Caught my first barbel on the Dordogne in France 30 years ago and my first Uk barbel at Monkmoor on the Severn about 25 years ago. Primarily a carp angler through my twenties I've fallen more and more in love with rivers and barbel in the last fifteen years, fishing the Teme, Severn, Wye and Dane - I was a happy member of the Barbel Society syndicate on the Dane at Cotton Hall when they had control of the stretch. Some folk may know me from the period around 1994 when I designed an affordable side-cast centre-pin "The Castaway Classic" which had great reviews (Product of the week in AT) and sold well - I still get occasional calls from happy users. I like targetting bigger fish but in the end the beauty of a stretch of river is more important to me than the fishing statistics which is why I can't wait to get ,back to the Wye and try and find a quiet stretch of the Teme. In recent years I've concentrated on some (eventually!) successful pioneering barbelling on Cheshires recovering River Goyt - boy do those beauties fight!

Run a web based furniture business

Fishing, writing, surfing, sailing, kayaking, cricket, football, music & reading