February meeting

Our February meeting will take place on Monday 7th, at Owley Wood Club in Weaverham and we look forward to welcoming Barry McConnell as our guest speaker.


Barry is one of the country's most highly respected and accomplished eel and zander anglers and also the inventor of the 'Rollover Indicator'

I have been using 'Rollover's as an alternative to traditional drop-off type indicators for my pike fishing over the last 18 months (especially for fishing deadbaits at close range) and have to say that I am completely sold on them. They are a massive step forward in reducing resistance to a taking fish and, although I do still use other methods of indication in certain circumstances, the Rollover is now - by far - my preferred choice.

I look forward to seeing you at the meeting.

Pike rigs in reality

Over the last several months 'Improve Your Coarse Fishing' magazine has run a series of articles by Paul Garner and Stuart Morgan entitled 'Underwater Angling'. The articles are all about the way in which rigs and baits really behave when in the water, and the accompanying underwater photographs - which are of the highest quality - give a real insight into the subject. More often than not, our rigs and baits are not actually doing what we think they are !

This month's issue is entitled 'Pike rigs in reality', and I would recommend it to anyone who fishes deadbait rigs for pike.

January meeting.

First of all a big 'thank you' to R.A.9 member Paul Ikin for stepping in at short notice and giving a really excellent talk and slide show at our January meeting. Paul's experiences fishing locally for catfish, and the rigs and other items of tackle he has devised for addressing some of the problems he has encountered were a real eye-opener for everyone present. Well done Paul.

A couple of nights after our meeting I visited our near neighbours at the South Lancs. Region to give them a talk and slide show, and was given a very warm welcome. You may recall that last winter we resurrected the old R.A.9 vs. R.A.31 'fish-in' and I had hoped that we might be able to offer the lads from R.A.31 a return fixture on a Cheshire Water this winter. Unfortunately I haven't had time to arrange this, but am hoping we might be able to have a day on the River Weaver in the autumn.