Explainer: Bill Cottam

1 I recognise the name, but I know very little about the man
A born and bred northerner, Bill was born in Rotherham on 3rd March 1963. He’s got no brothers, sisters and children, but is married to Mrs. C and has a couple of Great Danes.

2 How did he start Nutrabaits then?
With carp legend, Tim Paisley, but hang on, we’ll come to that in a moment. Going back to his youth, Bill left school at the earliest possible opportunity – at the end of the fifth form with no qualifications whatsoever – which makes all of his achievements even more impressive.

3 So how did he get into fishing?
Thanks to his parents. They had always taken him fishing from a young age, from their holidays to the Norfolk Broads each year – memories which still stay with Bill today – to fishing locally for roach, perch, tench and bream.

4 When did he get the carp bug then?
In the summer of 1976 when he was 13-years-old. He caught a common of “about 1lb 12oz” on a piece of floating crust.

5 Go on then, tell me about Nutrabaits?
Well, before we tell you that, we’ll tell you about his first business which he started when he was just 17-years-old and was to re-string tennis and badminton rackets. His claim to fame was having Mick Jones – the ex-Leeds United footballer as a customer.

6 Impressive – and Nutrabaits?
He and Tim Paisley, who also share a fascination with bait, started it in 1986. Bill was working as a swimming pool attendant and tennis coach when the company was born and continued to do so until 1988 when he thought the bait company was capable of paying him a wage.

7 And was it?
He thought so – they turned over £7,200 in the first twelve months of trading, and as Bill put it: “I nearly ordered a Bentley!” Things only got better from there too, as in 1989 they started to export their bait all around Europe with the first overseas order coming from Holland.

8 How many countries do they ship to now?
Fifty at the last count, and get this for mental: “We are now exporting to countries that I can’t even locate on a world map,” jokes Bill. Japan, China, Israel and Kazakhstan are amongst the most obscure. Bill himself has some impressive statistics too, catching carp from a dozen countries, including three seventy-pounders.

9 He’s written a book, right?
Correct. And a highly acclaimed one, too. ‘Behind the Rods’ took him over seven years to write, and even then, right at the last hour he caught a 78lb common so he was press-ganged into writing one more chapter. And the great news is, he’s currently writing another one, but as yet Bill hasn’t set a publish date.

10 So what’s left?
He’s got the chance to go back to the record-breaking Rainbow Lake – a venue he’s not returned to since he first fished it in 1990. “Carp fishing owes me absolutely nothing. I just love ‘being there’ and putting myself in with a chance of another big fish, which, if it happens, great, if it doesn’t, who cares? Although a fourth seventy-plus would be nice!”