The River Bend is a UK fishing site built on one simple idea: cover the sport properly, or don’t cover it at all. That means real species biology instead of copy-pasted facts, technique guides written by people who actually fish the method, and rules content that reflects what the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, and Marine Scotland actually say – not what a five-year-old forum thread assumes they say.
We started this site because most UK fishing content online falls into one of two camps: generic listicles rewritten from other listicles with no first-hand knowledge behind them, or scattered forum wisdom with no way to tell what’s current. Neither helps an angler who wants a straight answer about what to use, where to go, or why the fish stopped biting halfway through a session.
What We Cover
Every UK freshwater and sea species regularly targeted by anglers, the techniques used to catch them, the gear that actually matters versus the gear that’s just marketing, the rivers, reservoirs, canals, and coastlines worth fishing, and the rules that govern all of it. Nothing here is written to hit a word count – if a guide doesn’t add something useful beyond what you could already guess, it doesn’t get published.
Meet the Writers
Everything on The River Bend is written by one of four anglers, each covering the species and methods they actually fish.
Rob Hadley – Predators and Lure Fishing
Rob Hadley grew up fishing the rivers and drains of the Norfolk Broads, and it was inevitable that pike would become his species of choice. He’s been targeting predators seriously for over 20 years – starting on dead baits, moving through live bait rigs, and eventually landing on lure fishing as his preferred method about eight years ago.
These days he fishes the Broads through winter, travels to Chew Valley Lake each spring for its outsized fish, and spends the warmer months working soft plastics on rivers across the East Midlands for perch and zander. He’s had pike to 31lb and perch to 3lb 9oz, and reckons both records are beatable on the right day with the right set-up. At The River Bend, Rob writes the predator species guides, lure fishing technique articles, and most of the winter fishing content.
Dan Whitfield – Coarse Fishing and Match Angling
Dan Whitfield started fishing aged seven on the canal at the end of his road and never really stopped. He spent his twenties and thirties on the match circuit – club level rather than national – before deciding he’d rather catch one decent fish than a net of small ones.
These days he mostly fishes the River Trent for barbel (personal best 14lb 2oz), the Oxford Canal for roach and skimmers in winter, and the occasional gravel pit when tench are spawning and the surface fishing is too good to miss. He’s a former club secretary and still helps with junior coaching at his local angling club in Nottingham. At The River Bend, Dan writes the coarse species guides, river fishing technique articles, gear and tackle content, and the match and pole content.
Sarah Marsh – Game Fishing and Fly Fishing
Sarah Marsh came to fly fishing through her father, who kept a rod on a small syndicate water in Devon. She spent her teens fishing stocked reservoirs and gradually worked her way toward wild fish on moving water – first on rain-fed freestone rivers in Wales, then on the Hampshire chalk streams she now considers home water.
She holds a level 2 APGAI fly casting qualification and guides informally on the River Test and, from June to September, on a private beat on the River Tay for Atlantic salmon. Her personal best brown trout came from the Itchen at 4lb 1oz; she’d sooner not talk about the salmon that came off at the net last August. At The River Bend, Sarah writes the game fish species guides, fly fishing technique articles, and the legal content covering trout and salmon regulations.
Mike Talbot – Sea Fishing and Coastal Access
Mike Talbot grew up in Cornwall and had a rod in his hand before he was tall enough to reach the rod rest properly. His early fishing was mackerel from the harbour wall and plaice on the beaches at low tide, but bass took over in his late teens and have never really let go.
He moved to Pembrokeshire in his thirties for the coastline as much as anything else, and now fishes a mix of rock marks, estuaries, and boat trips across West Wales and the Bristol Channel. Personal best bass: 8lb 4oz, caught on a floating stickbait at first light on a calm August morning. At The River Bend, Mike writes the sea fish species guides, sea fishing technique articles, fishing locations content, and the coastal access and regulation content.
Get in Touch
Spotted something out of date, or fishing a water we haven’t covered yet? Get in touch – we’d rather fix a mistake than leave it live.