to prove its worth.

Like before the swim was laced with leam, each one placed in an area no bigger than a dinner plate. My float looked quite strange holding station comfortably while surrounded by a whirlwind of flotsam, and while I kept the line off of the water this is where it would stay, unless of course a roach came to visit.

Ten minutes later I would have rubbed my eyes if I could as the tip slowly but surely sunk away. Lifting upwards fluorescent green elastic stretched from the tip followed by a jagging sensation. Seconds later she boiled on the surface – a roach! – and a big one at that.

Suddenly everything became deliberate and ponderous, I didn’t want to make a mistake. Eventually 1lb 15ozs of glorious silver lay before me. If I was to blank the rest of the day it would not have mattered. The roach gods though had decided to give this lucky man his Christmas present early, for when the tip sunk again and the strike was made an even bigger fish rolled in front of me. Pristine, its flanks shone with each flap and I asked for divine assistance. The hook held and another roach sat in the net – 2lbs 2½oz. I could have kissed someone!! The coloured water had not only impaired vision but seemingly the roach’s brain power as well. When another and then another slipped up I truly felt that the world had gone mad. The fish themselves had given me a red letter day but reading the river correctly gave me an equal buzz, irrespective of the size.

Seven fish over 1lb 6ozs with 3 over 2 was the final statistic and once again the pole gave me a catch that would have been impossible on rod and line. So have I become a roach expert? Not by the blank morning I had today, I’ve still got a lot more to learn and I can’t wait.

Martin’s Tackle

Pole 16m Drennan Icon fished at 13m – if money is no object this is the pole you want, light enough to hold all day
Elastic No 6-8 Drennan green carp bungee

Martin’s Bait

½ kilo damp leam
½ kilo Silve X black roach
½ bottle of Dynamite’s frenzied hemp liquid (available Feb 2007 blended with
water
½ can frenzied hemp
¼ pint casters
¼ pint fluro pinkie
Red maggots for hookbait

Martin’s Top 5 Tips

If you are a big fish angler buy a pole as it opens up a new world of possibilities.
Don’t use straight groundbait – this will fill the fish up too quickly.
Use a wide gape spade end hook to reduce hook pulls – I favour Drennan Team England maggot.
Study the flow carefully in floods and look for areas of sanctuary.
Even in winter include hemp in your feed as this will hold the roach for longer.

For details of fishing on the Bristol Avon, call Colin at Premier Angling on 01249 659210

In this hi-tech world where the latest information is available at a touch of a phone or click of a mouse it’s easy to forget a traditional source for angling advice - the Tackle Dealer. While it may be a less trendy grapevine than a website forum it’s still the best way to identify potential angling opportunities in your local area.
‘Big perch are showing up in matches at Melksham’ and ‘the river seems to be getting better for specimens’, was music to my ears while visiting Chippenham’s Premier Angling. The conveyor of this news was Colin Gittings, owner and font of all knowledge in the area. ‘So’, suddenly becoming much more animated I enquired ‘where do these fish actually live?’ Without a hint of secrecy Colin responded by producing a club book and pointing to the exact spot. After all it was in his interest, as it is with all tackle dealers, to help anglers catch fish. Better still in this case Colin was free on Thursday afternoon and even offered to take me. How could I refuse? A day ticket was purchased along with 50 lobworms.

I had driven past this section of river hundreds of times with hardly a second glance such is my angling wanderlust but not today. Colin and I left the bustle of the busy main road leading into Melksham behind and cut across the leaf strewn meadow to our destination. Occasionally a footfall would crunch against the vegetation, a true sign of autumn becoming winter while in the distance the fallen cob stems lying on open dirt were being picked over by a veritable cornucopia of birdlife. Overhead a kestrel fluttered its wings keeping watch on this final feast of the year, hoping to indulge in her own orgy as with the lack of cover a shrew or vole would be more vulnerable than ever. It was a joy to be out and the fishing hadn’t even begun, especially given the pale blue sky and puffy white clouds which tracked across the county.
We followed the river’s course as it wound its way in a disorderly fashion producing countless bends and bays which all seemed to be perfect places to begin our quest. However I had inside information and my companion didn’t even give these a second glance as we continued to follow the course downstream It was only as the river widened slightly that we came to a halt and a finger was pointed at a couple of bushes. It seemed as if Colin had become my perch sat nav for the day and I certainly wasn’t going to ignore the advice.

While Colin began erecting all the paraphernalia a match man requires I left him in peace and began to assemble my more meagre requirements. A quivertip rod with a 2oz tip seemed the right call given the river’s pace, used in conjunction with a Drennan reel. The beauty of this product is a simple but highly practical line strength indicator that pops in the top of the spool. For a ‘jack of all trades’ like me packing the wrong kit is now a thing of the past and in this case it was 5lb double strength. My float stop paternoster rig then led to a size 4 hook which would have a large lobworm impaled onto it. All that was then left to do was connect the weight to the link which would be a couple of swan shot to hold bottom. Simplicity itself and a set up which saw me fishing within 5 minutes.
Quite the opposite to my chub fishing I made my first cast as far downstream as I could and then twitched the worm a couple of feet every minute or so. With the water still being relatively mild I strongly expected that my quarry would display an aggressive attitude to feeding and as such the bait stroke lure approach would work best. How could any perch resist the tantalising trail of a lobby? After 15 minutes of fishing in such a manner it would have been easy to think I had called it wrong but experience has taught me not to lose faith so easily especially given the bright sun which illuminated this procedure. While it made sitting in the countryside a joy it certainly wasn’t conducive to good perch fishing. So while I waited for the promised cloud bank to roll in I decided to catch up with Colin.

Sitting in the shadow of a thousand leaves awash with yellow it seemed his pitch was an English autumn captured perfectly in a single vista with only a final brush stroke needed to complete it – a big fat perch tempted from under the tree roots which filled the far bank. Like me Colin was waiting for a change in light levels which fortunately for our sport wasn’t far away now. A mass of grey swelled on the horizon devouring every inch of blue in its wake. A switch was flicked only moments later as Colin’s first 2lb perch of the day left the shadows to slurp up ahis worm.
Taking this as my cue to return to where I had decided to angle I once again made the long cast downstream before systematically working it back towards me. With the second spin of the reel handle the rod tip jagged back seemingly under its own volition but my strike confirmed that I knew who was responsible. Below the surface a spiny dorsal fin flared and a tiger striped flank twisted in defiance. I may have been the man now playing a specimen perch but its downfall was without doubt due to a tackle dealer.

Martin’s Tackle

Rod Drennan 12ft match pro medium feeder
Reel Drennan Series 7 feeder model
Line 5lb double strength
Hook Size 4 carbon specimen
Bait Lobworms

Top 5 Tips

Your local tackle shop is a great place to tap into the grapevine.
Cast to the bottom of your swim and work the worm back towards you.
Hook the worm through the saddle and nick off the end to release juices.
If possible fish when there is plenty of cloud cover or at dusk.
Perch love cover, ie tree roots, bushes and bridges.
For more information about fishing in Witlshire call Colin at Premier Angling on 01249 659210.

To fish at Melksham you will need a day ticket or club book for Avon Angling Club which is available at Premier Angling