Farewell to Fred J Taylor MBE

[Vagabond]

Returning from a week in the Isle of Man, we were shocked to hear my old fishing mate had passed away.

Fred J was without doubt, one of the Giants of 20th Century Angling.

As I said following the award of a well-deserved MBE recently, Fred was not only a master of many branches of angling, but also had the ability to clearly and simply communicate his thoughts to ordinary people who wanted to improve their fishing ability.

Dick Walker himself said he envied Fred’s forthright, straightforward and direct writing style.

Fred was not just a writer about angling though, he produced books and articles on many aspects of country life, from ferret keeping to how to cook your catch.

It has been my privilege to fish a number of times with Fred and I can empathise with the remark attributed to Pete Thomas “I would rather suffer a blank in Fred’s company than share a huge catch with many lesser men” (or something like that).

Fred was the archetype of camp fire company. Jokes, angling advice, country stories from the believable to the bizarre, guitar playing, and if you were very lucky, a Masterclass in campfire cooking.

Ironically, what must have been his last article is in the current issue of Classic Angling . It is about tench fishing at Wotton Underwood, and as I remarked to Keith Elliott, the editor, the article is vintage Fred – as good as he ever wrote.

Angling is very much the poorer for his passing, and the closer you were to him, the more it hurts.
We feel very much for Valerie, Fred’s daughter, and Chevin, his son-in-law

[fishypaul]

i grew up reading freds books and articles,the man was a hero of mine, very sad

[Greenheart]

RIP Fred. A truly great all round countryman. My condolences to his family & friends. His articles on Shooting & fishing will be sadly missed. If you ever manage to get hold of a copy of his book, Favourite Swims, it truely is a must read... I'm not sure if it's still in print though.

[Catfish Virgin (Still!)]

A sad day indeed. I devoured a lot of his writing about countryside pursuits generally as well as fishing. It was the late, great Jack Hargreaves that pointed me in that direction many many years ago (another fine countryman).

[BoldBear]

He was a legend who was one of the 'The Joyous Crew' along with Richard Walker and Peter Stone. Amongst other things he was the guy who developed the Lift Method for Tench and was one of the first to suggest the use of sweetcorn as an effective bait for many species; and was a prolific well respected author of great angling books, articles etc. plus many books on other country life subjects.

I like many thousands of other anglers grew up reading his books, articles and exploits.
He will be sorely missed.
RIP Fred.