Angling brings with it a veritable smorgasbord of wonderful species to chase and catch, each with their own endearing set of characteristics. Some of us love the way certain species look, others become obsessed the way they fight, or the way in which they take a bait.

My very first ‘favourite fish’ was the golden tench. I remember fishing a couple of lakes that stocked a few golden tench along with the more common green variety – the remote chance of catching one of these golden wonders added an additional layer of excitement… poised for that bright orange paddle-like tail to flick the surface water every time I hooked a fish!

As I grew older, my local canal started producing some monster stripies, and the perch soon became my fixation. I could think of nothing better than building a swim with lovely stinky natural baits like worm, caster, pinkies (and a good helping of predator plus), with a huge snake-like lob worm hookbait suspended over it. I can still remember the float delicately bobbing and drifting across the surface, and trying to time that huge upward strike to perfection to set the hook in those bony jaws. Sometimes success… other times you were left with half a worm. At the peak of this sport, my PB canal perch topped 3lb 13oz with a dorsal akin to that of a Spinosaurus, and the huge, gaping chops of a largemouth bass – no wonder the perch is top of the list for so many anglers!

For many years now though, my most revered fish is one that provides a delicate (and sometimes excruciating) touch – focus and patience are required when chasing these. While they are not known for their fighting ability, there is nothing quite like striking into one from distance on a medium feeder, met with the solid resistance of what seems like a slab of concrete. While your line may become slime-central, this deep-bodied bronze fish is quite the spectacle in size when posing for a picture, and can often be part of a huge haul when a shoal of them really get on the feed.

The afore described is the common bronze bream, of course; a fish that has given me some incredible memories from remote loughs and rivers of the Emerald Isle, striking battles against the flow of the mighty River Severn, and great winter hauls on several forgotten canal pounds. At present though, it is my beloved local syndicate where I am fortunate enough to enjoy real bream heaven.

Having banked this species to sizes of almost 9lb, I’m still chasing that elusive double and it is that search for a proper ‘bin lid’ that holds my attention. Watching that 1oz quiver slowly bending round after several minutes of painstaking liners is one of many reasons the bream gets my heart pumping and remains at the top of my favourite fish list!