I started fishing at the early age of 4 years old, after constantly asking my Dad if I could go with him. My Dad eventually gave in and took me along to one of our local commercial ponds, The Oaks in Sessay. Armed with half pint maggots and a top kit, I started to catch few fish. That’s where it all started, I’d caught the fishing bug!
After a few years practising every day, fishing after school and every weekend. I became part of Helperby and Brafferton Angling Club. I fished my first Junior open match at the age of 6 years old on the river Swale. This is where I found my love for competitive match fishing.
At the age of 10 years old I entered my first Junior match on a commercial pond, Which happened to be a Browning Youth Masters Qualifier at Woodland Lakes in Thirsk. I ended up coming second overall and qualified for the big final at The Glebe and Mallory Park Fisheries in Leicester. In the final I was lucky to be backed by Lower Wharfe Angling tackle shop in Boston Spa. I managed to calm my nerves enough to catch 70lb of carp which was enough to win the Top Female in the final.
With the success of my first venture into commercial match fishing I soon became a regular in the local open matches on my local commercial fisheries and quickly gained a love for the competitive match scene. I became a member of Leeds Juniors and this gave me the chance to fish venues all over the UK and I enjoyed the local and national match scenes. After a couple of years I decided that I need to venture more onto the natural waters and became a member of Wakefield juniors where again I had the opportunity to complete local and national matches
I was lucky enough to feature in a fishing article with Darren Cox. We fished bloodworm and joker at Tunnel Barn Farm in Warwickshire. If I remember rightly it was freezing cold but we managed a good bag of carp and we made the front page too!
I also featured in a fishing challenge on Tight lines against Keith Artur. He came up north to Woodland Lakes in Thirsk. It was a typical wet northern day and It was a close call at the weigh in, Keith managed to just pip me by a few ounces (If only I hadn’t lost that roach at the net!)
It wasn’t long after that I got offered a sponsorship with Browning, and from that day I became a member of the Browning Family. This gave me the opportunity to fish Browning Team meetings. I also had the chance to fish in Browning European team meetings in Holland and Germany - What I learnt from all the Browning Team anglers was invaluable.
At the age of 16 my fishing slowed down and took a back seat. After years of dedicating myself to my fishing, I decided that it was the right time to take a break.
After realising that my Dad had got back into fishing, I decided to meet up one weekend for a pleasure session. After fishing for a couple of hours catching skimmers, I soon got that buzz of been back on the bank. It was long until the odd day pleasure fishing wasn’t enough and I ended up booking a week of fishing the loughs and rivers in Ireland, where I caught some stunning fish.
The match fishing has changed considerably in the 9 years I have been away. I am now thriving on the challenge to reach and improve on my past achievements. I am very proud that I have also recently become part of the Commercial Indication team.
