It’s always so interesting to talk with other anglers (loved being at the Glasgow event over the weekend)

It’s only natural that we tend to base our fishing experiences and knowledge on the waters and conditions that we fish the most. An angler bass fishing the shallow reefs in Kent I believe is looking for almost 100% different open coast conditions that I would be typically looking for - and so on. Different conditions and ground can require different tackle and lures and techniques etc…………

I love seeing how a lot of good people share a lot of good fishing information in various ways, and I recognise that with my work I am so lucky because I get to meet and talk to a lot of different anglers from a lot of different areas who are fishing in a lot of different ways. Whether it’s home or abroad doesn’t really matter, because to me it’s the communication about all kinds of fishing which is so interesting. The first fish I ever caught was in Scotland when I was 7 years old - a little wild brown trout - but I have yet to cast a lure into Scottish saltwater on the hunt for bass.

So it was very cool getting to speak to so many Scottish anglers over the weekend. I consider it a big privilege to be asked to come along to the Glasgow Angling Centre’s Spring Open Weekend, and the fact that I met some people who had come specifically to speak to me blows me away. Thank you so much. I would like to give a big shout out to a couple of awesome girls from the Carp Team Scotland Ladies who were there to try and raise funds for their competition fishing. The poor girls used to watch my TV programmes many moons ago (sorry!) and I absolutely loved talking to them. They have a Go Fund Me page here and a Facebook page here. Big respect, and we did have a giggle about how we individually think about fishing basically all the time!

It fascinates me how widespread lure fishing for our fine bass is these days. I am very aware of some amazing Scottish bass fishing when it fires and I need to get myself up there to fish. I love talking to anglers and I hope they enjoy talking to me. I am fascinated in how different anglers go about their bass fishing, indeed I consider it fantastically ignorant NOT to be interested in other areas and anglers and techniques and all that sort of stuff. We might not go and do it, but what might you learn from communicating with other anglers or indeed people in life?

I spent some time talking to a Scottish bass angler for example who has taken the creature bait thing and run with it on the open coast. We talked about the sort of ground and tides and sea conditions he tends to target and it aligns somewhat with stuff that I have thought about and very much plan to implement later this year to see if it might work around me. He’s doing it though - and catching - and I am not yet. I am aware of bits and pieces going on in other areas along these lines and it fascinates me. We might live on a relatively small island with a hell of a lot of people, but it’s a big old world of fishing out there and I for one intend to keep communicating about it. Please note that I haven’t mentioned the weekend’s rugby yet because I am not feeling quite strong enough!