My first day fishing by Dave Hayes

I would be about six years old and had been watching my friends go off fishing for some time. I had tagged along with them once or twice and asked my dad if I could go fishing too. Being an ex fisherman himself he readily agreed and bought me a three-piece rod (top part fibre glass, other two sections bamboo cane) a drum reel called "The Bijou", 25 yards of 4lbs line, a packet of 16s hooks to nylon and 2 peacock quills.

I set off with my mates on my first ever fishing trip to The Fir Tree Flash in Leigh, Lancashire. They showed me how to tackle up, how to hook a maggot and how to sling it in (I won't say cast as it wasn't that graceful) and I was away. After about 10 minutes the quill slid silently under and I snatched hold of the rod as if my life depended on it and I did battle with a 3 inch long Perch. It was the most amazing experience of my life and one I can still remember just as vividly over 40 years later.

When I got home dad was waiting at the door - "well - how many did you catch?" he asked. I proudly held up 3 fingers. "three - you caught three?" he asked, and then hugged me. He knew, as did I, that this memory and this sport is something that will be with me until my dying day.