Our Founder - Biography
Paul Blackman - Born in Yorkshire and introduced to angling at the tender age of 4 years, he regularly caught more than his father, the tutoring coming from his grandfather. Sat at the bank side, with a harness and reigns staked to the bank, with a six foot tank ariel rod and a solid wood centrepin reel, Perch were his favourite fish - that's all he seemed to catch with granddad's worms - he baited the hook too! From that time onwards, every spare moment was spent fishing.
At twenty he started
to fish with the fly, three years later started to tie his own creations
thanks to good friends who showed him how,
he has been fly fishing for anything with fins that swims ever since.
Thirty plus years as fly angler and more as a coarse fisherman, he has had
his share of rubber hook syndrome but he still learns from every experience
in
life and
as an angler.
Making his debut with a shotgun when he was but a boy of twelve in the Lincolnshire
countryside, he soon learned to bowl over rabbits at twenty plus yards with
a four-ten and sometimes beat his dad to the pigeons clattering through the woods
- he was not however allowed to shoot at game until his sixteenth birthday.
He started stalking deer in his late twenties in southern england across Sussex
and Surrey, where he assisted the Head Keepers on several estates and occasionally
the local police force in humane
dispatch, but found the subsequent upheaval of public opinion around firearms "too
crazy for words",
so sold his rifles and started to shoot clays competitively.
Unntil recently he was the CPSA County Secretary for Hertfordshire and South East Regional representative, he still finds time to advise for a syndicate trout water locally.
After his first
visit to The Highlands of Scotland he realized that the stories of "peace
and quiet" he had heard previously were greatly under the mark,
the sheer size of the area is immense, the serenity that it exudes and the
overall
majesty has to be seen to be believed, that is why he made the decision there
and then that everyone he talks to has to add this place to their "Bucket List".
All of the trips he has organized to the other areas of outstanding beauty
in the UK have had a similar affect on him, but none so much as West Sutherland.
Recent awards include Fulling Mill "Fly-Master" 2010 for one of his original fly designs.
His articles are
published regularly throughout the internet.
His Mantra - Enjoying
the "Country Life" is easy, enjoying Country Sports can
take hard work, a good sense of humour and a clear head, but its
worth it!