ABOUT ANDY REES
Andy Rees is a research scientist based in Plymouth. His working life revolves around research into the activity of microbial plankton in the oceans, but a life-times obsession with fish and fishing means he is well placed to offer an insight into the life and habits of the fish to be found around our coastline.

ANDY REES ON ANDY REES
The first fish I remember catching were a couple of tiny whiting off the pier in Bournemouth when I was about six, and at about the same time in my life a Rees family outing resulted in the trapping of about half a dozen sticklebacks in a keepnet out of the Shropshire Union canal - nothing on the hook, but we all have to start somewhere!

Since those halcyon days my fishing has either meandered or rollercoasted from year to year depending on which particular external force (puberty, rugby, women, fatherhood etc.) that act upon us, was dominant at the time. A lot of my fishing in the past was little more than worm drowning or mackerel bashing, and I am the first to acknowledge that there is a damn sight more to fishing than just catching fish. However at the end of the day, we all do this thing we do to catch more or bigger fish - or simply to reduce the number of blank days.

Whoever said that “the more I practise the luckier I become” had a real point, unfortunately the vast majority of us are restricted in the amount of hours we can put into the practise. If we substitute this for a bit of homework then we straight away give ourselves an advantage over the worm drowners.

I hope to present information in this blog that not only is of interest but may help improve your knowledge of the environment you are putting yourself in and of the fish you are trying to catch.

Now although I’m no poet, I have been known to celebrate the occasional poets day (P**s Off Early Tomorrow’s Saturday), and so feel qualified in ending this piece with an extract from Izaak Walton’s Compleat Angler.

Walton lived in Staffordshire, close to where I lived until I was 18, and published this work in 1654. It was therefore nigh on impossible for him to run up to North Wales for a spot of flattie bashing on a weekend and so he is excused for dedicating all his time to rivers and fishponds. He summed up my thoughts on fishing in the alternative title of his book “The contemplative man’s recreation” and in the following words:

O the gallant fishers life,
It is the best of any!
‘Tis full of pleasure, void of strife,
and’tis beloved by many:
Other joys
Are but toys;
Only this
Lawful is;
For our skill
Breeds no ill,
But content and pleasure.

Get out there and enjoy yourself.