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 a few failed attempts between work, life and family duties. We got stuck straight in … Enjoy.
Four kids?! I thought you only had three.
No mate, four!
Blimey, hands full then! You’ve always struck me as an incredibly motivated angler, but you’ve clearly got a very busy personal and work life, how do you manage to square those things off?
I dunno really. (laughing) For me to feel comfortable fishing, I need to section things off in my head. Family is my priority, then my business, then fishing comes last. I don’t fish weekends, they are for family, so to get my fishing in I have to fit it around my work, basically working like the clappers and fitting five days’ work into three. I only get to see the kids for an hour and half after work, before they go to bed during the week, so by fishing week nights I’m only missing out on a few hours with them. Because my time at home and family is really important to me, and fishing busy lakes like I do, if I can’t get on the fish, I’ll just come home. I won’t waste my time because I’ve got something special to be at home for.
Is that how you’ve always fished then, or is that a recent thing?
Ever since I got serious about it, and really started committing time to it. It started on Cranwells really, committing two nights a week to it; normally that would just be April through to the summer holidays, and then I don’t do too much after that, really. I can start going again from next week, when the kids go back to school, but I never do as much later in the year.
All about that intense spring and early summer period?
Yeah, and two nights a week is a lot - it’s not enough, but it is a lot. (laughing)
Oh mate, yeah, it is a hell of a lot to juggle.
It is almost too much, really - it is full on keeping that up. Like now, where I haven’t had to think about fishing or prep and baiting for 6-8 weeks, my life is so much easier. (laughing) Now I’m thinking, ‘right, I’ve got one more hard week of graft at work, and then I could start going again from next week’, but I’m questioning whether or not I’ve got it in me, but as soon as you step back on the lake, that’s it … you’re back in the zone. I’ll be looking at arranging jobs around my nights’ fishing, baiting, getting prepped for the moon phases … when you get your head into it, you just find a way.
I know a lot of lads these days who just fish really hard at key spells, and then do nothing in between. It seems so hard to keep up that intensity week in, week out, over the course of a season.
It’s the rewards as well; at those key times, the rewards are just there so much more readily. Winter, I appreciate the banks are quiet, but the odds of catching regularly are so much less. Having a good session warrants me having that time away from my family, that’s how I look at it. Blank trips in the winter? - well maybe I just could’ve been with them instead. That’s what gives me the drive on the bank, as well, to put that effort in. I can imagine some people might think I’m a bit serious about it all, maybe, almost a bit too keen, but I put 100% into everything in life, whether that is my business, or my fishing. I just do everything as well as I can.
It is your own business as well, isn’t it?
It is, yes, I’ve got a lad that works for me, as well.
Can you be flexible with it then, when you need to be?
Oh yeah, five times out of ten anyway. The contract work less so, but I tend to work on a rolling two-week basis. All my fishing is based around the moon phases and the lead up to them. My wife buys a calendar for the house with the moons on, and the two nights before every moon are all blocked out straight away – ‘John – fishing’. (laughing) She’s primed well!
Yeah sounds like you’ve got that sorted nicely, mate. So your fishing is condensed into spring, really, and then condensed around the moons, too?
Yeah, 100%. It is just trying to line everything up. For example, Dinton can be so swim orientated, as well, and if you’re not in one of three areas, you are pissing in the wind at times, so sometimes I’ll pull work forward or backward, depending on whether or not I can get in those areas.
It comes with its benefits running your own business, doesn’t it? Although it also brings a lot of extra commitments, too.
Oh, massively. I don’t think most people realise. They just see you down the lake mid-week, but I’d love people to see what I have to go through in an average week to be able to fish those two nights. I’ll still be invoicing and quoting jobs, or sitting at my computer at 10 o’clock at night on the other days. People just assume you have it easy. I’m still doing five days’ work, just cramming it into three.
When you’re actually fishing, to you try to separate work off, so you can focus? Or do you still have to be dealing with jobs and customers?
Yeah, I still take all my calls because my business just has to be my priority. If it’s early or bite time, maybe I’ll get back to guys later in the day, but I still have to do it all. It can hinder the fishing at times, but equally so, I have to keep a roof over my head and I’m the breadwinner in the house as well.
Flat out! From what little I know, you’re massively into a big bait up as well, motherlode hits and a bit of prep – is that linked to the short intense spells of fishing? Does the baiting help with that style of approach?
It does, yeah, but to be honest, it’s just something I really enjoy and has always worked well for me. By the time I get to the end of spring, I’m burnt out, I’m done. I want the lake to shut … I’ve put everything into it. The baiting, it’s only a couple of hours work; when the lake is closed and there is no one there I really enjoy seeing the spots develop and it all come together. I get a real good buzz from that.
What are you actually baiting with, then? I’m sure I saw an iG post saying you’d put a tonne of particle in, wet weight?! What are you actually using?
Yeah, I did! Buckwheat, groats and maples is my favourite mix. Hot water in a cool box overnight for the groats and buckwheat, and it’s ready. The maples are the only thing that needs boiling, so just simple, quick and easy stuff. Cheap as well, so I can get a good quantity in quickly - plus plenty of boilie. I love it, though, baiting is so enjoyable. I like putting the effort in - every three days without fail, and if you put that amount of effort in, you’ll always get results. I did two spots this year, one with the particle and then another just boilies a few rod lengths away, but after about three weeks they’d dug a channel through, and it all just joined up - it got massive! (laughing) I stuck some worm castings over it a few times, to try to darken it up a bit, but I knew really that I just had a limited window to get a result off it. You create this big dinner table for them to feed on, but once a few start getting caught, its days are always numbered.
Do you hedge your bets usually with the close season baiting, or focus on one spot?
This year I just did one; last year I did a back-up spot as well, but it’s so much more bait, and more time. It’s twice the amount of work, and last year I didn’t even fish the second spot.
How conscious are you of overdoing it?
Not at all, really. I’ve done it on every lake I’ve fished - baiting through the close whilst they’re spawning - but Black has been the only one where I’ve been able to do it from a boat, so it’s good to see exactly what is going on. On White, I was doing four spots, getting there after work and not getting home until midnight or 1am. Every three days ... missions, mate. I’ll bait on weed often because it is easier to determine if it’s being eaten then. You can clearly feel a spot growing, when baiting existing hard areas it’s not so easy to tell.
Could you see the spots with a Scope that you were baiting from the boat?
You could see them from the bank by the end. (laughing) I was actually a bit concerned I’d overdone it, to be honest. It was like a road out there … it was ridiculous. It just made the window a bit smaller, instead of getting six weeks off it, I knew I’d only get two or three. The two big ‘uns came back to back, on the second and third mornings on it. After that, I had another 10, I think, but smaller ones.
When it comes to the actual fishing, I don’t actually like spending any prolonged time in any one swim, anyway. For example, this year I did six nights on that spot over a few weeks, and that was enough. I had my result early, but by the end I was bored with it; bored with the view and bored with fishing the same area. Some people are great at sitting it out in one area, but I just can’t do it. I’m made for fishing a water for one year, really. That first year, getting around, fishing for what I see, getting bites, I love that. The second year becomes all about targeting fish, targeting certain zones, trying to pin certain ones down - I don’t actually enjoy that as much.
That’s interesting. I’d never have thought that. So is it more the initial process of working it out that you enjoy?
It’s funny. I already feel like I’m done on Black Swan, now. I want to leave, really. Every time I look in the net and it’s not one of those two linears …
Are you prepared to stick with it regardless then, even if you’re not enjoying it as much as you were? Is there a point where you’d walk away?
Nah, once you’ve committed, once you’ve invested all that time and effort over a few years, walking away feels like failure. Unless they die, I just have to catch one of them. Myles seemed to appreciate them all along the way, even after a good few years on there, whereas I don’t find that as easy.
It’s a tough mindset to live with, that one, I’ve always felt - all or nothing.
It is, but I think we’re all a bit like that, aren’t we?
One thing that has always surprised me a bit is how open you are on Instagram about what you are up to; how you’re baiting, your rigs, tactics .… I always wondered if there was some smoke and mirrors going on there!
There’s a bit of games to all that. (laughing) We all play the same games at times, don’t we? In general, though, I am genuinely telling it how it is, and I am maybe too open. I’ve definitely shot myself in the foot a few times over the years. The majority of the time I am really honest about what I’m doing, and although I put in a lot of effort, I’m not actually all that serious about it.
I always assumed you were pretty serious about it, for some reason.
I think a lot of lads probably do, maybe because I put in a lot of effort. I am, but I’m not, at the same time - if that makes sense. I tell lads good information all the time, sharing stuff like that is all part of it. You share good info, you get good info back, as well. The close season baiting - I was completely open about that, but the casters for example, I’d done really well on them over on White, and took them over Black, but not a lot of people knew about them over there, so I threw a blind with a shot of some maggots on my bucket lid, you know.
I remember seeing your captures popping up, and being blown away by how well you were doing, so I spoke to Bucko to find out what on earth you were doing over there.
Oh, the hits of caster just opened them up, big style, not to discredit any of the captures. I was prepping spots early that year, finding the little natural areas, salting them, way before the casters, but that said, there were a lot of lads who got on them and didn’t do half as well. I should have capitalised on it more, perhaps, but I had my result and was happy. There were loads I didn’t catch; Jon’s Linear, Darren’s, The Grey … but once I’ve had the one I want, that’s it for me, the buzz and drive just goes. It doesn’t have to be the same one everyone wants, but I need that mantlepiece one to aim for - I don’t need to catch them all, I don’t want to be on a lake forever, but I do need those little targets to drive me on.
It is more about the personal targets then, whatever means something to you?
Yeah, totally. You can get caught in a trap otherwise, sitting on the same lake for years. I couldn’t do that, personally. Everyone gets their enjoyment from something different, though.
Your way is definitely more on the intense end of the spectrum isn’t it?
Oh, for sure. It really is all or nothing. I’ve done nothing at all for 6-8 weeks now, but if I’m gonna do it these coming weeks, I’ll fucking do it! (laughing) I’ll be dropping in early, on my way to work, even just for half an hour, putting in whatever extra time I can that doesn’t affect the family, so I’m not wasting my time when I turn up for my trip.
How close are you?
45 minutes
Oh it’s not on your doorstep, then?
No, not at all. Sometimes the job might be 45 minutes or an hour the other way, as well.
Realistically no one can keep that intensity up for 12 months a year, or even eight!
If you’ve got a job, a wife, and four kids, no (laughing) no way.
Summer has been flat out, then?
Flat out. We have a week at the start together with the kids, but after that it’s a horrible time and I just stack the work in. I probably earn almost as much through these six weeks in the summer as I do for the rest of the year. It’s worth it at the end of it, though.
Just going back to the tactics. On lakes like the ones you fish, full of such solid anglers, how much opportunity do you think there is still for really doing something different?
On somewhere like Dinton, everyone is good. We all know exactly what to do; everyone has got good rigs, sharp hooks, good bait … the only thing you can really do differently is put the extra effort in.
So you think it really does just boil down to that?
Definitely - just effort, and adaptability. A lot of lads are too scared to try things and potentially waste their time, so you end with everyone fishing the same way. The caster thing, for example; everyone had been fishing zigs all spring and it had done about 80 bites, but by the time I got there that year it had tailed off, the hits had already happened, and lads were just nicking odd ones. I thought there had to be something, so I thought, ‘Fuck it, I’m gonna come down and stick 10 pints of caster in and see what happens’. I was up in 77, the lads were over the other side goading me as I was putting them in with the spomb, seagulls everywhere, you know? I put them in, got the rods out, and one was away … that quick. The next day, I couldn’t get any from the local tackle shops because three of the boys had already booked them all up!
It’s hard to keep anything quiet on there anyway, isn’t it? I sort of imagined you’d want to try to keep that edge to yourself.
Nah, I didn’t. It’s just the way I am, everyone sees it all anyway. You’ve got people in your swim all the time, so you can’t really. I was more like ‘Just crack the bucket open, have a look, I’m not bothered’. (laughing)
Chatting to you now, I can see why you haven’t really bothered keeping stuff to yourself. It makes complete sense now, seeing how your attitude is toward it all. I’m guessing that’s how you rationalise fishing somewhere that busy - just don’t take it too seriously and have fun with it?
You have to. That’s the environment you’re in. You want to get along with people, and not just that, nine times out of 10, the lads I’m open with are open back. It works both ways. That lovely one I had this spring, the really rare 44 mirror with the cluster of scales, only its third ever capture. That led on from someone telling me they’d seen a few in an area, I wasn’t actually going to bother with that trip, but I went down that evening, saw a few in that same area, they were still there, so I dropped in and had that one. So that was credit to someone else – there are so many great anglers over there, and there’s something to be learned from everyone.
Stoneacres is a little like that. It is so busy, but everyone can see what everyone is doing because of the nature of the shape of it, so as a consequence, everyone is really open and it’s all the better for it, I think.
I think when you really want one, no matter how busy it is when you turn up, you’re dealing with it! That’s just how it is. I put off White for a while because I thought it was busy, cliquey … wasn’t sure I could be bothered, but actually you just put the blinkers on and get stuck in, don’t you? The social side is lovely as well, though, you get your rods, have a few beers, kick back ….
Yeah there’s a pretty big social side to that place.
I don’t get too involved. (laughing) I do my socialising in the days really, one or two in the evening is enough for me. To be honest, I’m usually exhausted by the time I get to the lake from work and whatever else. I want to be up at first light looking, so don’t want to be up until 2am sinking beers. Then I’m coming home to a family as well, and work - it takes me days to get over a hangover, so all that isn’t for me. I like my own little chill-out time on my own. I love the evenings when everything is set, the light is dropping, and then the early mornings, full of anticipation.
What’s the plans for the autumn, then?
If I’m honest, I haven’t thought about it at all.
Do you still keep in touch with it all during your downtime?
I try not to. I do still speak to a few of the lads, but to be honest not even really about the lake. I switch off completely. Even in the spring, I don’t want to know. I don’t care too much about what is going on. The only thing I really care about is if the one I’m after has been out, and which swims are available, that’s all I’m interested in.
Does that help to keep you focused whilst at home?
100%, yeah. Mates always tell me that they don’t know how I manage to switch off so completely, but it’s just how I’ve always been. If I’m not fishing, I just don’t think about it. My gear hasn’t been touched since that last trip six weeks ago - it’s covered in cobwebs currently. (laughing) I will sometimes do some prep through the winter, when I’m often quieter with work, so I’ve got more time then. I hate tying rigs; there’s no time for that when I’m fishing, so it’s one less thing to worry about if I’ve got those prepped.
If you catch one of those Lins this autumn then, what’s next?
I honestly don’t know. I haven’t got any other tickets, they’re so expensive these days you just can’t sit on them. I’d like to go to Stoney’s next, and have been offered a ticket, but I won’t fish it until I’m done on Dinton. I only ever concentrate on one lake at a time, so if I took it, I might not fish there for two or three years, or even longer - it might take five years, who knows? We’ll see.
Thanks for your time, mate, mega stuff. Good luck with it and see you out there, maybe even down Stoneacres if you get wrapped up soon enough. I wouldn’t bet against you.
