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Age 41. First taken fishing at the age of three & half when I promptly fell in and have been getting wet on and off ever since. By the time I was 4 I was trusted with my own rod and reel (a 2&3/4 inch centre-pin) with which I used to catch stickle-backs. Alas, most of my subsequent angling education was self taught, or at least out of the pages of my late father’s 1952 ‘Mr Crabtree’. My dad was an ‘angling obsessive’ but he passed away when I was just 6. Thankfully the obsession was hereditary. Have lived in the Kennet valley nearly all my life – no great surprise – as the family have lived in the area since at least the early 1500’s. Consequently, nearly all my angling experiences have been on the Kennet. I consider myself a ‘serious pleasure angler’. Having neither the temperament nor the marriage to be a truly dedicated specimen hunter. I enjoy the method of capture sometimes as much as what I catch. To this aim, in the last decade, I’ve re-discovered the joys of the centre-pin and this has coincided with real improvement in my success rates. My best Chub, Perch, Grayling and Dace have all been caught from the Kennet on the ‘pin in the last 3 years. When not trotting, I’ll often be found out barbel fishing of an evening. This is the closest I get to being obsessive about a species (though grayling come a close 2nd at the moment). This was born out of a realisation some 5 years ago that my best still stood at 6lb, a fish I’d caught as a teenager. Many happy hours on the bank later, and nearly 5lb has been added to this figure! My first attempt at writing appeared on this site over 2 years ago (the story of my capture of a 6lb 3oz chub) and Geoff as been kind enough to give a home to my errant ramblings ever since. Oh yes, when I’m not fishing or thinking about fishing I get paid to be a Training & Development professional for the Otto UK Home Shopping group.