TRADITIONAL FISHING WAYS SHAPE OTTERY AUTHOR'S ANGLING OUTLOOK

Mike Winter is one of a select band of anglers.The 64-year-old retired teacher from Ottery St Mary, is one of only 21 people who are members of the invitation-only Golden Scale Club.

And while he describes the elite society as "a bunch of moth-eaten eccentrics" its members, like himself, hold dear the traditional ways of the angler.

For Mike, the peace and tranquility he finds when fishing and his own harmony with the natural world that surrounds him, is what his sport is about.

Not for him any hi-tech bite alarms, chemically-concocted baits and other expensive gadgets designed to lure in enthusiastic anglers. Indeed, Mike fishes with split cane rods, which he often makes himself, natural baits and little else - except his own experience and skill, which he taught himself from an early age.

He accepts fishing is in his blood - his father, grandfathers and uncle were all keen anglers - and his passion has been put into words in a book he has written called Along Fishermen's Paths.

The story begins with recollections of Mike's first fishing experience when he was five, in a brook at the end of his grandparents' garden in East Devon.

He describes how he found an old reel and line and hooked a caterpillar to catch his first fish - a seven-inch long brown trout.

On his seventh birthday he was given his first rod and tackle and got busy teaching himself to fish by trial and error, his only guide a copy of Bernard Venables' Mr Crabtree Goes Fishing. He recalls the fascination of catching his first carp - Mike went on to form the Devon Carp Catchers Association in 1958 - and the pride in landing his first pike, a record-breaking 14lb beauty that earned him a silver cup.

He still has that fish, caught in a lake at Newton Abbot when he was 11 or 12, in a glass case in his study.

Back then Mike travelled from his family's East Devon home to Exeter School, where he joined its natural history society - a clandestine fishing club whose members would think nothing of cycling off on a 10-15-mile trip to do some fishing.

Back in those days Mike would have a keen interest in record catches. And while today he admits the prospect of topping his own best catches still gives him a buzz, he is firmly set down his own fisherman's path.

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His most memorable catch remains a huge barbel caught on the River Avon in Hampshire.

"I still go carp fishing - it was the fish for me for some years. There was a time when there was not many carp in Devon and certainly nobody had caught a 20-pounder, so that was our objective, " said Mike, explaining the origins of the Devon Carp Catchers' Club.

"But I am an all-rounder and don't really specialise in anything these days. I just like to fish in remote spots, where it is quiet and to fish in a simple way. If I can get away with tying a hook on the end of a line, that's fine by me. I am a naturalist and I like being close to nature.

"You can go to some lakes these days and there is noise and flashing lights from things like bait alarms and other devices. I have seen people set up rods with alarms and then go and sit in their tent waiting for them to trigger - it all seems to be about how big a specimen you can catch and it's not for me. I think these modern devices are taking away the traditional angling skills that people should learn.

"I like to stalk fish and be aware of what is going on around me, not just the fish but the other wildlife that is around - that is more what fishing is about for me."

Mike is the kind of angler who does not stay still for long and likes to keep on the move when he is fishing.

So being weighed down by a big tackle box and other equipment is no good to him - he just needs his rod and a bit of tackle and bait in his pocket.

A qualified professional angling coach, Mike would advise anyone considering taking up the sport to play it simple - not spend lots on all sorts of unnecessary accessories that will do nothing to improve your technique.

"One time you would go into a tackle shop and smell linseed oil off the nets, varnish off the rods, a slight ammonia smell from the maggots and pipe smoke," he said. "Any big angling centre these days has so many commercial baits and chemical concoctions - it stinks!

"I catch all my fish - and I do catch some big fish - on simple baits like bread, cheese, worms and maggots. A lot of this stuff on the market catches more anglers' money than it does fish."

Mike was first inclined to write thanks to the encouragement of celebrated author Richard Walker, who his father had worked with during the war at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough.

Since then he has written for many angling publications over the years including the Angling Times and Big Fish World. He wrote his first fishing piece for the Express & Echo when he was a teenager.

For the last 20 years he has written a column in his local weekly paper, the Sidmouth Herald.

"I had a lot of encouragement to write this book from friends in the Golden Scale Club and, having done a lot of writing, I just felt I needed to write a book just to get it out of my system," he said.

The book has been beautifully illustrated by Mike's son Quinton, a 36-year-old artist who does illustrations and caricatures for The Guardian.

A limited run of 500 books are available and they can be purchased direct from the Medlar Press at www.medlarpress.com or through the Curious Otter bookshop in Ottery St Mary.

I can recommend this book having bought it at the Game Fair.