Seeker Sportfishing

08/04/2025

With fish of this calibre feeding in the Harbour it’s time to get back after them.
This one was a special capture for me today, at 74cm it makes it my official personal best and I feel it’s likely to be a double figure fish but my scales were knowingly left in the car.
Approached with slightly more finesse tactics, (3gm size 1 Jighead, married to a 3” easy shiner in ‘sight flash’)

Guiding wise, I begin this Friday. I can’t wait to be honest, we’re going to find some goodies 😉💪🏼
With only 2 trips to complete before next week with my little boy over Easter hols, it’s a very mild start that soon ramps up to lots of big consecutive days on my return.
I love those busy times as I get to truly revert back to a creature of the Harbour, one that never comes off task, and I welcome in an all-consuming hyperfocus. Magic can/does happen with this recipe but I personally have to monitor it. I have to recognise that I have no ‘off switch’ when it comes to this, so my passion pushes EVERYTHING to one side and there’s always noticeable colterall damage. I wouldn’t change it for a second!! Bring on another season!!

I’m pretty booked up as the season hits but strangely August has a lot of availability and there’s still some prime Autumn dates that may not last too long.

I’ve also had a postponement for Saturday 10th May on perfect tides that I’ll be looking to fill.

Get out there and go get your string pulled!

05/04/2025

05/04/2025

I’m going to try this without sounding too much like an idiot, here goes -

04/04/2025

Here’s some of my own from last season -

Anything over 60cm made the cut for this post but there was obviously a lot of other fish caught, in tonnes of different scenarios.
This meant the Daiwa UK Labrax prototypes got well and truly put through their paces last year and tested super thoroughly, fishing them all season and getting revisions to play with as requested. (More on these soon).

I also gave the new Certate LT3000D-XH and new J-Braid Expedition a year of serious use in the harshest environment going, putting them to the test fully, they remained flawless all year and a total pleasure to fish with each day.

Back to the fishing -
I definitely didn’t find my pb last year but it was a great one for 60cm+ fish, with a good amount being right at the top end of the 60’s.
Not a single 1 went 70cm or over, whereas the season prior to last I’d managed 3.

This size was also seen in my guiding, with last seasons guiding PB going to Matt Leach with a beautifully built 69cm fish.
I’ll post some pictures of this fish and the story very soon as it was a fantastic capture and great example of when it all comes together, guide and angler in sync and locked in…
More on that one soon too 😉

Let’s hope it’s a BIG fish year inshore 🤞🏻
Remember, that also heavily relies on anglers practicing catch and release from the shore.

02/04/2025

A whole load more from toward the end of last season…

A healthy mix of return and new clients.
Thank you to all, and I really just can’t wait to see many of you again this year.

Right now it’s time to go find a few myself, Pre guiding kick-off. 😁
I’ve got 9 totally child-free days to search, prep and get on fine form as a professional guide. With my first booking of the year being slightly earlier than past seasons, on Friday 11th April.

I have to say, wind and tides aren’t exactly kind for the next 7 days, and after not being able to play at all in those perfect conditions over the big springs last week, well that just kinda stings!
Although this next set of tides and run of temps aren’t about to fire it up in any way, I’m quite sure a select few big moochers should be about in some early season areas.

Same time that most of my veggies get planted in the ground are when it gets nice and consistent out there, night time temps could do with holding above 10degrees (and that Easterly wind chill can preferably just disappear as it’s not helping).

Tight lines everyone as we start to get in to the new season 🤞🏻

30/03/2025

Photo dump of 3/4 of last season…

I can only put up 85 photos at a time, almost each one is a different fish or client and this lot takes me up to before a lot of the Autumn fishing kicked in. I’m going blast another 85 photos from the ‘24 Season tomorrow. 😁

I think so many of these didn’t get seen other than on instagram stories as only a few made it in to posts and reels mid-season, so I’ve very crudely just thrown them all on here or they’ll forever live on my phone.

The one thing you can see throughout the photos is VARIETY, lots of variety in marks, locations, tidal states, and most importantly lots of different styles/techniques being taught and utilised.

Lots of micro stuff - plenty of that was done on sight cast fish in an array of locations.
Loads of Texas rigged medium plastics - to fish everything from big Cord grass beds and gulleys, to running it through thick bladderwrack margins on singular tailing fish. (My favourite if I’m honest).
Lots of cheb rigging - everything from 1gm on 3” baits in urban low tide creeks, all the way to 15gm Chebs on 7” baits to bounce the bottom in thick flow in Coastal zones.
Of course a tonne of topwater!! 💯💥💥
Loads of weightless, weedless - from flukes to dolives.

Basically, these photos are from just about every conceivable tiny nook and cranny these fish go. Moving with the season as it waxes and wanes through its barely predictable seasonal itinerary of cycles - which in turn dictate the myriad of food sources they’ll be found on at various places and locations. If I’ve learnt anything it’s that each year is uniquely its own.
Don’t forget to bring in to the mix the tide and weather needing its final say at each given hour. Plus, factor in my desire to ‘do it differently’ and evolve as a guide in a multitude of ways… and this all means I don’t know how this coming season is about to pan out 🤷🏻‍♂️. That’s the joy of it!
There’s obviously a tonne of other ‘variables’ to factor in for each guided day but I’ll work it all out with pleasure as everything shifts and arrives.

One thing will however remain a solid constant -
I’ll be putting fish in clients hands however possible, all season long!

Photo dump and more of my waffling again tomorrow…

28/03/2025

This was just as I came in to season 2 of being a professional shore guide, now entering a fast approaching season 6…

Excited as ever for another year making memories with clients!!

27/03/2025

I found one today using a ‘hospital of the harbour’ to recondition.
Infact, over the past week I’ve encountered 4 separate fairly decent fish at 3 uniquely different freshwater locations, all using those zones to assist in healing noticeable injuries.
Most are so focused on their healing that they won’t attempt to eat a lure even when it’s perfectly offered to them, and for that reason I feel somewhat torn about targeting fish that are only visible in certain areas for this sole reason.
However, today’s fish was in decent knick (probably why it ate a bit more willingly) and certainly not a Bass every angler could tempt to eat unless utilising fairly finesse tactics.

A very welcome fish in hand non-the-less as it’s not easy going out there right now.

23/03/2025

‘Fish big lures’ is what I was told. That was great advice.

14/03/2025

That’s the end to the river Pike season and the start of Bass!

A good winter, being able to say I caught Pike from 5 different rivers -
The Arun, The Stour, The Hampshire Avon, ‘A Welsh One’, and The Dee.

2 of which were only visited for a single day but it was still a tick to land a fish on all. Doubles coming from The Hampshire Avon, The Arun and Wales.

Over 80% of my fish this year fell to Jigflies, hand tied by the Pike maestro - Hector

No monsters landed for me this season but today’s fish, on the last day of it all, was most likely this years pb at 18lb+.
That’s a guesstimate and I don’t need to be reminded ‘don’t say it if you don’t weigh it’ but that’s the biggest river one I encountered.
I’m still emotionally sore that she expertly escaped any photo but it meant she went off quickly despite having been well and truly banked and sat on dry land. I got a conciliation fin-perfect 9lber a few hours later to end on.

I’m a tad snobby with these fish, I’ll admit, of course each one is beautiful but for me I can’t help be a specimen hunter and I always want a monster.
I also can’t help but discredit the ‘purity’ and slightly diminish the achievement in my mind if I’m fishing in a lake. For that reason, it’s river fish that really ‘count’ and anything clearly under a double is often a quick clean release and not worth faffing with the tripod and phone.

At a guess, counting everything big and small from the Rivers, I’ve managed a healthy number of Pike from the days fished - probably 30-35 in total.

From small stillwaters it’s been easy pickings at times, sometimes even encountering the same fish during the season - maybe 40 or 50 Pike from these type of venues and very rarely anything over 10lb.

The lakes are used as my last resort, mid-winter option to at least see a visual eat and get some string pulled. Staving off the cabin fever when I can’t think of any other options to get out and fish.
Most fish of these lake fish were simply unhooked in the water (the joy of big single hooks on the Jigflies) and you notice they’re soon back on the chew with minimum stress. These feisty fish are also great to get my boy hooked up to something fairly easily and guaranteed, his tally for the year being 4 caught.
Don’t get me wrong, a 20lb+ lake Pike would still be very impressive for myself, I’m not that snobby about them, but that one never showed for me.

Moment of my season -
My first day fishing The Royalty section of The Hampshire Avon. Hoping that it lived up to its reputation, late in the afternoon I got slowly followed in by a fish that dwarfed anything I’d seen before and quite possibly over the magic 30lb mark. That fish knew what a lure was however and faded off to never show again but It’s incredible how a moment like that imprints in your brain and it had me going back in anticipation. Next visit there was a 4lb Jack for the entire day’s efforts 😂.
A tough stretch of incredible river due to angling pressure, there’s not many rivers I know of that can even taunt an angler like that.

So that’s a wrap, a pretty good freshwater season and it’ll feel great to pack away neatly without the temptation to find Pike and start the tackle and gear prep on Bass.
There’s a busy guiding calendar now imminently approaching and I’m looking forward to that 8 month long hyper fixation taking over like I’m possessed.

See you out there.

01/02/2025

There’s been a big break from me on here recently so it’s probably time to say hello…

01/02/2025

Here’s one from earlier this week, found feeding high up the harbour system. I hope there’s a few anglers getting out there this weekend on such great tides and weather.

While storms have battered the immediate coastline, the large harbours here have remained in near perfect clarity and I feel that bad weather has only assisted to put fish in areas where they’re able to easily find food.
Of course, they don’t struggle in big, low clarity, churning swell but a lot of fish won’t favour that over being able to mooch a clear Harbour if it’s right there to nip in to and going to give them everything they need to stay in top condition.
We also have a good portion of residential Bass in these areas, the food chain doesn’t breakdown completely in winter, it just slows down to very low hum, and these predatory fish are integral in it.
So, it’s simply a case of get out there and cast!

Without being able to go in to the depth required to explain everything you should be doing in your winter approach in just this quick post - my advice is go and fish your normal Summer marks in the ways that you know how, ignoring the long held assumption that these are a just seasonal, warm water visitors to our shores. Downsize possibly, and fish low ‘n slow isn’t bad advice either 😉 bites will be ‘tappy’ so wind on to them until the hookup. I believe finesse tactics will land you more fish, I’ll have to post again and focus on what I mean by this.

I’m going to put it out there, I truly believe we’re on one of the last couple of years where the majority of dedicated Bass lure anglers have any sort of ‘off-season’, possibly even by next winter we’ll see a good portion of them nationwide continue straight through on this species. By the year after that it’ll simply feel common knowledge that it’s a 12 month a year lure fishery for them, and you’ll see that reflected in the much larger numbers of guys that never pack away for winter.
This sports evolving at an extremely quick rate, as fast ever still, and social media posts showing new approaches and successful winter captures only fuel this further.

21/12/2024

I’ve enjoyed looking through the brand new 2025 Daiwa UK digital catalogue this morning.
There’s loads of great new products in there to maximise your fishing and enjoyment.
I’m also feeling very proud and blessed to have some pro photos of myself blasting lures in there, so take a look and add a few things to your last minute Xmas list…

14/12/2024

With such good tides and weather it definitely would’ve made sense to stay on the Bass today but that’s not what I fancied doing, and it was never the plan.
Instead, I met up with Hector, the man behind all my beautiful hand tied jigfly’s, and we fished a river I’ve never seen before.

Such an enjoyable way to spend a day, watching a master of craft pick apart a river and land a stunning 12lb 3oz fish.

We saw about 6-7 fish between us, on a very tough day on paper. Most of them rocketing up behind the fly and then slamming the breaks on in the margin, only to stare at it with no intention to commit…
.We still fooled a few.

13/12/2024

It felt great to get back out for a quick blast on the Bass today after a month’s break from them following a very busy guiding season.
Two lovely fish landed, at 59cm and 62cm.

Both fish reminding me of how beautiful the lightest new Daiwa UK Labrax Estuary rod is in hand, and how much we achieved with the whole range’s development this season.
There’s been rigorous testing and tweaks, unwavering demand to get it all perfect, and stacks of big fish have been put through them.
I’m proud to say the end result is a range that anglers will adore, and in there is some light tackle weapons born from the new demands and the fast evolution of UK Bass fishing.
The whole range should be with Daiwa stockists for April ‘25.

If you’re out over the weekend then go smash ‘em, plenty to be out there for, tight lines 💪🏼

09/12/2024

Here’s a decent shot I managed to get of the fish from my latest reel.

I must have shot nearly 15 photos and managed to get only 2 with all the fish in frame but I’m happy with this one.

04/12/2024

Nerves of steal as you’re staring back at them, reading every fin twitch to see if what you’re doing is changing their mind.

04/12/2024

Here’s a great end of season ‘round-up’ from Ainsley, a fantastic angler on the Isle of white
His page is really worth a follow too - Isle of Wight Bass Fishing

It’s been a real pleasure to guide him this year and with his dates secured for next year, I’m grateful to be able to say we’ll be doing it again.

P.S - I really need to do MY yearly roundup!! Really badly!!
There must be maybe 50+ trips that never got documented with posts this year, some didn’t even get ‘stories’ posts on the day (although many many anglers took away personal lovely photos and memories).

That lack of social media is on me for sure (my downfall along with admin) but we were there to fish and the calendar was very busy, often at capacity.
I’ll look to get a round-up out soon, hopefully in a way that I think is helpful for anglers to read and visualise how the season naturally progresses, waxes and wanes - and the various approaches that it somewhat dictates to us.

Ainsley and I chatted only this week about how I feel it’s best to see a season, and in a way in which might be best (not easiest) to break it down in order to be successful…
…Ultimately, it’s if you have the knowledge and ability to quickly and affectively adapt when you’re required to by nature - is that not just a definition of great watercraft??

I’m about to go on…

Merry Xmas and all that good stuff,
Tight lines 🤞🏻

This past year the Bass fishing has been superb with countless fish in the 55-60cm bracket with locations that have remained super consistent. A sprinkling of bigger fish enabled me to finish runner up in the Dorset Lure Club League (5 fish for 332cm) winning a nice £200 voucher from Mr Fish Jersey. Another highlight of the year was winning the Bass Chase run by Southern Angling Specialists back in June, a great little national competition!
Three highly informative guided days with Seeker Sportfishing have heavily influenced my style of fishing this year. The first trip back in May was focused on tiny soft plastics and unusual locations and this was key in how the rest of my year unfolded by translating this knowledge into my own fishing. Because of this I rarely used a lure over 4” all season and my most productive locations were ones that I would have previously walked past!!! This in itself boosted my catches massively compared to the previous year.
My trusty Apia rods have served me well and I added the superb Art Magic (Uk Custom) to my collection from The Art of Fishing. This is an unbelievably good rod and one I highly recommend!!
Overall it’s been a highly enjoyable season and I’ve now decided to put the rods away until March! My lure fishing journey started in the summer of 2022 and I’ve fished continuously through every month of the year until now but I think a little break is in order this winter! Looking forward to what will hopefully be another good season next year, I hope you all have a good year end and tight lines…