Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer are two of our most loved funny men but away from the cameras and microphones they are both passionate anglers and, along with float maker extraordinaire, Andrew Field, and Fish&Fly’s Richard Hewitt, they recently enjoyed a day on the Broadlands Estate beat of the iconic river.
The River Test at Broadlands
Starting the day in typical style with a cuppa in the fishery hut with river keeper Jon Hall the anglers were briefed for the day with grayling on trotting gear and pike on the fly the main targets. In respect of the latter Jon is no stranger to the beat’s big snappers as he netted one in excess of 30lb from the venue last winter. Paul in particular was keen to tap in on this inside information in order to net his first ever pike on the fly.
With conditions surprisingly good, between days of cold, wet and blustery conditions, Paul was indeed able to net his first ever pike on the fly – a small ‘jack’ of a couple of pounds – but the second fish he hooked was in a different league altogether and weighing in at 21lb it was a veritable beast!
It was a veritable beast too…
Bob, Andrew and Richard all enjoyed excellent sport with grayling to over 2lb and, of course, the ubiquitous trout to trotted maggot tactics, with Andrew’s magnificent floats disappearing at regular intervals!
