Keith recalls the extraordinary angling skills of an unassuming master of the stick float
IN AN ERA when river matches ruled, few anglers could hold a candle to the great John Dean, a true river fishing giant.
Look at this match report from the Angling Times/Ladbrokes’ Supermatch. A forerunner of the Evesham festivals, notably the John Smith’s, this was an invitation-only event of the highest calibre.
John Dean took the honours, using his favourite stick float method, with Tom Pickering, the reigning champion, Dave Thomas and Oundle’s ‘King of the Nene’ Pete Lee completing the frame.
The whole field was a genuine ‘who’s who’ of match fishing, but no-one would have been surprised that the quiet, unassuming Trentman took home the trophy and a cool £1,000 first prize.
John Dean’s record was simply outstanding. Almost regardless of conditions on the day, his stick float would go down the swim as if on a track. It frequently went under, or at least dipped, too.
Like most of the greats, John could work out exactly how the fish — mostly chub then, but he was possibly even better when the Trent was a ‘roach river’ — wanted the bait presented and how much of it to give them.
I fished a few Trent matches during that time, but it wasn’t until John had quit match fishing that I was able to have a few chats with him. At the time I was a rep for Daiwa, while John was in the tackle business with Mansfield Angling and Wovencrest Tackle with his pal and great angler, Colin Perry.
John had fallen out of love with the Trent when the clear water and cormorant combination had made it a river where the draw had become significantly more important than ability, and the fish scarce.
