Beginnings...

It would have been at the age of eight that I first felt the thrill of a fish wriggling for all it was worth on the end of a line, although from an even younger age I'd been enthralled by my Grandfathers tales from boat fishing trips and a huge (well it was to me at the time) Monkfish, ugly as sin but the most exciting thing I'd ever seen!
Still got the old wooden centre pin he caught it on, but I digress...

Like many kids in the early seventies, I had to pretty much find my own fun; money was short, technology non-existant at least in the sense we understand and rely on it today...so tree climbing and falling out again, kicking, throwing or whacking things, secret hideouts in the woods, collecting various nick-nacks found on these adventures and so on, were the order of the day. Nevertheless a lot of fun, skinned knees, thick ears, chipped teeth and nettle rash ensued...activities surely if practised today would've got the parents a visit from social services at best!
One sunny afternoon during the spring of 1973, my Dad said something like "Fancy a go at fishing?"
Unknown to me, a pair of rods and reels (again, still got the reel, Intrepid New De Luxe) had secretly been bought from Mums mail order catalogue and paid for week by week (that's how we rolled in those days) and the following morning a trip to the tackle shop up the road providing all the other mysterious bits and pieces along with a tub full of maggots...which were great fun to a small boy!
Thus equipped, we set off to find the silver fish living in a particular stretch of the River Lea near what was the Royal Ordnance Factory, this closed at the end of the 80s and is now a housing estate...and the rest, as they say, is history.

Don't worry, I'll not be giving a blow by blow account of my every adventure, I simply don't have time or expect you to find them sufficiently interesting, rather here and there I'll recount some of my experiences and thoughts from the last forty odd years and onwards...I could draw on a vast back catalogue of interesting captures and fishy tales, but as
a) I never had a camera handy for much of my angling career (cheapskate) and
b) I'm not sure I'll find the will
...I'll most likely keep things current!

As an angler, man and boy, am I obsessive? Well if that's defined by the amount of time spent thinking about, plotting, planning, reading and reflecting upon the subject, instead of purely measured by hours on the bank, then yes, I guess I am. But I also have a day job, a family and all the other stuff men of a certain age can luckily sometimes find themselves with, so the time actually spent fishing is less than I'd like, but doubly enjoyable...and even forty years in, you never stop learning!

And am I single species angler? Nope, I love Old Esox with a passion, sure, but also appreciate most species for their qualities and individual beauty (ok, I've got to do something in the closed Pike season), I enjoy Coarse and Sea Angling equally and have even been known to chuck fluff when the mood takes me, although probably do less Saltwater Angling these days due to geographic limitations (or just being a lazy old so and so!)

Amongst the waffle there will be tales of all kinds of people and places, but I won't be naming most of them due to a desire to ensure you find your own hotspots and do your own homework (not to mention the potential for libel) and don't think you'll get me to tell you by email either, although bribes are a distinct possibility :).


I have no hard and fast plans on how frequently I'll be posting, so be sure to follow and you'll get an alert when something new comes along.


Before this turns into an autobiography, I just wanted to point out some of the differences between then and now, we didn't have the distractions and on-tap 120mph amusement found today - neither did we have the crazy Health and Safety driven risk averse culture, rod licenses, club controlled or day ticketed waters everywhere so in a sense it was relatively easy to fall into fishing. All your mates did it. Your Mum liked it because you were (hopefully) out of mischief for the day. More over, it was damned good fun!
Here's the thing...I started my Angling journey on a shoestring catching tiddlers...Roach, Rudd, Gudgeon and Perch and so on, of course now and then you'd fluke a better fish and be the hero for the day...it's how I learned, did the apprenticeship and earned the right to move on to bigger challenges. But all this time and so many big fish later I still take myself off for a days float fishing for the little silvers, I don't know but it's just such a no pressure carefree and genuinely relaxing thing to do!
Get out and give it a go, just keep it simple and take some old school tackle if you're lucky enough to have some,and if you have a youngster why not wrench them away from the Xbox and give them the opportunity... you and they may be surprised!

Tight lines and thanks for reading!
Sydders