10 Anglers you wish you had the chance to fish with

1. Alan Blair
We imagine a session with Alan Blair would be a bit like chasing a runaway dog. An exhilarating scamper through local parks and towpaths accompanied by the enduring thought you might never be able to keep up!

2. Chris Yates
An easy choice for most carpers, Chris Yates embodies the very soul of angling to so many people. His centrepins, cane rods and chunky-mesh landing nets may look out of place in the modern age but a session in his company is more likely to be about atmosphere than ruthless catching efficiency.

3. Gazza
There can’t be many lists in the world that contain both Sir Christopher Yates and Paul Gascoigne. Imagine them sharing a swim! Anyway, Gazza is well known as an angling lover and you can guarantee there wouldn’t be a dull moment on a social with him. He’d even supply the rods and roast chicken.

4. Rod Hutchinson
We say the thought of Gazza and Yates sharing a swim is fanciful, but Chris did strike up a lasting and perhaps unlikely friendship with angling’s own hellraiser Rod Hutchinson at Redmire. Rod possessed a truly pioneering angling brain, but also a love for ‘smelling the roses’ and enjoying life’s other many delights along the way, so a trip with him would be both educational and thoroughly entertaining.

5. John Wilson
That chuckle, that reassuring tone of voice… perhaps you wouldn’t need to actually fish alongside Wilson, you’d just ask him to narrate one of your favourite sessions and turn it into your own personal episode of Go Fishing. Ahh, it makes us feel warm inside just thinking about it.

6. Simon Scott
You know how kids can get into a never-ending cycle of asking ‘why?’ to every statement you make? That’s how we’d be with Simon. And we bet the carp encyclopedia would be able to answer all of our whimsical queries about fish anatomy, genetics and behaviour
with authority.

7. Dick Walker
Definitely Premier League when it comes to picking angling’s ‘fantasy dinner-party guests’, Richard Walker would be a fascinating man to angle with. Half the fun would be in showing him the modern carp scene and seeing his reaction. After all, a large part of what we enjoy right now is down to him.

8. Ritchie McDonald
The first man in British history to land four different 40s from four different waters would be an incredible bankside partner. Relatively elusive these days, mining him for information about those glory years at Yateley would be an eye-opening experience no doubt.

9. Julian Cundiff
Carp angling’s nicest man? Quite possibly! If you’ve ever seen the attention he dedicates to anglers who approach him at shows (and on social media) you’ll know that a trip with Jules would just be a pleasure. You might have to brush up on your heavy-metal knowledge & travel to the frozen north, mind you!

10. Derek Ritchie
Can you even handle a trip with this one? A sesh with the Don would be an unforgettable parade of disco lights, thumping music and incredible stories. Days and days could pass in his energising company before you even bothered to attempt to get a wanger on a banger.