Legends Series: Chris Yates

LEGENDS SPECIAL COLLECTORS’ TRIBUTE

FEB 8 2011

PART ONE

CHRIS YATES

INSIDE: FROM REDMIRE POOL TO THE GREAT GUDGEON HUNT 001 UK legendsMay Cover.indd 2

AnglingTımes

The stories that inspired the sport

26/1/11 11:58:55

CHRIS YATES Contents EDITORIAL CONTACTS Tel: 01733 232600

Chris enjoying a bankside brew between sessions.

Fax: 01733 465844 Write to: Angling Times, Media House, Lynchwood, Peterborough, PE2 6EA Published by: Bauer Consumer Media, Media House, Lynchwood, Peterborough Printed by: Polestar Group, Colchester

“Chris’ unique style of fishing and writing stands astride the modern and vintage eras of our sport”

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

02-03 AT Contents Feb 8.indd 2

2 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:43:23

Next page Record carp story

CONTENTS T H E

G R E A T E S T

C O L L E C T I O N

O F

C H R I S

Y A T E S ’

A N G L I N G

S T O R I E S A fine Yates barbel.

Filming A Passion for Angling.

Chris with his record carp.

H

ello and welcome to the first special-edition Angling Times magazine of 2011.

In this series, we’ll be covering the lives and work of some of the best-loved anglers in our sport’s history, so it’s fitting that we’ve chosen a true living legend for the first issue – former British carp record-holder and A Passion For Angling star Chris Yates.

Chris’ unique style of fishing and writing stands astride the modern and vintage eras of our sport, with his capture of a record-shattering 51lb 8oz carp (the ‘Bishop’ from Redmire in 1980) on a traditional split-cane rod built by Richard Walker – the man whose long-standing big-fish milestone he broke – perfectly demonstrating this blend.

But there’s more to the Hampshire-based rod than just big carp and vintage tackle. His books and films have enchanted endless numbers of hungry fishermen (and even those who’ve never fished), such is his talent at translating an angler’s pursuit of even the tiniest gudgeon into the written word or a golden moment of television.

If you enjoy reading this magazine half as much as we’ve enjoyed producing it, then you’re in for a real treat.

Chris’s world of fishing is unique and angling is all the better for it.

Mr Yates we salute you!

INSIDE 4 THE RECORD CARP STORY

20 FAVOURITE THINGS: BARBEL

One of angling’s greatest-ever records – in Chris’ own words

Fishing for Chris’s first love, barbel, with vintage tackle

8 UNEXPECTED MONSTERS

2 3 FUN WITH B OWLER

Hunting an elusive ‘superchub’ on the Hampshire Avon

Martin Bowler’s account of why Chris is a living legend

10 THE GREAT GUDGEON HUNT

24 SEA FISHING

Chasing barbelled monsters with the Golden Scale Club

12 PERCH FROM THE PAST A young Master Yates discovers a lake full of big, hungry perch

14 MR CRABTREE GOES GRAYLING FISHING Bernard Venables takes on Chris

26 TENCH PARADISE Tinca tincas aren’t the only thing on a young Chris’s mind

29 THE MAGIC OF REDMIRE No one can better describe the iconic pool than Chris Yates

16 CHRIS YATES’ INTERVIEW

30 THE STORY BEHIND ‘A PASSION FOR ANGLING’

Steve Partner meets Chris on a favourite chub river

The inside line on angling’s greatest-ever series of films

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

02-03 AT Contents Feb 8.indd 3

Chris discovers a new passion – fishing for the wily sea bass

3 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:44:31

CHRIS YATES An historic catch Chris Yates cradles the catch of a lifetime.

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

04-07 Record Carp Feb 8.indd 4

4 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:00:54

Next page Continued

HOW I CAUGHT THE

RECORD CARP In his own words, Chris describes the moment he made coarse fishing history on the opening day of the season at Redmire in 1980

I

’d baited with three grains of corn, and after squeezing a bean-sized knob of plasticine on to the line, cast out twenty yards to the right. A biggish fish swam in from the island, coming straight for the bait. He hesitated over it, but then cruised off. Then a twenty-pound common began to mill about below the floating algae, only two rodlengths out.

I dropped a bait in front of him and after a minute the line shot tight – only to fall instantly slack again. I cast twice more to the edge of the scummy algae, resting the rod in a twig and sitting back on an old willow stump.

However, even though the breeze had died to a whisper, there was still a fair amount of drift, the floating scum caught the line, dragging the bait and so I reeled in and made another cast right in front of the large dark shape

that was just then ghosting round the willow on my left. I almost botched it.

Casting at that fish was like casting at the sun – I suddenly lost my focus in a fever of anticipation. But it was all right. The bait flew in a perfect arc and the fish must have taken it before it hit bottom.

I put in the pick-up and was just lowering the rod when I saw the line slithering across the surface. I couldn’t miss and found myself connected to a fish that swirled round, making a colossal splash, and surged diagonally across the shallows. I let him run, having planned a neat dodge for such a circumstance. As the line brushed against the willow, I jumped in and floundered round to my right, ducking under an alder bough that was actually hanging into the water.

I whipped the rod round the branch with the line still streaming off the spool, and waded on until I was standing at the mouth of the feeder stream. Now I wouldn’t have to play the fish from the wrong side of a willow tree.

A huge tail had shown above the surface as the carp charged away, so I was fairly sure I’d hooked the rowing boat. Now, as I increased pressure, he answered me with a tremendous burst of power, making a tail-swipe that flattened out all the ripples in an

Top Tip

Like Chris, don’t overlook sweetcorn

“A huge tail had shown above the surface as the carp charged away” CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

04-07 Record Carp Feb 8.indd 5

area ten yards square. The explosive splash was heard (I later discovered) right at the other end of the pool.

He was almost under the willows on the far bank, but with the line chiming near its breaking point, I swung him clear.

I began to whistle loudly for help, but there was no answer. The rats must be asleep, I thought.

The carp changed direction and made the move I’d feared most, heading back across the shallows towards the big willow branch in the ‘35’ pitch. I saw a bow wave bulge suddenly upwards as he accelerated towards it. piled on the pressure and the sidestrain swung him round towards me, so that he was now pointing at an even more dangerous snag – that submerged willow where we’d first made contact.

I felt the bend going out of the rod and he came steadily towards me.

There was no alternative but to suddenly cram on pressure again, hoping he would think I wanted him under the tree. He stopped dead and then, with another tumultuous splash, turned in his tracks and headed back down the pool.

I let him go, but he didn’t retreat far enough and I had to ease off to a barely taut line. But he insisted on hanging dangerously close to the willow, so I picked up some water-logged branches and threw them at him. He wasn’t impressed and wouldn’t shift until I let the line fall absolutely slack, then he moved back along the margins until he was nearing the willow, forty yards away, and I had to tighten up and hold him hard. He stubbornly refused, though, to come out into the open water.

I began to shout, and eventually

5 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:01:22

CHRIS YATES An historic catch

“I’d known, as soon as John lifted, that we’d got a monster, a new record” John answered me.

“Bring a net,” I yelled.

“Where are you?”

“Up at the top of the shallows.”

John came crashing and thumping along the overgrown west bank, rounded the top of the pool, splashed across the feeder stream and appeared through the trees behind me, puffing, bedraggled and dripping with muddy water. He waded out next to me, but realised the water was too shallow to net a big fish and so squelched onwards through the silt for another few yards.

Suddenly, I felt the carp heading out into the pool again and saw a wave cleaving through the grey ripples.

Without a sound or a word Barry had come up under the willows and actually climbed into the half submerged tree, causing the fish to take flight.

I steered the carp towards us and Barry had a good view of it as it ploughed past him. He said it was the Bishop, but I thought he was joking and laughed – nervously.

“It’s a big fish,” said John, as a wave approached him.

A great black back rose higher and higher in the water; then everything stopped. The fish had grounded itself just ten feet from the net.

I tried to drag it a little nearer, but it wallowed round until it was broadside on and I couldn’t budge it. John, sinking waist deep into the silt, inched forward and began to slide the net under the fish. I had visions of the mesh catching the line and winced, saying, “Careful, I don’t want him to thrash about now!” He pushed the net until its frame had enclosed the bulk of the carp, then he began to lift.

For a moment nothing happened – he stuck, straining, and the mesh wasn’t rising up.

“Lift! Lift it!” shouted Barry from the willow.

John heaved and there was a sudden eruption of mud and water.

John Searl’s stunning illustration of the historic catch www. johnsearl.co.uk

The bend went abruptly out of the rod and I thought for a moment that the fish had gone, but it was there, hammocked in the folds of the big net, with a load of mud, scum and weed.

“Bite the line, John,” I said, turning for the shore.

“You must be joking,” he said, “I can’t move!”

Splodging through the ooze and taking his arm I helped him to heave

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

04-07 Record Carp Feb 8.indd 6

and wrest himself free. Then we began stumbling back to the bank, half falling, staggering under the weight that was in the net.

Barry came hurrying across the marshy field and helped us carry our load through the edge of the trees. He looked at the carp as we lowered it into the wet grass. It was difficult to see it was a carp – it looked like a black pig that had been rolling in the mud.

6 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:04:08

Next page The unexpected monster

1

TOP FIVE CHRIS YATES MOMENTS

Catching the record carp An historic catch that re-wrote the record books in more ways than one.

“Although it was over 30 years ago, I still remember it as though it were yesterday!” says Chris.

2

Chris with an old friend, the ‘Bishop’.

He estimated the weight. “Fifty-three pounds.” There was no emotion in his voice at all.

I can’t remember what I was saying, nor what I was thinking. I’d known, as soon as John lifted, that we’d got a monster, a new record, but I can’t recall exactly what was on my mind.

I carefully unhooked it, which was tricky as the hold was firmly in the leather-like bottom lip, then I ran for

the spring balance and a pan of water to wash the silty flanks. We cleaned off the mud and the carp was revealed in all its glory. My heart gave another lift as I realised that it was not only gigantic, it was also a beautiful specimen. Sleek and bright. Richly coloured – purple, ochre, chestnut, amber. It was tremendously broad and deep, but it wasn’t gross (36½ x 34½ inches).

Gently, we slid the carp into a capacious sling and hoisted it on to the balance. The pointer on the dial swung round and stopped, quiveringly at 51¾ lb. Deducting the weight of the sling left 51lb 6oz.

I gazed at the dial for a few moments, then sat back in the grass, blinking.

After all these years, all those lost fish, all these diaries, my line finally led to this great dark-coloured mirror carp – a fish I’d caught seven years before, when it looked too old and weary to grow bigger – but it had grown; it had become a different fish altogether and was now the monster that I’d called the Bishop. We lay it reverently on the grass and stared at it.

The sky was almost dark, yet over in the west, under the edge of the cloud, a strip of blue showed clear and cool looking, and in its centre, a thin crescent moon. The breeze had long ceased, the evening was perfectly still.

There were a few moments’ awed silence as we crouched round the carp. Then Barry broke the spell.

“Yatesy’s cracked it!” he laughed.

I stood up and threw my hat across the field.

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

04-07 Record Carp Feb 8.indd 7

Redmire tree climbing “When we were filming A Passion For Angling, Hugh (Miles) wanted a more radical way of catching carp at Redmire that didn’t involve sitting behind a pair of rods, so we decided to try and catch one from the top of a tree.

Hugh got into position while Bob and I climbed the tree.

I had my blowpipe – Rod Hutchinson was always very impressed with its accuracy – and I fired the bait out through a gap towards the fish. We soon hooked one but obviously we couldn’t land it from the top of the tree so we had to jump into the lake, and Hugh got it all on film.”

3

Beating Bowler at crucian fishing “This was great fun, especially as we had to do it twice, so we had two lovely days on a beautiful pond. I thrashed him in the first leg but that’s when the sun wasn’t shining so we had to re-shoot and on the next leg he was more prepared – not that he was using a split-cane rod! We didn’t keep any record of the numbers caught on the second day but it wasn’t 30 to 12 any more, like the first leg. We called it a draw and shared a cup of tea – well, actually Martin had coffee. For some reason he doesn’t drink tea.

There’s definitely something wrong with Mr Bowler…”

4

Exploding bait boats “To fill my time during the closed season when I was a teenager I used to go back to the lakes we fished and instead of fishing we’d fire rocket boats across them – home-made rockets with home-made fuel. We decided to make a slightly bigger rocket boat with a motor made out of an oxyacetylene cylinder filled with our rocket fuel. Rather innocently, we decided to test it down the garden and the explosion was so big that they recorded a seismograph reading in Greenwich (15 miles away) of 1.1. That was enough for the Home Office to come down the next day and the police also came.

The crater was big enough to fill with water and stock with carp and the pond was there for 30 years.”

5

Bass fishing exploits “Another day that really stands out was a recent bass fishing session that I wrote about in my latest book. Bass have taken over as my autumn fish now and I saw this magical dawn – the sun came up out of the sea while we watched from a dinghy about a mile off shore.

This calm, vast sea with the sun coming up in front of me and the light growing with bass leaping all around me – fantastic. As well as catching my best-ever bass of 7lb 8oz, we also had a basking shark come up nearby, plus we caught all the fish off the surface – definitely a recent angling highlight.”

The beating of Bowler – fishing for crucians.

7 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:04:51

CHRIS YATES

Epic battle with a chub

THE UNEXPEC T What started out as a half-hearted fishing session for salmon turned into a

A

friend of mine, Mem ‘Jardine’ Hassan, had a ticket for a stretch of the Hampshire Avon that was only ever fished by salmon anglers.

Jardine was keen to catch an Avon salmon, but the days of the big spring fish were over and the only real opportunities lay in the summer, when the grilse were running. This, of course, meant that he often packed a barbel or chub rod when he went salmon fishing; as he was searching for the ‘silver tourists’, he would often stumble on a shoal of ‘natives’. And one July day he stumbled on a fish so big that he thought his eyes must be deceiving him. But he wasn’t seeing things. I’m certain of that because I was his guest that day and I saw the monster too.

We had been half-heartedly looking for a salmon during the early morning, but there wasn’t a sign of even a small grilse in all the usual holding pools.

There was a wide stretch of shallows that ran suddenly into a deeper narrower glide and we knew from previous experience that a shoal of barbel would be waiting for us there.

So we put away our salmon gear, tackled up our proper rods

“Every time one of the rods bent into a fish our hearts skipped a beat”

Top Tip

Remember, there’s always a chance!

A ‘normal’ sized chub – the one we saw dwarfed this fish.

and sneaked into position through the willow herb. We began feeding maggots into the swim and Jardine peered through the cover to see if we were attracting anything.

I tossed in another handful upstream of him

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

08-09 AT Monsters Feb 8.indd 8

and as the maggots sank something emerged from the weedbeds.

“Blimming heck!” gasped Jardine, and he turned to me with his jaw dropped and his eyes toggled.

“What is it?” I whispered, not being able to see clearly through the undergrowth. Jardine crawled of the hole he’d made in the willow herbs and said “Have a look for yourself. You won’t believe it!” He looked stunned.

8 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:06:09

hu

Next page The great gudgeon hunt

C TED MONSTER

a

hunt for a massive chub. Chris Yates recalls an epic battle with the ‘monster’ We caught several barbel but ‘superchub’ was having none of it.

WHAT THE STARS SAY ABOUT CHRIS...

➽ TV star Matt Hayes

I inched forward until I had a clear view into the swim, put on my polarising glasses, blinked and said: “It must be a carp! No, it looks like a bass! No, it’s a clonking great chub!”

Now I have seen a couple of very big chub before, even if the biggest I’ve caught was ‘only’ 5½ lb. I reckon, in the distant past, that I must have seen a seven-pounder, but this Avon fish was much, much bigger. Both Jardine

and I reckon it must have been almost 30 inches long and would have weighed 10lb easily. It was definitely picking off one or two maggots as they drifted past and we got a clearer idea of its dimensions when it was suddenly joined by several barbel that looked in the 6lb to 7lb category. The chub dwarfed them all! Unlike the graceful quick finned barbel, the monster seemed cumbersome, even

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

08-09 AT Monsters Feb 8.indd 9

“The first time I met Chris was several years ago at the Go Fishing show over a cup of tea in the backstage area. We got on like a house on fire and my overwhelming impression was that he was a great bloke, a really nice guy – no pretensions and not a big-headed person, just a mildmannered, knowledgeable man who I liked very much. In Casting At The Sun, Chris has written one of the finest angling books of all time – it went beyond angling literature. It would be hard to think of a finer angling writer than Chris - he is unique."

awkward in its movements. It looked an ancient specimen and the large scales had a rough-edged, slightly irregular appearance. It dropped lower in the water, as if dragged down by its great weight.

We both crawled away out of sight and Jardine feverishly set up float tackle while I tossed in a few more maggots. Then he cast from a few yards upstream and we honestly thought he was going to hook the chub straight away. It was such a unexpected surprise, in such an accessible spot that it surely meant that our luck was in and we were destined to break the record. But of course Jardine didn’t hook the chub.

The first fish he caught was one of the barbel, a six-pounder that seemed awfully small compared to the giant.

He graciously let me have a cast and a bit of trundled luncheon meat produced an instant lunging take. “Is it him?” asked Jardine. “No,” I said, seeing the streamlined form of a barbel spearing itself into the weed. It was the one we thought had weighed about 7lb – and we were, after a bit of a tussle, proved almost right: 6lb 14oz.

Naturally, after that the chub disappeared and we didn’t see it again.

But we guessed it hadn’t gone far into the dense weedbeds and continued fishing, hopefully, for the rest of the day. The barbel were in an eager frame of mind and we caught seven by sunset on maggots, meat and sweetcorn. Every time one of the rods bent into a fish our hearts skipped a few beats with the thought that, this time, it might be superchub; but it never was. However, just as the light was fading in the west, I hooked a big fish after dropping a bait right across the river into a narrow gap in the weeds. It ploughed off downstream and eventually came to an unbudgeable stop. I tried every trick in the book to shift it, but finally the hook sprang free.

It just might have been…

9 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:06:36

CHRIS YATES

Gudgeon

THE GREAT GUDGEON HUNT The gudgeon fisher’s philosophy is a good one, and every angler would be wise to adopt it. Those who constantly go in search of what are considered ‘superior’ quarry often fail – gudgeon always oblige

T

he gudgeon fisher invariably comes home happy because the gudgeon always wants to feed. It is such a greedy, silly little fish that it will bite all day long, rain or shine.

This fact alone fills the gudgeon angler with so much confidence that, as long as he can find his quarry, he never fails. Therefore, if you always convince yourself that you’re fishing for gudgeon, even when you’re not, this same wild confidence will grow in you and you’ll find it far easier to outwit the fish you’re really after.

The attitude of the gudgeon fisher is a good one, but even better is the attitude of the gudgeon fisher in

disguise. This is the secret of my modest success in angling. Whenever I go fishing, I always tell myself that I’m after gudgeon, even if I’m using floating crust on a size 4 hook.

But to work the trick properly, you have to have experienced real gudgeon fishing. In the 19th century, gudgeon scratching, as it was termed, was a hugely popular pastime and whole families would take to the river in punts and spend their summer Sunday afternoons happily catching netfuls of speckled silvery fish.

Nowadays, the gudgeon is not found in such large shoals any more, but there are still plenty of hotspots up and down the country and, whenever you discover one, think of it as a gift from old Izaak. Forget your pike and

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

010-11 AT Gudgeon Feb 8.indd 10

Above, right: Dusk falls on the Avon, and the gudgeon are stirring...

Top Tip All fish with barbels are gudgeon!

bream, get out your tiddler snatching gear and enjoy yourself.

You need to get into the swing of catching gudgeon, to cast out every time absolutely sure that your float is going to twitch and dart under within seconds. And when you get so blasé that you can catch fish while drinking a cup of tea – without spilling a drop or putting the cup down – then you are a true gudgeon ‘scratcher’.

Of course, it often happens that the larger specimens will succumb to your new powers before you have quite finished your business with the gudgeon. This will probably be all right it it’s only a perch, or a roach, but certain difficulties may arise if it’s a carp or a tench.

I remember various occasions at

10 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:07:50

Next page Perch from the past parasols and greenheart rods, produced nothing but chub – a very grave state of affairs. ‘“Where,” asked the club chairman, “have all the gudgeon gone?”

Well, they can’t have all just disappeared, like the burbot: maybe they have just altered their habits, or their habitat. And, in the meantime, until we discover exactly what’s happened to them, we have devised an alternative gudgeon strategy.

Party time on the Avon

“The Avon gudgeon are a formidable quarry” Redmire when, bored by lack of carp activity, I’d tackle up with a light rod, 3lb line, size 14 hook, and floatfish maggots for gudgeon. Redmire gudgeon were once famous for having record-breaking potential and it was always a fond hope of mine that I might break both the carp and gudgeon records from the same water.

But what often happened, after I’d got the tiddlers feeding in earnest off the dam, was that, instead of twitching and bobbing, my float would slide away in an ominously slow and determined manner. My gentle strike would then produce not a record gudgeon but a reel-screeching double-figure carp that might take up to 20 minutes to land.

When conditions were good at

Redmire, it was actually less exciting to be fishing for carp with the proper gear than angling for gudgeon, for the above reasons. But whenever I was stalking a really large fish I simply had to tell myself ‘this is just like gudgeon fishing’ and the rest would be easy.

As you can image, a group of eccentric traditionalists like the Golden Scale Club holds the gudgeon in very high esteem. The annual gudgeon party has always been one of the most popular days in the club’s calendar. It is, or rather was, often the only day in the season when everybody, even the chairman, caught something. However, over the last few years catches have been well down on previous seasons and a recent outing to the Thames, with punts and

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

010-11 AT Gudgeon Feb 8.indd 11

11

The Golden Scale Club prepares for Über-Gudgeon.

Invitations to the G.S.C. gudgeon party go out as normal in early summer, but the venue is now the Hampshire Avon rather than the Thames or a more famous gudgeon pond. Members are reminded that the Avon gudgeon are a formidable quarry; fine lines and tiny hooks just won’t suffice any more. At last season’s party we were delighted by the arrival on the river of our Honorary President, Bernard Venables, accompanied by Mark ‘Minder’ Williams. Though Avon gudgeon are not caught in the same numbers as ordinary gudgeon, there is a good chance that everyone will at least make contact with a fish. Yet it was still a couple of hours before the first specimen was hooked. Bernard had missed a good bite and Andy Orme had landed a chub. Mitch ‘Demus’ Canning had just moved into the tail of the pool I was fishing when his rod curved over. I grabbed my net and ran down the bank as he expertly guided a glorious gudgeon towards him. Then he got another one with his next cast.

These Avon gudgeons are not silver with blue and purple flecks, but bright gold. Furthermore, they weigh, on average, seventy times more than ordinary gudgeon. At first glance there is a strong resemblance to another famous Avon fish, but then gudgeon and barbel always did have a very similar shape…

FEBRUA RY 8, 2011

26/1/11 12:08:22

CHRIS YATES

Perch

PERCH FROM

A screeching reel, a hooped rod and a furious bristling monster...

“The float bobbed and darted into the depths”

T

hirty years ago the perch was a great favourite with me, as it was with most fisherboys of that time. In the 1950s and 1960s it was much more widespread than it is now. Every pond and stream held its quota and, as well as hundreds of small fish, there were plenty of bigger specimens. Though fish over 3 lb were never common, a two-pounder was always a possibility.

A boy could net 40 at break of day with the sure knowledge that his float would soon be bobbing under and a boldly striped, spike backed fish would be sparkling on the end of his line.

I have several special perch waters; some were ponds and some were rivers and my favourite time for fishing them

Above: My own secret pool, where the world would never intrude...

Top Tip

Big perch are the biggest fish of all

all was in October. The wonderful warm tones of autumn perfectly matched the brilliant colours of the perch, with its yellow flank giving way to russet along the back and the vivid red of the fins and tail. To see a big perch swirling on the surface amid the colourful mosaic of floating leaves was one of the highlights of any fishing season.

One memorable pond I fished was small, only an acre, but deep. I discovered it by accident one day when I was following a badger track that led me between old oaks and under stunted birch straight to the bankside.

It was a lovely surprise; a dark, tree-shrouded pool that looked as if it had lain forgotten and neglected for over a century. What great fish lurked in those depths? What splendid

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

012-13 Perch From Past Feb 8.indd 12

adventures a boy could have there!

For a long time I stared into the dark water, but there was no sign of life although I sensed it. I couldn’t guess what kind of fish might be down there, but I vaguely felt them stirring, like a distant memory that would not quite come into focus. The only thing to do was to get a rod and cast in.

A short while later I was back again with a little eight-foot cane road, a centrepin reel loaded with 4lb line and a school satchel crammed with two tins of bait (worms and maggots) and every item of tackle I possessed; four floats, a tin of shot, a packet of hooks (size 12), a Little Samson spring balance and a lucky marble (I know a marble is not classifiable as an item of tackle, but I could never catch any fish unless I had my lucky marble with me!).

12 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:09:40

t

Next page Mr Crabtree

THE PAST

No perch in adult life gave me the thrill of my first ‘proper’ fish of boyhood.

WHAT THE STARS SAY ABOUT CHRIS...

this, says Chris Yates, is the stuff of dreams

➽ Go Fishing star John Wilson “Chris is without doubt the most inspirational and evocative writer of his generation.

He’s done a lot for angling in many ways with his articles and television programmes and, of course, when he caught the record carp.”

➽ Carp historian Chris Ball

I found a convenient gap in the bankside trees and after tossing in a handful of maggots, cast out, using my favourite red float. There was an electrifying passage of time, in which nothing happened and yet anything could have happened. Then the float bobbed once, twice and darted amazingly into the depths. I paused a moment and struck.

Up to the surface came a bright little perch about four inches long. The next cast produced the same result and by the end of the day I must have caught over 20, with the biggest weighing a spectacular four ounces.

I counted it all a wonderful success.

It was terrific to have found my own secret pool where the fishing could probably always be relied upon and the world, in the shape of bullies with

powerful catapults and matchmen with depth-charging groundbait, would never intrude. But it was some time before I caught a really good fish there.

One autumn afternoon, as I was bringing up an average sized tiddler from the depths, I saw the incredible sight of a monster perch rising into view and engulfing my fish. For a moment I stood, transfixed by the apparition. Then the rod curved over, the reel screeched and the big perch swept majestically out across the pond.

Luck was with me. Not only did the line stay intact, the hook point stayed miraculously fixed outside the tiddler’s mouth and inside the monster’s.

I somehow managed to land them both and the little one was unscathed.

The big one looked tremendous after

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

012-13 Perch From Past Feb 8.indd 13

all the four- and five-inch specimens I’d been catching. It weighed a respectable (and to me unbelievable) 1lb 12oz on my spring balance.

I told three friends about my success and, after a moment’s hesitation, I decided to lead them to my angler’s haven. One of my pals had some real perch spinners and, using a little golden spoon, he caught a fabulous creature of just two pounds.

I caught another cannibal of a pound and a half, then one of the others hooked a huge fish on a worm and we all thought it was going to be a record perch. But it was even better than that; it was a carp of over six pounds. In all the world, we had never seen the like of it before and thought we would probably never see the like of it again.

Little did we know…

“I’ve been friends with Chris since the early 1970s when he was clearly barmy about carp and fishing for them. His slightly unorthodox approach to fishing in both attitude and the tackle he uses sets him apart from most. His brilliant camera work, plus his mighty pen has, over the years, assured his status as one of the modern greats of the sport.”

13 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 15:02:47

CHRIS YATES

Crabtree

MR CRABTREE

GOES GRAYLING FISHING! Chris Yates enjoys a day out fishing for grayling with angling legend Bernard Venables – the man who brought the Mr Crabtree cartoon series to a generation of budding anglers

I

t had been raining for a week and I began to think that my grayling trip with Bernard Venables might have to be cancelled. I actually like fishing in the rain in summer, but a wet day in winter can seriously damage my equilibrium – and I’m forty years younger than Bernard.

Bernard wasn’t so worried about the rain; what drives him mad is a cold wind. “My old bones start to complain”, he said. Yet this might give you the false impression that Bernard, at 87, is now a fair-weather angler with a delicate constitution.

Such is his eternal enthusiasm for fishing, though, that he’ll brave almost any conditions, cross flooded ditches, perch on precarious bits of bank and even put up with me as his gillie. Also, he nearly always catches a good fish.

Can you think of anyone else approaching 90 who has Bernard’s stamina, spirit and determination? He really is a wonderful example to us all.

My anxieties about the weather were all unfounded, however. The morning broke clear and calm and the sun looked like it would shine on us till teatime. We met on a bridge that spans the Rive Wylie, one of the best grayling streams in the country, and the water looked perfect, despite all the rain.

Bernard had a sparkle in his eyes as he drew a favourite old grayling float from his pocket. Looking at it, he said: “I just need to see this dip under the surface once, and I’ll be even happier than I am now.”

Bernard’s great friend Mark Williams would be fishing with us and our host and guide was a wonderful angler called Tony Hayter. That stretch of river was really an exclusive trout

Bernard, the grand old man of angling, net at the ready and ever-game.

Top Tip

Grayling bites demand a rapid strike

fishery but Tony had pulled a few strings to give us the freedom of the stream for the entire day. Wonderful!

We walked down to a little weir where Tony said there was always a resident shoal of grayling. The white water fanned out across a smooth fast glide and formed two slow back eddies. Crossing a little iron footbridge, it was decided Bernard would fish the far bank, while Mark would concentrate on the near bank.

“Let your floats come round in the eddy,” said Tony. “That’s where the grayling usually lie.”

Watching, it was decided Bernard’s float turning in the back flow was like seeing one of his pictures in ‘Mr Crabtree’ coming magically to life. On about the third circuit, with just a few

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

014-015 AT Crabtree Feb 8.indd 14

free maggots tossed in as an attractor, the orange tip darted under. “Lovely!” said Bernard, even though he missed on the strike.

He recast and let the float drift back into the eddy. Meanwhile Mark, on the other bank, hooked and landed the first grayling of the day – a bright silver specimen of about half-a-pound.

Bernard’s float ducked again and this time he responded just a split second faster. His slender cane rod arched over and we saw a silver flash deep down in the blue water. Grayling fight tenaciously and their dogged refusal to rise up from the riverbed always reminds me of barbel. The fish was about 12oz; a perfect start.

I was kept too busy with the landing net to have time to tackle up myself

14 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:14:40

Next page Interview

“Bernard’s cane rod arched over and we saw a silver flash”

and by the time the fish stopped feeding it was time to feed ourselves.

Bernard and Mark reeled in and we walked back across the fields towards a distant pub, there to partake of a traditional angler’s lunch; beer, cheese and pickle rolls and enough fishing stories to flood the entire building.

Afterwards, Tony led us to a quieter and even more attractive stretch where the river twisted and turned through strands of willow and alder and where there were fast shallow runs and sudden, exciting deep pools.

We found another perfect place for Bernard, a large eddy, where he could happily sit and watch his float circling all afternoon. Mark discovered an attractive, deep, underbank run and Tony said he was off to fish a favourite pike hole with a legered sprat. I tackled up with my old Allcock Lucky Strike, a brand new Witcher centrepin, a stumpy fluted float and a size 14 hook to 3lb line. I fished the fast shallow run above Bernard’s eddy and hooked a

fast shallow trout on my first cast.

Luckily it got off. Bernard then hooked a beautiful grayling of 1½lb and we all stopped fishing for a moment to admire it. Though very complimentary, Tony said there were fish twice as big all though the river and one of us might just be lucky enough to catch one.

Full of optimism (but then I’m always full of optimism) I went back up to my swim and caught a grayling on my next cast. It wasn’t quite four inches long! But a few minutes later the red tip of my float zipped smartly under and the reel began to revolve as a much bigger grayling fled downstream in the fast current. The old cane flexed gloriously as I eased the fish round into the quieter water under the bank. It was about the same size as Bernard’s last.

After another brace apiece, Tony came upstream to say he’d lost a biggish pike and landed a seven-pounder, but before he could

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

014-015 AT Crabtree Feb 8.indd 15

Grayling are as beautiful as they are feisty – a worthy adversary.

cast again he would have to have a cup of tea. We all reeled in and set up a makeshift table in Bernard’s swim, with sandwiches, fruitcake and three flasks, though unfortunately I’d forgotten the Kelly kettle and we couldn’t boil up a fresh brew. The sun went behind a nearby wood, but the air was so still and calm that we hardly felt the slight drop in temperature.

It was a beautiful clear winter evening, with the first star visible almost as soon as the sun had set and the river shining luminously as it threaded between the darkening fields.

We reeled in for the last time, each of us very content with our day.

Though we hadn’t landed any of the giant grayling we’d enjoyed some marvellous fishing on a very pretty chalkstream. And I’m pleased to say that Bernard caught far more fish than anyone else, though he would have been just as content and happy had he caught nothing at all.

15 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:16:14

CHRIS YATES

Interview

“ALL I WANT TO D Former carp record-holder, author, photographer and key member of the team that made the greatest fishing show ever... Chris Yates is one of the sport’s biggest characters. He was interviewed by Steve Partner in 2004

W

ITH a gentle flick of the wrist the bait flew through the air and landed upstream with an almost indiscernible splash. Immediately the flow picked it up and the dog biscuit bobbed and dived like a tiny fishing boat caught in the midst of a storm at sea as it fought to stay afloat in the turbulent water of the weir pool.

Beneath the surface a chub immediately moved in…but instinct took over and it backed off, as a cat reels at the sight of a dog.

The angler tightened his grip on the rod, focused his eyes even more intently and continued to pay out line from the centrepin. Only seconds stood between success and the frustration of another recast.

Without warning, the biscuit disappeared from view amid a big swirl and Chris Yates let out a yelp of delight as his split cane rod arced over and signalled that, at last, a fish was on.

From the opposite bank, Hugh Miles remained unmoved as his camera continued to roll, capturing every second of the drama.

Over the next couple of minutes Chris carefully brought the fish to the waiting net, unhooked it, displayed his prize and then gently slipped it back into the white water of the weir pool.

Only with these manoeuvres complete did the pair shake hands and relax. Another successful day’s filming was complete.

Ever since ‘A Passion for Angling’ became fishing’s modern-day cultural icon, the sport has been anxious for more of the same. And although the latest collaboration between Yates and Miles, two of the successful trio who were responsible for ‘Passion’, is not a remake, it will be

Chris Yates in familiar pose – cradling a big fish. This 5lb-plus chub was caught from Carthagena Weir.

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

016-019 AT Interview Feb 8.indd 16

16 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:19:05

Next page Interview continued

O DO IS FISH”

WHAT THE STARS SAY ABOUT CHRIS...

➽ Jon Ward Allen of Medlar Press “He certainly ranks alongside the great angling writers of the 20th Century – I would put him right up there. He’s a real enigma as a character too – very charming and charismatic - and he’s very good on radio or television.

He can turn his hand to most things, but it’s his writing that is exceptional and will stand the test of time.”

A sunny day on the Lea and Chris targets chub with a cane rod.

eagerly anticipated all the same.

The first part of ‘Caught in Time: The Diaries of Chris Yates’ has been completed, and ‘Summer Days’, which followed Chris in pursuit of carp, was well received. So well, in fact, that the pair are making more – including this latest footage here at Carthagena Weir, on the River Lea. They haven’t quite decided on how many but, as I quickly discovered, Hugh and Chris are not men to let such minutiae bother them. They’re too busy enjoying themselves.

“We’ll let the fish decide how many we’ll do. ‘Caught in Time’ is about two friends who go fishing together. One fishes and one films and we just see what happens,” said Chris.

“This is different to anything we’ve done before. It’s more relaxed, more leisurely. It’s more improvised, and we’re letting the story invent itself.

Hugh and I never wanted it to be a remake of ‘A Passion’, we want it to

➽ Tackle boss Peter Drennan

“The feeling of catching a fish, or just going fishing, remains childishly intense” carry an air of mystery.”

Chris Yates is 63 years old now, but he retains the same boyish enthusiasm for fishing that gripped him the moment he first saw a carp half a century ago. In the meantime he has taken a British record, been described as ‘the best angling writer of his generation’ and starred in perhaps the most influential fishing show of all time. He’s also been portrayed as

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

016-019 AT Interview Feb 8.indd 17

something of an eccentric – walking the banks with his ancient creel, split cane rods and antique centrepins, shunning more modern-day inventions like bivvies and bite alarms. He stands as a one-man reminder of a different, bygone era.

“It was 50 years ago since I saw my first carp and I’m just as keen now as I was then. The feeling of catching a fish, or just going fishing, remains childishly intense.

“There have been times when I’ve been sidetracked, when I was a teenager and discovered girls and learned to drive, but I would always come back to the lakeside and it felt nice to be home. It’s where I’m most comfortable.

“When I look back, it’s the one constant current that has run through my life and it’s still very strong. I took Bernard Venables pike fishing on his 90th birthday and I hope I’ll be able to do the same.”

“I’ve known Chris for 30 years and he is a delightful, sophisticated English eccentric. He still catches a lot of fish and this is down to his excellent water craft.

His choice of location is always very good, which makes up for some of his old-school tackle!”

Image

17 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:20:50

CHRIS YATES

Interview continued basic, very simple,” he said. “People try and complicate it, but essentially it’s the most basic and traditional of all pastimes – something that links us to the past. It brings us close to nature at a time when we’re in danger of losing our grip on what really matters.

“Fishing is so natural, so simple, so beautiful, but sometimes that concept tends to get lost.”

The popular perception of Chris Yates is that of an eccentric odd-ball.

He is viewed by many as someone who has failed to keep up with angling’s rapid evolution, and while many offer a patronising smile at his quaint, almost antiquated, ways, they’re also careful not to mimic his methods.

But Chris doesn’t care. He carves his own furrow, careful to use the childlike enthusiasm that first gripped him half a century ago to maintain a perspective. What most of us have lost in the quest to catch more, catch bigger, catch quicker, he retains and wears with pride. In many ways, he is a child…and he admits it, too.

“Fishing is a fuel you can’t burn out,

Wearing a big floppy hat and sunglasses to shield his eyes from the summer sunshine, Chris Yates is a distinctive, instantly recognisable figure. He’s taller than I imagined, well over six feet, and his shirt and cords hang, rather than fit, on his thin frame.

His beard, once long and shaggy, is clipped short, with grey now beating brown as the dominant colour. He might be well into middle age, but Chris shows no signs of slowing up.

As well as the new series with Hugh, he’s currently working on a Radio 4 show on the disappearance of the burbot, acting as tea correspondent for ‘The Idler’ magazine (I discovered by the end of the day that Chris is an absolute tea connoisseur), and he’s also been approached to write another book – part barbel-based and part autobiographical.

But all this is work. And to Chris Yates, work is merely something that gets in the way of fishing. He’d much rather talk about the sport that he loves.

“I’ve always said that fishing is very

Above: As well as being an expert angler, Chris is adept at making tea!

“I got out just when carping was becoming too serious and I found a new world, a barbel world…”

Top Tip

How you fish counts for more than tackle

Chris in action on the River Lea at Carthagena Weir.

THE ROAD TO SUCCESS

1948

Born in 1948, Chris Yates was brought up fishing his local village ponds in Hindhead, Surrey. He moved to Wiltshire in the early 1980s to be close to the barbel fishing on the Hampshire Avon.

After becoming obsessed with carp as a youngster, he managed to get on to the famous Redmire Pool in 1972 and walk in the footsteps of his hero, Dick Walker.

1980

Chris entered the history books in 1980 when he broke Britain’s carp record with a 51lb 8oz fish. That year he was voted ‘Angling Times Angler of the Year’.

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

016-019 AT Interview Feb 8.indd 18

18 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:21:51

Next page Favourite things - barbel

Easy does it: Chris with his nice simple rig.

1989

Having left serious carping, he moved to barbel fishing.

Already a successful photographer, he switched to books – and ‘Casting at the Sun’ was published in 1989. He has written seven books.

a permanent flame that will never die,” he said. “I still get excited even if I’m just thinking about going fishing.

“I honestly don’t care if a carp is only 10lb, or a tench only 3lb. They are still great fish to be enjoyed and appreciated.”

Today, he looks out on the fishing world and doesn’t much like what he sees. Carp fishing, which dominated his life for nearly 30 years, has changed beyond recognition…and not for the better.

“The modern big-fish scene depresses me. I simply have never been able to understand why people fish for named fish. It seems ridiculous.

“Carp fishing is becoming like match fishing, and barbel fishing isn’t far behind either. The only thing that will save it from joining the rat race – and that’s what carping has become – is the wild, uncertain venues the fish live in.

“Carp fishing has lost its innocence.”

He also believes youngsters have it too easy and lack appreciation, that commerical carp pools are starving anglers of variety, and that fishing has become too organised. “There’s no spontaneity,” he argued.

His status within angling is, of course, assured, and his opinions therefore carry the weight of authority.

Alongside ‘A Passion For Angling’, he caught Britain’s first-ever 50 lb-plus carp from Redmire Pool in 1980.

“It was never an ambition of mine but the bizarre thing is I knew, when I woke up that morning, that I was going to break the record.

It was an absurd feeling, almost laughable.”

It proved to be the pinnacle of a 30-year obsession with the

1993

In the same year he began working with wildlife cameraman Hugh Miles and Bob James to create the now legendary ‘A Passion for Angling’. Four years in the making, it was first screened on BBC2 in 1993.

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

016-019 AT Interview Feb 8.indd 19

DID YOU KNOW? Chris boils water in a Kelly kettle, a ‘go-anywhere’ piece of kit that is fuelled by just a few twigs and a crumpled sheet of newspaper. No gas bottle needed to get a brew on!

species, and the next season he ‘discovered’ barbel.

“I got out just when carping was becoming too serious and I found a new world, a barbel world, and ended up moving west to be near the Avon.”

Following literary success with ‘Casting at the Sun’ came ‘A Passion for Angling’ and his place in the sport’s history was cemented.

“Hugh had this mad idea rumbling around his head about making a fishing programme, and I managed to put him off between 1987 to 1989 because I thought it would be too serious a venture,” said Chris.

Eventually, mutual friend Bob James got the pair together and the trio embarked on a four-year journey that was to take them to the hearts of the angling public.

“I’m very happy that so many people have written or spoken to me to tell me how much they enjoyed it.

What I’m particularly proud of is that it helped non-anglers, the wives and the girlfriends, to understand why we do what we do.”

Whether ‘Caught in Time’ goes on to emulate the success of its predecessor remains to be seen, but you get the feeling that anything Hugh and Chris touch is likely to turn to gold.

“Let’s hope so,” he said. “But more than that, I just want people to come along for the ride and share the adventure.”

2011

With ‘Caught in Time’ a work in progress, Chris is currently working on a show for BBC Radio 4 about burbot. It’s due out in the autumn. He’s also putting together a non-angling book.

19 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:22:39

CHRIS YATES WHAT THE STARS SAY ABOUT CHRIS...

➽ Film maker Hugh Miles “I first met Chris when we were talking about doing A Passion For Angling in the 1980s. I remember Chris and Bob going to a carp show so they could bid in the auction for the first week of the season at Redmire for filming that episode – it ended up costing them £2,000 because a wealthy builder wanted it as well!

Barbel

FAVOURITE THINGS

In an article penned in the 1990s, when Bernard Venables was still hale and hearty, Chris and friends talk tackle and favourite fish

Whenever Chris goes fishing he expects to catch a record, and that’s a wonderful attitude to have, but it’s his instinct that ensures he nearly always catches a good fish. It’s a great joy going fishing with him and Image he loves my Image wife’s cake, so we always have a lot of fun.”

Barbel have taken over from carp as Chris’s first love.

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

020-021 AT Barbel Feb 8.indd 20

20 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:25:13

Next page Xxxxxxxxxxxx

S

EVEN of us were walking across the fields to the river, the Hampshire Avon, all but one of us a member of the Golden Scale Club.

There was our new president Bernard Venables, Nigel Parker Haywood, Shaun ‘Alonso’ Linsley, Mick ‘Demus’ Canning, Bob ‘Breeks’ James and me.

The odd man out was Merlin Unwin, who had just formed his own angling publishing company. We had met for lunch at a local pub and were now eager to get to the river, each of us inspired by the various splendid fishing stories that had been aired. We were hoping for a barbel and confident of some chub, though to be honest we did not really care whether we caught anything or not.

The weather was mild and fine, the beer had been excellent, the food satisfying and the company – as far as I was concerned – simply wonderful; so it was going to be a day for serious talking and very casual fishing. And as the general mood was, to say the least, congenial, this ‘serious talk’ would be mostly about those aspects of fishing we all liked best.

The main topic of conversation was Favourite Things.

Naturally, we discussed tackle, Bernard had brought his favourite

As far as Chris is concerned, split cane rods are still king.

“Lately Bob had been seen using rods of suspiciously unnatural material” barbel rod, a very fine Milward’s Swimversa; eleven foot, split cane and 40 years old. Shaun’s favourite was the classic Hardy Wallis Avon; it was 11 feet long but it had a whole cane butt joint for extra stiffness, and split cane middle and top. Shaun’s rod is the Stradivarius of barbel rods and, like Bernard’s, it must be 40 years old, but is still in perfect condition – how many of today’s carbon rods will still be around and in action in the year 2030?

Both Mick and Nigel were going to use Richard Walker Mk IV’s which, at 10 feet, I think are a little short for general barbel fishing – but this is not what Mick and Nigel think. Bob had not brought any tackle at all and was only there to enjoy the company.

It was probably just as well. The

Far right: Centrepin reel, split cane rod – and a barbel.

Perfection!

Golden Scale Club is riddled with split cane enthusiasts and, just lately, Bob had been seen using rods constructed of suspiciously unnatural material. He might have incurred the wrath of the purists had he decided to bring these monstrosities with him.

Merlin had a nice old 11-footer made

by Edgar Sealey. However, though straight, it looked as if it had been used for cleaning chimneys or maybe beating a cat. My own favourite barbel rod is not by any means an antique. It was made only last year by a masterful rod builder; Edward Barder, of North End, near Newbury. It is 11 feet nine inches long, two-piece with detachable butt, and has a fantastic action, being not only extremely sensitive but also surprisingly powerful.

You can detect the most feeble bites yet also control a big barbel in a fast current. Such was the success of this rod (I christened it with a 10-pounder and then caught a dozen averaging 8½lb with the best going over 11lb – my biggest-ever barbel!) that Edward began marketing it, and it is now his best seller. It is called the Barbus Maximus. Needless to say, Edward Barder has now been adopted as club rod builder. (A carbon user waggled a Barbus Maximus the other day and said, “But it’s so heavy!” I merely replied that carbon rods lead to feeble forearms).

Everyone was naturally going to use centrepins. Bernard’s was a Speedia, one of the best centrepins every made, but I think the Allcock Aerial was the

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

020-021 AT Barbel Feb 8.indd 21

best and it is certainly my favourite.

For barbel fishing, the four-inch diameter wide drum version is the most practical and three of us would be using that type.

The ‘Wallis cast’, direct from the reel with no fiddling loops, is much easier to execute with a wide drum and, when perfected, it is the most accurate and subtle cast in the whole of angling, especially when you are light legering.

My casting is by no means perfect, but, with my Aerial, it is good enough and there is nowhere on a river like the

21 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:25:50

CHRIS YATES

Barbel

DID YOU KNOW?

Chris’s favourite reel, the Aerial, was inspired by a spoked bicycle wheel.

The first ‘Coxon’ Aerials were wooden-backed, with horn handles – true works of art, yet practical.

A minimum of tackle gives the river angler freedom to roam.

Hampshire Avon that would be too far for me to reach. And the beauty of the centrepin, apart from the delicate casts, lies in its superior fish-playing ability. You are not winding through a cluster of gears; you have direct contact and that gives you a wonderful feeling of total control.

My own Aerial is 69 years old, which made it the oldest item of tackle on the river that day – Bernard would have been in his twenties when it was made!

Now in his eighties, he is still wonderfully keen and enthusiastic about almost all forms of angling.

Moreover, he is still amazingly fit. We were all marching across the fields at a fairly brisk pace, crossing stiles and gates and fences, and Bernard didn’t falter once. And when we reached the swim I wanted him to fish and we saw the dark shapes of the big resident barbel, he had his tackle set up within seconds. Obviously, a lifetime’s pursuit of his favourite things has been very good for him. Let us hope it’s the same for the rest of us when we reach eighty!

Barbel have always been a favourite of Bernard’s, but he had not been fishing for them for years. Brown trout are now his main quarry, with tench following close behind. Everyone has a favourite species, though these change

“It is always magical to go down to a beautiful river, to breathe its atmosphere”

Top Tip

Keep things as simple as you can!

from time to time. My own all-time favourite is the carp, though this fish was eclipsed for 10 years by the barbel and they are now rated about equal.

Mind you, gudgeon have always outshone the rest.

Mick will always have barbel in his blood – in fact he is even beginning to look like a barbel. He loves the character of the fish and the beautiful river – the Avon – which has become its kingdom. Shaun feels the same way, though I think the carp will always remain his favourite.

Bob, the all-rounder, likes all freshwater fish, with the exception of rainbow trout, which he regards as a waste of space. (Bernard calls rainbow trout ‘vermin’). Roach, carp and barbel are Bob’s favourites. Merlin’s favourite is the brownie and Nigel prefers grey mullet to anything else, which points to a severe lack of piscatorial judgement. After all, as well as living

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

020-021 AT Barbel Feb 8.indd 22

half their time in the sea, mullet do not possess those necessary golden scales.

There was one thing we all agreed upon; fishing in the nineties was becoming too complicated and too weighed down with all kinds of unnecessary gadgets and accessories and rigs and exotic baits. We all preferred the simple, uncluttered approach: a rod, reel and net, a tin of bait, a few floats and a pocketful of hooks and weights.

Keeping things simple, you are then more free to enjoy the really important qualities in fishing – the essential magic of it. And it is always magical to go down to a beautiful river, to breathe its atmosphere, to cast into its waters and summon up wonderful magnificent creations of nature.

Of course, you often catch nothing at all, but the magic is always there, for even if you fail to catch, you never fail to dream.

As well as talking, we did plenty of dreaming, but then, as the sun set and he fish began to feed in earnest, we stopped dreaming and began to fish more purposefully.

The river’s magic became ours and we finished the day with glorious Caption here barbel and chub and,xxxxxxxxxxxx of course, another improbable tale about the one xxxxxxxxxxxx that got away.

22 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:26:44

CHRIS YATES

Next page Sea fishing

Martin Bowler

Sweaty old maggots in a tin brought Chris some fine crucians – Martin struggled.

IT’S ALWAYS FUN Martin Bowler has spent more hours than most on the bank with Chris.

Here he gives his account of why he reckons the man is a living legend

H

e never taught me how to catch any fish but he taught me how to enjoy fishing.

I think that’s really important, although he’s more likely to turn up with a fruit cake than a secret bait. It’s all about fun for him and that’s what angling should be.

Chris just loves being there and going on the adventure and that’s why I really cherish the trips I’ve been on with him, even when he thrashes me at crucian fishing! He slaughtered me on that day (as seen in Catching The Impossible) – I can’t explain what happened. He was fishing with a shark float, basically, well, it was a porcupine quill, and I had a dotted-down pole flost. Chris was using some sweaty old maggots in a tin box for baiot and I don’t think I caught one while he had fish after fish.

The unique Yates doorbell arrangement.

And I’ll always remember the perch fishing trip we went on because he almost smashed my teeth out with his Frisbee (Chris is well-known for playing bankside Frisbee between

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

023 AT Bowler Feb 8.indd 23

wetting a rod and line). He decided we were playing and threw it at me but only shouted at the last minute – when I looked up it smacked me right in the chops and knocked me over. That was quite memorable, being floored by Chris Yates.

I remember when we were filming Catching The Impossible over at Linear I got him to sleep in a bivvy. He said it was an abomination but he still slept in it! And when I first had to go to his house, he just gave me the name of the village and said that I’d know where his house was when I got to it. As I drove down the road I saw a welly on the end of a big bamboo pole sticking out of a bush, and there was a cut-out fish on a piece of string in place of a doorbell.

It went up along his house, into his bedroom and on to a bite alarm. You pull the fish and the alarm goes off – that’s the only thing Chris will use a bite alarm for.

23 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:27:58

CHRIS YATES

Extract

THE MAGIC OF THE SEA In an extract from his latest book ‘Out Of The Blue’ Chris reveals how a wily sea bass makes his day

A

s I was working my way round a big rock, I stepped on a flat stone level with the water and disturbed some weird sea thing that had been sitting on it. It spluttered across the surface for a few yards, all black and spiky, until I realised it was only a poor bedraggled pigeon. I realised too what had happened to it. This is a dangerous place for pigeons, or for any other medium-sized avian, because the peregrines live here. The waterlogged bird had obviously been zapped by the predator, but had escaped and found shelter under a rock – until I came stumbling along.

However, it would have had to make a move soon because of the incoming

tide, so I can’t feel too guilty about what happened. The pigeon managed to get itself airborne, flapping with half skeletal wings in a low curve that took it round under the cliffs. A fatal mistake. As I watched, something blurred down from above, there was an audible thud, and the peregrine threw the well salted pigeon onto the shingle. It was only forty yards away, and I watched though binoculars as the raptor – a magnificent looking male – tucked into a late lunch. I’m obviously quite familiar to him – the strange humanoid waving a stick – and he didn’t seem to mind me watching.

I am now having my lunch, though, by the angle of the sun, it must now be mid-afternoon. Another three hours, then, before the moon begins to shine again. Maybe that will be the time.

Top Tip

Dawn raids often produce big bass!

“It swerved to my left, rose and exploded the reflected dazzle”

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

024-025 AT Sea Story Feb 8.indd 24

24 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:30:31

Next page Finding Paradise The conditions being so good, it seemed incredible that throughout the long and lovely day I didn’t tempt a fish to even look at the lure. I came in last night slightly perplexed yet not disappointed. And anyway that was yesterday – today is my last day and, as soon as I saw the sea, I thought my chances might have improved, but this morning the water had more energy about it, more sparkle, and there was a new breeze blowing from the south-east.

I got down to the shore early, just after the ebb; but if the tide was low, the sun was already quite high by the time I made my first cast. I wasn’t however in the usual hurry to start fishing, and walked slowly along the beach, enjoying the glittering look of the sea yet also annoyed that I’d left my sunglasses back at the cottage.

The plug was still on the line after yesterday and I fished it round the near edge of Atlantis for twenty minutes before suddenly deciding to change lures. I sat down on a big rock, snipped off the plug and tied on a medium-sized silver and amber spoon.

For some unaccountable reason I tied a blood knot rather than the normal Palomar, even though I told myself I was using braided line and should be knot careful. Climbing down the boulder onto the flat, barnacleencrusted stone where the pigeon had been hiding. I began casting into the flooding lagoon.

It didn’t seem so exciting using a sunken lure – I much prefer to see a plug splashing across the surface – yet I felt more confident, and I reminded myself that most of the Atlantis summer fish had fallen for the spoon, though a slightly smaller-sized version. On the fifth or sixth cast I aimed the lure more to my right. It landed with a splosh, fiftyish yards away, and I let it sink a split second longer than before (too long and I would have been down amongst the rocks). I began the retrieve and almost instantly felt something bang the line taut. The rod tip quivered and I though I’d hooked nothing more than a whizzy mackerel, but then there was a deeper, more sustained pull and the rod’s curve remained fixed.

Oh yes, I thought, this is a bass!

Though another thought said it might be a pollock, to which the optimist replied that no, this fish was moving too fast to be a pollack. Then I spoiled the whole debate by remembering that, as well as leaving my sunglasses at the cottage, I’d also forgotten the net. But I was on a flat rock at water level and guessed I could manage – if all went well.

I slowly regained line, and the fish came round, still on my right. It turned suddenly making a terrific dive away and, mindful of the knot situation, I allowed it to take line quite freely.

Grudgingly it came back, drawing closer now, surely almost in view. It plunged again and I felt a nasty grating

Chris fishing a favourite South coast bass mark.

round a sunken rock. For a terrible moment everything was solid. But the line was strong, and extra pressure, with the rod held high, eased the fish free. It swerved to my left, rose and exploded the reflected dazzle. I leaned right, steering the fish away from the glare until it materialised beautifully just under the surface – a solidly real but still not yet attainable bass, green and silver, showing the criss-cross of scales on its broad back as it turned again. The tail-swipe when it powered away seemed quite loud and sent up a shower of spray.

I piloted it round the edge of my rock and, after skipping across a smaller semi-submerged boulder, managed to draw it into a narrow inlet.

Crouching down, I got a first grip with finger and thumb round the lower jaw and lifted the fish gently out, carrying it over to a sheltered rock pool where I let it recover for a moment. It was a lovely creature: twenty-six inches long, quite deep-bodied yet perfectly symmetrical, with gold, mauve and blue merging with the more utilitarian colours.

The fins flared, it turned its armoured-looking head towards me, and I had to apologise for the fact that it was now time to be weighed – in a bag. The scales read six pounds, twelve ounces, and, though that made the bass only my second largest, I think it’s definitely my best, because it was from the shore, on the last day of a very good week.

‘Out Of The Blue’ (£14.99) is published by Hamish Hamilton.

For more information and nearest stockist details visit www.fivedials.com or email hamish@hamishhamilton.co.uk

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

024-025 AT Sea Story Feb 8.indd 25

25 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:31:36

CHRIS YATES

Tench

FINDING PARAD T

he time was late May and all the new leaves were as bright as green flames.

With my two fellow Fish Heads, Jasper and Anglepen, I pushed through the dense wood, expecting at any moment to see the blue glimmer of water showing beyond the foliage.

Our hand-drawn map showed a large, irregular shaped lake smack in the middle of this great area of wilderness – a wonderful boggy forest of birch, oak and alder. But though we seemed to have been walking for hours there was no sign of the lake.

We weren’t particularly worried, though, as we were certain the lake was close. We could smell it – that glorious sweet, almost yeasty smell of an old carp lake. And, besides the familiar scent, we knew it was a carp water because a reliable source had told us so. Not just any old carp water either. This place had hardly ever been fished and, furthermore, it contained alleged monsters.

May was always the month for exploring. It was – and still is – a time when all the best rumours and myths from the previous years are carefully sifted for signs of authenticity. Most of the real humdinger myths – the ones about record sized carp in overgrown farm ponds – were, of course, sadly fictitious, but there were other stories that had more than a grain of truth.

Wherever fishermen gather to talk there will always be a few memorable yarns about secret lakes and lost pools and a good season will sometimes see a dozen new legends added to my long list. And even if only one of these tales can actually match up to reality then it’s always worth a few days in the close season for further enquiry. Lake hunting, we call it.

We’d heard about this particular lost lake in the summer of ’85, when we’d been fishing a river down in Sussex. A rather tired looking bream angler (he’d been blanking all night) told us about a tench water he used to visit, “a big lily

covered lake, impossible to fish from the banks because of the reeds and silt. But for two pounds, the old keeper will let you use a boat for the day and – gawd! – what tench! Six and seven pounds sometimes. And once I saw a carp as big as my boat. Hooked one, too; must have been 30lb or more, but of course, I lost it in the lilies.”

“Is the old keeper still there?”

I asked.

“No,” said the bream fisher, “but he lives in a cottage not far away. He could still tell you a few good stories.”

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

026-028 AT Tench Feb 8.indd 26

“We could smell it – that glorious sweet, almost yeasty smell of an old carp lake.”

So we found the old keeper who proved the bream fisher true to his word. We were treated to a marvellous outpouring of monster stories, though ‘stories’ is misleading. ‘Epics’ would be more accurate. He was a great talker, the keeper, but he ended on a slightly pessimistic note.

Unfortunately, the whole estate had recently been sold and the keeper didn’t hold out much hope that we’d ever be able to fish there. “But,” he said, “if you went down to have a look I don’t think anyone would complain,

26 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:35:25

Next page Continued

ADISE

especially if you told them I’d sent you.”

Though we were obviously enthusiastic, there was too much fishing to do then and for the rest of that season and there wasn’t enough time to start exploring somewhere new. We would save it for the merry month of May, when you didn’t have to bother with tackle and bait and all you needed to do was watch and dream…

A few yards to my left, Jasper stopped and pointed. “There it is,” he

They came in search of tench, but found a tunnel through time and an ecstasy of leggy blondes.

Chris Yates reveals all...

“For two pounds, the old keeper will let you use a boat for the day and – gawd! – what tench!”

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

026-028 AT Tench Feb 8.indd 27

said, “I can see it.” We plunged through a last thicket of oak scrub and came upon a bristling wall of yellow flowering iris. Beyond lay a wide spread of lily-covered water looking almost exactly as we’d expected – deep, clear, with vast reedbeds forming sheltered bays and lagoons up towards the distant shallows. The air was still and the midday sun quite intense, but there were no signs of basking fish, even though we scanned the surface carefully with binoculars.

We began walking – or, rather, squelching – along the marshy shore, hoping to find a break in the reedbeds where we could, at some later, lucky date, perhaps cast a line. We headed up the lake towards the shallows, but the reeds just appeared to grow taller and denser.

A hundred yards away, we glimpsed a sudden large swirl and were convinced it was caused by a carp.

After a minute there was another substantial commotion, right up where the reedbeds appeared to converge. It looked as if a large carp was truffling in the silty, muddy bottom. But there was a deep, black, unexpected sidestream that stopped us in our splodgy tracks and it seemed we couldn’t get any closer to the disturbance.

We pushed back into the wood, following the stream until we came to a place where a dead tree had fallen across it, forming a perfect, if precarious bridge. We walked a tightrope over to the far bank, picked our way round a reed-choked quagmire and tried to get back to the lake. But there was no firm ground anywhere and we had to keep going between the trees, where we could at least use the roots as stepping stones while we searched for a proper path.

By the time we had hopped, skipped and jumped back to the water we discovered we’d somehow worked our

27 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:36:22

CHRIS YATES

Tench

An unknown lake, an angler’s gateway to Paradise.

way right to the end of the main feeder stream, way above the place where we saw the suspected carp.

Anglepen had fallen in a ditch, Jasper had filled one boot with black mud and I’d banged my head on a branch as I leapt another sidestream. (I almost knocked myself out). We’d come too far, but we couldn’t possibly turn back and so we decided to continue until we could cross the feeder stream and come round the lake on the far side.

The stream was easy to cross, for at a high wooded ridge we came upon a weird semi-ornamental grotto, an ancient man-made system of caves where the stream emerged from some subterranean source. Intrigued, we had to have a brief inspection of this fantastic creation and as we crawled into the darkness we discovered we were wrong about the stream’s source.

There was no underground spring, but something much more interesting.

We saw a bright glow ahead of us and, creeping towards it, we realised it was sunlight reflecting from the surface of another lake. We were in a tunnel that was really an overflow channel connecting the lake below with this mysterious lake above (even the keeper hadn’t mentioned it).

Emerging into bright sunshine, we staggered to our feet on a grassy dam and gazed, slightly stunned, across the water.

Was this really happening? Had we slipped through a timewarp or were we dreaming?

Perhaps we’d died in the

grotto and this was Paradise.

The upper lake was smaller than the lower one, perhaps five acres. It was more sheltered, more intimate and even more seductive, seeming to promise something more than just wondrous carp. Anglepen wandered along to the dam’s eastern end and, after a moment, I noticed he was crouching, staring intently into the water. Jasper and I realised instantly what he’d seen and crept quietly up beside him.

“Six of the best!” said Anglepen.

There was a weedbed at the corner of the dam and gently drifting around it were six beautiful looking carp, all over ten pounds with the largest perhaps twice that size. We watched them for a while, whispering our appreciations, then went back across the dam to inspect the other corner, but saw nothing.

Following a firm bankside path along the lake’s western side, ducking under willows and alders, we came to an open, treeless area which revealed a sight almost as attractive as the water itself.

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

026-028 AT Tench Feb 8.indd 28

Bordering the lake was a vast playing field with an old, stately manor house in the distance. We knew it was a playing field and we guessed the great house was now a private school because the grass was swarming with superbly athletic teenage girls, running, jumping and throwing javelins. It must have been sports day.

“Perhaps we could save the carp till later,” suggested Jasper, focusing his binoculars on a particularly long-legged blonde.

“I think we really are in Paradise,” said Anglepen, and we all admired the view at maximum magnification, like punters at the Derby Because we were staring through our binoculars we didn’t see the large Amazonian gym-mistress striding purposefully and ominously towards us from our left.

“Hey!” she suddenly shouted and we jumped. She was only 10 yards from us and we must have made a deeply suspicious sight: mud covered, dirty trespassers ogling her innocent girls. What could we say?

We didn’t say anything. The situation demanded instant disappearance and within seconds we had vanished back down the overflow tunnel like three rabbits pursued by a bloodthirsty vixen. But we couldn’t help laughing.

We trekked round the east side of the lower lake and though we still thought it was an impressive looking sheet of water, we couldn’t appreciate it quite as much as before. It wasn’t in the same class as the upper pool.

WHAT THE STARS SAY ABOUT CHRIS...

➽ Carp legend Terry Hearn “It was the record that first bought Chris to the public’s attention, it was without a doubt a beautiful fish.

A ‘fifty’ is a special carp today, but back then it was just unbelievable and a great achievement.

He had the main record - the one the carp anglers all looked up to. That fish inspired a lot of people. Plus I’ve watched A Passion For

Angling loads of times and I think it’s still the best fishing programme ever made.”

28 FEBRUA RY 8, 2011 26/1/11 12:37:29

CHRIS YATES

Next page A Passion for Angling

Redmire

THE MAGIC OF REDMIRE No-one can better describe the iconic pool near Ross-on-Wye than Chris Yates

R

Redmire today.

No longer the home of the privileged few, it is now open to all.

EDMIRE. Midsummer morning. A thin mist peels off the surface of the pool, revealing the first blush of reflected sunrise.

The overhanging willow shuts out most of the sky and will obscure the sun when, eventually, it rises over the hill opposite. Everything before me is inverted; upside-down sky, upsidedown tree line, upside-down hill.

Apart from the mist, nothing moves. The world has never been still for hours, or at least since I woke from a restless sleep, when it was still dark.

I’d been dreaming about monster carp and when I jerked awake, in a bit of a sweat, I knew I’d have to get up and try to make the dream a reality.

I crept along to this place by the willow where, for two successive dawns, big carp had been feeding.

Both times I sneaked up on them and

cast, yet they shadowed away almost as soon as I’d arrived. Now I am here, ready, before the fish. I scatter a handful of boiled field beans in front of me and cast a bait among them.

Now, I am sitting back against the willow trunk, my rod next to me, and with time enough on my hands to scribble these words in a notebook.

Time may well have stopped altogether and I could probably write 10,000 pages before breakfast!

The sun slowly appears, luminous, not dazzling. Time is still working.

Then, like a miracle after the hours of stillness, a great beast-like shape towers up through the reflections; it comes almost clean out of the water, hangs poised for a moment and crashes back again. Time to put away the pen and watch the rod…

It is now about midday. The sun is at its zenith, and there are a few fish basking at the centre of the pool. My rod and net are leaning against the willow, the net still damp, the mesh festooned with bits of flannel weed.

In my camera is, if I got the exposure right, a lovely picture of a 20lb Redmire carp. Here’s how it happened.

Not long after that first fish leapt, the surface in front of me became

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

029 AT Redmire Feb 8.indd 29

peppered with small patches of bubbles. It was obvious the carp were feeding over and probably on the bait.

Just as I was beginning to think about recasting, the line gave a little jump and the angle of it between rod-tip and water changed until it seemed almost parallel to the surface.

Before it had completely tightened I struck and there was a wonderful bulging of the reflected sunrise. Then it exploded in a column of spray.

The old reel sang like a siren, the cane went into a vicious bend, but after 20 yards the carp rolled and kited in towards my own bank. I didn’t want him doing that, so I eased off and tempted him to make a powerful surge back into more open water.

There were a couple of fraught moments, when the fish seemed immovably lodged in the aquagrowth, but each time a slight slackening of pressure got him mobile again. Then, with a series of violent but ineffective plunges, he came round in a long arc that led, in a shower of water and torn-up weed, into my ample net.

He was a broad backed, muscular and darkly golden common of just over 21lb – the perfect way to celebrate mid-summer at Redmire.

29 FEBRUA RY 8 2011 26/1/11 12:38:51

CHRIS YATES

A Passion For Angling

“MAKING ‘PASSION’ WAS THE TOUGHEST THING I’VE EVER DONE” Chris Yates on giant barbel, elusive carp and the making of the greatest fishing Hugh Miles filming Chris and Bob.

Top Tip

Classic angling films motivate!

C

hristmas 1993 stands out for me and, I suspect, many other anglers, because that’s when I first watched the now-legendary A Passion For Angling series.

The double VHS boxset was despatched back-to-back in record time and I remember being absolutely enthralled by Chris Yates and Bob James’s pursuit of huge and interesting fish, all captured masterfully on camera by Hugh Miles.

But, most of all, I remember the enormous fun they had over the six episodes; the scarecrow sequence at Redmire, perching with Mr Crabtree, Bob catching a brace of monster pike from Chris’s swim and countless other moments that brilliantly translated the joy of the sport onto film.

The series has now become firmly lodged deep into the culture and

history of the sport, to the point where Angling Times readers recently voted it their number one fishing television program of all time.

The exquisite visuals – a world away from the workman-like angling videos that came before it – owe much to Hugh Miles’ devotion to producing wildlife films of the highest quality, but without catches like Bob’s huge roach bag or the numerous other specimens that fell to the duo’s contrasting tactics, it wouldn’t have had quite the same impact on the angling world.

In retrospect, it was a perfect meeting of three different styles that was to be the making of the series.

They made it look so easy and enjoyable – you just wanted to be there with them.

But that wasn’t quite the reality of making such an epic set of programs, as Chris described when asked how he sees the seminal set of

CHR IS YATES SPECI A L

30-31 Fishing Legends Feb 8.indd 30

films almost two decades on.

“I view it now in two ways. One side of me is very glad I did it because it gave a lot of people a lot of pleasure – the other half of me wonders, if I’d known just how hard it was going to be, if I’d taken it on at all,” said Chris.

“I predicted it would take about a year to do – that’s what Hugh more or less predicted.

“It took over four-and-a-half years in the end and it did really bite into a lot of my natural fishing time and it was very hard work plus my children were young and needed me at home.

“It’s the creativity of the actual film – that’s the real challenge. Catching a big or rare fish is quite straightforward but getting those wonderful shots is the big challenge and I didn’t appreciate quite how tough it was going to be to get those shots.

“It was a labour of love in the end and I said afterwards that I’d never ever do anything like that again

30 FEBRUA RY 8 2011 26/1/11 12:40:25

sh

g

a problem with continuity.

“We thought that if we could do a whole program in a week that the rest would be easy.”

Key to the success of the series was the exploration of the angler’s perrenial big fish dream and the tale in the Monster Myths program about a carp as wide as a labrador certainly stuck in my mind. “That episode was quite difficult.” Chris responds when asked about their time on the mysterious estate lake.

“But I managed to get permission to fish on my own for a couple of days after filming. I had a lovely 26lb Common almost straight away and it was one we’d failed to even interest before when filming. Those fish were very evasive - very elusive.

“They didn’t seem to be when we first got there – we were just feeding them dog biscuits and it seemed like we could’ve caught any of them – but

“And I saw the monster. It was probably a 50-pound fish...” show ever made. By Ben Hervey-Murray because it just takes so much time – there are just too many other things in life to do!

“To recreate the atmosphere you find with a lake, to express through film the magic of fishing, you need a long time. There are a lot of very hurried and very slapdash angling videos and I feel that if you’re going to do it, do it properly and give it a lot of time, just not necessarily four years!

“But the great thing is that it was worth it in the end. It was 21 years ago this year that we started filming and it’s still being shown on virtually a daily basis which is quite a good reflection of the quality of the film making. It’s stood the test of time.

With such a long shooting schedule, he also admits to a few low points: “I was a bit disappointed that whenever I caught a barbel, I’d always have gone down on my own to start fishing before the camera started rolling and I always caught the barbel when the

cameras weren’t on. I very often regretted that I just couldn’t wait to start fishing!

“But I did lose a huge one – it was probably the biggest barbel I’ve ever hooked...”

But these were countered by innumerable high points, starting with the Redmire Legends episode, a sequence that was vital to the future of the project as Chris reveals: “We had a false sense of how it easy it was going to be when we went to Redmire. We’d decided to have a week there and, if that came off, we were going to make the whole series.

“Everything worked out really well there and the scarecrow worked so well. It was lovely to be able to do all those japes and stunts and to have them work and to do it all in a week. I did know Redmire really well then, it was my second home at times.

“The conditions were also perfect every single day so we did not have

Chr is Yates Speci a l

30-31 Fishing Legends Feb 8.indd 31

when Hugh had finished all his filming and gave us permission to cast, Bob won the toss and lost a fish on the first cast.

“Suddenly, they all just disappeared. There was no doubt that the one lost fish had communicated its panic to every single other fish in the lake so for maybe three or four weeks we didn’t see a fish.

“And I saw the monster, which we only saw once during filming although never actually on film.

“We never got near enough to cast for it, either. It was probably a 50-pound fish…”

Knowing that filming this epic series was such incredibly hard work only makes the trio’s achievement more impressive. It’s doubtful it will ever be bettered.

In A Passion For Angling, they have made the definitive fishing film and every person who has been fired up to fish at dawn or heartened after a slow day by one of the episodes owes them a small debt of thanks.

Episodes l Childhood Dreams Perfectly captures the simple joy of catching a first fish. l Redmire Legends The definitive episode. A joyous mix of crack-pot tactics that actually work and huge old carp from the legendary carp pool. l In Search of Salmon Chasing a torpedo-like salmon down the rapids in Scotland provides a favourite television angling moment. l Autumn Glory Extolling the virtues of river fishing at one of the most productive times of year, Chris and Bob tackle the Hampshire Avon. l Midwinter Madness Roach, chub and trout all fall to the pair’s rods on a freezing day on the River Kennet, and Chris indulges in a spot of swim poaching. l Monster Myths The duo explore a weedy estate lake that contains a carp of legendary proportions.

Who can forget the gamekeeper comparing it to his large dog in size while Chris and Bob’s eyes light up?

31 Februa ry 8 2011 26/1/11 12:41:05

COMING SOON...

FREE WITH ANGLING TIMES

DICK WALKER

IVAN MARKS OUT MARCH 15

032 AT Next Issue.indd 32

26/1/11 16:46:39