RODCAST! Matt Hayes Podcast

Fishing goes techno with UK’s FIRST angling podcast

Fishing enters the digital age this week as TV channel Discovery Real Time launches the UK’s first podcast dedicated to angling. The podcast is hosted by fishing guru and Discovery Real Time presenter Matt Hayes with the aim of ‘making a splash’ with Britain’s four million anglers.

‘Essential Fishing Skills with Matt Hayes’ is an audio guide from one of the UK’s most skilled and best-loved anglers. From Friday 14th July, the first in the series of five shows will be available for free download from www.realtimetv.co.uk in weekly instalments to provide fans of the UK’s most popular participation sport, with a step-by-step guide to the art of landing the catch of the day.

Designed for both complete novices and fans who’d like to brush up their technique, ‘Essential Fishing Skills with Matt Hayes’ is packed full of hints and tips aimed to give the audience the core skills needed for a successful day by the riverbank. In each episode Matt is joined by experts who share their angling know-how across a range of topics including everything you need to know about buying the right kit and casting out, all the way to ‘baiting the swim’ and ‘playing the fish’.

Knowledge of the art of angling has traditionally been passed down from generation to generation, however there are worries in the fishing world that this custom may be in danger of dying out. One of the aims of the Discovery Real Time’s podcast is to offer the younger generation a new way of learning essential angling skills by simply plugging into their iPods.

Matt Hayes, explains: “There’s never been a better time to take up fishing - the sport has changed dramatically since the days when I started out nearly 20 years ago. It’s now cheaper than ever to set yourself up with a beginners kit and there are hundreds of fantastic fishing spots all over the country to choose from. The podcasts are the perfect way for fishing fans to learn the basics, whether they’re on the way to work, practising in the garden or actually on the side of the river casting out.”

‘Essential Fishing Skills with Matt Hayes’ can be downloaded from www.realtimetv.co.uk and iTunes.

A Bit About Matt

In case your head has been buried in the sand and you haven't heard of Matt (he was writing for Anglers' Net way back in 1999!), then here are a few facts...

At the age of 28, Matt was Sales & Marketing Director for Pirelli Tyres and one day he walked into the office and decided he’d had enough. Shimano, which offers a range of fishing equipment, offered him a consultancy contract and this coupled with some video work for marketing companies in the industry enabled him to launch his career in fishing – and he’s never looked back.

In 1998 he won the Drennan Cup, specimen fishing’s top prize but since then he’s dropped out of serious big fish angling to rediscover pleasure fishing. “I still like to catch big fish but for me, what really counts is experiencing fishing in all of its forms. I came to realise that measuring success in pounds and ounces is a road to nowhere so these days I seek out fishing adventures wherever I can find them.”

“The places I fish, the people I fish with and the mastery of so many different styles of fishing are my driving forces - I just love the big, wild places and the wild, uncaught fish. To me, the magic of fishing is mystery and uncertainty. I've been so lucky to fish in some of the greatest places in the world and the best part is that there are so many more blank pages in the fishing diary to fill.”

Matt’s top fishing tips

Favourite location for fishing
“That's a real tough one because there are so may places I love to fish. At the moment I am in love with fishing the Dorset Stour for chub and barbel. Having said this, you cannot beat the sheer wildness of a lake Windermere pike on a raw winter's day. When I am overseas I love fishing on the Baltic sea for pike in Sweden and I also love saltwater fly-fishing in Cuba. In recent years I've developed a love of summer sea trout fishing with the fly. We fish all night, on the Tywy in Wales, wading up to our chests in water - it is truly electrifying stuff and I long for those warm summer nights and a pool full of leaping silver bars.”

Advice for a novice fisherman
“Try and go fishing with as many good anglers as you can. If you can't find anyone who is much better than you to fish with, read as many instructional books and magazines about fishing as you can - they are packed with useful tips and advice.”

Best way to catch carp
“The real key to catching carp is locating them. I often spend hours watching the water before I decide where to fish. When I do cast in, you can bet that I’m sure that I have fish in front of me. That's infinitely preferable to turning up and turfing out in the first comfortable spot you come to.”

How to bait them in
“I've caught fish on all sorts of bait over the years… you can use anything from bare hooks, lumps of cheese, cockles, mussels, prawns and all manner of supermarket foods.”

And finally
Outstanding fishing ambition:
To catch a seven pound chub, a big ferox trout, a broadbill swordfish, a forty pound pike and a permit on a fly…