WILSON TO BE HONOURED OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO ANGLING
Angling Times announces special John Wilson award for exceptional work in 2019
THIS week Angling Times is proud to announce a brand new accolade as part of our annual National Angling Awards scheme – the John Wilson MBE Outstanding Contribution to Angling Award.
We couldn’t let the National Angling Awards pass without celebrating the incredible life and impact the late, great John Wilson had on our sport.
So from next year, with the blessing of John’s family, we will create an annual award in his name to reward future generations of anglers and groups who really make a difference to our sport.
Already the recipient of a previous Lifetime Achievement Award, John was also voted by Angling Times readers as our Greatest Ever Angler, an accolade he received back in 2004.
While many readers will be calling out for John to be recognised in this year’s awards, John Wilson MBE’s standing in fishing and the legacy he leaves transcends any award we could ever bestow on him this year.
With respect to all our winners both past and present, his influence on generations of anglers puts him way above our humble honours list.
Angling Times Editor-in-Chief, Steve Fitzpatrick, commented: “The John Wilson Outstanding Contribution to Angling Award will help celebrate exceptional dedication to our sport and echo John’s way of thinking – his love of the environment, natural waters, a passion for all aspects of fishing, and his ability to inspire generations of budding anglers to pick up a rod and ‘go fishing’.
“This will not be an easy award to win, and it will not be given for the sake of it. Whoever wins this award will have earned it through a lifetime of determination and dedication to promote all that is great about fishing.
“The award recipient will be selected by a panel of John’s peers, family, and myself, and will be announced at the end of every year.”
shoot wasn’t an option.
John was used to running the show, and very good he was at it, too – but as cameraman and director I saw the creation of the sequence differently!
Martin, meanwhile, cowered behind a bush and had to take tranquilisers when he hit the sack. Needless to say, John and Bernard delivered a lovely common for the camera and we were able to laugh off the crisis in the pub. However, it did highlight the pressure that John lived under every day he went out filming.
AS MANY anglers will know, John was always generous with his help and when I was a young film student wanting to film barbel underwater he took a lot of trouble to describe exactly how I might achieve success.
Many years later we were filming ‘A Passion for Angling’ while John was filming ‘Go Fishing’, so Angling Times came along to record the event. We decided a match between the two programmes would be fun.
We were allowed to fish on the famous Longford Castle stretch of the Hampshire Avon, and while Bob James and Chris Yates took up the challenge rather too seriously, I thought, John agreed, so we sat in my old VW camper emptying a bottle of red and catching up on fishing and filming stories.
Eventually we started fishing and I took John to a lovely deep slack behind a bush. The magic hour approached when John’s float plunged under and a huge roach rolled on the surface – it was that three-pounder that John had always wanted to catch.
He was so excited until we looked more closely at the monster and it was obvious it had a hint of bream in its genes. I have seldom seen an angler so disappointed.
MARTIN and I were still filming ‘Catching the Impossible’ and one of our ‘impossibles’ was a 30lb pike. John kindly agreed to help and thought the River Waveney would give us a chance. At silly o’clock John proved that he was the ultimate professional because there he was, with his boat all hitched up to his truck and ready to roll.
Martin and John fished hard but only a couple of jacks dragged the floats under, so next day John thought we should try Oulton Broad. We searched all the likely spots with the same result, but John had come prepared and kindly produced a feast of bacon and sausage sandwiches. While scoffing we noticed a cormorant diving for prey and motored over to the spot.
John cast in his lamprey bait, turned to me and said: “That’s the spot.” He said it with such conviction that I simply left the camera rolling and within what seemed only moments, line began to peel off his reel. Within minutes Martin had slid the net under a great big pike. John simply said: “I don’t believe it.”
Well, yes we do, John, for yet again he’d delivered the dream.
At 27lb 8oz he had not only caught the biggest pike in the Broad – probably – but he’d also matched his largest pike in 10 years and equalled the biggest he had ever caught on film. His smile of triumph and happiness will live with me forever.
That boy could fish! And what a lovely guy. He will live on in our memories until we go to join him, but before then, life will never be quite the same without him.