Q & A with Stewart Bloor

With the river season fast approaching my final interview is with serial blogger, Stewart Bloor. Stewart is probably the most established angling blogger on the net so it was great to be able to find out a little more.

1) What is your earliest fishing memory?

The humble gudgeon: Stewart's first catch

I have several fishing-related memories, from when I was a kid, floating around but I'm not sure which one chronologically is the first. However, around that time, I will never forget my first fish. A gudgeon from the Staffs/Worcs Canal at the Bratch in Wombourne, I can take you to the exact place I caught it. I've got loads of great memories, but that's the greatest. 

Stewart's favourite species: the perch

2) You're famed for being an angling all-rounder but is there any particular species that stands out for you and why? 

As an all-rounder, in many ways my favourite species is whatever I'm fishing for at that time. But if I had to declare one that has a special affection in my heart it would be the perch. As for why I can't give a definitive answer. I just love them. My favourite sea species is the dab and I target them, even travelling to Talacre in North Wales to fish for them. I love flat fish and have a fondness for the smallest of the group. 

3) If you could take only one bait fishing what would it be and why? 

As someone that fishes for all species, then it would have to be something that has a chance of catching as many different types as possible, and certainly in terms of quality. So if I could only fish with one bait for the rest of my life it would have to be lobworm. 

4)You seem to go fishing very often, indeed earlier this year you were attempting to fish every day. How do you juggle your passion for angling with your other commitments?

I'm highly motivated! My philosophy for life is that this isn't a dress rehearsal, this is the real thing. Live life to the full and milk it! On a practical level I tick all the right boxes: mortgage paid, an understanding wife who has never stood in the way of my fishing, children who are now adults and finally, I’m fortunate to have a very flexible working lifestyle.

5) You've been blogging for about a decade now [here]. Are you surprised at the success of your angling diary and what do you think makes your site so popular? 

Fortunately, Stewart's blog is more successful than his beloved Wolves

I've got used to the 'success' of my website now but in the early days was quite surprised when people would recognise me when out fishing. Now it happens all the while and not just by the water's edge either but when I'm out and about. Across the board (videos, articles) I get five-figure views every month, so I guess 'recognition' is just a natural consequence. I guess one of the main reasons is that I've been consistent in updates - every Saturday for almost 10 years.

6) What does the rest of 2013 have in store for you? 

My 'ambition' for the rest of the year, as indeed always has been and will be, is to enjoy my angling. I tend to be a well organised person and that of course influences my fishing. So whilst I do make plans and set targets, the umbrella over everything I do is to enjoy it. I'm blessed in the sense that I've still got an incredible passion for angling. I'm like the proverbial kid on Christmas Eve when I go to bed the night before a session.

7) We are constantly being told that our rivers are under attack from otters, water abstraction, cormorants, crayfish and poachers. What's your opinion on the current state of river angling? 

Without doubt the aforementioned will have some effect upon all venues, not just rivers. The debate is how much of a detrimental effect. I tend to take an objective view of these things as opposed to many anglers who are totally subjective. I think it's important to bear in mind that we are all ambassadors for our sport and need to choose our words carefully.As for the state of the rivers, that depends who you talk to! Personally I think you could argue a case for 'bad' or for 'good'. You could say that roach have declined on River X but that the barbel fishing is now out of this world. I just tend to see the big picture that's all and recognise that even naturally there will be ebbs and flows in where an individual river is at.


This marks an end to my interviews, for now at least. I hope you've found them enjoyable throughout the close season and perhaps I'll have some more if I get positive feedback. Whilst you're visiting, please take the time to take a look around my other posts and I always appreciate comments and new members. Thanks for reading. 

Q & A with Martin Bowler

My second interview is with big fish specialist, Martin Bowler. Not only is he famous for some impressive catches but with success in the angling media he is one of the biggest names in angling at the moment. Amongst other things, Martin tells us his most successful moments in angling and where he thinks the sport is heading in the future. 

1) Who do you consider the best angler you have ever had the pleasure to fish with and why?

John Wilson, the great all-rounder

There are two that stand out - John Wilson as an all-rounder capable of tempting game, sea and coarse fish plus Terry Hearn who lives and breathes angling and is the best I've met in the modern era.

2) You’re very fortunate to be paid for something you love doing and I’m sure most anglers would love to be in your position. However, when did your big break arrive?

I think a common misconception is that I get paid to go fishing when what I get paid for is to service the media with articles and films portraying our sport. That said, I wouldn't swap my job for anything. I guess my two big breaks were writing for Angling Times on a weekly basis 10 years ago and working with Hugh Miles on Catching the Impossible.

3) If you had only one day left on Earth, where would you go fishing?

I wouldn't go simply because I've been blessed to have fished more than most people do in 10 lifetimes so I would spend my final day with my wife instead!

4) You have enjoyed great success both on and off the bank, what do you consider to be your proudest moment to date?

On the bank, I guess catching two British records, which were my 4lb 9oz crucian in 2003 and my 16lb

The record crucian

12oz barbel, from the Great Ouse in 1999, have to rank highly. With regards to my media success then creating the series Catching The Impossible and in particular the 5lbs 4oz perch I managed to land. For any of you that haven't seen or read Catching the Impossible, I fished the Great Ouse on a mild day with river season's end fast approaching. A pole fished worm, tipped with a red maggot was the winning formula. When she hit the surface, I was greeted by a series of black stripes and a huge blood-red tail. It was the sort of monster that I will never tire of looking at until my dying day. Finally, in a political sense I met with the Prime Minister, David Cameron, to discuss the future of angling, which as far as I know is the highest profile meeting the sport has had.

5) What does the remainder of 2013 have in store for you?

A lot I hope! From a big tench to a giant conger - I love following the seasons and adjusting the species to suit so this spring will see me on the Wye for salmon as well as some tench and carp fishing.

6) How do you see the state of UK angling changing in the next decade?

I'm afraid it is only going to be a downward spiral so people should grab every moment to enjoy what they have. There is just too much pressure, be it man made or predation on our waterways at present and I see no hope of change.

Martin met the Prime Minister to raise the major issues

Thanks to Martin for taking the time to respond to my questions and for allowing me to use some extracts from his book: Catching the Impossible. I think his final response with regard to where our sport is heading is pretty damming. Of course, I hope he is wrong but it I do feel that angling needs to use its huge following proactively to gain a bigger audience at the very top so that the main issues can be tackled before it is too late. Don’t forget to join my site and to contribute to my posts. Thanks.

Q & A with Jan Porter

Jan Porter should need no introduction. With a successful career in match fishing spanning decades and some super specimens to his name, he is one of our sport's most recognisable personalities. I caught up with Jan to find out a bit more about his life in fishing.

1) As a teenager growing up through the 90s, I remember you as the top match angler in red. How did the outfit come about?

I felt I'd lost some time having stopped angling for 6 years as I

The Man in Red

played in a 'rock band' and held down an engineering job at Rolls Royce on shift work. Angling wasn't the number one thing in my life at that time; I just wanted to make it in the band. I started match angling again after I split from the music scene and got back into it. I then left Rolls Royce and bought a fishing tackle business I named ‘Jan's Tackle’ because I could use the J as a hook in the logo. Eventually, I picked up the thread on the open match circuit and got my mojo back and had some success, but it wasn't going quick enough. A friend of Pete Hobson, who used to fish for Starlets based in Birmingham, suggested I get an image to speed things up with the media and get me noticed in the press as I was starting to make waves results wise. I used to wear a red beret and had a red Coca Cola tracksuit and I thought that would stand out in the crowd, which it did. Santa Claus's image was reinvented in the 50s by Coca Cola which was pretty significant in my book as he became an icon commercially. If it's good enough for the biggest brand in the world and Santa you have to sit up and take notice, well I did anyway. I'm also half Norwegian and red makes up most of the flag plus Nottingham Forest played their best ever footy under Cloughie and wore red shirts.

2) Obviously, your image has now changed somewhat. How has your angling changed in the last 15 years or so and does match fishing still play a part?

I sort of killed the 'Man in Red' when I retired from the domestic match scene in 1992, however I carried on wearing red as I fished for Norway in the world championships several times. I went back to carp fishing again instead of match angling but it was a small jack pike that turned my head. I used to fish for carp in the late 60s and early 70s as well as match fishing for my club. The pike was a result of a urge to get back into my angling again after watching Passion for Angling, plus I'd sold my shop after building up the carp and specimen side and been to a couple of Carp Society meetings which really interested me. I was working for Fox at the time as a latent match consultant and immediately could see the commercial potential coming for carp equipment because it was all about multiple tackle items. Two, three and sometimes even four of the same item for one individual made me realise that the capital spend was much greater than a general coarse angler. Also the major rivers were being badly affected by pollution and farmers were getting subsidies that allowed them to build 'irrigation' or fishing lakes on set aside land. Also lots of purpose built commercial fishery were being built such as Makin’s and Heyford, to name but two. It all made sense to concentrate on the carp angler, since in my eyes it was going to be the main driving force in the tackle trade in every respect, hardware and bait, and so it was and still is two decades later. I knew the red thing wasn't suitable in the specimen world, so I wore olive like most do ex-army kind of stuff for a couple of years which I love anyway then I saw some carp anglers 'snide' shall we say on some pretty hard waters. I though they behaved like snipers and were extremely covert in their approach. I didn't have the gumption or desire to do what they did but I wanted a new image and discovered Realtree (an American effectivity camouflage outlet) after some serious hunting down on my part. I was quite forward and told them they needed to get into the angling market and I could help them do it. They took me on as a consultant so I introduced them to Shimano and I created the Tribal concept which was my interpretation of what carp angling was and still is about.

3) Apart from angling what do you enjoy?

Music, I noodle around with guitars, buy stray guitars from car boots and do basic repairs to them; I love going to car boots. I've been trawling around them for 20 years and it's almost like angling, a hunter-gatherer kind of mentality. It's a form of angling too I guess, the early bird catches the worm which is a great analogy as in crack of dawn although dusk and night are great times to fish too. I am fortunate that I can fish mid-week so come the weekend you'll find me around the boots with my 110 litre rucksack looking for bargains of which there are many.

I'm a bit of a hoarder and collect pots of things: CDs, LPs, Japanese, 70s/80s, headphones, Vietnam war military clothing (I wear it from time to time), plus old fishing tackle from my era. All the stuff that was state of the art then is considered junk now but it's a fashion thing more than anything else and I still love my Octoplus seat box attachments the best on the rare occasions I fish match style as opposed to 'specimen hunting', stalking or fishing from my Jon Boat for predators, barbel and chub in the winter. I also have a Honda Africa Twin XRV750 motorbike which I pootle around on when the weather is nice.

4) What are your standout fishing moments?

Where do I begin? Being asked to join Nottingham's Mighty Trentman AC and winning the Division 1 National with them in 1983 and then competing in the World Club Championships after that win is a great memory. Then being asked by Dick Clegg to represent an England Select side on three occasions, becoming captain of Trentman AC and winning the Division 1 and the Angling Times Winter league in 1987/88 season. Fishing the World Clubs competition in 1988 in Spain and coming runner up individually, winning a third Division 1 Team badge in 1992 and being highest placed UK angler in the following World Club Champs in San Marino. Another special moment was winning the John Smith's Individual title in 1989 with 14lb plus of chub on the waggler. I then finished in the top 20 individually for Norway in 1992 World Championships in Ireland. I was 15th and one more fish and would have been third and won a bronze medal.

There of course lots of open match moments but all the fun was on the way up and I had a pretty heady 12 years on the match scene pioneering and innovating quite a few techniques and styles I'd like to think. Ironically red seems to be very prevalent in the match angling world these days 

I've caught some pretty decent fish by my standards since I started specimen fishing but last season was my best with 3 x 30lb plus carp, 3 x 9lb plus tench, a 12lb 9oz Zed from the Warwickshire Avon and on the very next cast I followed it up with an 18lb 14oz pike from the same swim.

5) Do you have any regrets from your career in the sport?

None at all really all things considered, it's not always been a smooth ride but I have managed to keep my profile high and enjoy a working relationship with Shimano for nearly 20 years and I'm proud of that. I don't earn as much money as having a proper job but I am more into lifestyle than money so as long as I can get by, pay the bills and go angling for what and when I want to in the UK then I'm pretty content with my lot.

6) You’re a member of the Angling Trust and if we are to believe what we see and hear then angling is on a downward spiral. What do you believe to be the most pressing concern and what can anglers do to help?

Get youngsters into the sport, it's a simple remedy but not easy with so many distractions that are about in modern life. Mr Crabtree, the new TV series, has gone a long way in my opinion in reminding us all what angling is all about or at least what is available. What is needed now is a major push by the tackle trade to understand that unless we invest in the future then there will be less tackle companies as the demand for tackle reduces and anglers jump off this mortal coil. Like I say it's not easy and yet we can all do our bit.

Take a friend fishing is a great scheme and it works. Talk angling up more and try and encourage anglers who have got out of the habit to come angling with you. The other big concern is predation by cormorants and two-legged predators, or should I say poachers? They blight our fisheries, especially rivers that are by and large open season for fish thefts all year round. That said, I feel there is more of a concerted effort being made recently by the Environment Agency. So far, their actions when addressing this issue have been woeful.


Many thanks to Jan for taking the time to help me out on this. He has a few distractions away from angling at the moment so it's really appreciated. As always make sure you add yourself to my following list and feel free to post comments. Thank you. 

Stars come to Fishy Business

I've been busy recently trying to get some of angling's top names on to my blog, 'Fishy Business'. My idea is to run a small Q&A series over the next few weeks. So far I've been able to secure the likes of Martin Bowler and Jan Porter and with a few more irons in the fire I hope to increase the list further. So look out for my future posts and make sure you follow my site to keep updated. Thanks, Lee