I was three years old when it all started. My dad brought me fishing with him to the small beautiful rivers in Downpatrick. We both fished with small rods which we both called ‘Dinky rods’ at that time. As I got older as the age of 5, I started doing more and more fishing. My dad started taking me out pike fishing with him in the winter and I loved it.
Since 5 years old I was going fishing every weekend with my dad and older brother. We fished for pike in Co. Cavan, Co. Fermanagh and Co. Monaghan. My dad ran a pike fishing club with his friends and they organised competitions now and again.
At the age of seven, I landed a 22lb 4oz pike from Cullyhanna Lough. I was born in 1990 and I was in the Irish Angler Magazine in 1997, so I was nearly 8 years old when I caught that monster. My brother is also a very good pike angler and he has caught several twenties. The funny thing is my dad watched my brother and I grow up catching twenty pound pike and he still hasn’t caught one himself.
I got a cheap fly rod setup for my 15th birthday and I decided to teach myself how to fly fish. I never caught anything, never and I wasn’t improving expect my casting was improving a little bit. So at 16 years old I was properly introduced to the fly fishing and fly tying world by a good friend Joseph Stitt. Once I was on the right track and having fun I couldn’t stop.
These days I spend my free time fly tying and fly fishing, I’m always up for a good challenge and hope to learn as much as I can.