Venus Flytrap Growing

When I was a youth, buying fresh fishing tackle wasn’t easy. I grew up in a Surrey village, and the high street did not boast a shop specialising in fishing supplies. There was a mini department store which had a miniscule sports section which had a cupboard containing a small selection of floats, ledgers and the occasional rod and reel, but that was about it. There was nowhere to buy live bait from, and my mother drew a very strong line at attempting to grow my own maggots and my dad was not amused at the garden being dug up in a search for worms.

In fact, if ever I needed to get new equipment to go angling with, I had to journey into Guildford which was a 30 minute bus ride each way (and expensive to a youngster on little pocket money who wasn’t permitted a paper round) go to the country sports retailer on the high street. Naturally there was the benefit that you could purchase a few pints of maggots while there to take angling when I got home, and there was the opportunity of getting back some of the outlay by selling a few handfuls to chums at the fishery who all faced the same problem. But of course, even with an early start, it would be extremely unlikely that it would be possible to get down to the fishery much before the early afternoon, which meant that angling would be short and you very often just ended up chucking the precious maggots into the water as you left. The consequences of them dying and smelling out the downstairs would have been severe.

It would have been fabulous growing up where I live nowadays. Here, there are a number of good outlets for fishing tackle close by, certainly only a short bike ride, there are lots of canals and lakes to choose from and for an adventurous day out, the River Severn is close enough to get to in a pretty fast time with the bonus that if you end up at the right place you can be angling and observe the steam trains on the Severn Valley Railway screaming up and down the line between Bridgnorth and Kidderminster.

But even if I was back in Cranleigh, the internet would mean that I could get any fishing tackle I wanted and have it delivered, and I have come across a website that will send all manner of live-bait including maggots in what I would expect would be very sturdy packaging. I cannot imagine the Royal Mail being too amused at bags of maggots breaking and spilling all over the insides of mailbags and people’s letters! So feeling good about one’s fishing tackle before going out for a day’s fishing would be easy and someone would feel like a proper fisher under those circumstances.

This is all to the good. I feel blessed that when I do begin angling again in the next few weeks, I will be able to purchase everything I need with little hardship from a local retailer which wasn’t an option I had as a youth, but if I was at that age again, it’s excellent to know that if I wanted, I could now use all the fishing tackle I couldn’t have then. Something that makes access to the things you do easier has to be a good thing.

20110111

For all your fishing needs and the advantages it can bring, visit The Internet Fishing Shop

Whisper it gently and carefully – Spring could be knocking on the doors! I drove my little boy to school today and in the gardens along the path there were undoubtedly crocuses in bloom. Also, daffodils look to be heaving their way into the open air as well as the bluebells at the bottom of my front garden. It’s so thrilling, eventually after the dull vileness of winter since xmas, it seems as at last there is a motive to be chipper. And, more to the point, the moment that I go back to the lakeside and go fishing may genuinely be here.

I’ve never been ashamed to declare that I’m, and always will be, a fair-weather angler. And particularly as I have not been fishing in a very long time, having got the urge to go back there was no way I was going to go out for a trial excursion when I would have had to wrap up like Captain Scott and scare myself forever. Also, I would not have wanted to shell out much money on bait and tackle if I was not definite that I was going to make a fair go of it first.

It’d make sense for me to go out to the canal with a pal, go halves on bait and tackle and I hope be able to use a guest pass before I shell out on enrolling in the Birmingham Angling Association which is what is needed to be allowed to go fishing on the canals around here, as well as the rod licence that I will want from the Department of Environment. The 2 of those will be the disturbing side of 50 before anything else, so I have to be sure that I will still be able to enjoy it.

Something I am going to enjoy is browsing in bait and tackle outlets. I adore tiny, local, dedicated stores who have the local knowledge, who can help intelligently from first hand knowledge and be the finest source of news about fishing in the locale regarding what is being caught and where.

So, if it is correct that Spring is nearly with us (and it is a marvellous bright day today too) then I want to do what I have been promising myself for weeks, sort out a day with my friend, get to the fishing shop and go angling.

20110216

For all fishing tackle needs visit the Internet Fishing Shop

Awful tidings reaches me from the riverbank. It appears incredible, but despite, or maybe because of, it being the proper close season for coarse fishing – as it has been at this period of year for over one hundred years now – there have been illegitimate matches held through the weekend.

This is complete madness. There are good rationale why the close season was instigated, all to do with the good of the fish population, for the conservation of the water surroundings and the protection of the hobby for all concerned. It is not just a question of the continuing supply of goods by the fishing tackle shop, far from it. In fact, the proprietors will probably be as concerned at this going on as anybody else, as what these morons are doing will cause more harm than the anti-fishing people to the sport could do in a lifetime.

At this time of year, fish gather in huge numbers to spawn. They’ll prefer certain locations, which mean that anyone fishing in that place is probably to be in for a fantastic day. And if you have a competition with a riverbank full of rods then the catch is going to be tremendous, a diary moment. But the fish will be affected. For one thing, imagine a female, stuffed roe finds herself caught and fighting capture. In all likelihood she is going to dump the eggs with practically no chance of them being fertilised, so that will result in tens of thousands of fry, from each female caught, not hatching and repopulating the rivers.

And then the fish are going to remember and they will begin to boycott that area in future years which means that no matter how good the bait and tackle supplied by fishing tackle shop will be, if there are no fish there to start with, everyone is going to be let down. There is precedent for this since the identical thing happened on the canals in some locations of the midlands. No one goes fishing there now as there isn’t much point you see. There are hardly any fish.

The level of the complete conceit that a few people decide that, they cannot pause fishing for a few weeks and risk killing the rivers for everybody else, putting who knows how many fishing tackle shop firms bankrupt and their staff out of work, is stunning. I can’t begin to recognise it and the law needs to be applied and stop it before everything wrecked.

20110411

For fishing reels visit The Internet Fishing Shop

As humans age, mature and leave childhood behind, customs across the continents celebrate with rites of passage marking the journey. A Number are holy of course, baptism and bar mitzvah, are usual examples. Plenty though are family customs to do with transferring on some type of education from one generation to the next. The next one I’m looking forward to is showing fishing to my son.

In prehistoric ages, it would have been a survival desire to be able to pass on the knowledge to one’s progeny to be able to catch supper. I think that what went for going to a fishing tackle shop in Neanderthal ages would have been to fashion some kind of spear and doing a dance to praise the gods and require them to make the catch a good one.

In these times, such rites of passage will be different according to society and geography. Not all are as gentle as fishing. I expect that a notable event in the life of a developing lad in the Democratic Republic of Congo would be to be presented with his first AK47 as soon as he is strong enough to carry, and educated to fire it by his dad, always supposing his old man is alive and in a physical condition to conduct the lesson.

Not all rites of passage are a family custom of course. Where a dad will take his son to the fishing tackle shop, growing urban sophisticates will call a dealer suggested by a pal or media colleague and get their 1st line of cocaine. And how exciting it must be to be part of a world of such glamour! Sniffing deeply on a powerful powder which will have gone through the alimentary passage of a drug mule woman at least once! The knowledge that you have been aiding to sponsor the quest to supply it which finances arms deals, shootings in Mexico and Jamaica. Other drugs are available of course, and these can have the extra kudos of financing the bombs which maim and kill UK and US soldiers in Afghanistan. It must be terribly fantastic to be part of all that.

Of course to those of us who want a simple life, catching or making food helps to play a vital part of the family journey where the debut truffle hunt in France, the 1st fishing trip somewhere there may be a body of water, teaching a child to plant a seed and observe it grow and give fruit are as crucial as the stories told and games played through childhood which excite the imagination and aid development and education.

For me though, it’s the trip to the fishing tackle shop to get my lad his first rod and reel and then on to the riverbank and showing him how to piece them all together to catch his first fish, and then hoping that he takes to it and carries on to want to go fishing with his father, and later with his chums.

20110328

For fishing rods visit The Internet Fishing Shop

The excellent news today is that my bed doesn’t loath me. I’m not sure about the source of the shoulder soreness still, but the situation with my neck is Cricket Ache caused by nodding off in front of the television whilst watching the cricket and being unable to retain wakefulness. At least I managed to see the end of the match. It will not be repeated, I am very much a Test match fan and will not be bothering to stay up for the limited over games. Besides, this being a Friday, in future weeks I’ll be aiming to get an early start at work so that I can slope off in after lunch to go angling.

What with Mrs Izzard going back to work because of a prolonged sick leave due to breast cancer treatment since April in a couple of weeks, and the promise of the weather becoming milder through February and March, the siren song of the canal towpath will probably be overwhelming now that I have chosen to update the fishing tackle and start angling again.

When I was looking through my fishing tackle last week, I came across an old rod licence which was dated 1994, which most likely was the previous year I went fishing. It feels an awfully long time and yet I recall it clearly, a clear day in June when I went for a day’s fishing on the Thames at Walton, and I snagged my single ever barbel. This might seem weird, but much of the angling I did as a youth was on a little lake in the village where I grew up, and barbel are a river fish.

Then, I did not have a much fishing tackle as I didn’t have very much money and yet I still have most of it from those days. I find it amazing that even when I did earn decent money, I never really thought about fishing or spending some money and buying some really top fishing tackle and having more time by the water.

When I do go back, I will need to shell out some change\money, first and foremost getting a rod licence and enrolling in the Birmingham Anglers Association who are in charge of fishing on the canals around here, then I will need some modern fishing tackle as mine is old and possibly illegal now, especially the hooks which all appear to have barbs which I am pretty sure aren’t permitted now.

I can’t wait to return, though I’m not ashamed to state that I was always and definitely will be now, a very fair weather angler, so I will need dry, warm conditions. It doesn’t have to be hot, just not damp and freezing and if it’s a Friday after Mrs Izzard has resumed work (and I’m legal) then the likelihood is I am going to go angling. Excellent.

20110107

For all your fishing needs and the advantages it can bring, visit The Internet Fishing Shop

I have had a brilliant idea for a telly show. Following on from Robert Llewellyn’s (Kryton in Red Dwarf) fabulous Car Pool, in which he interviews celebrities while he gives them a lift somewhere, I have a vision of Tackle Out – a chat-show where the host goes off angling with a well known person and they sit by a gravel pit and natter about this and that.

Much of the interview must of course be in regard to whatever the interviewee is promoting, a tv series, book etc, but the topics could drift around locations that interviewee likes to go fishing, where is the best place they have been fishing and what their favourite fishing tackle is, where they get it and their angling history and tales.

fishing has previously provided a good backdrop to a TV show, in recent periods Rich Hall had a programme sitting in a boat, on a lake with his chum, doing comedy. And Robson Green has had a show about extreme angling in exotic parts of the world. There have also been cult figures to come from telly shows about fishing, most prominently of course is the tremendous Rex Hunt from the Fishing Adventures, but in the United Kingdom, John Wilson stands out.

The programme could be quite broad scoped. Thinking of the prospective interviewees who are known to be enthusiastic when it comes to the piscatorial pursuits; Jeremy Paxman would be fascinating, Billy Connelly would be great fun, maybe some real emotion in having a programme where Paul Gascoigne could talk about his troubles, and a galaxy of famous faces from all areas of life such as Ian Botham could well be easily persuaded if they were to be asked for a day with the fishing tackle and natter about themselves for a few hours.

There is a precedent for such a show. Many years ago, the idol of golf commentary presented a similarly themed show where he chatted to a famous golf enthusiast in ‘Around With Alliss’ which provided gentle, delightful chat with a guest utterly relaxed since they were pursuing their hobby.

What a prospect the show may be! The chat-show needs revamping. Jonathan Ross’s BBC1 show went on in unaltered format for too long, the Graham Norton show that has succeededit is a bit repetitive so think about a programme that can appeal to people who are interested in the most popular participation sport, the interviewees could appeal to those who are not really interested in angling but could be drawn to it as a result. There could be tips on fishing tackle for fishers at all levels, what you need to get started, different kinds of fishing and fishing tackle that might be needed for rivers as opposed to reservoirs or gravel pits as well as highlighting how fishing boost the protection of the water environs.

The more I consider it, the more I like the idea. It does not need to be primarily an angling show, in fact much better if it is not, but it could a runner and I shall write to the BBC at once!

20110112

For all fishing tackle needs visit the Internet Fishing Shop

We Have reached another Monday morning. And once again I can happily state that another lovely weekend has passed and I can report good news! I know that this may appear a touch smug to someone that’s had a poor weekend, and to you I apologise and wish you a better one this Friday. In fact, if I have a poor weekend, you can be sure that I will be telling you all about it as it will give me a straightforward topic to begin the week with if it makes you feel better.

As well as a nice excursion with the family, I managed to discover an ideal situation for a spot of fishing on the canal. At least, it’ll be ideal for the summer as the view depends considerably on cricket being played on the green across the canal, which won’t be seen in this hemisphere in January. But, when the next cricket season opens in May, it’s the best site along the canal for soaking the fishing tackle as long as the batsman doesn’t launch one for six into the drink where I’ve got a maggot drowning.

I have been on the lookout for spots to go to when I start fishing again and so far it’s going well. There are a number of locations I’ve found along the canal towpath so far that look ideal for setting up the fishing tackle for a quiet few hours thinking about life on a Friday afternoon, so that’s 1 tick in the box.

Also, as we start to come out of winter, I’m looking forward to enjoying Saturdays doing some fishing if I can get the present Mrs Izzard to let me out. If, for no other motive than I can have the complete day with Radio 5 which is unmatched in my view for somebody particularly interested in football. From Fighting Talk through to Six-Oh-Six, it’s a marvellous afternoon’s listening, and I think that combine that with a day out with the fishing tackle, you can’t go wrong.

I am also after a lake or large pond locally, hopefully a bit secluded like the fisheries I went to as a boy in Cranleigh.

For river fishing though, I know exactly where I’m going, which is to the Severn near Arley where I can both sit by the water, dangle my fishing tackle and watch the steam trains on the Severn Valley Railway thundering up and down the railway every 20 minutes or so. Can anything possibly be better? Radio 5, angling and steam trains? If there is a way to involve some cricket as well, I think it might be possible that I’ll never leave the riverbank.

20110117

For fishing reels visit The Internet Fishing Shop

Last night I was looking with some indifference through the catalogue given out by a well known High Street shop and I fell across the pages showing fishing tackle. I was really completely surprised by a number of the offers available on sets of equipment, mostly directed towards those interested in taking up fishing.

It was rather different to what was available when I was a youngster. Then, the corresponding place to visit was Woolworths, to browse the Winfield brand which was, frankly, rubbish. They used to come apart rather fast but the main thing was that by the time they did, you were set to get finer bait and tackle anyway, or you had chosen to give up angling anyway.

I have zero doubt that the bait and tackle sets that the catalogue chain offer are of pretty unexceptional quality, which is of course excellent for the beginner. Things like float sets will possibly last for a very long time and be useful for any tackle dangler looking to replace mislaid fishing tackle, but for dads or uncles wanting to introduce younger family members to the delights of fishing, these sets are ideal.

There is as well a psychological advantage to be had in retaining the keenness of the newly inspired maggot drowner, which is that, if they opt to have a go and find pals who are also interested, to make off to the canalside with a comprehensive set of bait and tackle will gain approving comments all round and engender a feeling of wellbeing which will be constantly associated with angling.

Of course there will want to be lots of paternal instruction first in order to make certain that he or she knows how to set up the bait and tackle with some proficiency before letting them to embark on their own escapades. I well recall my first trip out, which was an inter-troop angling contest with the scouts. I had only been out a couple of times with my uncle and finished up getting into the most awful tangles and losing most of my fishing line as a result. It was most humiliating as I spent almost the total afternoon trying to unravel a cavalcade of cats’ cradles, then getting aggravated and cutting the line and beginning again.

This is not the way to encourage fresh blood into the pastime. angling can be a intricate process, and for beginner wants to be shown how to appropriately setup the bait and tackle before getting out on their own.

And for this purpose, the sort of fishing tackle sets are perfect to give the desire to learn the finer points.

20110221

For fishing magazines visit The Internet Fishing Shop

Maybe I’m getting old or my bed dislikes me, but I’m getting up in the morning with a sore left shoulder and today my neck is stiff too. It’s really annoying as it is sore to hold my head straight. If I was to pull the fishing tackle out and run for the water today, I fear that fishing would be quite painful instead of what it should be, which is peaceful.

Angling is an opportunity for anyone to be able to spend some quality time by oneself, think about where life is heading and what can be changed, what is going well and what isn’t. One gets so few openings to be by oneself and I do believe that could be a cause for an acceleration of unwanted stress. For instance, I work at home, my wife has also been at home on long term sick leave having being diagnosed with breast cancer in April last year. The best thing is that because I am at home, I have been able to support her, transport and be with her when she’s been getting chemo and radiotherapy and then subsequently when she’s been getting the side effects I can look after our four year old.

However, the converse was that, especially during the radiotherapy, which was every weekday, I wasn’t able to get down to doing any work. After the drive to the hospital and back, which was at least a ninety minute exercise, then taking Will to kindergarten, having a bite of lunch, getting Will again and coming home, there was barely a period of an hour or more until late in the day when I could actually settle into doing anything which clearly meant that any idea of taking the fishing tackle out of the garage and doing a bit of angling was all but out of the question. This pushes my stress levels considerably, with little prospect of taking a decent break.

What is forecast now is that things are calming down. Chemo and radiotherapy is finished, and the present Mrs Izzard is looking to head back to work on January 17th which is very exciting. She will have to have an intravenous herceptin treatment every three weeks but there are no vile consequences from that. So, because she will be collecting Will from nursery on her way home every day, it appears that if I wanted to, I could steal a few hours of an afternoon doing some fishing at one of the local canals. I do need to get some new fishing tackle before I can get going, as well as get a rod licence and join the Birmingham Angling Association to be qualified to fish the canals, but with a bit of luck I can get the paperwork sorted out by the time she returns to work.

Whether I can spend an afternoon angling of course, will rely on work and whether I can do enough done in the mornings to be able to leave it and change the computer for the fishing tackle. Perhaps Friday afternoons will be the easiest to justify, but at least since I work for myself then I will know if I absolutely can afford to bunk off.

20110106

For all your fishing needs visit The Internet Fishing Shop

The Internet Fishing Shop is devoted to providing angling fans with links from 1 main location to lots of internet retailers of fishing tackle in Britain, , Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The plan is give value and variety of choice for web customers of fishing tackle and fishing goods.

The recent few weeks have seen agreements put in place with more great quality fishing tackle sites, also travel companies who can offer angling holidays and somewhere to stay, as well as travel insurance.

The intention of the shop is that someone seeking anything to do with their fishing hobby, whether it be buying new fishing tackle, anybody looking for presents for tackle dangling pals or relatives, that they could favourite the URL, or better still use it as their homepage, so that they can return to it to find what they are needing whenever the requirement comes up.

Work is being done to unearth more retailers of books and DVDs for angling, at this time there is merely 1 agreement in place but hopefully more, particularly in the United Kingdom, will be coming quickly.

Tackle danglers at all stages of the sport will be able to find what they are looking for, whether they be youngsters interested in beginning and buying their first rods, reels and other assorted fishing tackle, or the highly experienced, all weather maggot drowner who is looking for an exact that he needs for a particular occasion.

So for everyone looking for anything to do with maintaining their angling hobby, the Internet Fishing Shop will point you to the internet sites that can help you each step of the way.

20110113

For all fishing tackle needs visit the Internet Fishing Shop