The Best Baits for Chub: The Species That Eats Almost Anything
Chub will eat cheese, bread, worms, slugs and lumps of luncheon meat. That freedom is exactly why anglers get chub bait wrong.
The Best Baits for Perch: Worms Win, But Not Always
Perch are predators with an obvious favourite food, and most anglers overcomplicate it. Here is the short list that actually catches them.
The Best Baits for Carp: What I’d Actually Put On After Twenty Years
Boilies get all the marketing. Here is my honest ranking of what actually catches carp in UK waters, and when I would use each one.
Loch Watten Fishing Guide: Caithness Wild Brown Trout
Traditional loch style at its best, with wild browns averaging just under a pound and enough two and three pounders to keep you honest. Fly only, and better from a boat.
Loch Awe Fishing Guide: Ferox, Pike and Brown Trout in Argyll
One of the few Scottish waters where you can buy a day permit for pike and trout online, with a protection order, a hatchery and a clear set of byelaws behind it.
Fishing Scotland’s Lochs: The Highlands and Argyll
Wild fish, huge water and very few other anglers. The Highlands ask more of you in planning than in casting, and the trade is worth it.
Loch Ken Fishing Guide: Scotland’s Big Pike and Coarse Water
Pike, perch, roach and bream in Dumfries and Galloway, with a permit and access situation that genuinely needs checking before you travel.
Fishing Scotland’s Lochs: Southern Scotland
The south west is Scotland’s coarse fishing corner, and it is badly underrated by anglers who drive straight past it on the way north.
Carron Valley Fishery: The Members-Only Water Worth Knowing About
Over a thousand acres of wild brown trout water between Denny and Fintry, and since 2021 you cannot buy a day ticket. Here is what that means if you were planning to fish it.
Butterstone Loch Fishing Guide: A Small Perthshire Water That Punches Up
Around 70 acres near Dunkeld, holding rainbow, blue and brown trout, fished from boat and bank. Access runs through the angling association rather than over the counter.