Darrell:
Like most youngsters I was shown the ways of fishing by my dad. I was instantly intrigued by the unknown lurking under the surface. My fascination with fishing was refined into chasing and trying to fool carp for many years. My interest always lay with stalking and fooling carp at close range where I could see my quarry, i guess it felt like hunting.
Due to not wanting to spend long weekends sat on the same lake etc i moved out of the carp world and tried my hand at pike fishing which taught me a lot and gave me a different insight into fishing and fish species.
My close friend Jon Waterfield thought it was time I gave the fly fishing a go, to which i thank him greatly! My addiction to stalking fish and watching their behaviour before choosing the correct weapon to launch an assault has finally been fulfilled. I love studying and learning new techniques and trying to figure out solutions to problems which occur and fly fishing gives me all this in a days outing in some of the most remote and beautiful fishing locations which I share with a great friend and some great people along the way.
Jon:
As with many first starting out with rod and line, my first experiences were with a float, and in pursuit of the fabled Roach, and unsuccessfully I might add. However, unlike many of those lucky enough to be taught to fish by a dad, or uncle or any other close relative, in the early days I relied on magazines and books.
Though, it must be said, relatively quickly I found friends at school who also enjoyed fishing and their input helped me greatly.
The first fish I ever caught was a Gudgeon that can’t have been any bigger than 6oz, on a float fished maggot, using an elasticated whip, at a tiny little day ticket water near my home which I still drive past nearly every day on the way to work.
From that day on I became fishing obsessed, and apart from the odd fleeting break my passion is as strong today as ever.
In the early years the majority of my fishing attention was focused on the seemingly, more easily accessible coarse species, and before long match fishing took up the majority of my time, travelling all over the country in search of big bags of carp and a sometimes a bit of money to spend on more fishing tackle. Until in my mid 20’s the curiosity of catching fish on the fly got the better of me, and my interest in catching +100lb bags of carp in 5hrs waned. And so, I began learning to fly fish with no small amount of help from magazines and the internet. However, it was not until I met my friend Darrell that I really saw how awesome this particular discipline of our sport can be. Travelling around some of the most beautiful and untouched parts of the country catching truly wild predatory fish on what is essentially a bit of fluff on a hook captivated me. The colours of brown trout, and grayling in particular, never cease to amaze me, no matter how many I times I see them in my net. And even when the net is dry the scenery is more often than not just as breath-taking as the fish I am trying to fool. This combined with the constant challenge of learning the new techniques and approaches required to catch these famously wary fish, sets it apart within all forms of fishing as by far my favourite.
