Thankyou for your comments, I am glad you enjoyed the article and found it useful. Fishing the Culm in the warmer months can be tricky because of the large number of smaller fish, annihilating bait as soon as it touches the water. I fished the Culm 3-4 times before I started to find the larger fish, fishing it after a flood seemed to be the most productive. When the water level started to drop placing large baits in area of slack water under or near cover would always draw out the larger fish. The first large bend in the river down from the bridge is great when the water is high, on one ocassion I caught 1 x 5lb eel, 3 x 10lb+ pike, 1 x 17lb pike (I then knelt on my rod snapping it), 1.5lb perch, 1lb Roach and a 2lb Chub. The pike and eel on sprats and the rest of the fish on large lob worms or bread flake. Watch out for the hidden snags, the River is full of them!

If you fish further up river ( Beare-gate stretch ) there are some deeper pools which might be more productive at this time of the year. Try baiting up 4-5 areas that look ‘chubby’ and then spend 15-20mins fishing each one. You can also try trotting through these deepers runs with maggots, there are some nice sized Brownies which are always fun on light tackle.

Good luck