Total Coarse Magazine

Middy and Sonubaits backed angler Russ Evans is cursing his bad drawing hand but looks to 2013 for a good year on the bank side.

Firstly I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and that 2013 will be a fish filled year for you. Since my last blog I have competed in two more rounds of the NG Floats Silverfish league at Frant Lakes in Kent where Skirmish and Stump Lake were hosting both rounds. As usual my drawing hand left me with plenty to do and the best I can do with three rounds left is a lower position in the top 6. I am not too disappointed as I have been fishing lakes that I have not either fished before or had very little past experience on so this is a learning curve for next year’s event and despite holding a mid-table position I am in second place in the most weight table so I am doing something right at least. The next rounds are not until February so that will mean I can steam ahead for some perch sessions especially now that the water temperatures have dropped again.

Some times in life things do not always go to plan especially in the angling trade and disappointingly I have moved on from my position at Tackle Fanatics as I felt things were not progressing as quickly as they should have been, I wish the company well. So what next is in the pipeline for me? Well come mid-March I will be returning to Bury Hill Fishery where I spent 5 ½ years running the onsite tackle shop and after a break since last August when I left I am looking forward to re uniting myself with this famous fishery even though it may be for just a short period of time, but more of that as the weeks go by.

After reflecting on 2012 which was a very busy year for me with plenty of highlights, I have decided to be very selectful with my match commitments this time round. I have just applied for two Fish O qualifying rounds this term as I can’t justify driving all over the country knocking up plenty of costs and mileage for below average draws, that might sound negative but it is fact that each round with everything considered can cost well over £100 plus per match. My match exploits will take in a few team events, opens and mostly festival events where you can get stuck into a venue and talking of festivals I will be heading further South to Stafford Moor early march to fish a week long silvers festival and I can’t wait as the fishery is regarded very highly on my favourite places to fish list.

I am hoping that someone who reads this next paragraph will be able to help me find out some information on a stretch of the river Stour in Suffolk that I used to fish a young lad and teenager. Pitmore Lock back in the 1970’s was part of the L.A.A membership until they lost the control of the section for litter problems if my memory serves me right. I do believe that the section of river went to a private syndicate and for the life of me I just cannot find any info about it. If I could fish the river at Pitmore just one more time I would be a very happy man as I have some great memories of the location notably catching my first roach of over a pound. If you have any info on this brilliant stretch of the Stour please contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it I will be much obliged.

“Tight Lines”

Russ Evans