Wintle’s World of Angling

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.

I have previously mentioned angling artist John Searl in features but never explained exactly what art John practices. In this article, I shall explain how John came to become an angling artist, and how his art and his fishing are entwined. Let’s start at the beginning.

Artist John Searl with a 7lb 3oz chub

Short trousers and short of fish!
John was born and brought up in the East End of London, and by the age of seven had started fishing in a park lake at Wanstead, walking the four miles from home in Forest Gate.

He must have been keen for that first season of fishing, using a five-foot metal rod and tiny centre-pin, produced no fish at all. The following season he made the breakthrough on the desperately shallow and silted water when he started to catch a few small fish; tiny roach, gudgeon and perch. It was at this time that, inspired by Bernard Venable’s ‘Mr Crabtree Goes Fishing’, he began to draw pictures of fish. He also dreamed of the day when he would be able to fish for the barbel of the fantastic Royalty fishery on the Hampshire Avon.

Becoming an artist
In the years that followed, he managed to cycle to the Lea at Waltham Abbey to get his first chub and bleak, gradually gaining experience. By this time he had his first proper rod, an Edgar Sealey built cane rod and Intrepid Deluxe reel. An uncle took him to Kent to fish the Stour and Medway, and taught John how to trot a float. At the age of fourteen he got the opportunity to start at art college for one day a week with Barry Smith who conceived ‘Conan the Barbarian’, and a year later left school to spend four years at art college.

John with a chub he caught in 1969

On leaving college, John began work as office junior in 1968 at a commercial advertising studio. Finding one of the partners in the studio a keen angler, and encouraged by a spread in Angling Times on Throop, John joined forces to make the first of many trips to Christchurch, first to Throop and finally to the Royalty.

That first Throop trip demonstrated the follies of youth. Travelling down in a black Aston Martin DB5, and thinking that they were late for the 7a.m. opening, they arrived by the Throop School House (where the tickets used to be sold) in the narrow lane to Holdenhurst. To the bemusement of the other anglers queuing for tickets, they skidded to a halt way past the office then reversed at high speed. The other anglers could hardly believe their eyes as two longhaired anglers, aged just 19 and 23, got out of the car. Flash Gits!

John with a big barbel

A double-figure barbel and then down under for seven years
Like many anglers in their early twenties John was as keen as they come, fishing the Lea after work, and the Royalty at weekends. During this time, he caught many big roach, chub and barbel. He caught his first double figure barbel in 1972 at Winkton, the first of many. But all this was to change in July 1973 when he emigrated to Australia for seven years.

During this period, he only returned to England three or four times. Whilst working in Australia he began to draw and paint wildlife in his spare time, something that continued on his return to the UK. When he did return it was to Essex, yet the frequent trips to the Avon and Stour continued where they had left off. This time around, John started to fish on the middle Avon much more, especially stretches such as East Mills and Bisterne, though in 1981, John had an outstanding pike of 31lbs from Throop. I think it is fair to say that John’s angling success continued and grew during this period, with many big barbel, chub and roach, as well as some exceptional crucians and perch from the waters of the Avon valley. Like me, John is one of the few anglers that have been fortunate enough to catch ten two-pound roach at a sitting from an English river. The lure of such outstanding fishing finally proved too much, and in 1986, John moved to a cottage in Dorset, just a handful of miles from the middle Avon.

Going it alone
In 1990, the discipline of commercial art work, working to tight schedules and high standards proved its worth when John was able to start selling a series of fish prints based on roach, perch, chub and barbel. These were incorporated into a book called “Red Letter Days” edited by Pete Rogers with many famous contributors (including Graham), produced in honour of Bernard Venables. John provided the many cameo drawings throughout the book.

From left: Pete Rogers, John Searl, Bernard Venebles

This gave him the wider exposure in the angling world that he needed, and he was able to provide illustrations for ‘Improve Your Coarse Fishing Magazine’, and nine more books. These include ‘Old Father Thames’ by Peter Stone and ‘How to Catch Bigger Pike’ by Paul Gustafson. Three years ago, he opened a shop and studio in Ringwood, Hampshire, called ‘The Art of Angling’. It is adjacent to two more conventional tackle shops, yet is utterly different to them. As well as producing drawings, paintings and prints, John also deals in old fishing books, reels (especially first class centrepins) and split cane rods, and general angling ephemera.

A portrait of FM editor Graham for the book ‘Red Letter Days’ (click for bigger picture)

Angling artwork
It is fair to say that angling artwork is a justifiably growing area for John. Either he spots a demand for a type of angling painting (usually watercolours), or a group or syndicate requests a commemorative piece. A limited and signed print run is then made from the original. Some examples of commemorative pieces have been for the Longford syndicate on the Avon, a match fishing montage for Dick and Carol Derrington for running the Evesham Festival and more recently a Chub Study Group print.

When John is asked to do one of these montages there is often considerable research needed, and he sometimes asks me for reference material. Take the Evesham Festival. As it happens, I had spent a day photographing this match and had lots of useful shots to work from. Without this reference material how is John to know what Dave Harrell looks like? Every year many barbel anglers visit Ringwood and therefore there is a high demand for top quality barbel prints. Other work of this nature includes nostalgic drawings in sepia of famous anglers such as Dick Walker.

Portraits
The final type of picture that John is commissioned to paint are personal portraits, mostly by anglers that would like a more personal record of a personal best. The starting point for a painting like this is usually a photo of the angler with fish. But to make life easier he will need several shots of the person and of the fish from different angles and in close-up. Of course, the painting does not have to be angling related.

I have hardly touched on John’s angling skills in this article, something I hope to do if I can persuade him to take me fishing on the Avon later this Winter, but I hope I have given you a glimpse of a very different side to angling.

If you are in the Ringwood area then you might like to take the opportunity to visit John at his shop and see a master at work, or even commission or buy a painting!

His contact details are John Searl, The Art Of Angling, 29 West Street, Ringwood, Hants. Tel. 01425 489087.

Next week: ‘Fishing the Upper Stour on the Stickfloat’