Well as I mentioned in last months update it’s been a busy month for me. I’ve not managed to fish my syndicate water and I’ve been largely restricted to fishing short day sessions. That said its still been a very productive and enjoyable month for me.

At the start of the month I applied for the recent Korda developments vacancy, Marketing and Media manager. I required a number of suitable references to accompany my application and this lead me to contact Thom Airs. I worked with Thom at the start of the year on a article for the UK Carp magazine and I’ve also supplied a number of other articles to him over the last couple of years.

Thom was kind enough to support my application and also went on to offer me a opportunity of shooting a live feature for the Improve your coarse fishing magazine. Thom had recently started working on the carp section of the magazine and thought that the fishing floaters on the canal method that Steve and I had featured a number of times in my videos, was ideal.

With a date set I opted to fish a couple of days prior to the shoot to get a feel for where to fish and methods ect. So we could fish productively for Thom on the day of the shoot.

Early morning sessions fishing floaters on the canal has always been productive for myself and Steve, ever since he introduced the method to me a few years ago. So we needn’t have worried as I managed 8 carp including a 15lb, 18lb 08oz and 19lb for just 3 hours fishing.

On the day of the feature Steve and I both managed a number of fish including a 18lb each and with a number of quality shots from Thom, aided by the morning summer sunrise. It was job well and truly done. Again we only fished for 3 hours and Thom said it was the best article he’d shot in such a short amount of time and he loved the simplistic style which reminded him of when he first started fishing himself.

The feature is in this months (September) issue of improve your coarse fishing, due out on the 3^rd.

The next day (Sunday) I was heading off to Linear fisheries for the annual charity event ‘Fish with the stars’. Last year I fished with Lee Robbins and the band Ocasan who were accompanied by fellow musician Tony Hill.

Lee and I were again fishing with the band on Brasenose 1 and recent CATCH AND RELEASE recruits Lee Wagner and Martyn Davies were in the pegs next to us. We’d met Martyn and Lee the previous year and often spent the evenings socialising with them. So it was nice to have them next door for this years event. It was even more special as Martyn was celebrating his 30^th birthday on the day we arrived.

The first nights fishing I managed to catch a 25lb 08oz and 14lb mirror during the early hours and went on to follow that up with a 26lb mirror on the final morning. Lee Robbins also managed a few during our time and Martyn caught most if not all nights on Lee’s rods.

The reason I haven’t gone into more details about the fishing during the event is simply because that’s not really what the events about. The event is more of a massive social with fishing as a bonus and with the 2015 dates now out. It’s well worth looking to start raising the £300 required to take part in net years event.

As well as Martyn celebrating his 30^th during August, my wife cellebrated hers a week or two later up at the Cranfield united football club. The party included alcohol and inflatables and was excellent. I’d advice it to anyone. WHAT A COMBO!!!

As I mentioned at the start of this months update I have fished a number of short sessions to accommodate my lack of time.

To be totally honest I’ve really enjoyed fishing just day sessions this month. I have found that I fish better because I know I haven’t got the time to fish badly and I felt like I’d earnt every fish I managed to capture.

I fished floaters on many of the sessions and also adopted a mobile approach. I managed a number of captures either casting zigs to showing fish or just fishing a standard surface controller set up amongst feeding fish. It really is a very enjoyable way to fish, however it’s very tiring. God knows how these match guys stay active for 48hrs!!!!

Next month – I have a over night social session planned with my good friend Gareth Dawkins, I’m hoping to get down to Linear fisheries for a weekend and hopefully hear back from Korda about my application.