Here’s to longer days and warmer fishing trips...
BRITAIN’S MOST TRUSTED VOICE IN FISHING
“This canal has made a miraculous comeback.” Discover the stretches where you can bag 15lb of quality roach.
IT’S OFFICIAL, British Summer Time starts this weekend – heady days of warmer weather, longer daylight hours, evening action and fish feeding with abandon are on the way!
It’ll make a welcome change from sitting on the bank in four layers of clothing, boots, and a woolly hat. Talking of clothing, can you remember the sort of gear you used to wear when you first started fishing?
For some followers of fashion it was the Ken Giles style shirt and tie, while others went down the Army & Navy store route, or even full-on camo. I suppose it depended on the era when you entered the sport and the type of fishing you did.
As a kid my passion was for match fishing, and so the uniform was always a tracksuit – possibly the worst choice you can make for any sport involving water. And with 100 per cent nylon ‘tailoring’ you didn’t dare stand near anyone striking a match!
After finding some classic old pics in our archive this week, we’ve taken a sideways look back at some of the real gems of fishing clothing through the years.
As our feature highlights, there have been some trendsetters and my much-missed pal Jan Porter – the Man in Red – certainly had an impact on thousands of anglers.
My teenage fishing mate was so obsessed with Jan that he decided to go full-on red too, buying up spraycans of Post Office Red from our local Halfords and respraying every item of tackle he owned. I’m talking his seatbox, banksticks and even bait tubs.
The best part was when he did his wellies in red too – he looked like Noddy – and when you have ears like mine it’s easy to guess what the pair of us were called on the bank!
Thankfully, there are so many great items of fishing clothing you can get your hands on these days... and when you wear the right gear you can fish for much longer!