Most anglers would love to be able to call themselves ‘professional’. How did you manage it?
I started fishing when I was about nine or 10 and spent my teens match and specimen fishing, which really sowed the seed for my interest in specialist angling later on. I went to Uni and started working in various publishing, PR and writing jobs before marrying my fishing and writing together after a few years spent writing about music and politics (but still fishing in my spare time).
I had a few years when I fished almost constantly and wrote features around this, I then freelanced at Angling Times and Angler’s Mail before joining the Mail as sub-editor a couple of years ago. I’ve recently left London to work as an angling guide on the Lower Ebro for Ebro Sporting Adventures in Catalonia full-time for carp, catfish and other predators and to do more freelance writing and photography.
How often do you fish and what do you fish for?
I aim to fish as often as possible but working at the magazine five days a week in central London has cut into my time lately, despite this I’ve fished in Italy, Spain and Colombia in the past couple of years for carp, catfish, bass and arapaima plus lots of sessions on various lakes and rivers around the country. I fish for whatever is in season and on my target list; carp, catfish, tench and bream in the summer; pike, zander, chub, roach and perch in the colder months and I love going to different countries with a backpack and some rods and seeing what I can find, freshwater or sea. I do love my chub fishing though – it’s something I’ve done since I was about 11 or 12 and make a point of having a few sessions every winter. My first specimen fish was a 6lb 3oz chub caught in 1989.
What do you think are the most pressing issues in angling today?
Predation is an obvious problem that needs urgent attention, but I also think the apathy displayed by a vast majority of anglers is as dangerous as any problem we face today. When push comes to shove and we need names on a petition or letters sent to MPs supporting legislation, like the licencing issue around the shooting of cormorants, will the angling community be able to rely on hundreds of thousands of people getting behind the cause? I doubt it, sadly. The increasing amount of casual racism I see in angling is also very dangerous and does us no favours.
Give us some PB stats – what are you most proud of and why?
My biggest fish is a 200lb arapaima from Colombia, I deserved that the hours I spent in an old Land Rover bouncing around in the middle of nowhere. It took 50 minutes to subdue on 50 lb braid and an uptide rod, all of which I lugged 5,500 miles on my own back from the UK! A stalked 6lb 13oz chub from last summer, my first 20lb carp (caught from a river in my teens), 2lb roach on Boxing Day, and a 28lb carp on light tench gear are all past or current PBs and some of my favourites.
What are your earliest fishing memories? Who taught you?
Several people taught me. A brilliant matchman called George Anderson took me on some very Crabtree-style trips for roach, bream and tench that really set the tone for much of my future fishing. A gentleman called Ken Porter also helped me a lot with my match fishing in my teens and I became captain of my amalgamated county team in the National Youth Champs, which was a great honour. A few friendly carp anglers helped me to get on the right track for the bigger fish and I’ve been lucky to fish with some great anglers since working in the industry. I never stop learning and always come away with something new, regardless of who I fish with or where I am.
How influential has Mr Crabtree been in your angling life?
I remember reading a Crabtree cartoon at my Uncle’s house early on in my angling life and being fascinated by how he targeted different fish. I remember using some very Crabtree-esque methods chub fishing for many years after that, and for carp too – wasn’t everyone’s favourite carp bait bread crust until they discovered boilies? The cartoons and the pearls of wisdom Bernard Venables gave us are really part of angling folklore now, so it’s part of the sport and its history.
Is there anything in fishing that you haven’t done? What are your ambitions?
I’d love to catch a really big chub – something stupendous – but the list of new species I’d like to catch is really endless. I would really like to fish the Amazon one day and a 30lb UK river common or a 20 kilo European river carp would be an ambition fulfilled too.
Do you have any angling heroes? What do you most admire about them?
I admire people like Chris Yates, who is a great writer and angler of a type we just don’t have anymore. He thinks for himself and is the best angling wordsmith of the past few decades. Frank Mundus, the late American shark angler, is also a bit of a hero. I have an auto-biography signed ‘Dear Ben – It’s all true… Frank” which contains stories about pioneering great white shark fishing that made me realise there are fish and species beyond those swimming around our little island. He was the inspiration for the Quint character in Jaws – if you look up a Youtube interview with him you’ll see why.
What lessons would you pass on to today’s young anglers?
Think for yourself, catch as many different species as you can on lots of methods, fish rivers and natural lakes to learn real watercraft and remember to smell the roses on the way. Learn to spell and write properly too, if you want to be involved in that side of the industry.
Describe your favourite ‘Crabtree moment’…
A recent treasured moment occurred when I was hooked into a particularly nice near-30lb common on the Lower Ebro last year. When I saw it roll for the first time, I heard a splash and saw a huge kingfisher plunging into the water nearby and coming back with some dinner – it was a perfectly timed sequence of events in a fantastic setting. Seeing birds of paradise at dawn coming out of the Colombian jungle whilst bass fishing was also memorable, but perhaps the accompanying heavy machine gun fire wouldn’t have been so familiar to Crabtree
