WEDNESDAY25th October 2000

Considering that I had just one day on the Ballynahinch, it was a piece of serious luck that I’d drawn Beat One of the Ballynahinch Castle Hotel water which took in the pool immediately below the lough. (A German guest at the hotel, indeed, sidled up to me and wanted to know how much I’d…

The year must have been 1965, and I was a six-year old in a fish market on the Greek coast, eyes popping out at the sight of a bluefin bigger than myself, and I distinctly remember my mother dragging me away forcibly from the fish counter, my heels smoking against the floor. I never knew…

Wednesdays midweek Bewdley open saw me draw peg 31, a peg known to locals as “The feeder gobbler” and now I know why having lost eight swimfeeders and around fifteen hooks throughout the match! In between losing tackle I did manage to catch 14.4.0 of small barbel to win the section. On Saturday I had…

I stared with bloodshot eyes through the darkness in the vague direction of the cheery D.J emanating from my alarm clock radio. He assured me buoyantly we were six minutes past the hour, though he gleefully failed to mention what hour, he then proceeded to invite me, (more like warn me, pal!) to enjoy with…

Enthused by a wonderful couple of days in March at Kiwayu, of the coast of North Kenya, when we had had fine sport taking Koli-Koli (aka Golden Trevally) on the fly, as they in their turn preyed upon the shoals of sardines, I dared to suggest to Belinda that we once again ventured down to…

Add to that the fact that a lot of our waterways have been closed due to the dreadful foot and mouth situation and it’s been a frustrating end to the river season. I’ve been having some fabulous roach sport on the Severn before the enforced layoff and I’m already looking forward to June when I…