Some photos from throughout the years… and yes, we had hair at one point…

We’re the Bald Blankers, Jason & Dan.

As old school friends, we started fishing as a duo around the age of 16. We both had very limited knowledge on angling, having only fished with our fathers as kids, but we were both obsessed with fishing. 

What started out as two teenagers with a shared passion for catching fish, visitting local lakes with float & maggots on hand-me-down rods; soon turned into two young men fishing for carp & catfish on commercial lakes.

We spent the next few years chasing those elusive monsters. Our target in mind was a 20lb carp, or a 30lb catfish - both of which seemed like an impossible feat at the time. The rods & reels we were using then had been slightly upgraded, we both had our first jobs now, and most of the few hundred pounds we were earning seemed to be spent on fishing gear and bait. We did OK. Our PB’s were going up and up as our visits got more frequent, and our experience increased.

Continuing on this path for the next few years, our lives drastically changed: we had homes of our own now, bills to pay, and little mouths to feed. Our priorities had changed, and the time we managed to spend on the lakes dwindled slowly away. Commercials can be expensive when you have a family to provide for, so we turned our attention to river fishing.

Having been years since we had fished a river, and never having fished them as an adult - it was daunting. We were no longer aiming to catch small roach and gudgeon, we had matured into experienced anglers and so had our eyes on bigger targets.

We found a local stretch of water that we liked the look of, we did our research this time, and it held species that we hadn’t landed before. We had our hearts set on barbel - and a double figure fish was our goal.
The first season flew by, and we had mostly been distracted with the carp in the river … old habits die hard. But we didn’t realise how much harder a big fish fights when it has the flow of the river on its side. All of a sudden, we found ourselves at the end of our first fishing season and no big barbel to show for it - but our passion again had been ignited!

We soon found a new passion for year-round angling - targeting different species of fish, on different venues, in all four seasons…although, we still focus most of our time on our local river…
Over the last few years, we have honed our craft. Double figure barbel seem to be a regular catch, big chub can be almost a guarantee on certain days, perch to 4lb were caught last year and 2&3 pounders were becoming a regular thing…and with carp running over 20lb too - we had spent enough time on the bank to start our own YouTube channel - and the rest was history…