My Story | Lewis's Angling Academy

My Story

I started fishing when I was eight years old. I dabbled until I was about 12, and then I got the bug big style. I played a lot of sports when I was younger, including football, badminton, and athletics. I was county champion at badminton, and played football to a good standard but then I got bored with them, hence why I started fishing properly. The thing I love about fishing is that you never master it. You're always learning, two days are rarely the same. With other sports, once you've trained to become the fastest runner down the track, generally you win every time until you're too old to do it. With fishing, there are so many deciding factors.

I started by pleasure fishing, and catching a few fish. I suddenly realised I was catching more than what they do in the matches, and so I joined Littleport Angling Club and started fishing some of their matches. Initially, I didn't do very well, but I kept persevering, and became the youngest club champion they had ever had, with dozens of match wins. I also started going on some open matches (open to all, including some of the best anglers in the country) and started to do well in these as well.

This hadn't been ignored by the England Under 21 team manager and at 15 I got invited to an England trial. I couldn't believe it, and played my chances down as what hope had a boy from the fens got competing with the rest of the country, particularly up north, where they have a very good coaching structure.

To cut a long story short, I won the trial by a big margin, and even had the late great Ivan Marks come up to me after the trial and congratulate me. "You won't get in today son, but you've fished a blinder". I tried to hide my disappointment and asked him why he was so sure. "One, you're a bit young. Two, your kit doesn't look neat enough. The management don't like that," he remarked.

The team was called out, and needless to say I wasn't on the list. I went home and thought, right, I'm getting some new kit, and I'll be in the team next year. If I'm determined enough to do something, generally I can do it. Next year's trial was soon here, and at 16 I had another year of experience. I did well in the trial, and was over the moon to be selected for my country. I fished for the next five years consecutively and was top performer out of the England team every year except one, and in the top ten of the world every year apart from one. Topped off by an individual world championship silver medal. A good achievement, but I had a face like thunder apparently because I didn't win!

During this time, I got selected for the mighty Van Den Eynde Essex County squad, which at the time, were regarded as the best team in the country. To be sat around a table discussing tactics with the likes of Bob Nudd, Steve Ringer, Mark Pollard and Wayne Swinscoe to name a few did my fishing the world of good.

Sadly, team match fishing is in a bit of a decline. The cost is very high, and travelling can take its toll, so Essex County agreed that if they weren't going to do it properly, they weren't going to do it at all and the team folded.

Today I still fish team matches, with a team called Mark One based in Wisbech, but for the remaining weeks I fish as an individual, going where I like, when I like. It's a good balance. I believe to learn and stay at the top of the tree you have to be involved with a team, sharing the opinions of other top anglers is essential if you're to continue learning. I'm based in Norwich, but thanks to my experience with team fishing, and with my job, I have fished all over the country. Locally, I fish the river Yare, Bure, Thurne and Wensum. I have also fished hundreds of lakes nationwide. There aren't many popular places that I am not familiar with. I have won matches on dozens of venues, and am a firm believer that if you are naturally talented at fishing, with a lot of effort and research you can go anywhere and succeed.

My Career

Work wise, I started work at a fresh produce company after leaving school before having a chance to achieve my A-levels and reach (what I am told by others) my academic peak. I just can't sit in a classroom and learn about things I don't see as practical. Disecting a frog as fun as it may be, I didn't feel would be much use to my every day life. Sports, Business, Maths and English were the only subjects I bothered with. But I admit I was fishing most of the time!

When I was 18 I received an opportunity to join Emap, the world's biggest magazine publisher, and parent company of Angling Times Advanced. This was as a staff writer. I jumped at the chance despite being offered a promotion at my first job at the fresh produce company at the same time. This was at the time my dream job - I was out with the world's best anglers, writing about how they catch fish, learning from these people myself, and getting paid for it. Great!

Soon my competitiveness kicked in, and I didn't want to be staff writer, I wanted to be the editor, the boss of everything. I steadily climbed the ladder when at the age of 21 the previous editor moved magazines, and I knew I had to have his job. I was oblivious to the fact this would make me the youngest editor ever in Emap's history (they employ thousands!). The best they could muster for me was the acting editorship - they gave me this to shut me up I reckon. If I worked hard and sales increased, I would be given the job. After six months the editorship was mine, along with the company car and more money than I'd ever been used to. This too, was great for a couple of years, but then I got itchy feet again. I took a deputy editorship on Improve Your Coarse Fishing, which is Europe's largest fishing magazine, which kept me occupied for a year or so, but I knew my life wasn't to be sitting in an office proofing pages. I still to this day say I wasn't particularly talented at it, I was just determined to do it to see what it felt like.

At the start it was great, I went fishing with a star, wrote about it, then went home. If you want more money you have to climb the ladder and then the job becomes more demanding, and less fishing related but more commercially driven.

At 22 I had a moment of madness and jacked my 'dream' job in that I know a lot of people would have given their right hand for, and set my own business up, a fishing tackle shop in Norwich. It's called Lewis's Anglers World, and is on the ring road of Norwich. My contacts in the trade enabled me to set up all of the major brands as accounts, and the business is going from strength to strength and is now in its 3rd full year of business. I also wholesale fishing tackle, and obviously train people how to fish, which is the most enjoyable part of my day-to-day. All of this between looking after my partner Sam, and our two children James and Emily. I'm still only 25, but as the missus regularly reminds me, I act like an old man.

I am a very bad loser in anything - I congratulate the people that win, but am a firm believer that if you don't mind losing, you can get used to it.