I thought I would dedicate my first post to talking a bit about me, and how I first became hooked on fishing.
So my fishing journey began at the age of about 8 or 9, when my dad and I went on couple of fishing sessions for mackerel and to a local reservoir. I found it fascinating, and the peace and tranquillity combined with the element of the unknown first attracted me to the sport. I have also always had a love for nature, which I pursue to this day through my zoology degree.
As I reached the age of 12 or 13, I was very fortunate in that my parents purchased a small bit of land which led to a tiny stream running along the valley at the bottom (a tributary of the river Deer in Devon). This section of river was maybe 2 metres wide and about shin-deep in most places, with a few pools that were probably around 3 foot deep. I started off by catching minnows using bread and worms, teaching myself using YouTube as I went. After a few months of catching nothing but minnows, one day I was float fishing a worm around one of the pools when the float shot under. This wasn't a typical minnow bite, and sure enough once I lifted the rod, the fish powered off. By now I was sure this wasn't any minnow, and after a fight that felt like it went on for years, I landed my first 'proper' fish... a grayling. I know now that this isn't a typical first fish for many anglers, but I was absolutely over the moon.
After this, I knew there was only one species left in the river to catch, a brown trout. After spending many hours seeing but never hooking these beautiful fish, it was on one summer morning that I finally achieved my goal. I came across one holding in the current in a very narrow and shallow bend in the river (the one in the background of the photo above). As I crawled through the undergrowth with my 5"6 spinning rod, I gently cast my float fished worm with a underarm lob, and the rig plopped perfectly in front of the trout. Despite its initial dart away as it spooked, the trout quickly turned around and engulfed the worm. This is still one of my favourite fishing moments, and it was from this moment on that I was truly addicted to the sport.
Over many years, I got to know the river very well, and knew every snag and fish holding area intimately. However, up until this point I had just been using small worms as bait, which I had scavenged from my parents vegetable patch. But on one particularly memorable session, I was reeling in a small minnow across the surface when to my amazement, a nice size trout swirled in a desperate attempt to grab it. This is where my lure fishing journey began. I immediately trundled off to Poundland, and managed to find a small set of lures that I deemed to be about minnow size. When I next got to the river, my anticipation was immense. To my amazement my excitement was justified, and on the very first cast a fish hit the lure on the surface despite its disappointingly unrealistic action. After a couple more sessions and the quick realisation that these weren't the best lures in the world, I went on to buy a couple of Savage Gear prey 35 and 40 lures (now discontinued). As it turned out I would go on to use these lures for almost every session for about 5 years, catch hundreds of fish on them, and continue to use them to this day. At the time I also used these lures regularly on the Tamar, a much larger river which I could fish through my local club at the time - Tetcott angling club. The club was amazing, and allowed me to meet many like-minded people as well as gain access to a variety of small rivers.
After finishing secondary school I moved to Exeter, a transition that opened my eyes to seemingly endless fishing possibilities. I began lure fishing on the Exeter canal, as well as some much larger rivers. It is here where I learnt to target larger predatory species such as pike and perch. The move to Exeter also provided me which a much wider variety of lakes as well as rivers that were home to a huge variety of species. Having access to this diversity of venues helped me learn about a wide range of methods and put them into practice, from feeder fishing for carp, barbel and chub to trotting for roach and dace.
After a couple of years at college, I moved to the University of Exeter's campus in Falmouth. It is here where my fishing focus changed from fresh to saltwater fishing, and my addiction to lure fishing for bass started. Until this point I had been on a couple of Cornish camping holidays where I had targeted the species, but had only managed a couple of small fish despite dozens of hours trying. However, regardless of the lack of success, my fascination of the species continued. I spent countless hours researching marks on google maps, and finding marks that looked promising. I also learnt the importance of the different states of tide as well as their sizes, and how these factors affect the basses movements around the estuaries I fish (with a surprisingly high level of predictability). After a lot of time and legwork, it was not long before I had some well-deserved results, and from then on bass quickly became my favourite species. However, in the winter when they are less abundant and my work load increases, I now often switch my focus to bait fishing for species such as bullhuss, congers and thornback rays. In the last couple of years I have also started to intersperse my summers lure fishing with occasional sessions targeting gilthead bream, an incredibly underrated species in my opinion. In order to fuel my lure fishing addiction through the winter, I also target wrasse - a very hard fighting fish that can be caught all year round, and the variety of different soft plastics and tactics that you can employ to target the species is fascinating.
And that brings me up to the present day, where my fishing endeavours continue...
So there you go! Now you know a bit more about my fishing journey so far. I hope you enjoyed the read, and thank you very much for taking the time to browse my first blog post, and a special congratulations to those of you who made it this far!
