No fishing for a while then....now where is that fishing DVD ?

I was hoping to be able to go fishing before Christmas , but the weather God has decided against it !
The river will take a while to gather itself from its sojourn to the fields and allow a worthwhile attempt at fishing . So its a return to the other forms of obtaining a fishing fix , buying fishing tackle, reading about fishing or watching a fishing DVD.
So Martin Bowler's new DVD, " Seeking shadows" has had an airing. Great photography and some excellent sequences especially the Blue shark footage. can I go fishing soon please ?
I plan to have few beach fishing trips in the early part of next year so I have been looking for a new beach reel. I have been recommended to look at the Akios range and they seem pretty good at first glance . Now where is that Sea Angling magazine .....

Favourite Things 2#

This fish weighed 19 lbs 8 oz , and was a beautiful fish . The picture was taken on a phone so its not got the greatest detail  but this fish was one of the biggest Pike I have caught, yet it "only" weighed 19lbs !

A few of my favourite things..... 1#

Everyone has a favourite fish , and I have to say that Pike are the one for me. I enjoy the methods of fishing for Pike and the locations , plus of course the fish are fantastic to look at and even better to see swim away after they have spent a few moments in my company. The Pike pictured above weighed 21lb 13oz and was caught in the Norfolk Broads.

Hello,
I would like you to picture the scene , a small 6 year old boy is walking along a country lane, in East Sussex , after his first fishing adventure , to a local farm pond. The sun is shining , the sky is blue and the birds and bees are doing what ever birds and bees do in the long lost days of a summer idyll.
The small boy is wearing brown corduroy trousers , black wellies and a shirt, he  is carrying his fishing bag over his shoulder , and carrying his rod , with reel,  line and float attached . For those of you who need to know the rod is a 6 foot tubular steel spinning rod , and the reel a Mitchell CAP, the float  a red topped cork one with a green painted lower half. Oh and a hook, but we will come back to that, as at the moment it is attached to two locations : one right, one very wrong .
At each step the small boys rod bends slightly as the line stretches from a point of contact to the rod top ,  the line stretches , then relaxes at the next step. Each right legs stride results in the same flex of rod and stretch of line . Its a mile home and the small boy's thoughts are at the moment only on two things : his Mum's potential anger at his predicament and the length of his grounding until the next time he can go fishing.
That small boy was me.
The hook was irretrievably stuck in the thigh area of my trousers and despite my best efforts remained there . Other than desperate actions with scissors which I sensibly discounted , the only resort was returning home.
I was grounded .
But as in all things , the need to go back to the watery ways returned and I found myself drawn inevitably to all things fish and fishing related .
Hopefully I can share some of that with you .