WANTED: A PRICE ON ITS GILLS

ON SATURDAY, July 25, at a well-known water as yet kept secret, Bernard Venables, Editorial Director of Angling Times, will start a brand new kind of angling competition that will set fishermen the length and breadth of England talking.

At a time later to be announced, Bernard Venables will arrive at the selected fishing station in the Angling Times van. In the back of the van, in well aerated tanks, will be fifty perch in the prime of life.

Each of these perch will carry on its left opercular bone, or gill cover, a small metal tag.

This will have been fixed here in a manner approved by the Freshwater Biological Association and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

Venables will then release the perch in batches of five at a time into anglers’ favourite swims on that stretch of the river. After that, it is up to the angler present to land them. There is no time limit. The beauty of the competition is that novice and expert stand an equal chance.

Expensive tackle will have little bearing on success.

The first perch caught will bring its captor £20.