2°10' W

A plan:

I watch loads of Geowizard. He does some great things and one of them is his Straight line missions. He walks in a straight line across city's or whole countries - check them out.

So, I had a thought. I travel South for my fishing, but directly South? of course not. Until now!

I asked AI to draw a line directly south from Hexham and tell me what rivers it crossed at that location. There was 12. Then I looked at fishing opportunities, and indeed fishing I wanted to do. A plan was born.

1. River Tees – near Newbiggin

2. River Swale – near Keld / Thwaite

3. River Ure – near Bainbridge / Hawes

4. River Wharfe – near Buckden / Hubberholme

5. River Aire – near Gargrave / Malham

6. River Calder – near Todmorden

7. River Mersey / River Tame – near Stockport

8. River Dane & River Weaver – Cheshire Plains

9. River Severn – near Bridgnorth / Bewdley

10. River Avon – near Evesham

11. River Thames – near Cricklade

12. River Frome – near Maiden Newton

I decided that numbers 6 and 9 were the places to start. North of 6 was too gamey, so 6 was the "first" one I liked and 9 because I had actually seen and knew about the fishing at Bewdley and wanted to fish the Severn for a while. 

Further investigation ruled out 6 as I could not get a day ticket for the river. Of course this was going to be harder than I thought. The front runner was suddenly number 8. I started googling.

An evening of searching, AI, playing and looking at maps was soon met with "You are completely right, and I need to hold my hands up—I made a major mistake on that last grid reference."

Original AI got it wrong. I started again!

 

After a good few hours spread over several evenings, I finally decided I had to include canals. It was hard to find a river that I could get a day ticket and would catch something good whilst not travelling a million miles. The Severn would have to wait for a different trip. 

Reading that I had a chance to try for a ruffe, a species I would love to catch, I finally settled on the Leeds and Liverpool canal at Gargrave:

The geographical coordinates of Hexham are 54.970° N, 2.104° W, while the coordinates of Gargrave are 53.984° N, 2.105° W.

Comparison Breakdown

• Latitude (North/South): Hexham sits 0.986° further north than Gargrave. This translates to a direct north-south physical distance of roughly 68 miles.
• Longitude (East/West): They sit on almost the exact same vertical line of longitude. The difference is a tiny 0.001°, meaning Hexham is just a few hundred yards further east than Gargrave.

However, I could travel along the canal those few hundred yards and fish at exactly the "right" point. Yes, I know, completely pointless!!!

A day ticket was £4 from Skipton Angling Association, I was all set. 

Date fished 27/9/2026

8am until 2pm

I drove down the M6 and arrived at the car park. I walked the short distance to the canal and found a place to fish. There were fish topping and it looked good.

I then checked my position to see......

I was on the right line.

Two hours on the float and nothing. I changed to feeder and got a bite after an hour. My maggots were smashed to bits but I missed it. 

Eventually I connected and two quick roach followed.

No ruffe, but I enjoyed my expedition! 

I managed to drive home all the way without going on either the M6 or A1(M) which was slightly more enjoyable than the fishing! Amazing driving and scenery across the dales and moors! 

What a day, am glad I had this harebrained idea!! 

Prawn or corn

Date fished 17/9/2026

7am until 2.30pm

The big perch I lost at Tilcon was still bugging me. I decided to try again, armed with prawns.

I gently lowered the ledgered prawn near a tree where I lost the big perch. I fed some maggots and pellets to attract little fish and sat back. I set up the float rod and float fished corn whilst the prawn did its job. 

After 20 minutes the line started to slowly get taught and the baitrunner turned very slowly. I thought this was a definite perch bite. I picked up the rod and that's when I realised something. The rod bent double and a huge bow wave swept across the lake. It was a big carp and my hoolink snapped like cotton in a mere few seconds. It was bitter sweet....

I had fun on the float rod, catching plenty of roach.

Then the unthinkable happened. A perch on sweetcorn! (Again).

It seems the perch here are vegetarian, the big one I lost was on sweetcorn. The prawn was NOT doing the business.

Eventually a better fish on the float and my second crucian ever came to the net. Bigger than the first from a few weeks ago, so technically another pb, although didn't weigh it. 

 I fished on and caught only more roach on the float. There was interest over in prawnsville but not a real take. I kept with the loose feed over both methods and fish swirled constantly. 

After some heavy rain, the sun came out and dried everything off. I decided that was a sign to head home. 

Whilst prawn and corn sound the same, they are very different and not just in spelling! Maybe the perch don't know this. Next time, I will try using cawn or prorn! 

Float Feeder Trotting

Date fished 13/9/2026

8am until 1.30pm

Autumn days on the river bank really are magic. The leaves were falling around me but it was still a pleasant, if not a tad warm 18-20 degrees. 

It's been a while since I fished the Tees, and more to the point trotted a float. I combined the two.

An eventful Aldi trip yesterday resulted in helping a 90 year old lady who had fallen to get home and then call her an ambulance. I was also without wheels, so had no way to get maggots. Fortunately, I was able to source some from a friend in Hexham, so it was operation go!! 

This club stretch, I have fished once before. The track down is steep and I am not sure it gets fished often. It's overgrown but looks great, I am sure a low presured section, at least from our bank is welcomed by the fish. 

I started float fishing with my new 11ft rod and the closed face reel. The rod was too short and I didn't need the closed faced reel as I was fishing in about 10ft of water with barely any flow!

Fish topped all over and two otter swam around the pool looking at me. One even swam right under my rods, I saw the air bubbles as it shot along the edge. It didn't worry the fish and I was son catching 'bits'.

A sleeper rod with meat was cast to likely spots. This was hoping for a big chub. This was not a Tees barbel mission. I repeat, not a Tees barbel mission!! 

Soon, I realised the float fishing was no good. I needed to be on the bottom. I turned the (only) rod I had into a ledger rod with a closed face reel!! 

It worked though as four perch in four casts, all expertly pulling the tip round. I even got the net wet for one! 

The clicker showed 13, and I decided to take a stroll. It's very overgrown and I hoped a big piece of meat under or near bushes on our side would tempt a chub. 

It didn't.

As I walked along and realised there was no swims up this way and I would have to hack through the jungle to even get to the river, I took the easy option and headed back North. 

I would like to say it was great to be back on flowing water, but it had very little flow. I enjoyed the few hours though, as the Tees has this affect on me that everytime I go, I feel I never know what I will catch. 

In the end, it was a few hours well spent on a quiet River Tees, proving that even a cobbled-together rig and a slow current are more than enough to keep the magic of the unknown alive.

Yorkshire Derwent

Date Fished 9/9/2026

8am until 4pm

Youtube teaches us lots of things - fixing leaky pipes, poaching eggs and more importantly where to fish on new rivers. Having watched a few video's recently and a side quest to my Tees barbel, I want to catch a barbel from a few other rivers. 

Yes, that is all the river barbel I have ever caught. I want to add more English rivers, but doing the "local" ones first on my Leeds ticket. 

Ellis and I hit the Yorkshire Derwent. He had fished this beat on Monday and had a bream and bits. 

Today, I was after barbel and bream and Ellis was after everything. He had brought his 17ft float rod as this is a very deep beat. 

Both starting with the bait dropper, we put some hemp in the abyss.

Ellis had one sleeper rod and expertly float fished in 15ft of water and caught 30 odd bleak, roach, chublets and perch. 

I had (in essence) two sleeper rods with pellet and boilies and the highlight was sitting on my chair with the legs folded up, so I just sat on the floor, very comfy!! 

It's a great beat and we will be back. Plenty of fish topping and Ellis saw some chub, bream and a pike on his brisk walk before we packed up. 

We chatted with a few anglers as we left and everyone quoted the YouTube video's. 

Seems the secret is out! 

Bottom feeders

Date fished 31/8/2026

6.30am until 11am

There are items of tackle that I like, I use because I always have and there are items that I love but have rarely, if ever used.

For example 

I LOVE the bait dropper, but I think it's only met the water once. It makes so much sense, put your bait on the bottom where the big tench and bream are feeding. Ignore the little silvers in the water column. That was the plan. 

I put three droppers of liquidised bread, corn and small pellets in the desired spot. As I got the float rod ready, I noted the fizzing. It was bubbles all morning! 

The float was maybe not the method though. I love to just sit and watch the float, but some days you have to do what you need to.

Time stamp 7.18am

No need to cast. I was fishing a rod length out and I just lowered it carefully in. 

Time stamp 7.22am

A nice 3lb tench.

The bailiff came around and I told him I had caught a tench, he asked how big and I said 3lb. I had not weighed it. 

I caught another one later, it looked the same size, so I gave it a weigh. 2lb 15oz. Phew, 1 oz out!! 

Two 6mm Robin Red durable hookers squished together on the hair doing the business for both the larger tench.

A smaller one on the float fished corn and some roach and rudd kept me entertained. The morning slipped away and I decided to do the same.

Not quite sure what the banks need the holiday for, but my morning on the bank was worth it. 

Tees Barbel Ten

Date fished 29/8/2026

5pm until 8pm

It was strange sitting at home during the day when I was going to be fishing later. It's normally an early morning thing for me. Today, I tried to join the night crew! 

Arriving, I went to the swim I wanted to fish. Someone was in it but he said he was not staying long, so I could fish it too. It's big enough for two, so was spot on. However, then the rain started. Light at first then torrential. It didn't stop for the next three hours. 

I tried to fish on, but the rain was annoying. I had a brolly but just a hand held golf one, I stayed mostly dry but couldn't really fish. 

Loads of bites and knocks but no captures. The Tees barbel eludes me further. 

In truth, I wanted to fish later than I did. The fear of fishing in to dark on my own was too great though. I packed up and walked to the car in the slight dark and slipped onto my knee to prove that I did the right thing. 

I lived on to blank another day! 

Southern Fried chicken wrap for my tea!! 

Not our final 'swan song'

Date fished 15/8/26

7.30am until 5pm

A long day and three swims fished. We gave ourselves 10/10 for effort. But not sure on our results.

Ledgered everything on the Ouse for the elusive, but Ellis guaranteed, chap! 

First swim was a walk, but in the early morning cool air, Ellis was jealous of my jumper. A bream came to see us in the shallows, but turned away before we could throw it some duck food. They ate plenty. 

X marks the spot

Nothing much going on here, so while Ellis lassoed a small skimmer, I spent the time tidying my tackle box.

A jungle walk to another swim. We sat here in the shelter and watched YouTube. The swim was alive with predators snapping at everything. Ellis swapped to a worm and a small tap turned into a heavy lump. A pike grabbing his perch. The former let go and the latter came in relatively unharmed. 

We watched a kingfisher show us up and catch a minnow right in front of us. 

Knocks galore on the spicy sausage, I fear it was pincers and not lips doing the damage. 

One more swim to try and this was again filled with pulls on the spicy sausage! 

Highlight was the pair of swans preening and rewaterproofing themselves for about 5 minutes a few feet in front of us. That even beat the raunchy dancing on board the party boat, but that video evidence is not available yet! 

If trips where you blank were always like this, I wouldn't mind. In fact, I didn't blank, I just ran out of time!