Features

A while ago I started a thread "MY WORMERY" in which there was some interest. At this time of year the worms are at it like rabbits and multiplying rapidly so I thought I would supply this as a mini article, especially as there has been a similar topic on FM recently, so the interest is still there.

What do you do when a bucket list destination - the sort of place you might visit the once - becomes an obsession?

I have on one or two occasions written about my old club waters at South Ockendon in Essex, the paradise that was lost to Thurrock Council's lack of imagination and London's need for a massive waste disposal site where the humble council-house residents wouldn't complain.

For much of the summer of 2013 the rivers had been fishing sporadically at best, and the River Severn was no exception; in an attempt to avoid low water levels, high temperatures and armadas of canoes we delayed our trip by about three weeks.

When my mate Baz and I were Seventeen we both joined a local angling club. They had no waters of their own, but went on weekly trips aboard a coach, usually venturing into the deepest wilds of Kent and occasionally travelling further afield. The spirit of the club lives with me still. I don't recollect ever meeting such an ill assorted bunch of lunatics, idiots and nutcases all assembled in the same place. Well, I did once visit someone in the local mental hospital, but when I think back, her fellow inmates didn't even come close to this lot.

Jeremy Wade, the host and star of 'River Monsters', found himself in a bit of a precarious position following the show's seventh season in 2015. Jeremy has been an extreme angler since 1982, and the 60-year-old has become an expert at locating and solving mysteries as they pertain to the world's most elusive freshwater fish. He's done it for so long and so effectively that he's almost run out of new freshwater monsters to unearth.

In April, 2003, the United States with the backing of a coalition which included Great Britain, embarked on the invasion of Iraq. You will recall that the strong possibility of that country's leader, Saddam Hussein, possessing weapons of mass destruction was the catalyst to war.

I am about to revolutionize the angling lives of many an angler, I believe: SLUGS.

... not sure this is wise - there are so many other shots we could safely use! Once more, there's a prize from Laguna Baits for the best caption.

What follows here is a letter I wrote and sent to The Thurrock Gazette a few years back. I received no reply but a recent reminder elicited a reply from a young reporter who expressed her interest in the matter - but nothing more has been heard since. I reproduce my original letter here only for general interest; I certainly don't expect it to invoke further investigation.