Fishing Diary: The Interview Series Part 3

Leo Heathcote

Age, Occupation?

41, CNC Workshop Manager.

Earliest Fishing Memory

I was seven years old. Fishing off the dam wall of an estate lake in Leicestershire on a cold autumn morning with my uncle Clive and very occasionally catching small roach. I remember being amazed at the sight of shoals of roach all jumping out of the water at once. When my uncle told me it was because of the Pike chasing them I immediately wanted to go home because I had visions of these huge, terrifying pike dragging me into the lake for supper.

Did the mystery of fishing grab you straight away or did you take some persuading to go again?

To be honest I never really got the opportunity to go again for a few years so it became a distant memory. I was ten the next time I went and it was then I got the bug.

With uncle Clive again?

Yes, he was like a father figure to me when I was young. He took me on the Ripon canal and it was there I caught my first fish, a perch, completely on my own. When we got home that evening he went into his tackle shed and gathered a few bits together, a rod, reel and keep net etc for me to take home and use on my local canal in Loughborough.

When did you start targeting bigger fish?

After a few months on the canal catching mostly gudgeon I decided to venture onto the river and immediately started getting a bigger variety of species and a better stamp of fish. Chub in particular really caught my attention as they averaged over a pound and readily took a wide variety of baits.

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I caught the occasional two or three pounder and it was those that got me targeting better fish really.

Did you have any other interests in your teens?

I was never into sport, girls were just plain awkward and computer games were in their infancy at the time so I pretty much spent all of my spare time fishing, certainly until I was sixteen or seventeen anyway. Then girls suddenly became interesting, as did beer.

I know you as a bit of a tackle tart, you like expensive stuff. Can you remember splashing out in the early days?

My first set of matching carp rods, some Shakespeare SKP things with a fancy Kevlar wrap were the first items of tackle I bought for sheer vanity. These were quickly followed by a pair of Shimano 4500GT Baitrunners, I remember sporting them at Nanpanton Reservoir and thinking I was super cool. I was seventeen I think.

So you went down the carp fishing route?

Yes, my close fishing mates at the time were all into it so I just naturally followed suit. It was camping for grown-ups with big fish and copious amounts of alcohol, for a young lad in his twenties it seemed like a good idea.

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My entire twenties were spent chasing carp, I fished many, many different places both at home and abroad but eventually I began to tire of the whole scene.

Where did you go from there? Back to the rivers?

Yes, by the time I hit my early thirties my carp fishing mojo had all but disappeared. One day a visit to Soar Valley Tackle saw me purchase a cheap set-up for barbel and I found myself headed back to the river Soar where my big-fish mentality had originally begun.

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I had a couple of barbel on my very first trip and instantly the fishing bug returned like a breath of fresh air. I couldn't get enough of barbel after that.

I imagine a man with a young family and a time consuming hobby needs the backing of a good woman. How important have the women been in your life been regarding fishing. Firstly your mum and latterly your wife?

To be fair, in the early days my mum was great, even though she brought three kids up on her own and never had much cash she still opened up a Bennett's of Sheffield interest free account so I could get hold of the kit I craved. Sadly she passed away when I was nineteen but that proved to be the kick up the backside I needed to make me go and get a job and sort my life out.

I met Sally, my wife when I was twenty-one and at the time I'd actually sold all my kit and given up fishing so she had no idea what she was getting involved with. A mate of mine then gave me a cheap carp set-up for my twenty second birthday and I was mad keen again much to Sally's disgust. She stuck with me though even though she hates fishing to this day.

Does she have any interests you support her in?

I pay for her weekly vodka supply if that counts?

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She's not going to read this is she? She's not really an alcoholic lol.

In recent years you've been a lure fishing fanatic, how did that start?

The barbel fishing led to an ever expanding interest in specimens of other species with perch in particular taking a strong hold over me. I spent an awful lot of time chasing perch on bait and I initially treated lure fishing as a searching method. My reasoning being that I could cover a lot of water and track down pockets of better fish fairly quickly which I could then target with bait. Trouble was, I started to enjoy the lure fishing in its own right. Not long after that I bumped into someone who introduced me to ultra-light jigging and dropshotting. That then became an absolute obsession for me.

You've actually walked away from a couple of sponsorship type arrangements. Without getting into the whys and wherefores what would your advice be to anyone craving the backing of tackle companies, particularly young anglers?

I would say think very carefully as it really isn't as glamorous as people imagine. The constant pressure to produce good catches takes its toll on your fishing and in my case it really started to get me down. My confidence went through the floor, I began to fish badly and felt trapped by it all. People handle pressure differently and some get on with it, some don't. Perhaps I placed too much pressure on myself to perform. Regardless of what happened I know I'm a lot happier and far, far more relaxed now which is exactly how it should be.

You once found an old wallet containing £200 you had forgotten about in a cupboard. What did you spend it on?

Lol. It didn't have £200 in it, I swear. It was more like £20 and I probably frittered it away on more lures or something.

Sally, if you are reading this, he told me at the time it was £200. Ed.

What organisations are you involved with?

I'm a committee member for Derby Railway Angling Club. I've been involved for about four years now. By and large it is a fairly thankless job but I love being part of the club. It gives me a real sense of putting something back into angling and to helping to manage our various waters is fascinating to me. I'm also a bailiff for Loughborough Soar Angling Society. It's a club I've been a part of pretty much since I started fishing, bailiffing their waters where I learnt my trade is the least I can do.

Favourite fish?

Zander.

Favourite Capture?

4lb 8oz Perch on the float.

Favourite capture by someone else?

In a pairs match my partner Carl Arcus caught a 66cm Zander at exactly the right time. It won the match for us.

Best ever session?

A weeks drive and survive carp fishing trip to Holland, only caught four carp all week but by god, did we have some adventures.

Pet hates?

Ignorant people.

Is Clive still around?

Yes, he is. Now retired from the Air Force, living in Melton Mowbray and no longer fishing.