My angling started near on 40 years ago on my local River Stour, freelining a 
bit of bacon down the river that I'd pinched out of my mum's fridge. The trick was to bounce the bait over a paving slab that had been chucked in, to where you could guarantee a hungry Eel would come out from underneath and take the bait.
My angling soon moved on to the point where as a boy I spent so much time in the local tackle shop that they offered me a job. My time off was spent on the big gravel pits Kent has in abundance, in pursuit of Carp in the summer, with the occasional bream session and Pike in the winter with a few days on the river trotting for Roach. At the age of 20, a wander past the Armed Forces recruitment office had me looking through the window, I made the decision to serve my country and joined the Royal Navy, serving in the Submarine Service. With time off for angling limited to just odd days I turned to match fishing, representing the RN in a number of events.
On leaving the forces I continued with the match fishing, reaching a good standard. At one point fishing for Preston Innovations Delcac. I have three National medals for section wins and top 10 finishes, a National bronze team medal as well as numerous Kent league wins and also managed to win the 100 peg Kent Championships held on the Royal Military Canal.
A change in job to a 4 day week gave me an opportunity to change in my angling again, this time to specimen angling. I put the skills learnt as a matchman to good use as a carp angler, concentrating on accuracy, feeding and presentation. For the past several years I have spent my time in the pursuit of all the other specimen fish that live in the big gravel pits I fish, I also spend a bit of time on my local rivers and canal. Occasionally I get called out of my match fishing retirement to help out an old team.
I am an Angling Trust Level 2 licensed coach and spend a number of days doing one to one tutorials as well as regularly working with a local school for kids with behavioural difficulties.