For
those of you who have never come across the name before, Dave is first and foremost
a pike angler, but he has fished for other species too - specialising on freshwater
predators since 1982 but turning his attention elsewhere again in 2004.
Dave
writes for Pike and Predators and Coarse Angling Today magazines
in the UK and has also contributed articles to Anglers Mail, the magazines of
the Pike Anglers' Club, Lure Anglers' Society and National Association of Specialist
Anglers, and the sadly missed Coarse Angler as well as Esox Angler
in the US and De Roofvis in Europe. He has two books to his credit, Modern
Pike Rigs and Pike Fishing with Lures, both now out of print and highly
sought after and has contributed chapters to a number of books about pike fishing.
He
is an Honorary Life Member of the LAS and a Senior Fellow of the PAC, being a
co-founder of the former and, between 2000 and 2003, President of the latter having
previously served on the PAC committee in the late 1980s and having the role of
webmaster since 2001.
D.L. Specialist Tackle was founded back in 1991
in an attempt to maintain a quiet and stress free life. The plan backfired and
he now has to work full time, and fish part time, which wasn't the original idea
at all!
If D.L. Specialist Tackle has
a philosophy, it is to provide practical tackle at sensible prices with no nonsense
advice. Dave uses the stuff he sells. So he knows what he is talking about when
describing the products.
There is little
doubt that Dave's predator and lure rods offer the widest choice on the market,
and are all fish-proven. He was also one of the first to offer a comprehensive
range of baitcasting rods to UK pike anglers. It is hardly surprising, given the
growth in predator fishing in the UK these days, that major manufacturers are
now providing rods such as Dave has been building for dedicated, hardcore predator
anglers for over a decade.
Although it
is a one man operation, D.L. Specialist Tackle has, in its time, introduced Musky
Mania, Musky Innovations, Shumway, Bait Rigs, and RiverRun lures (not to
mention StayLok snaps) to the UK angler.
Despite all this Dave has found
time to catch a few fish too. Although he would dispute that a list of large fish
implies any angling skill, his predatory personal bests currently stand at:
Dave is a practical
angler who goes fishing less often than he would like to, but who tries to make
every minute of it count when he does. Since 2004 he has been giving the predators
a rest. His current non-predatory personal bests of note are:
You
can see some of Dave's captures in his Gallery,
and keep up with some of his angling exploits on his Lumbland
blog.
