Chris Yates — a name held sacred to us here at Caught by the River — today launches the campaign to fund the pilot episode of his planned podcast series The Chris Yates Castpod. The Kickstarter page for the project surmises:

Chris Yates is a writer, broadcaster, and celebrated angler based in the South of England. His passion for angling began over 60 years ago, when he was a boy. All that time spent on the banks of ponds, lakes and rivers has allowed him to observe nature at close quarters and much of what he’s witnessed and experienced has been beautifully conveyed through books and articles, a landmark BBC 2 television series and numerous BBC radio programmes. However, there are still some things he’s never revealed…

Whilst waiting for his line to tighten, Chris has seen and heard things that really are quite unusual. A tidal wave of leaping carp. A sparrowhawk chasing a kingfisher across a pond. He’s even heard disembodied voices in the night.

The idea behind The Chris Yates Castpod is to share a few of these stories with you. Some short, others long. Some fish-related, others…well, who knows. But all designed to help fisherfolk and non-fisherfolk alike to reflect, smile, and engage further with the natural world.

And if Chris’s recent BBC Radio 4 programme on his pursuit of the hen harrier is anything to go by, The Chris Yates Castpod will be well worth chucking your pennies (and ours) in the pot for — not to mention the opportunity to own items from his very own tackle box, in the form of Kickstarter perks!

Find out more, and help fund the project, here.