HEAPS’ TREE-MENDOUS WIN

THIRTY years ago, Ian Heaps could do no wrong. His world champs win in 1976 brought him international acclaim and lucrative sponsorship deals, both inside and outside of angling.

All that mattered little, though to Angling Times’ South West match correspondent Ray Bazeley, who accompanied Ian and others on a trip to Holland in the mid-’80s.

Ray takes up the story. ÒI was enjoying a heated discussion over a beer or two with Ian about poles, and as a humorous aside, he told me it didn’t matter what pole I used, he’d still beat me if he used a branch from a bankside tree.

ÒWell, that was it. An Angling Times reporter heard this and got me to challenge him. A few weeks later, there we were on the Oxford Canal near Banbury, me with my 5m whip and Ian with a branch.

ÒWe both caught hundreds of gudgeon Ð the Oxford was full of them then Ð and it made a great feature for the paper. Ian beat me, of course!Ó