This weekend I decided to enjoy the sun and spend a day fishing at Willinghurst Fishery in Surrey. As I've recently bought a Preston 13ft Excel Float rod I wanted to try catching silvers on light tackle. I chose this fishery as they allow a keepnet to be used for a small additional charge ( it cost me £15.50 for one rod and a net), and I wanted to see how many fish I could catch in the 5 hours or so that I was there.

After stopping off at Surbiton Angling Centre to pick up a pint...

As a young lad I was a keen angler from around 12 through to 19. I had a stack of fishing books and magazines that I would trawl through to find new techniques. If a fishing programme was on television I would sit entranced, demanding silence from my brothers as I watched various fishing celebrities pull fish out of a pond or river.

I first got the 'fishing bug' when one of my class mates did a presentation on his hobby - sea fishing. That evening I went home and announced to my Mum...