Who am I?

Welcome to my page!

 

A match angler who cuts his trade at both local and national levels, I’m by no means brilliant but I can hold my own occasionally on some venues! I work in the angling media and have been a writer for Angling Times Advanced magazine and, for the past five years ,Angling Times, where I have worked with some of the biggest names in fishing, including Bob Nudd, Alan Scotthorne, Will Raison, Matt Hayes, John Wilson and Mick Brown, plus somebody called Hulk Hogan (once!).

My early match fishing career began with my local village club, fishing the tough Yorkshire rivers. In fact my first ever win came on a flooded Yorkshire Ouse with 2oz of bleak on the whip! I won a few trophies with the club and the club championship, and then joined the Leeds Junior team, where I met a few long term mates such as Joe Carass and Andy Geldart. I won a few summer and winter leagues before it was time to make the jump to the open match scene at the age of 15. I concentrated on just one venue initially, the lovely Willows Fishery at York. It took me a year to win my first open match there, which was 74lb 4oz of carp on pellet over a special cat meat slop from peg 50, I still remember it well today! My match fishing has just escalated from that early grounding here really, where I learnt how to fish up to islands and how to fish shallow.Nowadays I still tend to concentrate on just a couple of venues in the Yorkshire area, because venues seem to change so quickly that it's hard to keep touch if you go to too many. The fisheries I visit are mainly Lindholme Lakes, The Oaks at Sessay and Kippax Park Fishery, plus occasionally Woodland Lakes and Langwith Lakes. I enter both Fish O’ Mania  and Match This Qualifiers, and also do two White Acres Festivals a year. I do have a low key sponsorship with Middy, but this is strictly for matches in my personal time and does not affect or influence my work.

Some achievements to date

• 2 x Maver Match This Finalist 2014 and 2015
• 3 x £25,000 Parkdean Masters Finalist (2nd 2013, 6th 2010, Last 2015)
• 3 x Garbolino Lindholme Lakes Festival winner
• Garbolino Lindholme Individual Winter League Winner 2010
• Kamasan British Open Runner Up 2009, Moorlands Farm
• 3 x Kamasan British Open Finalist
• 27 Kamasan Points 2007-2008
• Langwith Lakes Match Record Holder 2009-2012, 192lb 14oz
• Lindholme Lakes Loco Lake record holder 275lb 7oz
• 2 x AT County Champs Finalist
• Maver Match This £5,000 ‘B’ Finalist 2011

I hope you stick around and get half as much enjoyment out of reading my blog as I do putting it together!

Ben