‘What I wish I’d known at 20’ - Dr Paul Garner

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, so for this series we asked some of angling’s stars what nuggets of wisdom they would share with their 20 year-old selves and why. It makes interesting reading...

Dr Paul Garner - well-known specimen angler and Angling Times columnist

“Don’t put off opportunities that come up, you never know how long they will be around.
“When I was 20, fishing time was pretty much limited to the summer holidays from university, as I was living in London and studying marine and freshwater biology at Queen Mary’s.
“In the long summer break I would mainly be carp fishing in the Colne Valley, but at the end of my second year I got knocked off my mountain bike, crushing two fingers. Then, following my exams, I caught chicken pox. You can see the remaining spots in the picture, and I self-isolated on the River Colnbrook after barbel.
“Barbel were almost like unicorns to us back then, but I did manage to catch a few, mainly by stalking them with lumps of luncheon meat flavoured with Hutchy’s Monster Crab.”