The Independent Angler: Search for Peter, The Vintage Tackle Fair and a massive Channel cod

New Midlands angling show

I’m heading up to a new angling show in the Midlands this weekend (February 18th and 19th) run by the man behind the popular Brentwood cap angling show.

This one takes place at the home of Coventry City Football Club, the Ricoh, and as well as being aimed at both carp and coarse anglers, it’s free to enter and to park.

I happen to know organiser Lee Apps quite well and he’s identified that the Midlands is still the country’s hotbed for club and match fishing.

Some top manufacturers are in attendance including Korda, Maver, Sonic, Jag, Baitcraft, Browning and Guru showing off their wares, plus retailers like Fishing Republic and Eric’s Angling offering the chance to snap up some bargains.

Bob Nudd, Steve Ringer, Derek Ritchie and Dean Macey are just some of the stars attending and the first 300 through the door each day receive a free DVD, plus the theatre hall will see a host of goodie bags given away.

Just click on http://www.midlandsfishingshow.com to find out more.

Search for Peter

If you have been in angling as long as I have you will remember the Mr Crabtree Goes Fishing cartoon covering the fishing exploits of Mr Crabtree and his son Peter that ran in the Daily Mirror for 25 years, and in its book form sold millions of copies.

Well now the hunt is on for a new ‘Peter’ following a commission to produce a 21st century TV series based on the cartoon adventures so expertly drawn by the late Bernard Venables.

The series, called ‘In the Footsteps of Mr Crabtree’ will appear on TV later this year and will be presented by my good friend John Bailey with filming beginning in March. For more information visit www.mrcrabtreegoesfishing.com .

Will Raison’s Match Year – free to view

A new issue of Coarse and Match Fishing Monthly – the free to view video magazine – went live today here on The Independent website. There’s some three hours of great video for coarse and match anglers including the latest episode of Will Raison’s Match Year.

Will, a former Match Fishing World Champion, tackles Gold Lake at Gold Valley Fishery on typical winter’s day to show how combining a micro cage feeder with groundbait and dead maggots can catch a competitive bag of skimmers and bream when other methods fail.

Just click on www.independent.co.uk/coarsefishing and use the arrows to scroll through the playlist.

Vintage Tackle Fair

The next Vintage Tackle Fair has been booked for Kingsley Sports Centre at Redditch on Sunday May 20th. Run by John Andrews, it sees professional collectors and amateurs alike converge to buy, sell, swap and repair vintage fishing tackle and exchange stories. If you want to take tackle along to be valued, Neil Freeman of Angling Auctions will oblige.

Entry has been set at only £2. For more information contact John at johneandrews@btinternet.com.

Massive Channel cod

It’s already been an exceptional winter for big cod, topped off by a magnificent 43lb 9oz fish caught off East Sussex, which could be the biggest ever landed in the English Channel.

Devon angler Chris Proctor was fishing 20 miles off Pevensey Bay and took 30 minutes to bring it to the boat before taking it to the pub to be filleted. The British cod record is 58lb, a fish landed off Whitby, North Yorkshire, in 1992.

The catch has certainly whet my own appetite – I’m off cod fishing in the Arctic Circle next week and will report back on that – although it does mean there will be no angling column next week.

Massive beach turbot

Turbot always look mighty impressive in pictures and this one is no exception. It was caught by Brighton Angler Eddy Barham and what’s notable about it is that he tempted it from the beach at Shoreham during a late night session – making it one of the biggest shore-caught turbot I’ve heard of for years. Eddy presented a small whiting livebait on a pulley rig, 60lb leader and 25lb line using a 12 foot Fladen Warbird beachcaster rod combined with an Abu 6500 reel for the personal best fish.

There will be no Independent Angler column next week because I’ll hopefully be catching cod in Norway – back in two weeks’ time!

Recent Posts on Sport - Latest analysis on the Sporting world -

• Top 14: Verdict on the season – part two
• iBet: Manchester City to retain the title
• Victory over Juventus sees Napoli begin to emerge from the shadow of Diego Maradona
• It was Bayern who denied the Germans victory in the Champions League final, not Chelsea
• Bayern Munich in last chance saloon against Chelsea