What’s your idea of the perfect job?
With his ambition of running a fishery dashed, Dom Garnett looks at some of the other jobs in angling that he might be qualified for...
WORKING for Angling Times was a dream I held since I caught my first fish, a 4oz perch, from Exeter Canal way back in 1977, but that’s not to say I haven’t had the occasional wistful moment where I’ve imagined being a riverkeeper.
Living in a picture-postcard cottage next to a bubbling chalkstream in a typically rural English landscape really would be living the dream. But I’m fully aware that the reality is likely to be very different. This past few months of incessant rain can’t have been much fun for riverkeepers, after all.
Another man who has had to come to terms with abandoning his dream is our columnist Dom Garnett, who once held lofty ambitions to own a fishery. In this week’s issue he takes a light-hearted look at some of the slightly left-field fishing-related jobs he might have a chance of getting.
As you’ll find out on page 18, one of these jobs is a maggot farmer. We once sent one of our reporters to a maggot farm near Nottingham. He returned to the office a changed man, and remained that way for a good few weeks, claiming that he couldn’t get rid of the smell of ammonia from his nostrils or the sound of a thousand buzzing flies in his ears.
So, the next time you order a pint of grubs, all dusted and clean in fresh maize meal, spare a thought for the man who lovingly produced them. He may have few friends, but without him our fishing would be ruined… STEVE STONES ASSOCIATE EDITOR
MANY anglers harbour the dream of working within the sport they love, turning their favourite hobby into a full-time occupation.
After all, what could be better than whiling away the hours next to the water, and getting paid for it? For me, that little slice of heaven would entail running my own stillwater fishery, letting visiting anglers pay off my mortgage in the process.
However, with neither the money nor the qualifications to do so, I’ve been forced to lower my expectations and look at some of the other options out there.