I caught my first ever fish at age 4 with my dad. It was a small Gudgeon that I caught using a small whip with maggots. I took the Gudgeon home in a 2 pint bait box and named him Kevin. I kept him in my fish tank for a few days before he went belly up and died. I decided that Kevin needed replacing and from that day on I needed to get out and catch some more fish with my dad again. Over the next 2-3 years I caught small roach, dace, gudgeon and perch.

At around the age 7 I went carp fishing for the first time. I fished a small muddy commercial and caught lots of carp up to a huge 12lbs! It was my first double and my first real pb! From that point I was obsessed with beating my pb and after a few months my dad treated me to a Godalming ticket where I spent plenty of days catching carp including a pb busting common of 16lb! I then witnessed my dad land a common of 21lb, which blew my mind. I had a new target, which was to catch my first twenty. It wasn’t until about a year later whilst fishing Lodge Pond on the Farnham ticket that I caught a mirror of 22lb8oz! I couldn’t of been happier!

Shortly after that fish my dad took me to France where I caught a mirror of 36lb! I soon made it clear to him that I had to be invited to any future trips to France otherwise I would be very upset! I’m sure I wasn’t too much of a pain to bring along as I managed to tag along on several trips! Between those trips to France I found myself fishing all over the place, targeting mainly the River Wey for its barbel and chub. Barbel soon became a firm favourite for me and at the age 11 I caught my first double of 11lb7oz.

I fished the rivers regularly and learnt a lot along the way. During the winter of 2013 my dad took me Chub fishing on the River Mole. It was on that trip that I learnt how to trot a float and when it buried with a chub of 4lb1oz, I knew I had found a new favourite style of fishing. Not long after we ventured further with the float tackle and I soon found myself on the banks of the Dorset stour. I’ve fished the Stour every winter since.

Some of my notable captures include: a float caught 7lb chub of 7lb1oz, a float caught barbel of 14lb11oz, tench of 11lb 3oz and a trio of tench in a day for over 31lb. Bream of 13lb+ and dace of 14oz.

Fact File

Name: Kane Hammond
Nickname: N/A
Location: New Haw, Surrey
Date of Birth: 17/03/2003
Favourite Venues: Dorset stour manor farm
PB’s (lb): UK carp; 36lb Mirror and 35lb Common – Europe carp; 56lb Mirror 63lb Common – Barbel; 14lb 11oz – Chub; 7lb 7oz – Tench; 11lb 3oz – Bream; 13lb 6oz – Dace; 14oz – Pike; 19lb 14oz – Grayling; 2lb 1oz