Tackle Theft is Proving a Big Problem Amongst Anglers

THE theft of fishing tackle has always been a problem, but these days it seems to be escalating according to reports in the angling press. 

Just how people can store fishing tackle worth thousands of pounds in a flimsy garden shed with just a cheap lock is beyond me but it does happen regularly.

The outcome is that the gear is stolen and disposed of usually on the internet or more likely in a car boot sale at a fraction of its true value. 

I, too, have suffered over the years and I cannot remember the number of times that either the lock or the door has been smashed.

Only last year I had the roof replaced with corrugated steel, after twice having pieces of the old roof ripped off. 

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There was an incident some 15 years ago when after a match, my travelling companion's van was broken into and the thieves cleared him out completely, the only thing left behind was one wellington boot. 

That day I was concerned that I had been targeted for we had been fishing in a match and I was using a new £750 pole for the first time. 

There had been quite a lot of people wandering around the lake with more than a few asking questions and showing interest in my new piece of kit. 

Looking back, I am convinced that we were followed back to the club in York where the payout was taking place and in the half hour that we were inside, the opportunity was seized. 

That little lot cost me over £4,000 for my insurance did not cover theft from someone else's vehicle – it does now! 

The latest report of a major tackle theft comes from a Peterborough angler who had tackle valued at £14,000 taken from his garage after a recent fishing trip .

Like me he is convinced that he was followed home by the thieves and believes that the solution is to ban all non-anglers from the banksides.

Angling duo chase £10,000 first prize

ANGLING duo Luke Church and Wayne Rees will fly the flag for West Norfolk next weekend at the final of the British Carp Angling Championships.

The duo will be chasing the coveted title and a first prize of £10,000 at Broadlands, in Hampshire, after making it through to the final 14 pairs out of an original 216.

Making the 48-hour final is a huge achievement in itself, with the pair having to come through an eliminator round and a semi-final to book their place at Broadlands.

Church and Rees won their 48-hour eliminator at Pool Bridge Farm, in York, with a weight of 107lbs 6oz – some 60lbs ahead of their rivals.

With the top seven pairs from the semi-final making it through, the pair finished sixth at Barston Lakes in the Midlands with a weight of 281lb 8oz using 25kg of boilie.

The duo have been kindly sponsored by Anglers Corner, in Windsor Road, for the final after Simon Bush and Martin Allen heard about their exploits.

Luke and Wayne said: “We’d like to thank Anglers Corner for the support they have provided us for the final.

“This has been a huge help as we prepare for the event, which is like the Premiership in fishing terms.”

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Read more: http://www.lynnnews.co.uk/sport/other_sports_2_5361/angling_duo_chase_10_000_first_prize_1_1041059

Angler breaks ultimate fishing record

An angler has broken the ultimate fishing record by becoming the first person in the world to catch 1,000 different species of fish.

Steve Wozniak, 47, has spent 10 years pursuing the astonishing quest that has seen him fish in 63 different countries.

He has spent 20,000 hours on riverbanks, piers, beaches and boats waiting for a nibble from fish ranging from a tiny minnow to a 900lb shark.

He didn't win THAT at the fair: Steve with a Yellow-Eyed Rock fish caught in Alaska

 

Steve has forked out more than £50,000 and racked up over one million air miles criss-crossing the globe with his rod and tackle over the last decade.

The record rodman has fished on every continent bar Antarctica, including places as far flung as Cambodia and the exotic Isle of Wight.

 

 

He has snared virtually every freshwater fish native to Britain and spent two years and 4,000 pounds alone trying to capture an Atlantic salmon in Scotland.

Steve has also broken 12 International Game Fishing Association records along the way and has another five pending.

His mammoth efforts finally paid off when he snared a 2lb coalfish in a Norwegian fjord to net the record, that is being dubbed the Cast of a Thousand.

Delicate operation: Steve holding a spiny-finned Surgeon fish, caught in Hawaii

 

Frying tonight: Steve with his wife Marta and a reputedly quite tasty Ling fish from Norway, the most 'northerly' fish he has caught

 

Steve now intends to temporarily hang up his rod to write a book about his angling adventures.

He said: 'It is very humbling to be the only person in the world to catch 1,000 different species of fish.'

'It has been an almighty challenge and one where there have been many highs and many lows, like trying to catch a tench fish which seemed to elude me for seven years.'

'When I caught the coalfish I think I expected it to be this big fanfare event but I was sat in a boat in a peaceful fjord an hour below the Arctic circle.'

'I just sort of sat there with a glow of accomplishment.'  

Now you won't see one of THESE down your local chip shop: Steve with a Threadfin Butterflyfish from Kona, Hawaii.

Steve caught his first fish at the age of five and by the time he was in his mid-30s he reckoned he had netted nearly 150 different species.'

He said: 'The 1,000 record started as a testosterone-driven competition between myself and a friend over who had caught the most fish species.

'That started me thinking of the idea that getting 1,000 would be a fantastic and worthy goal to achieve.'  He made sure he had a decent fishing bed chair for the late night catches. 

One for all you Sunderland fans: Steve with a Striped Goatfish, which he also caught in Kona, Hawaii.

 

Hooked on fishing: Steve proudly displays a Grouper from Weipa, Australia

Steve, a manager at a software company but not to be confused with the Apple co-founder, frequently travels around the world for his job and broke off from business to go both sea and coarse angling whenever he could.

In 2006 he took a year off work to concentrate on fishing and netted 180 species in that year alone, taking his total up to 676.

Over the last three years the numbers gradually increased by an average of over 100 a year, culminating in the momentous coalfish catch.

Good thing the wife wasn't here for this one: Steve waltzes with a Wels Catfish, caught in France

Steve said that his deadliest catches using that trusty rod and line were the 10ft mako shark - which have been known to kill humans - and a stonefish, the most venomous fish in the world, which he caught off Cairns, Australia.

He has also reeled in 33 different shark species, four different species of piranha, a deadly lionfish and 14 varieties of puffer fish - the second-most poisonous vertebrate in the world after the poison dart frog.

He has been badly injured four times in his mission; once when he trod on the barbed spine of a turkey fish in Hawaii and then when his left thumb was gnawed to the bone by a spiny dogfish.

His hands ended up bleeding profusely after he spent five hours reeling in a giant 200lbs tuna fish off Mexico and on another occasion a hook ripped into his middle finger during a tussle with a harmless trout in Germany. 

Jaws: Steve with a 'not especially dangerous' copper shark

He has caught many fish native to British waterways including pike, perch, chub, barbel, grayling, trout, salmon, bream, gudgeon, dace, bleak, carp using his special carp fishing chair, tench, roach and rudd.

Steve, who has thrown 90 per cent of his catch back into the water alive, has also caught a pollock and a wrasse in the sea off the Isle of Wight.

His smallest catch was a tiny minnow measuring a little over an inch which he plucked out of the River Thames at Marlow, Bucks.

And finally: Steve with number 1,000 - a Norwegian coalfish, or coley

Steve, whose partner Marta often goes fishing with him, said: 'I have been very fortunate that my work has allowed me to travel all over the world so I have been able to go fishing on days or weekends off.'

'But I have spent an awful lot of my own time and money personally chasing this goal.'

'Some of the big game fish have been really great and exciting, like blue marlin in Hawaii, black marlin in Australia and swordfish in Florida.'

'Then there have been a couple of fish that have been really tough to catch'.

'I spent a good two years and a few thousand pounds chasing after an Atlantic salmon which I eventually caught in Northern Ireland.'  

Steve, from San Ramon, California, said he hopes to one day reach 2,000 different species of fish and will travel to new countries to achieve the goal.

He said: 'There are just so many wild and crazy different things out there.'

'I may have caught more species than anybody else but look how many that I haven't caught; there are more than 31,400 species out there.'

Find our which fishing chair he used as part of this record attempt.