Bios

Pete

BarbelPete has been fishing for over 30 years, with almost all his experience having been gained in the North East of England. He began trout fishing with a worm on the river Wansbeck in 1978, before graduating to the fly on the Wansbeck and Coquet a couple of years later. In his formative years, Pete was also a keen sea fisherman from the shore and in estuaries around his South East Northumberland home, but summer holidays to other parts of the country soon introduced him to what became his ultimate passion, coarse fishing on rivers. For over ten years from the early nineties, he chased the dream on the rivers Wear, Swale and Ure in pursuit of chub and barbel, but in more recent times he’s returned to his roots with time increasingly dedicated to fly fishing for trout and grayling on the river Derwent.

He is the author of the recently published book The Lambton Worm: The Definitive Guide to Angling in North East England

Away from angling, Pete is a big Newcastle United supporter, a season ticket holder and author of the book Standing In The Corner: Watching Newcastle United in the Wilderness Years. He works at Newcastle University as a Research Technician and lives with his wife Cath in the picturesque Derwent Valley near Gateshead.

Dene

Dene has been sea fishing for 30+ years cutting his teeth on South Shields Pier and all around the North East Coast, after moving away with the army and fishing in far off places like the Falkland Islands, his passion for sea angling has never diminished. Now living in North Norfolk he regularly fishes with Holt Sea Angling Club and various matches and opens around the country. Also a member of the Sea Angling Match Federation and has recently fished the teams of 5 finals at Eastbourne along with the 2009 Masters at Skegness, culminating in the SAMF Combined forces match at Felixstowe in a 15 man team. His experience of the North Norfolk coastline makes him one of the top sea angling guides in this area and he is always willing to share this knowledge with others.

Apart from fishing Dene also runs Tackle Shop Web Design a subsidiary company specializing in web design for the tackle and fishing industry and has recently completed the website for Eastern Leisure Sea Anglers Alliance, also owns TCX Match