Gaz Fareham: Angler, Editor, Writer
“There’s no point rushing, anywhere, for anything… life is too short to rush.”
Get to know Gaz Fareham with this simple Q&A, what would your answers be?
The last thing I bought and loved was my new MacBook Pro. I’ve always worked on a desk-based Mac, but recently figured why sit at my desk and work, when I can do the same thing sitting over a big bed of bait with the rods out at the same time for a night or two a week. Other than that, it would be my new Commencal Clash DH bike I’ve recently bought for the winter hill season!
With time on my hands I’d hope to be doing exactly the same as I am now, but if we were really dreaming, I’d absolutely love to do a 6- to 12-month van trip around Europe with Sarah, following the seasons, carp and the surf and mountains south.
I have a collection of books and magazines. I’m a massive print nerd—I collect all manner of stuff, and love obscurities and small run editions as well as big lavish editions for the coffee table. Everything from punk zines, to culture and music mags, to photography, to horticulture.
I’ve recently discovered there’s no point rushing, anywhere, for anything… life is too short to rush.
My favourite lake and swim is the Stream on Redesmere—I suppose probably from a nostalgia point of view. As Rob Gillespie once famously said, “the swims were so tight you could use the same pegs for your brollies and eat from the same pans” but it was one hell of a social swim, and vista of the main body of the most famous of all NW lakes.
In my bait bag you’ll always find some tigers and some little yellow ones (although the yellow ones have barely come out this year).
The game-changing moment which changed everything for me was realising my value system had changed, and to fish where I wanted, how I wanted, and to not just sit it out for big UK ones that carry the credibility tag. It took me a while to accept that, strangely, but I’ve never enjoyed my fishing more, ever.
The podcast I’m listening to is Matt Barr’s Looking Sideways (still). With 180 episodes, it is a big back catalogue to work through! Absolutely brilliant and a nice break from the fishing-related stuff, now that my day-to-day work life surrounds me with that.
The lake I can’t wait to go back to is an abandoned gravel pit in France I fished this spring filming with Cypography. Paradise, of sorts.
The one angler I’d love to fish with (dead or alive) if I could is Rod Hutchinson, without a shadow. I did get to meet him and spend a day at his house, but I would love to have done a four-week Chanty trip or something with him back in the day to absorb some of his laid back attitude and humour; or maybe a guest on Savay back in the ’80s or ’90s. Quilted suits, Skeetex and tropical sun visors…
The tech I couldn’t do without is 4G. Sadly. Or maybe my NTXr Receiver, I love that thing!
An indulgence I would never forgo is quality freshly ground coffee. Since finding the Aeropress three or four years ago, bankside coffee has never been
so good.
A recent “find” is how superb a boilie the Baitworks Atlantic Heat and Royal Marine are—incredible baits!
The tackle items I would never part with are my SS3000’s or my Hearns. The SS’s are imbued with ‘magical powers’ as well, having once belonged to Tom Felton—aka Malfroy from the Potter films! Clunky, inefficient coffee grinders, but I wouldn’t swap them for all the smooth reel tech in the world—and when I did, the new fangled ones all imploded on me in no time. The grinders live on!
My favourite apps are Accu Weather and Google Maps, from a purely technical perspective. I don’t use many others in all honesty. A lot of tech and mindless apps just feel like a waste of life.
If I wasn’t doing what I do, I would maybe be working as a documentary photographer. I still want to do an MA at some point and study it. And for fun, riding down hills fast and chasing waves around the world.
