I started fishing at the age of five. If my brain serves me correctly, this will be my 31st year with a rod in my hand. Although my love and passion, or perhaps my obsession for our sport has never changed, tackle over the last 30 years has done enormously.

My first angling experience was on a tributary of the Thames near Oxford. My father (Big Jim) had been invited by some friends for a day on the river bank and he took me along for the ride. The fishing was good and my dad and his pals were hitting fish one after another, but by mid morning, I had become such a handful that a plan had to be devised to keep me busy! My dad and his friends had been fishing swim-feeder tactics with maggot for fish like roach, rudd and bream; and although from time to time they let me have a wind of the handle, a 3 piece, 11-12ft feeder rod was far too much for young five year old Jim to handle alone, so I soon became frustrated and bored.

To keep me out of mischief, they took the top-section off a spare rod, tied four feet of light mono direct to the tip ring and a size 16 hook to the other end; sat me down behind some reeds with a quarter of maggots and taught me to fish for Perch - Huckleberry Fin style. All I had to do was drop the maggot over the reeds and whilst it sank under its own weight, throw in a handful of maggots as an attractor and wait for old stripy to hook himself. It was a perch a drop and by the end of the afternoon I had a landing net full of these aggressive little predators and thus Jim’s angling career was born.

Over the following years, I progressed to using all three pieces of a rod, and a reel, and by the age of eleven I was competent enough to hop on my bike, with a rucksack of tackle, rods cello-taped to the crossbar and take myself fishing. Those were the days! In my thirty plus years angling, as I have said, things have changed, but although tackle and my angling have come on leaps and bounds, some old habits died hard!

In my younger years, when fishing with adults, I was allowed to use my Swiss Army Knife. But when I was going fishing on my own, for safety, my parents insisted my knife stayed at home. So like many anglers then (and I’m sure now) I trimmed the tag-ends from my knots by biting them off with my teeth. In those days angling tools were nonexistent and aside from a good penknife, teeth were a young angler’s only other tool when it came to snipping monofilament line. Not only have I been fishing for thirty plus years, but I have been biting line with my front teeth for nearly the same time too!

Like many other anglers today, I have carried household snips and pliers in my tackle box, which quickly go rusty and become un-useable, so until a few years ago I still trimmed knots with my teeth – you can’t lose them, they’re sharp, reliable and don’t rust. That was until 2005, when I developed toothache whilst fishing in Guernsey! Where I had been biting monofilament for many years, I now have permanent, small groves in my front teeth. I blame my parents for not letting me carry my Swiss Army knife fishing on my own when I was young, but in today’s world, Swiss Army knives are no longer Scouts or boy’s toys and it’s not correct for any youngster to carry any form of knife, no matter how safe they are.

We already have established tools like nail clippers or pliers purchased from PoundSaver which will only turn to a pile of rust in any anglers tackle box and are generally useless. In a nutshell – waving a knife around to trim knots is not PC, and tools developed for household uses do not last in the rugged saltwater environment we sea angler’s fish in. So what do you use?

Rods, reels, end tackle and gadgets for angling have changed so much in the last ten years and whilst some of the best developments in the last decade may not catch you more fish, many have been designed to make fishing more comfortable and pleasurable. One of these developments is specialist angling tools.

I’m sure many of you who read this have looked at purpose made angling tools and thought “What a rip off” just like I have in the past, but in the last few years my views have changed. To combat further damage to my front teeth, I had to look at an alternative to biting line and an alternative to the PoundSaver junk described above. Being a qualified skipper and professional angling guide, I also had to bear in mind that I needed a politically correct alternative to a Swiss Army knife. Angling pliers and snipers have now become essential to my day-to-day angling and are certainly cheaper than dentist charges! I’m currently using...

Calcutta Braid Scissors (with neck sheath) for trimming all my knots when saltwater and freshwater fishing. Normal scissors and nail clippers rust and do not cut braid. These 5” scissors are also a safe and great gadget I can lend to or recommend for any young angler. For my lure and pike fishing I use Calcutta’s split ring pliers, 5.5” crimping tool and clip on sheath along with a pair of Calcutta 7.5” forceps. These three tools cover any lure or coarse fishing eventuality. These tools are also perfect for sea angling and safe for any young angler to use.

Finally for my sea fishing at home and abroad, I use a pair of 5.5” Calcutta Aluminium pliers made from T6061 Aircraft grade Aluminium (with sheath and lanyard) (again with a Calcutta 5.5” crimping tool). These pliers are expensive and are not available in the UK but with their quality construction and replaceable Tungsten Carbide cutting jaws, I should never need to purchase another pair of sea fishing pliers again, unless I lose them.

Aircraft grade aluminium pliers are not essential for sea fishing, mine were a present. Good high-grade stainless steel or titanium coated tools are good enough and will last a lifetime. If you’re looking for angling tools that were made to last in the harsh environment we fish in, and tools that will do the job required day in, day out, forget household tools and go for a decent set of purpose angling pliers/snips that will not corrode or seize. For most anglers a decent set of split-ring pliers and a pair of good braid scissors will cover any eventuality where a tool is needed. Check out the following brands.

Rapala  Tools http://www.rapalaworld.com/alasivu.php?s=c2l2dT1hY2Nlc3NvcmllcyZ0eXBlPTQmcD0xJmg9MTNDSUE5R0Mz
Distributed in the UK through Shimano

Calcutta Tools
http://www.highoctane-angling.co.uk/acatalog/tools.html
Distributed in the UK through High Octane Angling

And if you’re looking for the Porsche of all angling tools, check out

Accurate Piranha Tools
http://www.snowbee.co.uk/accurate_reels_and_accessories.html
Distributed in the UK through Snowbee

Try to avoid using your teeth. Trust me, biting line can damage them!