A breakdown of the authors and artists appearing in each issue
William Yates is a professional composer and producer living in Bristol. Being self-employed he finds the time to explore his love for art and specifically illustration. As well as working as a freelance illustrator, he designs t-shirts and co-runs his own t-shirt printing company called SLO-CLO. Will grew up in a tiny village (a hamlet …
A professional fisheries biologist, conservationist and land management specialist, Mark Walsingham worked for the National Trust for more than 15 years. He now provides land management and fisheries consultancy, specialising in river and lake restoration. He is a lifelong angler who has caught some truly monstrous fish. Well-known in carp circles—he is a regular contributor …
Adrian Searle has been writing about art since the mid-1970s, becoming chief art critic of The Guardian in 1996. He has been a regular contributor to El Mundo in Madrid and to many art magazines. Author, broadcaster, former Turner Prize judge and curator of a number of exhibitions in Europe and the USA, he says …
Graham Vasey is an artist who specialises in traditional film photography and darkroom printing. Brought up in County Durham, his very first angling experience was fishing with his mum on boating holidays on the canals of Shropshire. This passion was kindled further by trips with this grandfather to the small becks and streams of the …
Having spent most of his working life as a press photographer, Super Fly Guy, aka Bruno Vincent turned his back on the profession and began to design and build just about anything, from flying projectors to floatant holders. With a love of angling from his (misin)formative years, fly tying was a natural progression expedited thanks …
Andrew Griffiths lives and fishes in the cheap end of the Peak District with occasional forays into the pricey bits. He really should get out more but is drawn again and again to his two rain-fed rivers for just one more go at that tricky fish. It’s usually a midge thing. They are too close …
David Profumo (pictured here on the right with Fred Buller) is a novelist and journalist, and fishing correspondent for Country Life magazine. He lives up a Perthshire glen, with a trout loch at the end of the lawn.
Scott moved to the English Lake District seven years ago to be closer to the mountains, their tarns, their becks and the wild trout that swim there. A self-admitted trout bum, Scott is also a true lover of the wild, and enjoys nothing more than hiking into the fells with a light fly rod and …
Born in London, but raised in Buckinghamshire, Will Burns was part way through an English Degree when he decided to forgo education for a career as a rock star. His band, Treecreeper, released two albums, the second of which, entitled Juniper, features a fly-fisherman on the cover and is still available through Rough Trade records. …
Vincent was only three years old when he first wet a line, and made his first casts on the canals in and around the centre of Manchester. His love of fishing swiftly blossomed, and he has gone on to catch some fabulous fish of many different species. Vinny writes a weekly blog (www.northwestfisherman.wordpress.com) and has …
Vic Gent is a Lincolnshire lad now residing in Norfolk. Taught to fish as a young boy by his father and brother, Vic has never strayed far from the water, spending much of his youth ‘mucking about’ aboard the family boat on the River Nene. Vic makes his Fallon’s angler debut in Issue 5 with …
Having grown up in an environment influenced by the rigours of religion and army-life, John Andrews’ subsequent career in the music industry must have made for quite a contrast. As marketing manager for Creation Records, John lived life at 1000mph – his daily dealings involving bands such as Oasis and Primal Scream. His was a …
Having grown up in East London, Matthew Minter escaped the fug of the city and today enjoys the bracing air of the Kent Coast where he lives with wife Alison and son Jacob. Though he makes an occasional local cast into the North Sea, Matthew’s fishing interest spreads across a variety of disciplines and methods, …
Larry Jacobsen studied graphic design, then worked in the art department of an air force base, before finding landscape and wildlife painting. He lived in the southern California mountains, surrounded by the San Bernardino National Forest for many years. He is interested in well-designed realistic representations of the western US, especially its mountains, streams, lakes, …
ron P. swegman is the author and illustrator of Philadelphia on the Fly: Tales of an Urban Angler and Small Fry: The Lure of the Little. Tenkara fly fishing, fly tying, and cross country running to the water take up his time when he’s not at the front counter of the Urban Angler fly shop …
Teacher, writer and, for nearly 25 years, a sea angler, Simon Smith is unsure exactly how to categorise himself. The author of a sea angling book, Running with the Tide, Simon lives with his wife and daughter on the south Wales coast, spending what little spare time he has writing, too much time working, far …
William Wyatt is an angler in exile having bailed out of East London over a decade ago. An excuse to write about his fishing presented itself since contributing to Dexter Petley’s outrageously avant-garde Powerlines. He helped Peter Rolfe with his acclaimed book on the crucian carp Crock of Gold. Currently he is teaching English when …
Mike Pope started to fish aged 11. During his time in higher education, he wrote for the student magazine about his friends’ fishing trips in and around Oxford. By now, he was also fly fishing for grayling and trout. On graduating, he worked in insurance before re-training as a secondary school teacher. He now teaches …
John Andrews has been writing in various forms since his memoir For All Those Left Behind was published in 2002. He currently writes for a number of publications but most regularly for Caught by the River, Classic Angling and on his own blog: www.andrewsofarcadiascrapbook.blogspot.com. He may occasionally be seen and heard reading aloud in public …
Luke Jennings is an author and the dance critic for The Observer. Having grown up in Sussex, he trained at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance (established by Marie Rambert in 1920) and worked for ten years as a dancer and choreographer before a back injury forced him to look elsewhere for a …
Formerly a teacher, Charles Rangeley-Wilson’s love of travel, fishing and writing inevitably converged with the publication in 2004 of Somewhere Else. He has since written extensively, and contributes to Gray’s Sporting Journal and is Angling Correspondent to The Field, though he is familiar to many as The Accidental Angler. Rangeley-Wilson is a keen conservationist, with …
Carlos Baz does not remember the first fish he ever caught. Though it must have made an impression. A lifelong fisherman, he now spends his time on the water with fly rod in hand hunting across shallow flats in search of saltwater gamefish. When he’s not fishing, thinking about fishing, or planning his next trip, …
John Aston got away with pretending to be a lawyer but since retiring in 2012 he’s reverted to being a stranger to fashion who spends most of his time outdoors in his beloved North Yorkshire. He listens to loud music and enjoys reading people who can write, like Hemingway and Gierach. He loves fly fishing …
James Gilbraith published his first book Terminal Chancer Silver Seasons Atlantic Salmon in 2014. Originally from Blackburn, he currently lives in Clitheroe, Lancashire. He is a 47-year-old husband, father, music lover, geriatric footballer and small-time tennis hack. He can generally be found lurking somewhere on the river Ribble, where he reluctantly became secretary of Ribblesdale …
Peter Brown followed a spell in advertising with a postgrad in illustration at Central St Martin’s in London. He has illustrated a weekly column about birdlife in Britain—The Feather Report—for The Times newspaper since 1992. Working mainly in wood engraving and Japanese woodblock, he also teaches classes and workshops in both media. www.littlebrownbirds.co.uk
Daniel Davidson is an illustrator who works with a variety of clients including Virgin Records, Saatchi Art and Music Magazine and Creative Review. He is currently working on illustrations for the as-yet-untitled sequel, to the alternative salmon fishing book, Terminal Chancer, which he also illustrated. www.danieldavidson.co.uk
Marc Harris was born in Cardiff where he works with homeless and disadvantaged people. Marc has had one book of nature poetry published by Little Egret Press, and a second book of nature and travel writing awaiting publication by the same press. Marc has written many short stories, poems and articles, and has been published …
One half of German pop group JaKönigJa (alongside wife Ebba—see Issue 16 of Bits and Pieces) Jakobus Durstewitz is a man of many talents. He is an artist—self-taught—and has exhibited in Germany since 1994. More recently his artwork has featured in the hallowed pages of Fallon’s angler (Issue 3). JaKönigJa have been wowing critics for …
Writer, musician, literary scholar and ‘conceptioner’, Ebba Durstewitz spends her life mixing art, music and science. She holds a PhD in Portuguese Studies and works as a freelance teacher at the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Hamburg University. Ebba is also a freelance writer, contributing to a variety of German magazines and newspapers. …
Steve Roberts was born within casting distance of Old Father Thames, where he spent a halcyon boyhood catching perch from beneath wind ruffled willows. He evolved as an angler on the idyllic river Kennet, where he chased barbel among the thick, waving fronds of ranunculus. Having caught his fill of whoppers the lure of spring …
By his own admission, Les Darlington is best regarded for being the husband of Cheryl – maker of some of the finest fruitcake in the land. And Fishpool can vouch for the quality of said cake. God, it’s good…really, really good.. Back to Les though, and he’s a man who knows a thing or two …
Known to many as ‘The Sweetcorn Kid’, Stuart has been scribbling about his angling exploits for many years. He has a sharp eye for a photograph, as the images on his blog testify, and a knack for catching big fish. Carp dominate his angling, but he can also be found chasing perch, tench, crucians and …
Too modest to have included himself here, but Fishpool is happy to make him blush. Words are in his blood, and he tells a story rather well. He can spot a good story too though, and then present it quite beautifully….long may it continue. He is pictured below with an Angler Unknown.
Chris Turnbull is perhaps best known for his angling artwork and illustrations which have adorned the covers of a large number of angling books over the past 30 years. As a specialist angler he is perhaps best known for his catches of big tench and barbel but he is in fact in love with catching …
For Alex Norgate, fishing isn’t just about catching fish, it is a chance to reconnect with his surroundings and plumb the depths of the mind. Since March 2014 he has travelled around France in a converted Luton van, composing music, taking photos and fishing, and writing about it on his blog: carpwatercraft.wordpress.com
Gary Crossley retired as the Principal of Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London a few years ago. His background in Fine Art translated over time into a career as an academic in Higher Education. After he retired he sought and achieved a complete change in direction by buying a small house in …
Danny Adcock started fishing for eels with his dad in the Essex backwaters, and with his grandad in the Thames at Shoeburyness for anything that swam past. This regularly included plaice which later his nan would serve with mash, peas and a dollop of butter that slid down the fishes back oh-so-juicily. He moved to …
For John Stephens, serious fishing began shortly before exclusion from the 11+. First outings were to the River Chew at Keynsham, the Avon at Saltford and Claverton, where, on the weed-choked Kennet and Avon Canal he caught his first pike, on a lovely silver Colorado Spoon. His romance with the fly rod began 1996, during …
Dexter Petley was born in the Weald of Kent. Novelist, translator, angling writer, he lives in a yurt in Normandy.
Nigel Ling has fished since early childhood, maybe too often, or perhaps not often enough. He certainly spends too much time thinking about fishing and occasionally writes about it. After growing weary of coarse fishing he started fly fishing, then sea fishing, and now seeks stillness in all three, especially if the weather is fine. …
Jon Berry has fished for 40 years without ever achieving competence. This hasn’t stopped him enjoying it. He regards fishing as his real life, but spends an inordinate amount of time in a false one where he is an Assistant Headteacher at a large Wiltshire secondary school. He has written three books on angling and …
Greg Freestone received a magnetic fishing game for his fifth birthday and, aged six, made a toy rod from a garden cane with paperclips for guides, threaded with hairy string. At seven, with a proper rod and his father’s help, he began catching real fish from rivers and lakes. Forty years later he’s still hooked. …
Maurice Neill was born in Belfast in 1959, of Ulster-Scots descent, and lives in the seaside town of Bangor in Co Down. He had salmon anglers for grandfathers, a trout fisherman for a father and three cousins with webbed feet. He has fished since he was five and is a member of Downpatrick and District …
Born in Billericay, Jeff Hatt is an Essex boy and gifted magpie. Early tackle was secured through the generosity of relatives: Aunty Sandra’s Green Shield Stamps got his first rod, from Uncle Paul, a southpaw ‘300.’ Aunty Thelma provided more, and her husband Ron, likewise. Elder cousin Alan gave a season ticket to South Weald …
In the summer of 1980, aged ten, Nick Fallowfield-Cooper was given some fishing tackle. He took the rod, reel and plastic box that contained various floats, weights and hooks to the local Sussex Ouse and started to unravel the mysteries of angling. In the early 1990s, Nick moved to London (where he still lives today) …
Peter Scott is not a fisherman, though he wishes he could be, and sometimes thinks he might be. He is publisher of Apollo, the international art magazine, and a founding editor of online quarterly The Junket. He has written about things that have nothing to do with fishing for The Daily Telegraph and Literary Review …
Niall Fallon was a newspaper journalist and the deputy editor of the Irish Times in the 1980s. With a passion for fly fishing, he lived in Co. Meath, Ireland, surrounded by boggy fields and limestone rivers, and spent most of his free time chasing the illusive trout of the rivers Deel, Boyne and Suir. He …
Rob Forth is a professional poker player. Born in London, he nevertheless grew up near the Welsh border, and lived for a stretch in South Africa. When not playing poker he likes to check for the early onset of Alzheimer’s by participating in pub quizzes. When the sun shines he can be found cycling in …
Theo Pike is a freelance environmental, fishing and marketing writer. He’s also Chair of Trustees of the Wandle Trust, and founding editor of Urbantrout.net, a website and eco-brand dedicated to the urban fly fishing and river restoration movements. His first book, Trout in Dirty Places, was published in 2012, and his new Pocket Guide to …
Jon Day teaches English at King’s College London. He writes for the London Review of Books, n+1, The New Statesman, the Times Literary Supplement and Apollo magazine, and is a regular book reviewer for the Telegraph and the Financial Times. He is a contributing editor at The Junket. There is a river at the end …
Depending on the weather, Kevin Parr is an Idler, fisherman, writer, amateur naturalist and fungi forager—though by his own admission he excels in no particular field. He is the author of Rivers Run, The Idle Angler and black comedy The Twitch. Longtime angling correspondent to The Idler magazine and contributor to CountryFile and Caught by the …
Tom Fort began fishing on the Lodden in Berkshire at the age of eight, pursuing ruffe and small perch. He became a journalist on leaving university, first working on local newspapers and later for the BBC. He wrote a fishing column for the Financial Times for 12 years, and has contributed to magazines including Waterlog …
Dominic Garnett is a fishing author and guide with a taste for the unconventional. As a result, he survives mostly on berries, tinned food and super strength lager in a cave somewhere in Devon. His books include Crooked Lines, Tangle with Pike, Flyfishing for Coarse Fish and Canal Fishing: A Practical Guide. For more of his …
Chris Yates is a photographer, tea connoisseur, nature lover and prolific writer, having published hundreds of articles and at least 13 books. He is the former British carp record holder with the capture of a 51lb specimen carp from the famous Redmire pool. He lives in a cottage in deepest Wiltshire where he indulges his …
