Go fish

Diss’ iconic Mere is home to over 50,000 fish, which makes it a natural location for the Diss and District Angling Club. Keen to promote this rich resource - and the delights of Diss and its Mere as a whole - in 2019 the club launched the Mere Masters.

The one-off event attracted 20 competitors, with the winner Tony Watling (who’d never fished the Mere before) claiming the title of first ever Mere Master.

Due to the pandemic, there was no Mere Masters competition in 2020. But, this year, they’ve brought it back. And attracted some world class talent too. Having recently fished in the Mere, fourtime world champion angler, Bob Nudd MBE, decided to dip his rod into the water and enter the Mere Masters. 76-year-old Bob, who won the World Freshwater Angling Championship in 1990, 1991, 1994 and 1999, represented England at international level for more than 24 years. He was awarded an MBE for services to fishing and narrowly missed out on the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. “It’s great to have someone as well-known as Bob enter the Masters and fish the Mere,” said competition organiser and club chairman, Ben Wilby. “It really does put the beautiful Mere in the spotlight within the angling world. Bob uses social media a lot to talk through his angling experiences and this has led to lots of people contacting us about wanting to fish the Mere.” Riding the wave of popularity generated by the Mere Masters and its world-class competitors, the club has now introduced a Junior Masters competition. “The Junior Masters is about getting more young people active and giving it a go,” said Ben. “Anyone under the age of 16 can take part at no cost. We’re expecting this to be popular and we hope the juniors have a great day’s fishing.”

It’s great to have someone as well-known as Bob Nudd enter the Masters and fish the Mere. It really does put this beautiful ”venue in the spotlight within the angling world. Ben Wilby