Firstly, I've put this in Bait Box so we can hopefully have a laugh, without causing offence.

For me personally I've had a great fishing life and loved every moment of it.

It all started at the age of 6 with my Dad, then it moved onto small club fishing and then onto match fishing.  I fished the winter league and comercial house league, but never took it further.  I had some good wins and a very specal win for me was the Graham Kyle memorial trophy, he was a very good friend who died very early in life and I was the first to put my name on his trophy.

After that it was purely pleasure fishing with good mates, then I joined FishingMagic!

A whole new world of angling opened up to me, I met some angling legends through the FM forum and FM fish-ins and I changed

I love fishing even more now, but WHAT IF ???

On the other hand, I've got a beautiful loving wife and 3 fantastic kids (1 kid, 2 adults).

Would you have done anything differently in your angling life?

Well

I stopped fishing at age 12 - the regular Saturday morning session clashed with my rugby matches and well rugby won.

I started again at age 40 when my son wanted to fish - oh how things had changed - so I had to re-learn what bit of fishing skills I had at 12 (very little)

5 years later my pb carp is 20lb,pb pike 2lbish, and it took my 6 outing to catch my first fish after re-joining

So what would I have done differently - not given up fishing at 12 - found another day to fish spent even more money on fishing and got even drunker -but there's still time

I dipped my rod (stop it! ) for the last time at 16.  Found another use for the other rod! 

Had a little dabble at fluff chucking for a year or so at 26.  Marriage does that to a chap.

Came back to the sport at 49.  Second marriage!!  So, like M'Lud, I would never have given it up had I known then............  Ah, isn't hindsight a wonderful thing? and why is the guy in the mirror looking so different these days?

It always makes me laugh when someone asks, would you have done anything different in life and someone says no.

I can think of so many things I've cocked up over the years that I would do so differently. How can anyone honestly say they'd do everthing in life the same if they had their time again??

There are a few fish I've lost because the clutch was too tight and way too many sessions where I'd have stayed at home or gone to the pub instead of blanking, falling in, leaving my reel at home or snapping a rod etc!! So, yes, I'd probably have done the majority of it differently to be honest.

Of course, you need some bad sessions to make the good ones better, but there's no way I'd have got out the car some days, had I known what was about to happen...

I remember driving 2 and half hours to the severn once and within 10 minutes of getting to my peg the heavens opened and it rained like I've never known before o since for 20 minutes and I had left the brolley in the car half a mile away. By the time it finished my undies were wet. In the re-run of that trip, I sit in the car for half an hour and have a brew and something to eat, then wander out of the torrent, instead of spending 6 hours like some old gipper with a weak bladder.

Have Cakey!!!

No, I wouldn't change anything, probably though, I should go a lot more than I do.

My angling life extends to a massive 5 months, so what would i have done differently?

I wish that i had taken up angling a long time ago, maybe then i would have stayed out of trouble a bit more and apprieciated life a lot more. Over the whole of my life i wished that i had listened to people's advise and wisdom rather than being a stubborn know it all who didn't accept that he was wrong.

no she nags if i go to often

I would not want to change anything?

I am fortunate in being able to fish in many other parts of the world, catch a whole host of different species and also being able to contribute to the sport. For example I was a committee member of the most prestigious angling association in South Africa for 7 years. My memories of those times are extremely happy ones.

I was also involved with the foundation of a major specimen group, The National Association of Specimen Groups and the British Carp Study Group.

I have met and fished with some of the world's finest anglers. Dick Walker, Tag Barnes, Dick Clegg, Derek Gibson, Graham Marsden, Billy Lane, Gord Burton, Peter Stone, John Everard, Trevor Babich, Lee Wulff and Peter Cockwill to name a few.

No, I wouldn't want to change anything.

Ron,

I wished that I could have had someone like your good self or Graham "the boss" to mentor me and show me the ropes.

I would have been a better angler over the years, a better angler today.

Respects, Deanos. 

Maybe one of the more unseen benefits of being on the site is that the likes of yourself and Ron gain many new friends Derek. As time has gone by and my own  life's perspectives change, my respects for my elders on all levels has grown.

You are bang on Fred!.....I have had some great help from a good few of the lads off the site, dare I say it, the site has created a good few angling hero's for me!

Ron, pm on the way today! 

   Deanos, thanks for the kind sentiments, looks like i'm the silly old bugger.

      Your point is noted.