Most of us can remember our first fishing trip. Some a little more hazily than others, but I think that 95 per cent of anglers could tell you not only the size of their first fish, but where they caught it, which bait they used and how long it took to land.

My first fish came when I was seven at a small council-run pond on Southampton Common. Not a double-figure mirror or a hard-fighting common but a roach, all two inches of it. The rig? A Drennan Crystal Waggler and 4lb line, straight through to a size 14 and a single red maggot. My parents couldn’t stop me talking about it for weeks.

Wind the clock forward 26 years, I’m still fishing and the buzz is as strong as ever. The fish have got a bit bigger, I’ve got a few more responsibilities and the kit we use has changed dramatically, but every time I arrive at a new venue or wake up to the mist rolling over a lake at dawn, I’m transported back to my skinny seven-year-old self, sitting on a Shakespeare seatbox, watching, waiting and willing my float to disappear.

I first dipped a toe into the world of carp fishing at the age of ten, freelining dog biscuits on the top for fish that the lake bailiff referred to affectionately as “submarines”. With an 11ft quivertip rod and a tiny match fishing reel I was painfully under-equipped, but determined to grab the opportunity to bank my first-ever carp.

When it finally came it almost pulled me in. I’m not sure there was a lot of skill involved, but after a tense scrap the fish hit the net and I was ecstatic. At 8lb exactly it was the biggest fish I’d ever seen and from that point on, I knew I was destined to be a carp fisherman.

As I got older the fish got bigger and before long, the first of our friends came into school with tales of a twenty, which at the time was a far rarer beast than a fish of the same size would be today. It was this story that led me to take the plunge and fish for the first time at a secretive southern club water, which contained, and still contains to the best of my knowledge, some truly awe-inspiring fish. I don’t mind admitting that at this point I was as green as they come. Packing a PVA bag with pellets, my silkworm rig and a Richworth Tutti-Frutti pop-up, I cast the whole badly constructed package into a hole in the weed and sat down on the floor to wait.

Four hours later my Optonic signalled a vicious take and I hauled in a ball of Canadian pondweed containing my very first twenty.

My first twenty; a proper one. The Strawberry Fish at 25lb 14oz.

A few years later, and with a bit more experience behind me, I started a campaign at Hatchet Pond in Hampshire, a Forestry Commission-managed venue in the heart of the New Forest. Fish here are hard to come by and one every two sessions was widely recognised as a good result. We ended up doing very well, bagging most of the lake’s largest residents, but I’ll leave this story for another day.

Instead, I’ve selected a picture that typifies my continued love affair with fishing. One of only a handful of mirrors in the 17-acre venue, this one roared off just before nightfall on a still summer evening. It was one of those out-of-the-blue captures that make carp fishing so addictive and keep us all coming back for more.

A 23lb mirror from Hatchet Pond in Hampshire had me smiling once again

Despite life’s twists and turns, which for me have included moves around four UK cities and a two-year stint living in the South of France, I always know I’ll come back to carp fishing. While work and family commitments prevented me from getting out on the bank as much as I would have liked in 2015, I still managed to put a few on the mat.

In December last year my carp fishing career came full circle as I returned to Hordle Lakes in Hampshire, the same venue I caught my very first carp from 23 years ago. Taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather I managed to nick this immaculate 17lb common on a semi-stiff rig fished KD style. Despite the persistent drizzle and a complete lack of sunshine, this clean-looking fish sent me home a very happy angler.

A more recent capture at 17lb exactly. Despite having my game face on, I’m still as excited about this one as my very first carp 23 years ago.

Being a carp fisherman isn’t for everyone. Mention spending the night in a tent hoping to be woken up by a giant fish only to take its photograph and put it back again and a lot of people will tell you you’re crazy. If, like most of us, however, you’ve been struck by a passion for angling at an early age, the sheer joy of being on the bank will remain with you until the big man in the sky decides to call time on your fishing career. So make the most of it; after all, you only get to do it once.