| MARK WINTLE |
| Mark Wintle, an angler for thirty-five years, is on a quest to discover and bring to you the magic of fishing. Previously heavily involved with match fishing he now fishes for the sheer fun of it. With an open and enquiring mind, each week Mark will bring to you articles on fishing different rivers, different methods and what makes rivers, and occasionally stillwaters, tick. Add to this a mixed bag of articles on catching big fish, tackle design, angling politics and a few surprises. Are you stuck in a rut fishing the same swim every week? Do you dare to try something different and see a whole new world of angling open up? Yes? Then read Mark Wintle’s regular weekly column. |
| GO FISHING AT THE NEC The EMAP organised Go Fishing event is one of the highlights of the angling year, and this year was no exception. With the show bigger and probably better than ever, many thousands of anglers had eagerly awaited this weekend. My only concern in the week leading up to the event was whether the weather would be so adverse that travel was not possible, but the snow showers kept away from the Midlands and all was fine. I travelled to the show in style with the Ringwood Fly-Tiers in a luxury 14-seater minibus (or a coach according to the jobsworth on the South car park, that meant a detour to the West car park where we didn’t get charged as a coach, but did get a long walk to the Hall). These shows have been running at least fifteen years if my memory serves me right from the days when Tom Pickering organised two shows at Sandown and Doncaster, and long may they continue.
Everyone attending has their own reason for going; some to look at specific items of tackle, others to try and buy a bargain, and yet others to meet their angling heroes or to learn techniques from the many talks. As it would take a team of twenty to fully cover every aspect of the show, I’m only going to tell you about my own highlights in what I found to be an interesting day. I had a few items of tackle in mind to take a closer look at. I also wanted to have a chat with several anglers and organisations, and as ever spend far too much money on new books. I do not intend to comment on the pole alley, the carp zone, the game section or the sea angling zone but I’m sure there was plenty to see in all of these. For those that reckon visiting this show involves leaving your brains at home I’m afraid I must disagree. One of my first ports of call was the Shakespeare stand where I was privileged, as ever, to talk to Professor Barrie Rickards. It was a pleasure to talk to Barrie about some of the problems facing angling, and book research in particular, whilst he flogged Shakespeare bivvies like hot cakes. Half of the customers thought the price must be a mistake which demonstrates what value Shakespeare deliver with their specialist equipment, something that must be at least in part due to Barrie’s long involvement as a consultant with the firm. FISHINGmagic is certainly privileged that Barrie continues to provide intelligent and thought provoking articles based on his vast experience, and long may it continue. Ian Heaps, another fine ambassador for the sport, was helping Barrie out, and was equally busy. I asked John Tomsett, managing director of Shakespeare, about their new match rods, and he extolled the virtues of their Albany range, including a power match at £ 130. In my view, these rods represent tremendous quality and value, and feel incredibly light yet powerful. Some of Shakespeare’s cheaper match rods, including the Borak range, appear fantastic value at around £ 62 – well worth a look.
Next port of call was the Shimano stand. I had hoped to talk to Jan Porter but never quite caught up with him. I did manage to take a very close look at their Stradic GTM-RA 2500 that certainly lived up to my expectations. It’s the first time I’ve seen the slow oscillation line spooling. It will be interesting to see what it’s like in practice for I certainly intend getting one of these reels. I wandered along to a busy corner where the Environment Agency, with plenty of help from others, was busy encouraging lots of children to become the anglers of the future. The EA’s Calverton fish farm had provided an aquarium full of miniature fish including three-inch barbel. Judging by the number of youngsters around there ought to be plenty of budding anglers. After putting the difficult question of why I need a different licence to fish for sea-trout from the one required for brown trout when the two forms of trout are genetically the same to the EA, it was time to find the SAA. (The EA guy looked worried at this question, especially as they didn’t know how to classify an estuarine or ‘slob’ trout). Apparently, it is possible to prove that a trout has spent time at sea but I could see a magistrate throwing their case out of court if an angler claimed that a trout is a trout is a trout! With the SAA claiming to be the intelligent voice of angling, I put my money where my mouth is and joined up on the spot; at £ 10 it’s a bargain, and there is no real excuse for any specialist angler worth his or her salt not joining. I had an interesting conversation with Tim Marks on a number of angling related issues including the thorny one of hybrids and record fish, something that the SAA certainly has a clear picture of the way forward with the use of DNA testing.
I made a flying visit to Daiwa’s stand. It is good to see them back at the show though their decision to save money by not issuing a catalogue this year left many anglers bewildered. Perhaps they should take a leaf out of Shakespeare’s book and issue a CD. For those wanting to spend lots on a top class reel then Daiwa’s range is definitely worth a good look. Their new Spectron rods look the business too. I felt sorry for Bob James and John Wilson on the Masterline stand. An endless procession of autograph hunters put paid to any chance of them ever getting to relax and chat. I still have a soft spot for Normark rods, and if Masterline ever want a review of one of their brilliant Avenger II (or Titan or Microlite) rods then I’m available to review them! Nearby, on the Pure Fishing stand, the indefatigable Roy Marlow was proving just how tough and user-friendly their Suveran Feeder rods are. The rod that I tried (11’8″/13′) lifted a kilo off the floor yet the Grip-Fit handle is reckoned one of the most comfortable in the world, and the rod is versatile enough for most forms of feeder fishing including fishing the method. Roy gives as good as he gets, and we had a lively discussion on reel fittings. This is something I intend to do a full feature on later, so I might just ask Roy for some input! Next, it was time to get down to some serious spending, but not on rods and reels. Paul Morgan of Coch-y-Bonddu Books knows a good customer when he sees one, and welcomed me with a smile. He knows that I can’t resist buying books, and today was no exception. After a chat about who’s bringing out what and the merits of a good sub-editor, he totted up a £ 100 bill that included one freebie. Paul has one of the best stocks of fishing books in the UK, and is one of the few to stock American fishing books, and always worth checking out on 01654 702837 – www.anglebooks.com. After that, it was but a five-foot walk to the Waterlog stand where Steve and Rachel were holding the fort in the absence of Chris Yates who was busy checking out sixteen-metre poles. Chris soon returned when he realised that he’d have to sell his house to afford one. He posed for a photo holding a bottle of his latest bait additive (red wine, not much left), and his new rod (built circa 1948 with several rings missing). I couldn’t quite pin him down on when a new book would be in the offing though he did tell me that ‘The Secret Carp’ had recently had a rave review in New York. Perhaps his next book will be on cane pole fishing for crappies!
After this, I wandered around all sorts of stands. Paul Morgan had earlier recommended a close look at Tony Davies-Patrick’s book ‘Globetrotter’s Quest’ that Tony was selling for £ 25. This book has the most mind-blowing angling photography around, and is well worth obtaining. www.globetrotterworld.co.uk. I had time for a quick hello to the hard-working folks on the ACA stand www.a-c-a.org for more information – just join it makes sense! As the exhibitors began to take down the stands and the crowds cleared, I happened to be passing the Pure Fishing stand. Roy Marlow was no longer surrounded by the melee but who should come along but Ivan Marks, the man whose words I eagerly awaited every Thursday when in my mid-teens (circa 1972). The opportunity to take a photo of these two together was too good to miss, and realising that they were rarely photographed together nowadays, they happily posed to round off an exhausting yet fruitful day. As you may have realised, there is so much to see that I haven’t covered a minute fraction of what was there. At times, the queues are frustrating and you need to be lucky to get to talk to some of the stars. I had hoped to speak to several other big names but either they were too busy fishing or I simply never found them; I don’t know. I’d need at least a week to see the demonstrations and talks, pole alley, the carp zone and so much more.
Did you go and what were your views on the show? How could it be better, and whom would you like to see there? Next week: ‘At The NEC Go Fishing Show’ |
