With my fishing licence renewal fast approaching, it’s a great shame that this year we will not be receiving the stunning artwork that David Miller has gifted us for over 15 years. It was always so exciting to guess what species would feature next, and for many anglers, all those cards either lived in your wallet or purse for the duration, or were stashed away in your bits and bobs drawer while you slowly expanded your sensational set of species.

Of course, we can understand the logic behind not providing a hard copy licence when we need to do everything to protect our environment, but that doesn’t dispel any of the disappointment around the end of something incredibly popular which has been loved by so many anglers.

With the bronze bream an absolute favourite fish of mine, bringing warm memories of stunning slabs caught from the Shannon on many visits to the emerald isle, the 2019-20 Environment Agency UK Rod Licence had particularly strong sentimental value for me. As luck would have it, I had the great fortune to acquire the bream original oil on canvas, directly from David himself – who I might add was an absolute gentleman!

Every single day when I enter my office, I get to gaze at this stunning painting of my favourite fish. I’ll really miss that buzz of getting my new picture licence in the post this year, but am ever so grateful to have a lovely reminder of a really special era of spectacular fishing licences.