When looking for a replacement for Brian Envis, John Essex made a good impression in finishing 4th in the Great Ouse Championship that year after drawing next to Ivan who had the first of his three wins in the event. John won the Championship in 1971. He made match fishing history in 1975 with what was, at the time, the biggest fish landed in a National with a 14-2-0 Nene carp. He finished third although interestingly he still occasionally gets congratulated for winning that match!

Charismatic Ivan went from strength to strength, winning the ‘People’ Championship in 1967 and 1968. Then came three Great Ouse Championships in 1970, 1972 and 1973, setting a record weight for the event. He won the 1970 Welland Championships plus the HAS Fisheries Championships in 1969 and 1971. If I can borrow an anecdote from Phil Coles in Mark Wintle's excellent book ‘Ivan Marks and the Likely Lads' all will become clear. This is what Phil said Ivan taught him just ahead of a Ladbrokes Super League match on the Avon at Evesham in 1977.Other big names at the time were very gruff and unaproachable, most of them from Birmingham! That probably cemented my thoughts that there is more to life than winning. Now in Lancashire, size 12s hooks were for hanging slabs of beef on at the butchers, but this being Ivan, I wasn't going to question the judgement of my hero, so on it went, on went two worms and out into peg 29 went the lot.

Ivan was well known on the local canalised part of the River Soar in the centre of Leicester known as the ‘Straights’, and he lived just a stone’s throw away on Saffron Lane. Although Ivan was definitely my fishing hero, his styles didn’t really translate to the Upper Great Ouse where I grew up. I didn’t actually meet him in person until the early 90s ….. pegged next to each other on a winter league on the middle Nene. It was a horrbile day, foggy & cold. We both had about 2lb of little roach, but his smile brightened up the day! I was fishing at Tunnel Barn at the Winter League and he was there and my big regret is not having a chat with him to say how much he influenced my fishing. Within weeks he was dead. His achievements in match angling will never be bettered. He fished for England on 10 occasions, won three Great Ouse Championships, the Welland Championship, was the CIU Champion on three occasions and was Embassy Individual Champion. He won at least 10 matches that had more than 800 pegs and numerous other big open matches against 200 or more competitors.The Legend of Bigfoot was released to theaters in 1976. [1] Ivan Marx made two follow-up documentaries: In the Shadow of Bigfoot and Bigfoot: Alive and Well in '82. Home media [ edit ] Ivan also taught me to use fine line below the float, double the length of the traditional ‘yard bottom' of finer nylon tied the hook. As described in the book ‘Ivan Marks – the People's champion' in any swim of six-foot depth or more he would use twice that length of finer line for the added stretch it gave him. The line stretch assists the cushioning of the rod tip and acts just like elastic in a pole, counteracting the force of the strike and protecting the most fragile of hook-holds on a fish. Hook designer and other Ivan innovations It's a reasonable statement to make that the majority of club committees are, to this day, made up of people who are or were at one time active on the match fishing scene, usually at club or sometimes at open match level. Few, if any of them, would not know the name of Ivan Marks. Ivan’s inspirational captaincy saw the Leicester Angling Society team win the National Angling Championships in 1971 and 1974. Add on Ivan’s wins in the 1977 Woodbine Final, the 1988 DFDS Seaways Classic, etc. The list is endless. He made 11 appearances for England from 1972, winning a silver individual medal in Bulgaria in 1976. Ivan Marks wasn’t just the finest match angler of his generation, he was perhaps the greatest of all time; he was certainly a dominant celebrity in a sport where such characters are rare. He dominated the sport in the 1960s and 1970s, and was still successful in the 1980s, winning a succession of massive championships and many big open matches. His outstanding ability brought him a regular England place. His Leicester teammates shared in his success, winning many team events, including the last of the All-England Nationals, and a further National win in 1974.