JEREMY WADE
JEREMY WADE
Exclusive
Interview
AO: You took your first overseas trip to India in 1982. What was that
like? Did your adventures there spark your passion, or have you always
had the desire to be a “freshwater detective?”
JW: The trip was very hard going. I took just £200 ($300) to last me three
months but I managed to catch some fish such as Himalayan Mahseer
up to 18 pounds. When I got home I wrote a couple of articles about
that experience for a fishing magazine. Despite the discomfort of travelling at such a basic level, there was a real feeling of achievement and
I immediately started saving money to go somewhere else. I wasn’t sure
where at that point but I knew there must be other exotic fish out there,
although probably not as well documented as Mahseer (which had been
written about by various British authors in the early 1900s), but possibly
even more spectacular.
AO: You’ve been a teacher, as well as a long-term student, both in your
field and academically. What are some of the benefits of being the
teacher? What are the benefits of being the pupil?
JW: Teaching, in theory, is one of the best jobs anyone could hope to
have. In practice, unfortunately, it falls far short of that -- at least in the
English non-private sector. To do the job well is immensely satisfying,
but to keep up with my workload I had to work until 1 a.m. every night,
sometimes 3 a.m., so I quit and became a motorbike delivery driver in
London. However, I have never stopped being a pupil -- I don’t see
education as a stage in one’s life, but a never-ending process. One of
the times I learned the most was when I was teaching biology – I was
forced to address the gaps in my knowledge, and in the process I gained
a much better overview. And now I find myself, after a fashion, in the
role of teacher again – and again learning while I teach. And although
I’m now part of the entertainment industry, all good teaching has an element of entertainment. Good classroom teachers are performers, who
make the learning experience fun for pupils and teachers alike.
72 Summer 2016 Adventure Outdoors
AO: Did growing up in Suffolk have any effect
on your passions as an angler and an explorer?
What was your childhood like and when did you
first learn to fish?
JW: The village where I grew up had a river
flowing through it. So it was inevitable, I think,
that I should be drawn to it – in the same way
that people born in sight of Alpine peaks become climbers. My first attempts to catch fish,
age 7 or 8, were unsuccessful, but then I had
some guidance from a school friend and after
my first catch I never looked back. My parents
were happy for me to stay out all day and a big
part of my fishing was wanting to find new places, a process that has continued to this day.
AO: How did the c