I am going continental

I am spreading my passion European style

With February almost behind us and the odd mild day thrown into the mix I have to admit that feelings of spring and those warm early mornings are at the forefront of my thoughts. As soon as the weather picks up and the clocks change spreading more daylight hours into the late afternoons you can be sure the Nation’s number one most participated sport, angling, will see anglers flooding the banks up and down the country in their quests to catch a fish of a lifetime. Sadly most people do not recognise angling as a sport and see it more of a leisure activity, a trip out of town in the countryside with a few friends, a social. Well that is the beauty of the angling, it is all of those things I have just mentioned and much much more. I have played football for numerous London and Essex football teams including my beloved West Ham United for nearly three years as a youth team player, plus I played the game in European competitions for my clubs in Norway, Holland and France.

 I represented my London borough at Cricket back in my school days and played for Bletchingley CC for a few seasons taking in a couple of tours to the Isle Of Wight, great days. I represented my school and Newham at Athletics for many years competing in the 400 and 800 metres, where I only got beaten once, plus the hurdles as well when I had the energy. I remember always feeling sick when it was time to race as I put everything into my races and I can still feel that eerie silence running down the back straight of Terence McMillan stadium in East London before the bend into the main stand where cheers of encouragement would push me over the line. I competed individually and in teams at Table Tennis, Pool, Snooker and Darts winning trophies along the way in all the sports I competed in, but whilst I played competitively in all of these sports, meeting so many friends along the way,  I still took time out to fish and learn making me the angler I am today. After learning my watercraft from my Dad, I pushed on and the competitive sportsman in me pushed me into the direction of match fishing and that meant club fishing for many years before moving into the open match circuit and competition events. Passion for my sports especially angling fuelled me to write about it and the angling magazine work followed a few years ago and when I was contacted a few days ago to write for a European Magazine from Czechoslovakia called Sport Rybolov I was only too happy to be accept and my first European angling feature will be published in April, something of which I am very proud about.

Angling in Europe is booming and being as Team England leads the way on the World and European stage, their quest for knowledge and how to catch more fish leads them to our country just like every foreign sports person wants to play at Wembley, win Wimbledon, win the British golf open, play cricket at Lords, beat us at Twickenham and the dream of owning a horse that can win the Gold Cup at Cheltenham and the Grand National at Aintree, plus of course winning a gold at the 2012 Olympics.

Our country in the sporting stakes has so much to offer but with all that said we must make sure that we are good enough, strong enough, and competitive enough to win our events in our own back yard. In angling I am glad to say, we are world dominant!

“Tight Lines”

 Russ Evans