Michael Daunt

Mike is a master of country pursuits. He has been fishing since he was four years old and has caught every freshwater species of fish in Great Britain. Further a field he has also caught Mahseer in India, Bone Fish in Cuba and Venezuela, and Marlin and Sailfish in Kenya. Currently he runs the Hugh Falkus School of Spey Casting, the best known casting school in Britain, teaching this beautiful art to the rich and famous. Among his clientele are Jeremy Paxman, Chris Tarrent, Ronnie Corbett and Eric Clapton. Each year, for one week, he leads four parties consisting of twelve clients to Russia's Northern Kola Peninsula for the best salmon fishing on earth.

Mike is also an expert shot. He has been shooting since the age of six when he was given his first air rifle. This was however immediately confiscated, as his first target was his nanny's bottom, on which he scored a direct hit at forty yards. He has shot every type of game bird in Britain as well as pigeons and wildfowl.

In addition Mike has cooked and eaten hedgehog by the traditional method of wrapping it in clay and baking it in a fire. The prickles come away with the clay and it is delicious. Equally appetizing is roasted grey squirrel! He is a champion trout tickler and won a bet against the editor of The Field that he could not do this on camera. Mike has also trapped many moles, using their skins to make mittens and gloves. Every year in September he traps eels in a fyke net for a week - catching about 150. He selects 25 of the biggest, smokes them himself, has them vacuumed packed and gives them as a present to his friends. Every summer Mike sets crayfish traps in the river Kennet. The traps catch about 200 single crayfish per week, which keep the local pubs and restaurants well supplied. At the lowest September tides he nets shrimps at Pett Level in East Sussex making them into potted shrimps for the enjoyment of his family and friends.

Mike's book entitled ‘An Endangered Species' published in Winter 2007 is an entertaining study of various countrymen - poachers, gypsies, rat catchers, river keepers, dukes and earls.

More on Mike's adventures can be found here: www.bartandbounder.com 

TELEVISION

2006 The Bart and the Bounder (co-presenter) - Inhouse for BBC2 

BOOKS

2007 Endangered Spices: The Bart and Bounders Countryside Year - John Murray Publishers 

JOURNALISM
Ongoing The Field
Ongoing Trout and Salmon Magazine
Ongoing The Weekend Telegraph