Darren Cox - A life in angling

“We were fortunate enough to secure a pretty much exclusive deal to fish a stretch that was known as ‘The Tyres’ on the River Nidd near Cowthorpe (near my home town of Boston Spa). We had the 75-yard length all to ourselves, and it cost us a bottle of whisky every Christmas.

“Over the course of a couple of years, the fishing bug took a greater and greater hold on me, and it soon became the only thing that I wanted to do! In the summer months I would dash home from school, grab a slice of toast and be on the bank until it went dark – I lived, ate and breathed the sport!

“In hindsight, spending such an intense spell on just one stretch of water taught me some very valuable lessons about watercraft. I learnt to read the water, work out its moods and, perhaps more importantly, I saw how it changed through the seasons. It got to the point where I knew exactly where different species of fish were at different times of year, and the best ways of catching them. Such skills are definitely transferrable, and helped me no end later on in my career.

“Both my father and I have always been fiercely competitive, and when the chance came to fish some matches with local club Wetherby AC we were keen to get involved! My dad joined the seniors, while I fished with the junior club – and luckily for me it seemed that winning ways came naturally! I was fortunate enough to win most of the matches, and even competed in a few of the senior events as well!

“My first senior match win came at the age of 13, again on the River Wharfe – sadly, a few of the older competitors didn’t like being ‘duffed up’ by a young ’un, but it was pointed out that I paid my pools and they were happy to take my money when I didn’t win, so I was allowed to enter after that!

“Luckily, I had done enough to impress the scouts for the then massively successful Leeds & District junior team, and was asked to join. I enjoyed a great spell travelling around and fishing on a variety of venues – ironically, our biggest rivals back then were Leicester Juniors, and their two top anglers were Steve Hemingray and Brad Titmus, who later became my Kamasan Starlets team-mates.”

Given Darren’s phenomenal record as an angler, it is all too easy to forget the massive impact that he has had on the UK tackle market, in a string of high-profile jobs for top tackle firms. Even back then, a successful academic career was laying the foundations for his later successes.

“I always worked hard at school, and was lucky enough to secure a place doing a Marketing Course at North Staffordshire University. Part of the course involved me compiling a dissertation, and obviously, fishing was my first port of call – I wrote off to five companies asking if I could go on work experience, and received answers from two of them. Fortunately, DAM was one of the companies, and they agreed to cover my expenses while I went up and put together my work.

“At the end of the spell, and with my 25,000-word project complete, I was fortunate enough to be made a job offer to take over as the company’s marketing manager – a role that I gladly accepted. I started work on the 8/8/88, and was delighted to have found a job in the industry that I loved so dearly.

“Fishingwise, I was learning all the time, and was lucky enough to be asked to join the then formidable Leeds Anglers World side.”

“It also gave me the opportunity to move to a part of the country with a rich angling heritage, with venues such as the Warwickshire Avon and the Oxford Canal on my doorstep!

“At first, I would travel home at weekends, both for the team matches I had with Leeds and District and to see my now wife, Julie, who lived in Doncaster at the time. Looking back, they were great times, and as exhausted as I was after driving the 100-plus miles for a weekend’s fishing and nightclubbing, I would sleep well on a Monday night, then go fishing every other evening on the local river and canal circuit!

“Fishingwise, I was learning all the time, and was lucky enough to be asked to join the then formidable Leeds Anglers World side. This included such legends as Keith Lidgett, Stan Hague, Chris Burton and Dave Thomas. After entering the Division Five national, we climbed all the way up to Division One in consecutive years – taking some pretty impressive victories along the way, as well as finishing second in the prestigious Daiwa Masters competition.

“They really were golden years – but there was an awful lot of travelling involved, and when my beloved Julie decided to take the plunge and move down to be with me in Stratford-upon-Avon I focused my attention on fishing in the local area.

“Even today, I am still extremely grateful to her for making the decision that she did. She moved down here with nothing, and in effect really threw herself in at the deep end. Within three years she was a manager for Abbey National, and has forged herself a very successful career. She is now a great mum and holds the family together brilliantly.

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