There’s nothing quite like standing in the middle of a January river watching your breath turn to mist while the sun barely clears the trees. Those winter days can produce some of the best grayling fishing of the year, but they’ll also remind you very quickly that your hands are basically the first thing to […]

I’ll admit I was sceptical when I first saw anglers messing about with underwater cameras on the River Test. It seemed like another bit of kit to carry, another expense, another faff. But after borrowing a mate’s GoPro for an afternoon session on my local Derbyshire stream, I became a proper convert. Watching the footage

There’s something deeply satisfying about landing a wild brown trout from a rain-soaked riverbank in the Peak District or the Welsh valleys, but how often do those moments actually get recorded? For most of us bank-based fly anglers, the answer is not nearly enough. The problem isn’t lack of interest in documenting our fishing, it’s

I’ll admit it. The first time I dropped an underwater camera into my local chalk stream, I felt a bit daft. There I was, lying on my belly in the wet grass, peering at a small screen while a couple of dog walkers gave me odd looks. But within thirty seconds of watching a brown

Right, let’s address the elephant in the room straight away. Ice fishing in the UK is about as common as catching a permit on the Test. Our winters simply don’t freeze our rivers and lakes solid enough for safe ice fishing, and honestly, that’s probably for the best given our tendency to have a mild

I’ll be honest, when I first saw someone mounting a fish finder camera on their kayak, my immediate thought was “that’s not proper fishing”. But after watching a mate use one on the Wye last summer, I’ve completely changed my tune. Not because it turns fishing into some kind of video game, but because it

I’ll be honest, I bought my first underwater camera thinking it would be a bit of a gimmick. Something to mess about with on slow days when the trout weren’t playing ball. Turns out, dropping a camera into your local river might be one of the best investments you can make as a fly angler,

I’ll be honest, I spent years thinking underwater fishing cameras were just toys for pike anglers or something you’d use when the fishing was slow and you needed entertaining. Then I dropped one in my local chalk stream during a frustrating day when trout kept refusing my dry flies, and everything changed. Watching those browns

There’s something brilliant about fly fishing in the UK. We get four proper seasons, and each one offers something different on the water. I’ve spent enough cold March mornings and balmy June evenings riverside to know that timing really does matter, and not just because of the close season. Gear Used in This Article View

Right then, let’s talk about what you actually need to get started with fly fishing in the UK without spending a fortune or lugging half of Sportfish around with you. I’ve seen too many anglers turn up riverside with enough gear to stock a tackle shop, and I’ve also watched blokes try to fish our