I finally realised a childhood ambition recently, and purchased a boat. Nothing special at 13’ but now I had at my disposal my own means of getting out on the water whenever I wanted.

A trip to the Norfolk Broads was coming up with my dad. A week’s break in a riverside chalet on the Thurne was just what the doctor ordered, and so with the car full to bursting and my new ‘toy’ on the back we set off.

Having never launched a boat on our own, I’m sure we made a hash of it but no-one drowned or even got a wet foot so things started well! We made it to the chalet in one piece and quickly got things sorted and then popped to the local tackle shop for a couple of pints of casters and white maggots.

The first evening I sat outside feeding maggot and fishing a stick float on my new 14’ Preston Carbon Matic. Now I have been fortunate enough to fish with some great rods over the years, but if you enjoy stick float fishing, try and get your hands on one of these rods, they’re amazing. Even catching small 4oz roach is fun yet you can handle the bigger fish on skinny hook-leghths with total confidence.

In a couple of hours messing around and getting used to fishing with size 18’s and 20’s to 1.7lbs bottoms I had put a nice little bag together. The river was full of pristine Bleak, Roach and Silver Bream.