Walton's Rucksack

I'm not a great carp angler but, if truth be told, carp are one of my least favourite species anyway. That said, I do fish for them and do (occasionaly) catch them as the photo above proves. But I'm not a carp angler; not a proper one. For a start, I can't really be bothered to put in the effort. Get me fishing for perch, for instance, and thre's no lengths I won't go to to try to catch my quarry, but I just can't seem to feel the same about carp. I tend to take too much equipment, get too settled and comfortable in a swim and then just sit there and hope the fish come to me. My two brothers, who would both cite carp as their favourite species are the total opposite. Our shared DNA hasn't made them the laid back, lazy carp angler that I am and they're happy to travel light, change swims and rigs as many times as it takes, to keep working at it and to constantly adapt their tactics to the behaviour of the fish. I guess that's why they catc...

Back in 2013 I enjoyed one of the biggest adventures of my life. I drove around the Southern States of America and hung out with different groups of Christian anglers, hunters and general outdoors people. Starting in Georgia I drove to South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas. It was a blast. Most of my fishing was done in enormous lakes, either from a high powered bass boat or wading into the warm water and casting, but my first experience of angling US style was in Charleston, SC and was fishing off the end of a pontoon in the ocean. My guide was Susan Dalton of Angling Women and Old Bridge Outfitters , mad keen angler and member of a large Presbyterian church in Charleston and under her tutelage I caught a skate and the flounder shown in the picture above. The skate was returned to the water, but the flounder caused a different kind of excitement. A tape measure was produced, the size of the fish noted and the pronouncement mad...

"The one that got away" is an angling cliche, an archetype for many tall tales told by the fire in a fisherman's inn. We've all experienced the loss of a fish, and at times it's just "one of those things"- we do nothing wrong, but somehow the fish's cunning prevails. At other times, we know it was our fault, and we endlessly re-run the scenario in our mind's eye for weeks to come. Three such stories from my own fishing come immediately to mind. The first was a float fishing session for carp, when- unaccountably- I'd set up my float, plumbed the depth and started fishing without checking that I'd set my clutch. The float dipped, I struck, and a large carp tore off towards the far bank. The clutch on my reel was so loose it might as well have been a baitrunner, and by the time I'd tightened it down to a reasonable tension the carp had taken about 30 yards of line, and with everything too slack had shed the hook. The...

Anglers choose all kinds of ways to identify themselves. By favourite species as "carp anglers" or "pikers", by style as "match", "pleasure" or "specialist" anglers, some (including a number of the Christian Anglers group) as "traditional anglers" with a penchant for vintage tackle. For some their PB lists are an important part of their angling identity, and the number of Christian Anglers caps, hoodies, T-shirts and beanies sported at our fish-ins probably says something about our human preoccupation with identifying ourselves, too. These days "identity" is a hot news topic. Social commentators talk about "identity politics", and identity is an important Christian theme, too. Only, for the Christian, identity isn't to be found in our career success, image, bank balance, education or any other number of factors. Our identity is to be found in Christ. Who we are is determined by our relations...