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Hi, I hope you enjoy this site and can use it to learn a few things and be a part of my fly fishing life. I have always been proud to be Cornish and learnt my country way of life and rivercraft in that wonderful part of the UK. Cornwall will always be home and it was here that I started flyfishing when I was 11 and then moved to Surrey when I was 21 just before the small fishery scene began to develop. I have been seriously involved with fisheries and fishing ever since and when my first article was published in Trout Fisherman in 1972 it set me on the road to being a feature writer for them ever since. Work for many other magazines and periodicals mean my life is well documented and I have currently written four books while continuing to contribute pieces to lots of specialist and trade publications. I'm a qualified instructor in salmon, trout and fly tying and firmly believe in putting something back into the sport which is why I have represented fishery interests through the Association of Stillwater Game Fishery Managers for longer than I can remember. I do other work for the Salmon and Trout Association and have served on the Fisheries and Recreation Committee for Southern Water and will continue to champion the cause of catch and release for wild bred fish. Back in 1982 I single handedly, initiated and developed a syndicate trout fishery of three, one acre lakes and have run it ever since. It's very exclusive and has a few famous names as members but I'm sorry, we very rarely have a vacancy. It takes a great deal of effort to keep it looking beautiful but it's in exquisite countryside and plays a central part in the many religious aspects of the Wintershall Estate where I live. Chances are that if I'm not in the shop I will be grass cutting or doing some other graft on the fishery but I am very proud of it and maintain a high standard of upkeep. There was a time when I seriously competition fished having won the only two UK Small Stillwater Championships I entered and I fished the European Open five times to come 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 2nd. I fished "loch style" for many years and was part of Bob Church's winning Benson and Hedges reservoir team and fished for England in the New Zealand Commonwealth event. Although I gained a reputation as a small stillwater angler I actually learnt my skills on rivers in Cornwall and am equally at home on rivers, small ponds or huge lakes. There was a time when I actively chased double figure trout on small fisheries and back in 1986 I got the first authenticated 20lb rainbow in the UK which is in its case in my shop and I still hold the Cheetah Trout (brook x rainbow) record. Sometimes you will see me on Sky Sports Tight Lines programme and repeats of "Just Fishing" on Discovery where I appeared with Chris Sandford. I have fished a very wide range of waters here in the UK and very often in the company of Peter Gathercole when we are on a feature assignment. Peter is a wonderful fly tier and a great friend but it's also true that I don't nick his ideas when I contribute new patterns to Fulling Mill. That's another little job I have done for many years and the vast majority of the flies I stock are from that company. Although I now run a fly shop I am actually a water chemist by profession having worked for the Cornwall River Board prior to what we now know as the Environment Agency. Then I spent many years in the Engineers department of a local authority and am very well experienced in drainage matters and all the functions of the outside works services of local authorities. I left because I was being strangled by red tape and am very much a "doing" person and need to achieve things. I started a fishing shop in 1987 and since being in business I have achieved a few marks for the trade by being the first person to introduce ABEL reels and TEENY FLY LINES to the UK and I was the first G LOOMIS distributor, doing this job for 10 years. Naturally I still stock these ranges and am well known for having a sad fetish for the multi coloured reels which ABEL can make. |
