This celebration of angling and Britain’s freshwater world started its planning and research stage about four and a half years ago. Martin Bowler and I started production on July 22nd 2007, when we filmed our first “impossible”, the catching of a giant barbel of 15lbs 7ozs from the Great Ouse. An amazing underwater photographic journey along the Hampshire Avon…the like of which has never been seen before” - The Salisbury Journal.“ The first introductory film will be completed by early April 2011 andwill use Dorset's River Allen as an example of a prime chalk stream and attempt to show interaction between species and how the food chain works. Trying to make the local Wessex communities aware of the importance of fresh water would be a major goal. However, as you'll see by viewing the series 'Catching the Impossible', Martin, Bernard and friends did achieve an amazing number of goals and the story of how they did it is still out there on DVD for you to enjoy. We hope you do.

Passion for Angling by Chris Yates - AbeBooks Passion for Angling by Chris Yates - AbeBooks

If you want to meet us all for a chat, along with Chris Yates and a big bunch of angling pals, please come along to the Lands End Inn, Twyford, RG10 0UE on Saturday 19th Nov. from 12.30. You can buy signed copies of our film series and books, Martin’s too, or if all else fails, buy us a beer! yrs. later he has raised the bar, setting an even higher standard with a series that features awesome underwater footage…” Our aim is to try to promote our sport by showing the benefits angling brings to the environment and society as a whole, so this is our schedule:

Winter outings to the Hampshire Avon after those legendary roach were memorable not just for the occasional two pounder but for the three bitterns that kept flying past - a real treat. Chris Yates and I were asked by Kev Green to catch some big crucians for “Improve Your Course Fishing” and we had a thoroughly enjoyable day, partly because we both caught crucians to 2lbs 12ozs. But the pressure to “deliver” certainly makes you respect even more the achievements of Martin, Bernard and friends in our quest for big fish. I enjoyed the extra challenge, but probably only because we caught lots of big ones! Chris Yates is an angler, photographer, broadcaster, tea connoisseur and author born on 19 April 1948. He is a former holder of the record for the heaviest-recorded British carp, a 51.5lb specimen captured from Redmire pool in 1980. [1] Yates is a former co-editor (with Jon Ward-Allen) of Waterlog magazine, [2] and is a regular contributor to The Idler.

A Passion for Angling DVD set - Page 3 - The Traditional A Passion for Angling DVD set - Page 3 - The Traditional

These are exciting times for Sue and I here at Chillbrook Croft as our “Catching the Impossible” is nearing completion and the release of the first three films and the book is imminent. And what of our angling adventures? The start of the season was the usual happy occasion of lots of tea and Sue's special cake with fishing friends Chris Wild (my computer guru), Trevor Harrop of Avon roach fame and the infamous Mr. Yates. We all caught a few big crucians too - a splendid day.No 4, “A Sport for All Seasons” is complete, No 5, a glorious journey down the Hampshire Avon called “Going Against the Flow” is virtually finished, and No 6 “A Winter’s Gift” is only awaiting its music to be composed and recorded and that will be complete too. The films contain some suitably ‘impossible’ sized fish and if they are received with the same enthusiasm as the first three, then we will be well pleased.

Chris Yates (fisherman) - Wikipedia Chris Yates (fisherman) - Wikipedia

This will be shown on “Springwatch” on the 7th June I believe, with further short sequences to be shown on the 8th, 9th and 10th June. I will be concentrating on the River Wensum’s roach, barbel and trout, and maybe carp and tench on some of the local lakes. On April 28th I filmed roach spawning for the Avon Roach Project and hope to add barbel spawning on the Wensum, maybe even ‘live’ on the box. March saw me on the H.Avon trying to create a feature with "Improve Your Coarse Fishing" - I needed to! Though I didn't blank, I didn't get the two pounder that I hoped for and a few days later; despite getting a 5/4 chub on the pole, I blanked on the final day. I blamed the weather of course.An update from us is long overdue, our excuse being that we’ve been burning the candle at three ends to finish the next three films in our series, “Catching the Impossible”. After “A Passion for Angling”, an eager audience wanted more – only better. “Catching the Impossible” didn’t disappoint.” Thanks to the skill and determination of Martin and friends, and the generous help of so many landowners and fisheries, the results are pretty stunning. As has been pointed out, the film’s PB list is the equal of most anglers catches for a whole lifetime, yet we’ve only been filming for three and a half years. Barbel of fifteen pounds, a forty-four pound common stalked with a float, several ten pound tench, a crucian just five ounces short of the record, a three pound river roach, a thirty two pound pike and a river record perch of five pounds four ounces - and that’s just some of the catches. Then in May, fishing with a pole on a carp lake, I had seven roach over two pounds, with a best of 2lb 10oz…a wonderful days fishing as it included a 7lb 14oz tench ; I never knew elastic could stretch so far!