To get to all great endings we have to start at the beginning, so yeah let’s get to the beginning of my fishing journey. In the beginning, my fishing career started on a box with a pole or rod catching roach and silver fish (and the odd carp) at a lake in Skegness called Mill Road Fisheries. I fished here more or less every weekend with my Father and Grandfather, those were special days that I will always remember for the rest of my life. I fished match fishing style for around 10-15 years from being 5 or 6 all the way through to being around 18 years old. I won a few matches when I was fishing at club level with my Dad and I still fish this style at least twice a year for my Grandads memorial event at decoy lakes in Peterborough. So let’s get to the carpy part shall we?
From being 18 until about 21, I took a short break from fishing all together when I had my first daughter come along. It was the lead up to my 21st birthday when I expressed more my eagerness to get into carp fishing, after going on a few overnighters with 3 family members Tommy, Chris and Phil. After the sessions I had with them I saw that carp fishing was a very social sport with the added element of always having the big one in mind. That was it I was hooked. For my 21st birthday my carping journey began when my Grandad and Dad took me to the tackle shop to buy everything I needed for the big carp sessions. In the years that followed I gained some great knowledge and some amazing friends. Fishing abroad at this point was just a distant dream and Being a consultant for a fishing company was even more so.
After learning the ropes on smaller waters, I moved on to the bigger lakes and complexs like the A1 pits, this is where the real journey began. I was fishing one weekend and decided to stay over for another night or two as the fish were showing over my spots. This is where one last cast really was worth the one last cast. It was at this point where a van pulled into the swim next door abs, out stepped a well-known angler called Andrew Murray. Little did I know that when the van doors opened my fishing journey would really begin. We started to chat about all things fishing, tackle and baits etc. Although the session ended with no fish for me, I was lucky enough to land one of Andrew’s many carp that he has caught on the A1 pits complex. I never for one minute expected what unfolded in the next 2/3 month to ever happen to someone like me, just an average angler with a page following my own journey through carping.
In the coming months I worked with bait companies and was asked by Wolf to become part of their consultancy team. This was an offer than I couldn’t refuse. To be working with an amazing company with some great products already on the market, with lots more to come to offer the more modern angler. I of course said yes to the offer with a great deal of gratitude.
A few weeks previous to this I was in France where my hard work and determination really was rewarded with a session of a lifetime. 2 x 40’s backed up with 7 x 30’s was just a red-letter day for me also the best I’ve ever had in my fishing career. Possibly the proudest I have ever been since I have been fishing was that session. I guess the moral of the story is never give up on something you dream of or the place you want to be.
Wolf have offered me an amazing opportunity to work not only for them but with them in an amazing team with some very experienced people in the world of angling. So, with all that said, keep looking for more updates on how my fishing is going and the future with Wolf.
No doubt I will catch up with some of you on the bank and on social media but until then tight lines and bend them rods.