Dizzys 2025 In Pictures

Also met up with Joe Shaw from Catch and Cook Kayak Fishing. Its always great to catch up with Joe and talk about kayak fishing. Hopefully get to meet up in Wales one day.

Always great to meet up with my Hobie Fishing Teamo and partner in crime David Morris… it was inevitable that we would cross paths in the lure live area at some stage!!

Had a great catch up with Liam Faisey from Cornwall Canoes. It is so good having someone like Liam to support me with my Hobie kayak fishing. What he doesn’t know about kayak fishing, isn’t worth knowing, and the service he provides is fantastic. Also met up with Kieren Faisey, and listened to his presentation about bluefin tuna fishing, which was fascinating. I would love to have a go at that one day.

Pike fishing from the Hobie Lynx in perfect conditions. I can’t think of many better places to be at this time of year.

The very essence of relaxation, looking at this image I can feel myself drifting away.

Dave Goude’s kayak in full fat mode

The weather was perfect, and the fishing was on fire. This chunk of an undulate ray was the highlight, amongst other quality small eyed rays and bream

Check out the colours on this black bream. The fish was returned after a quick picture

What an amazing day

I had the whole bay to myself

Navionics give you such a huge advantage in these kinds of scenarios. When fishing for bream, you can see the reefy areas using Navionics relief shading, and when targetting rays, it is easy to spot the sdandy areas of seabed. The Navionics Boating app and chart plotter cards make a massive difference.

When you arrive at the venue,and the sun is just starting to rise, and the darkness lifts. You are never really sure what sort of conditions you are going to be met with. I cannot describe in words the feeling of elation when you are greeted by a scene like this.

Small eyed ray caught using sandeel. Believe it or not, the rays in this location pick up the bait, and then run quite fast. Watching the line coming off the little baitcaster reel, you would never imagine the hooked fish was a ray.

The patterns on the undulate rays fascinate me. They are mesmerising, and look as if someone has come along and painted them with a brush.

The parking location is referred to as “Dog Shit Alley” for obvious reasons. Apart from having to watch your step, the view is stunning. In the morning the sun rises over the mountains.

This is another venue where the Navionics charts are invaluable. In particular, you can pinpoint the edge of the reef, and the pinnacles of reef where the bass tend to feed.

Your Every year, the features at the mouth of the little estuary change. This year was no exception, so I ran down to the mouth to check it out before launching.

James, and a whole bunch of other friends joined us – it was just like old times, and so good to meet up with everyone.

What the wild brown trout lack in size, they more than make for in terms of colour and markings..

The vegetation is green and lush, the mayfly are hatching, and the trout are going crazy, gorging on the mayfly. You can hear them splashing as you walk along the little stream.

Calm summer evenings wandering along the banks of my local stream. There is no better way to spend a few hours.

Probably one of the most stunning launches in the UK. North Sands has a cark park next to the beach with an easy luanch in calm weather. Some great inshore fishing. We caught alot of wrasse that day.

These speedsters will test your fly fishing tackle to the max.

This chunk didn’t know when to stop, as you can tell by the smile on my face, I was pretty pleased with myself!

One of the smaller bass caught that day, but very beautiful nonetheless.

Same session, this one measured 59cms, but weighed 5lb 4oz. So it just goes to show that the length is not an accurate indication of weight. Short fat fish can weigh more than long thin fish. Either way, still a massive buzz catching them.

Yet another from the same session – this one measured 60cms and weighed 5lb 6ozs. I think he had been gorging on crayfish judging by the state of its mouth

Another chubby chub from the same crazy river trip

Not the biggest chub of the session, but I was so close to it, and saw the whole thing unfold. Amazing and very difficult not to spook them as they come in to grab the lure, and you are super close. One false move and they turn away, never to return. Holding your nerve is not easy!

This pollack was caught from the Hobie iTrek 9 whilst fishing over an inshore reef. The conditions were perfect (and they have to be in order to fish here). The pollack tested the tackle to the max – their first dive is nothing short of brutal – I was just hanging on to be honest. It was so cool to look over the side of the Hobie iTrek and see the silhoette of the fish appear in the crystal clear water. The Navionics charts played a massive part in the capture of this fish, and the others – I simply would not have caught them without Navionics, its as simple as that.  The pollack was caught using a Biscay minnow in mullet colour, and was safely released.

This bass was caught from the iTrek 9. I had been chatting with the guy who was sat next to us on the beach. He was a bit of a fisherman, and knew Mke McGuire and we had some other friends in common. As we were chatting, a spear fisherman came out of the water and walked up the beach. In a net over his shoulder were some quite small bass. Most of the beachgoers were impressed with his catch. I said to the guy next to me, that they looked undersized, and also I thought he was only supposed to keep one (he had 3 in his bag). An hour later I left the wife on the beach and launched the Hobie iTrek 9. I only had a short window of 2 hours before I had to return (under struct orders of she who must be obeyed). I went out to a spot where I have had alot of success previously, and soon had a specimen pollack, and this bass. I decided to keep the bass. I don’t keep many, and it was a good size for eating. Upon landing on the beach, I made sure the bass was visible on the kayak as I trollied it up the beach, making sure I passed close to the Spearo, so he could see what a proper bass looked like. This was not lost on the chap who I had spoken to ealrier. He said to me that as I wheeled the prize catch up the beach, the spearo’s son had said to his Dad “That guy’s bass was bigger than your 3 combined!”. I love it when a plan comes together.

Check out the conditions – zero wind and flat seas. It looks perfect, but I was aware that the tides were big. A short distnace from the launch, is a point where the tide race is deadly. I thought I spotted something, or someone in the water, so I paddled over to take a look. As I got close, I could see 2 paddleboarders on the far side of the point. They were caught up in the tide race, with zero chance of getting back. Just as I was getting my VHF radio out, the surf rescue lifeguard from the main beach whizzed past me. Some people on the shore had spotted the paddleboarders and had called it in. Within minutes the 2 paddleboarders had been rescued. There is no doubt they would have drowned if they had been out there any longer. Neither of them were wearing PFD’s or lifejackets. I cannot understand why paddleboarders do not seem to take safety seriously.

Not often you get zero surf on a surf beach. Better make the most of it! 

This was another 6lb+ chub from the same session. It was absolutely perfect, and I don’t think it had ever been caught before. I spotted it tight in amongst some bushes. It was an almost impssible swim. No way could anyone get near him from the bank. I had a few casts, and the best landed within a foot of him. I saw him edge forwards a little, but it was clear he wasn’t going to budge from his hiding place unless the food was handed to him on a plate. I got as close as I dared in the Hobie Lynx, and cast the Shinmushi into the gap between the dense bushes. It landed 3 inches from the fish, am inch either side, and the lure would have snagged. At this point, I am only feet away, and trying to keep as still and quiet as possible. The chub comes slowly out, hovers under the crazy shinmushi and gulps in the lure. Yes! Yes.! Come on! Fish on. Now I am backpeddling, and reeling in like a crazy man. If the fish even gets a couple of feet on me then its over, and he will get back into the bush. I get the fish half out, and the line catches around a branch. Nightmare. I can still feel the fish. I paddle into the undergrowth, and free the line, yanking the fish out almost at the same time. It is mine!

One of the chub ejected this little lot from their behind whilst in the net. After I released the chub, I had a little look around in the kayak, and found some likely looking fruit trees. Just goes to show that Chub are indeed opportune feeders.

Another one of the chub secreted this little lot onto the kayak. Impressive to think that chub can crush a crayfish into pieces like this – they are obviously strnger than we give them credit for.

A great selection of kayak fishing types. Not just the usual tournament types, but a good spectrum of kayak fishing muggles. Also, a massive shout out to Dan Sales and his lovely daughter Esme… they supplied us with some great lures and lure boxes from Nine Seven Tungsten

I should have done much better, but I lost some decent pike, and made some tactical errors which cost me. I always seem to do okay in this competition, despite not being a tournament type. I do find it tough, and I always seem to have a problem when it comes to catching trout on trout waters. They are pretty stupid fish, and I don’t know why I struggle so much. This year I did manage to catch a beautiful brown trout on a tiny white lure, in awful weather!

Dizzy’s Rascals are myself, Charlie Haliday and Kevin Spicer – we somehow picked up the “Best Team” award in the 2025 Pitsford Back To Basics event

One of the best things about participating n this event, is meeting up with lots of old friends and meeting new ones. Usually the event is a non-stop blur, but this year due to inclement weather, one of the competition days was cancelled, and this gave us the opportunity to relax and meet up for some food. The food is also incredible – very different. In the image above, we were about to be treated to many dishes, but the highlight was a carp which was brought out for us to approve before being taken away, and cooked for us.

Some images from the opening ceremony, which consists of dancers, singers and alot of characters dressed up as fantasy animals! It is fascinating to watch.

The weather at the opening ceremony was not the best – but it didn’t dampen spirits, and the atmosphere was fantastic.

Myself and David with our team UK mascot, about to enter the stadium with the other teams. We would parade in front of the cheering spectators and on to the stage. It was very cool

As we go up onto the stage, the UK national anthem was playing – a special moment.

The zoning of this year’s event was different, with the launch zone a long way from the previous start point. Despite this, nearly all the competitors decided to paddle to the original areas – the sight of so many kayak fishermen (and women) was really impressive – less so for me, because my Hobie mirage drive broke, making the paddle very difficult, but I am pretty determined when I put my mind to something!

The practice days went well – I easily caught my quota of redfins, and they were of a good size. Perhaps more importantly, I managed to catch my nemesis, a fish I hadn’t managed to catch in 5 trips to China… the mandarin or Chinese Perch – I was over the moon. Unfortunately, the weather intervened, and rather than 2 comp days, we only had one day. All or nothing, so I took a chance, and fished a new area in the hope of finding fish that had not been disturbed by anglers on the practice days, or been put down by the copious amounts of rain. It didn’t work, and I struggled. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. But what an amazing event.

After the competition had ended, we got to spend an evening in Chengdu. We met up with some other internationals in the plethora of fishing tackle shops – fancy seeing them there! We had a great evening.

Bruno and Andre both had an amazing result – two of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet, and we were all proud of them.

Again I struggled with the trout… annoyingly, it would have been perfect for my fly gear, and I was pretty confident I would have caught them on the fly. Never mind.

To the (wet and cold) victor, the spoils… I ended up with a river grand slam (Pike, Perch and Chub), including this cracking chub, which is an absolute beast for this stretch of river

Try not to laugh too much 🙂

If you are going to try this, make sure you have a plastic bag or better still a bucket to store you squid and cuttlefish in. The ink goes everywhere, and it is difficult to clean up.

Quality rather than qunatity. Some nice sized squid and a decent cuttlefish, as well as catching some wrasse and a pollack. Al caught on the cheapest 7cm unweighted squid jigs available (I fish them dropshot style).  It was a brilliant way to end my kayak fishing year.