Awful news for fans of Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing. Ted, the lovable Patterdale Terrier mix, who was forever looking for his lost briefcase whilst keeping an eye on the pair, has died.

Bob Mortimer said: “So very, very sad. Lovely Ted, the best companion and the greatest little chum. Going to miss him so much.. and away boss.”
Paul Whitehouse added: “Bye bye Ted old friend. He wasn’t a dog, he was a species all of his own. He’s gone to the great briefcase emporium in the sky. We will really miss you mate.”

A bit of background first, started fishing 65+ years ago, mainly course fishing with float and ledger, but took a break about 30 years ago (work, family, home, etc.) and came back to it when I retired 4 years ago. So having read up and watched YT I am now a method and waggler angler, but my issue is with baiting up my method feeders.
Sometimes it is too wet sometimes too dry, and this is managed, however when the mix seems correct, using the correct mould (I use PI method feeders) the first couple of baiting goes well, then suddenly when trying to release, lots of the mix stays in the mould. Initially, I thought this was because the mix had dried out, but I can't seem to rectify the issue, though some days are good all day. - Thoughts please.

This morning I visited the Kennet and Avon canal for abit of spinning, I used to be a keen lure angler but now being a float/match angler I rarely chuck spinners about. Anyway new venue for me and after emailing the club secretary I had a stretch to target. I arrived and the canal looked promising plenty of features, silver fish in margins and lots of locks. After 5 hours of covering plenty of ground and targeting different areas and trying different lures I had nothing So as always for the last 20 minutes I put on my late fathers favourite traditional spinner (as he liked to call it the spoon). Instantly I hooked a decent pike from across the bank under a boat, after a good fight I lost it at the net who knows maybe iv lost it as an lure angler or just bad luck? Anyway I look forward to visiting the venue again as I have a match there in may and plan on doing a session before!
Here a photo of my fathers favourite spinner with a pike that fell victim, shame about the one I lost today.

It's getting to that time of year again when most of us have to renew our rod licences.

If doing so, or if buying new, please make sure you use the genuine website to purchase from and not the scam sites who want to charge you a fee to arrange one for you

The genuine portal to buy or renew a Rod Licence:

The Final Road Trip

With oil prices set to rise due to the Iran war plus net zero madness, not to mention my rent going up by £250 pm I wondered if this would be the last road trip I do....ever, it's grim thinking that way and i'll be darned if it is however the last trip of this season it was almost certain to be. I drove past my local petrol station with a full tank knowing I would use most of it today as grayling were calling from afar.

A misty drive saw me arrive 10 am at a high river close to topping the banks but in true chalk stream tradition there was clear visibility down to four feet or so although that is about as deep as this stretch of urban river gets.

An interesting question based on a post I read earlier.....

Will fuel price increases limit your fishing?
Have you any plans to restrict the distances you travel or just take your foot off the 'go' pedal a bit more?

Fuel price increases eventually work their way to the EV owners as Electricity costs rise, so ultimately the prices will affect all one way or another