FIRST PLACE RICHARD WILBY, NORFOLK
WINS £2,000 and gets his name engraved on the Drennan Cup, which he keeps for a whole year. CATCHES: 16lb 2oz bream, 3lb 6oz rudd, 11lb 11oz tench, 6lb 9oz eel, 3lb 2oz roach, 2lb 9oz roach, 3lb 2oz grayling, 1lb 1oz dace
food, with the odd bonus provided by roadkill – mink is a particular favourite apparently.
Still, being your own boss and living in isolation has its benefits. Back in the 1970s, Del was branded as a hippy by the media, but having lived his own way for 50 years he has proved the doubters wrong.
“My land, my rules” is how he describes his set-up and he is still passionate about wild Irish fishing, as my friends Garrett Fallon and Nick Fallowfield Cooper discovered when they met him in the flesh last year.
“A lot of these Irish fish are never fished for, because the lakes are so vast and inaccessible, except by boat. But
they’re worth the effort,” Del told them. Besides Nick’s photos seen here, his atmospheric film about Del called The Outsider can be viewed on YouTube. It reveals a world that is pure and wild, but a lot harsher and more unforgiving than you might imagine.
However, the reward for Del is a deeper connection to the land and water than most of us could manage in several lifetimes. He has a particularly special bond with his woodlands and believes that even death won’t break this spiritual connection. “This is a one thousand year project for me,” he says. “I’m expecting to be back here at some stage.”
Dexter Petley
Professional author and carp angler Dexter Petley is another soul who has managed to eke out a simpler existence in wild surroundings, with fishing on his doorstep. You can read more about that in his excellent memoir Love, Madness, Fishing.
Disaffected by what he describes as “the social disintegration that drove me out of Britain forever” he was drawn to the purer living and rustic charm of rural France. He has lived in sheds, tents and even a disused ambulance, and currently dwells in a Yurt in the north of the country. He grows his own vegetables, collects rainwater and works as a professional writer, editor and translator.
While his frugal lifestyle might not appeal much, his fishing exploits would be the envy of many British carp anglers, as he has caught an impressive tally of huge fish. Favouring specialist carp tactics, he has caught numerous 50lb-plus mirrors and commons from all manner of waters, including the lake where his Yurt stands.
It’s the mystery and prospect of uncaught giants that keeps him going, mixing carp angling with producing his own food and continuing to work as a writer and translator.
Peter Ralph
While it’s telling that most of our truly self-reliant outsiders tend to gravitate towards countries with more abundant wilderness, it is also possible to find anglers who
Peter Ralph has been an angling hermit since 2010.
live 24/7 on the bank in the UK.
After cashing in his pension, Peter Ralph, a mad-keen carp angler, moved out of his marital home in 2010 and began paying £6,000 a year to set up semipermanently on Orchid Lakes in Oxfordshire.
With just his dog, Sugar, for company and a bait bill that would rival what others spend on groceries, he proceeded to live on the bank. His wife proved fully supportive, chatting to him by phone each day and visiting every month to provide clean clothes and supplies. Aside from a holiday or two with her each year, the lake and fishing are his life.
Peter’s rationale for this is simple enough: “When I retired, I wanted to escape from it all and get back to nature, finding pleasure in the simple things in life,” he says.
“I don’t like living in a house, and much prefer life in a tent by the lake. It offers a greater sense of freedom.”
Unlike our other outsiders, however, Peter has a higher degree of comfort, with a portable fridge and even a battery-powered television. Aside from regular supplies from the shops, he makes the most of roadkill such as rabbits and pheasants.
A decade on, he’s still there enjoying free game and catching big carp.