As a lad fishing was a passion but through my working life it became an occasional thing. Retirement gave me the opportunity to return.

In my younger days I was a member of an angling club and we fished mainly in rivers, predominantly the Thames. There were no well-stocked 'commercial' lakes. Coming back to fishing I was seduced by the local 'commercial'. Carp were mythical fish when I was a lad and it was amazing to be able to catch them relatively easily in the 'commercial'.

My best was 19lb and I was hooked. But after a while things became a bit monotonous. It was to a large extent all so predictable.

I've now returned to the rivers, when in season, and in particular am seeking out smaller rivers and streams. I also have a bit of a thing about chub. Fishing in these natural environments brings with it the mystery of not knowing what the next cast will bring. And for me that's what fishing is all about.

In September 2020 I started videoing my outings. On the first trip I simply used my iPhone, either hand-held or on a tripod. As I filmed more trips I started to consider how to improve the footage. I carried on using the iPhone but dispensed with the tripod and started using a monopod. This was easier to plant on uneven banks.

On the earlier videos I added the commentary when I was processing the video for publication. This was because my iPhone was invariably too far away to reliably pick up my voice, while picking up much extraneous noise. In October 2020 I bought a body cam and from that point recorded live commentary, which was far more chatty and less formalised. I think this was a great improvement.

The body cam, however, had limitations, the main one being that the view was often obstructed by my arms when I was playing a fish. In February 2021, therefore, I bought a miniature camcorder that is worn above the right ear, providing an eye-level view. The camera is very light and the results were impressive. This is now my chosen camera for recording the action.

I was still using my iPhone for the 'long' shots but in June 2021 I bought a Panasonic camcorder with an impressive optical zoom. The intention was to record ambient material, such as wildlife, or a closeup on the float. But I was laid low during the summer awaiting a hip operation so the camera wasn't put into action immediately.

When I finally did try it, it became clear that the lightweight monopod wasn't stable enough for the heavier camera. I was reluctant to go back to my tripod because it was quite heavy and with my often roaming approach weight was a factor. Also, the legs had 'click-in' set adjustment lengths, which could make setting it up on an uneven bank difficult. So I continued using the iPhone for a while.

Wanting to use the camcorder, I investigated lightweight tripods and found a possible product on Amazon. Made with aluminium it is certainly light. It also has an adjustable head for levelling the camera and a quick-release block that allows you to attach or remove the camera very quickly. It also has a fitting to mount a smartphone. And the legs are adjustable using locking clamps, meaning that the adjustment is continuous rather than in discrete steps. It really ticks all the boxes and only cost £18.95!

The one remaining issue was audio. The head-cam has its own mic that works very well and having added a fluffy muffler is very tolerant of wind noise. I had bought an extension microphone lead for the iPhone, for long shots where I speak to the camera, which worked well after I had added an efficient wind muffler. But when I decided to start using the camcorder I had a problem, as it didn't accept an external mic.

To get around this I bought a cheap but effective voice recorder app for the iPhone and I now record using this with the extension lead mentioned previously. This has proved to be very effective. It is, however, necessary to create a synchronising sound, a sharp tap for example, so that the two soundtracks can be aligned when processing the video.

No doubt I'll continue to refine my approach as I get more experience.