WORDS

We’ve followed Lee’s angling for a long while now and have always been struck by a few things – one being that Lee almost only seems to catch lovely carp, and secondly, that he does it very much on his own terms, and with a lot of love and passion. Lee is from the school of grafters, a carpenter by trade, his eye for quality and details undoubtedly bleeds through into his angling and despite only being 28, it is clear Lee has his shit dialled in, in more ways than one. Without doubt, being a weekend angler makes catching...

Everyone goes fishing for different reasons, but for Cashy, it is a case of all or nothing – flat out, or work and family, with no middle ground. Having plenty of mutual friends, and followed his exploits on some of the toughest southern circuit waters over the last few years, we were fascinated to see how he makes it all work and what makes him tick. With four kids, and his own successful business to run, there is certainly a lot more to those results than is at first apparent. We caught up one sunny Saturday afternoon in August after...

‘26/06/1996’  Simon Hartop   It was June 21st 1996, I'd recently finished my degree against all the odds and I was pottering around the Royal parks of West London on my bike enjoying my freedom and musing on what life had in store for me next. Richmond Park was in my sights on this occasion as Ritchie Macdonald had banked an incredible 40 pounder a few seasons before so I cycled off down there for a scope. There was only one angler fishing and we hit it off straight away; his name was Ritchie Curtis, 'Little Ritch' or 'Motormouth' as...

A few years ago we spent a season or so fishing alongside Darren on White Swan, our regular chats carried out typing questions and answers into our phones, or via basic hand signals and drawing diagrams in the dirt were always welcome and enjoyed – Darren’s big smiles and positivity always bringing a quiet calm to the bustle of the park. If you don’t know Darren, he is profoundly deaf, and has been about on the big carp scene for many years now, catching some of the best in the land. We caught up to see how it changes the...