Due to unforseen circumstances Bankside Tackle will be closed all day on Friday 25th July. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause and will open for business as usual at 9am Saturday 26th July.

So the new season is underway at last and I hope the past month has brought you all a few Barbel! From my own experience and from browsing the various barbel forums I know it's been pretty hard going so far, with some rivers fishing much better than others.

The recent carpy conditions have even managed to tempt our resident shop manager into getting out for a session or two, and it has to be said that it hasn't taken him too long to get amongst a few. Fishing an overnighter on a 110 acre Gloucestershire gravel pit for the first time ever, Jon managed to latch into one of the waters more sought after specimens in this immaculate 31lb+ common. The winning bait was once again a prototype boilie that Jon and his field testers are currently trying out with plenty of success. These were fished over a large spodded area of particle and the ever effective Mini Grubber pellets. Nice going Finchy. 

I’m sure that many Bankside customers will know that Jon and I are regular competitors in the British Carp Angling championships, which is now into its tenth year. We were fishing for Team Carp Talk again this year, with our heat taking place on the prolific Broadlands Lake in Hampshire. After a successful practise session we were confident that given a good draw, we would be able to get amongst a few of the Broadlands carp and give ourselves a chance of a place in one of the semi finals. Sadly it was not to be, and despite coming out of the hat early and selecting one of our favoured swims, it turned out that we were simply on the wrong side of the lake. Everyone along our side of Broadlands struggled for a bite whilst there were several 100lb plus hauls off the opposite bank.

Well as I write this the new season is only ten days away and I cant wait! Preparations for the "off" are in full flow now: my reels are loaded with new braid, my terminal gear's all sorted into my new ESP bits bag (a cracking little bit of kit that even my girlfriend likes because "it just looks tidy!",) and loads of Team Barbel paste is being prepared in the kitchen which she's much less enthusiastic about. I don't think it smells that bad!

Bankside regular Dan has been itching to kick off his summer campaign on a new southern gravel pit, and he didn't have to wait long for some action. After finding a few fish patrolling up and down the far margin in a narrow section of the pit, Dan introduced 2 kilo's of a new boilie he's just started field testing for us. It wasn't long before one of Dan's chod rigs was picked up and this superb personal best 40lb mirror was the result. Keep an eye on the site to see how Dan's season turns out because we can't help feeling there will be plenty more to come.