Ian Chillcott: Echo Founder, Author, Angler

The last thing I bought and loved was ten-pounds of petrol. My second brain tumour has taken me off the road from time to time, but just the other day I managed to get my old Harley Davidson out. The first thing I did was fill the tank with petrol, get Lindie settled in the saddle and then we caught some flies in our teeth. There is no better way for us to leave the real world behind… best tenner I’ve spent in a very long time!

With time on my hands… After retiring from the Army at 40 years of age, I reckon I have enough. However, if I had a little more, I’d spend more time with Lindie… all the company I’ll ever need!

I have a collection of five-pound notes in a big envelope. I think it’s a little sad—we all spend our time filling bottles with coins, but nowadays those coins aren’t welcomed at a bank. There was over £550 last time I checked, but keep that quiet if you could?

I’ve recently discovered that the often-used phrase, ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ is rubbish. Whilst filming for Fox Edges, my good friend Brad Walker noticed I was still tying my pop-ups on. He simply blobbed the end of the braid with a lighter to secure the hookbait… and I’ve been doing it ever since.

In my bait bag you will always find 10 and 15mm Mainline boilies. At the moment I am still using the Mainline Hybrid, in fact I have been doing so for over a decade. Whatever, or whenever, I change my bait (still Mainline, of course), I can guarantee they will always come in those sizes. They simply work wherever I go… no matter who tells me they won’t! 

The game-changing moment which changed everything for me was being given a copy of Richard Walker’s book, Stillwater Angling, way back in 1966. For a young lad of 6 years it was fascinating to read the chapter about carp, but it’s hard to imagine the excitement which ensued when I turned to the next one, Big Carp.          

The podcast I’m listening to… I don’t listen to any, never seen one and I probably never will. I can only think of them as a bit of a ‘busman’s holiday’. Oddly enough though, there’s every chance I may be in one, or make one soon… 

The lake I cannot wait to get back to is a small estate lake somewhere up the M1, in Middle England—a lake on which I have found direction for myself time and time again. She has saved my soul on so many occasions, and I would love to reacquaint myself with her one day.

The one angler I’d love to fish with (dead or alive) if I could is Richard Walker. He alerted all my senses to carp fishing as a young boy, and his remarkable story of travel, invention, discovery and sacrifice have led me on, even to
this day.

The tech I couldn’t do without is my iPhone. For an ageing dinosaur, one who has never really taken to these gadget-driven times we all live in, it has become like a fifth limb. Although I still don’t really know what it’s capable of!

An indulgence I would never forgo is my angling, which is such a glorious waste of time! For some, it may look as if it’s what drives my wheels of industry, but no. I have viewed every day I’ve spent fishing as an adventure, and whilst I’m angling around the environment and the animals which call these venues home, I guess it always will!

A recent find is Martin Gardener, and his fishery, Yateley West. This complex of lakes is probably the most refreshing oasis I have ever come across.

The tackle item I would never part with… Much of it makes us comfortable, some of it actually catches carp too, but at the end of the day it’s my Edges Arma Point Curve Shank hooks which keep me connected to the carp. I’d never leave home without them. 

My favourite apps are… What the f*^k is an app?!

If I wasn’t doing what I do, I would be either making myself extremely rich or extremely dead! In the main, by providing personal security for certain people around the world. I’m just glad I smelt the roses along the way.