He was born to be a fisherman
OVER the next few weeks, while the fishing is on hiatus, we’ll be chatting to Daiwa’s Hywel Morgan about his life in angling.
Hywel is the son of Welsh fishing guru Moc Morgan and perhaps unsurprisingly was introduced to the pleasures of fishing at a very early age.
He said: “To be honest, I never had a chance – I was always going to be a fisherman.
“My dad first put a fly rod in my hand in the back garden at 18 months and I never looked back from there.
“Even before I was old enough to go to school, I was away down the river fishing for trout, so at 3–4 years old. The river Teifi was my teacher.
“The one thing that never leaves any angler is the anticipation and excitement that you have when you get the take.
“Whether it is a dry fly or teasing a fish down deep, that electricity is what keeps me going back time after time. Now we are in lockdown and unable to fish I miss it even more.”
Was there ever one that got away? Hywel is in no doubt. He said: “This still haunts me after 35 years. It was a sea trout that I hooked on the River Ystwyth at around 2am.
“This fish took me down a run of around 150 yards, only to change its mind and go back up into the pool where I first hooked it.
“A fight went on for ages and when the fish was nearly ready to be netted, I convinced my old man to put his torch on so we could see the fish and make sure we netted it properly.
“As soon as the light went on both of us froze as we actually saw the size of the fish – it was around 14-15lb and that’s not a fisherman’s estimate.
“Dad slipped the net below the fish but as soon as its tail felt the net, the fish kicked out and swam away and pulled the hook.”
Hywel made a name for himself in casting competitions at an early age before turning his attention to the British and world scene, earning many awards as well as setting an amazing world record for casting 66 rods simultaneously.
He explained: “At first this was nothing to do with records. I demonstrate showing people how rods have changed over the years.
“So, I was casting with seven rods simultaneously and one evening during a BBQ at a show, someone asked, ‘How many can you cast with?’”
The lockdown has us all missing fishing and if Hywel could only catch one more fish, what would it be?
He said: “For me it would have to be a grayling, as they fight well above their actual weight and that dorsal fin is spectacular. When this lockdown is over, though, I’ll get out on the river and just be happy to be back in the water. If I catch a fish it will be a bonus.”