Welcome from the Editor...

THANKS for purchasing this issue of IYCF. Planning a monthly fishing magazine always has certain challenges. Ensuring there’s a variety of tactics, venues types and species to cover is a real juggling act and you can always guarantee that there will be days when the fish refuse to play ball as soon as the cameras arrive. One of the biggest obstacles we have to contend with, though, is the British weather. This time last year we were in the icy grip of the Beast from the East and many venues were frozen solid. Fast forward 12 months and we’ve seen record temperatures recorded for February. Who knows what we’ll get next year! On a walk round a lake close to my home the carp are already notably much more active than they were this time last year and rather than being tightly grouped in just a couple of areas they have been showing all over the lake. So, what have we got in store for you in this month’s IYCF? Well, we’ve got not one, but two, Fish O’Mania Champions! Firstly, Jamie Hughes explains how to fish effectively with your pole at its full length (page 24). We also joined Andy May for a session where he showed us the amazing silver fish sport that can be had at a lot of specimen carp waters (page 44). Steve Gregory also reveals the seven tweaks you need to make in spring to maximise your catches (page 51) and, in his monthly column, Des Shipp gives a step-by-step guide on how to fish the perfect session (page74). I hope you enjoy the issue and that – fingers crossed – the weather holds!