Diary of a ‘wannabe’......

I’ve always been an angler, who, like loads of others, thinks ‘I could do that......!’ When I see Matt Hayes, John Wilson and others on television and I read their articles or books, I’ve always wondered what makes them special; how did they end up doing what they do and being paid for it!?

This is a tale of a ‘nearly’ man.....

2008 was going fairly well for me, my fishing was on form, I’d been accepted as a ‘field tester’ for a mainstream bait company, I was part of the team which won the UK Fire Services National Match (Staffordshire Fire and Rescue) and my newspaper column was in the running for an award....I’ve always enjoyed writing, I’ve submitted to various magazines in the past three years and the local paper ’Leek Post and Times’ allows me some space each month to describe the daily happenings on the Fire Station; I would love to be paid for it, and if I could write about fishing, then that would be even better!

Last year, I went to the ‘Go Fishing’ show at the NEC in Birmingham; I’d never been before and I was full of anticipation (like a kid in a sweet shop more like!) about all the shiny new kit, meeting someone famous and generally spending money I hadn’t really got on things I didn’t really need.... Entering the main hall, my wife and I started to wander amongst various stands and chat to the representatives who were trying to get me to part with money in return for expensive tackle; I had come to learn something from these people, but they didn’t want to teach me. Most of them are business people, a few fishermen admittedly, but most are out to profit (call me naive I know...) from the everyday angler. After about an hour, I was becoming crestfallen; I sat and listened to Danny Korda give a talk about bait presentation, and, guess what? Korda tackle is the best! Daiwa disagreed; theirs was the best....but then so was Fox.....and Shimano....I’d had enough, was ready for home when the wife saw a TV camera which was pointing at a blank screen in the centre of the hall. In front of the screen was Kev Green, the editor of ‘Improve Your Coarse Fishing’ magazine. Instantly, she was intrigued so wandered across to see what was happening and to watch the ‘wannabe’ who had taken his place next to Kev in front of the camera. Bright red with embarrassment, the young lad started to read from a prepared sheet what appeared to be the hot stories of the week from the fishing world. Kev tried to encourage, but it was obvious that he was only there for a bet as his mates were dying with laughter behind me...

Five minutes later the stand was quiet so I sidled up to ask the editor what it was all about? He told me it was an audition for a feature writer/tackle consultant/presenter for a well known company and for the magazine; and did I want to try?? Obviously I said ‘no’ when I really meant ‘yes of course, I’m your man, how could you be so daft not to realise this fact?!’ After a bit of persuasion from the missus, (she must take ALL credit for my new career you understand...) I sat in front of the camera next to someone ‘famous’ to read the stories on the page before me. Now I knew why the lad before had been bright red as people just appeared from nowhere to see my shame! This is easy! Matt Hayes stand by, I’m coming after you!! To my amazement, it went very well; I enjoyed it, Kev seemed pleased and we sat quietly discussing what I thought was the future of fishing, what did the angling world need next, how did I spend my time on the bank and other fishy business. We shook hands and I thought no more of it; I’d got no chance of being contacted, hundred’s of people must have tried out, so surely someone with far more knowledge and experience would get in.

About six weeks later, I opened my email account to see ‘kev.green.etc@youjammysod.com’ winking in front of me; it invited me to research and submit an idea for an article for the magazine to be covered by Kev himself if suitable.....woo hoo, I was up and dancing, maybe this was my big chance!!!

Until then, I’d been fishing at Baden Hall in Eccleshall for big bream; my target for 2008 a double figure fish. Baden Hall is a smashing mixed fishery holding an awful lot of big bream tucked away in one of the top pools. I’m not bad at quivertip fishing and had caught some fish to 13lb 3oz from this particular area so this was surely the easiest thing to write about! I emailed back with the cunning plan and sat back to wait for an instant reply.....four weeks later, starving, in need of a shave, it finally came back asking me to book a date and prepare to do it. I rang Dave the Bailiff, asked for his advice, fished every week for almost 3 months and never failed to catch ‘slabs’, I was made, fame at last!! I couldn’t go wrong, I was on fish every session, catching fish to at least 9lbs each time.

I confirmed the date with Kev, and then thought that I would be clever by pre baiting the swim I was set to fish....couldn’t fail.... Three nights of getting on my trusty scooter with a rucksack containing fifteen kilos of groundbait (secret recipe to impress Kev) resulted in confidence being at all time high when I set up prior to my new best mate’s arrival. It was raining, overcast with a breeze on the water, perfect conditions... I’d arranged a free day ticket in return for publicity, Dave and the fishery owner were keen to meet Kev and we were all set. Tackling up with exactly the same rig as previous sessions I proceeded to catch carp after carp with the odd small bream thrown in....hmmm....never mind, the bream would show over the bait soon surely?? Kev arrived and plonked down under the brolly, with his sandwiches and camera kit he was in for a day of non-stop slab action!! As we chatted about his angling experiences, his mobile rang and he passed Matt Hayes over for me to say ‘Hi’ to...could this be any better? The quivertip was twitching constantly and further carp to 11lbs were coming onto the bank but still no ‘bin lids’; I was starting to get twitchy myself and started to change things around to encourage the bream. Bob Nudd rang for a chat, but he couldn’t tell me anything I didn’t know so I passed him back to Kev who sat whispering to Bob the lack of target fish so far which wasn’t encouraging.

By now, six hours in, still without a big bream, I went to pieces; prebaiting had only enticed carp into the swim and they were bullying everything else out! My plan had failed miserably and I’d really shot myself in the foot. What next?? Kev was still making all the right noises, but I knew he thought he was with a chump who talked a good game. Four hours later, he’d had enough and we parted with a handshake. Polite pictures were taken ‘just in case’ and he drove back to Peterborough..... I was gutted; I thought I’d finally found my way into the world of the professional that all anglers want to be but I’d chucked it all away!

I went home and expected the ‘thanks, but no thanks’ email to tell me it was all over. I’d seen other lads who had been successful on the cover of ‘Improve Your Coarse Fishing’ magazine and was despondent. It came several weeks later; ‘ Congratulations! You are now in the final four who are being considered, please come up with a new idea for another article!’ I couldn’t believe this, I’d caught none of the big bream that I was after, but apparently Kev had seen enough to convince him that perhaps I did know what I was on about! Racking my brains, I fired off some new ideas in reply and again waited for a response. It came three weeks later; ‘Sorry, all the ideas were great, but I have decided on two anglers with slightly better constructed plans’. Fair enough, dream over, but I’d been so close to getting there!

What did I learn from it? If you think you can do it, then try it; there are ways in to what appears a ‘closed shop’. You may not be the best angler in the world, (I’m not) but if you have the confidence to try you just never know. I enjoyed my day with Kev, he had some great stories, I learned a lot about the angling press and most importantly, I had some fun. I’m still in contact with Kev, emailing ideas and tip offs, so maybe one day I’ll get another chance......

Clint Walker
May 2009

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Diary of a ‘wannabe’......

Phil Wain