Karl Bird Fishing

13/06/2026

Yesterdays fishing trip with Ryan Dolby Fishing didn’t quite go as planned, work kept me in much later than I wanted so the plan to fish high tide and meet up with friends fell through. We were way too early for the low/flood so grizzed it out and ended up doing about 8 hours on the beach! Smoothies came on in last hour but shattered and needing to get home for today’s travels I packed up at half 2. We had couple of thornies, 2 micro tope, couple of smoothies and a handful of doggies between us.

I hear others smashed it, so must have done something wrong or not stayed late enough. This coast sure is frustrating!

Back again next week, on much more civilised tide times!

Okuma Saltwater UK

10/06/2026

Prices and flight times and a full itinerary are now in for this trip with SFCTravel. 4 places available. Hire gear can be provided at no extra cost making this extremely good value for money.

Who - 🙋‍♂️ you!
What - 🎣 mixed GT/offshore trip with lake fishing for various species
Where - 🇱🇰Sri Lanka
When - 🗓️ 25 Jan to 2 Feb

Cost - £3740 + taxes

Get in touch if you are interested and want a copy of the itinerary for further details.

07/06/2026

Couple more hours each on day 2 and 3 of the impromptu stop in Gran Canaria. Last day I took some bread and prawns but still couldn’t get away from the ornate wrasse, and marks are very limited up on the corner I am at at Las Palmas. The crabs were insane, any bait cast more than 10m out and it was tripped in seconds, often with the hooklength. I can see why the locals all float fish - will add some to my box next time I am overseas. One new species for the lifetime list, taking me up to 188; a Salema porgy, caught when I scaled down to size 18s!

Okuma Saltwater UK
Sufix Lines

05/06/2026

Gran Canaria 🇪🇸 a quick work trip and I packed a travel rod and managed a couple of hours out dropshotting with little lures and isome. I had a few targets in mind, having never had an ornate wrasse and a canary damsel but seeing lots caught from friends on other islands. 3 new species to the list, edging closer to my 200!

02/06/2026

01/06/2026

3 years ago, how time flies! (no idea why the photo is so blurry though!) Still my best UK shore capture by a country mile, and Sea Angler still use pics of it 🤷🏻‍♂️

Karl Bird caught this bass from the shore in Anglesey in mid May whilst visiting for an RAF Sea Angling Festival. It weighed 9lb 1oz and was returned to fight another day. He caught it on a soft plastic lure bounced along the bottom of a tide run.

31/05/2026

Cracking day afloat in great company for one of our tope pilgrimages to Norfolk

31/05/2026

A second cracking day out of the weekend in great company, this time chasing tope out of Wells in Norfolk. We managed 7 between the 5 of us, Ryan having the biggest at 38-40lb, Steve and I having fish in the 30-35lb bracket and the rest around 25lb. Ollie managed his first ever tope which was good, but he saved it for the last 10 minutes! They pull hard on balanced gear. We also managed a coupe of small bass, one of which I christened a new lure rod with.

Okuma Saltwater UK
VMC Hooks
Sufix Lines

30/05/2026

A cracking day out today celebrating James Beck’s 50th birthday with an invite to join the family fishing trip to Farmoor.

We had 24 fish to the 2 boats, I managed a round 10, biggest a couple of ounces under 4lb. Some quality fish that fought hard, but with the bright and warm weather they were down deep but that allowed me to pull for them on a Di3, which I find a fun way of fishing.

Tomorrow, toping off north Norfolk with my old man and some close mates. Let’s hope I have not used all my luck today!

28/05/2026

Farmoor help please…..

Anyone fished Farmoor for the trout lately please? There on Saturday for a friends 50th, I’ve only ever fished it for the perch. I see good numbers coming out on buzzers, emergers and nymphs according to the board but a lot of that will be the evening I guess. We are there until mid afternoon.

Any tips welcome please so we can get on some fish. Can’t remember the last time I fished for reservoir trout, in fact I realised I sold my trout rod 😂