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No one in my family liked fishing. I grew up in Sandhurst in Berkshire within walking distance of Yateley which was called Tri-lakes then and I think was trout fishing only. No carp and anyway it was far too expensive for me. Fishing had to be free to qualify. There were streams with bullheads and loach and the occasional trout which flowed into the River Blackwater but we were kept well clear of playing near the river because of a polio scare at the time

In about 1960 I was invited to a school-friend's 7th birthday party. His name was David. One of his presents was a fishing outfit. It was complete rubbish and virtually incapable of catching anything. The rod was heavy guage wire with plastic rings and integral "reel". The handle was moulded in the shape of an oriental fish ! The line was cotton and the float a plastic "bob".

David's father drove us all to a pond beside the A30 between Blackwater and Yateley near a roadhouse pub called the Ely. We fished with Hovis (it was Sunday after all) and we blanked big style and trooped home in disgrace.

I remembered my uncle had given me an Observer's book of Freshwater Fish. There were some real horrors in it...lampreys and the salmon with the hooked jaw! Anyway a bit of reading led me to the hallowed phrase... "perch eat worms".

Scales fell from my eyes. Of course all fish ate worms...not Hovis which is what hungry little boys eat. Our parents must have been in stitches because never having shown any previous interest in gardening we dug up every patch of earth we could find and collected all the worms.

The next time we went to the pond we caught a perch a chuck. All of them 2 oz or so. The sight of our floats bobbing about before going under was fantastic. David's little brother Stephen caught a really weird fish i.e not a perch and later identified as a tench which must have weighed a pound and a half.

Later we moved to a gravel pit. It was all small roach there. Then I moved to Marlow and fished the Thames which was much harder unless you wanted to catch bleak or ruffe.

I had no one to show me how to do anything and made so many mistakes they are embarassing to recall, compensated for by all the enjoyable moments. I read Angling Times now and then and also had a copy of Mr Crabtree Goes Fishing. I never caught any big fish but when you are young that is not what it's about.

My introduction to barbel fishing was on the Severals in 1979. With a light leger rod and 4 lb line I lost seven in a row including one on the float and the only fish I landed was a chub that went 5lb 4oz, about double my previous pb ! From then on fishing the Avon and Stour has been the only fishing for me. I even lived in Throop for two years before I had to leave when I changed jobs. I fished 5 days a week then. I didn't go back for nearly 20 years and when I did I could not believe how little water was in the river.

Now it is the warm autumns which I notice. In 1980 frost would turn all bankside vegetation brown before the middle of October. Here I am now in Cheshire in the middle of November and we haven't had a frost yet !

If anyone recognises my reference to the pond by the A30 just south of Camberley and knows its name, please let me know. I have a feeling it was filled in as part of a road building scheme.

Wurzel, I played cricket for Marlow in Gunnersbury Park against a club called Adelaide. I reckon their big no.6 batsman must have clonked one of mine in your direction !