Living in this age of mass media gives us almost infinite access to any information we want. That makes the art of catching fish so much easier for you and me. It also makes it much more of a leveller. Ideas and advice on methods and techniques are so freely available via the Internet, social media and, of course, magazines like this. It’s easy to take that for granted, but this sort of information wasn’t so freely available when I made my first steps on the match fishing ladder. Back then an angler could have a method all to their selves for a very long time.

Chopped worm fishing on canals is a perfect example of this. Where once there may have been just a handful of anglers who really exploited the catching potential of this wonder bait, now it seems like everyone is feeding worms somewhere in their peg.

Where once you could turn up and win with an out-and-out small-fish approach with squatts or bread or bloodworm, nowadays a bonus perch or two can often be crucial – whether that’s for a framing weight or just hard-earned team points. Targeting these bonus fish with chopped worm has become the norm on all of the narrow canals I fish. This huge increase in chopped worm fishing is perhaps the biggest change I’ve witnessed.