Barney Wright - Editor
Barney is 41 years old and is well versed in all aspects of sea angling, although his specialities are shore fishing and tournament casting. He first tried fishing, both freshwater and sea, at the age of five and has been in love with the sport ever since.
After leaving school in 1982, he started his working life as an assistant professional golfer at Letchworth Golf Club. He had a relatively successful four years in the job, but then chose to move into a green-keeping career instead at the same club. He remained there until 2001 and, after some soul-searching, decided to move to the east coast in Pakefield to live by the sea.
It had always been his heart’s desire to live on the coast, because he feels at home there and has an affinity with the sea. There he could get out onto the beach any time that he liked, and for the next five years this is precisely what he did!
Now he is editor of Total Sea Fishing and is completely dedicated to making the magazine as successful as it can be. Barney probably has the most professional team working alongside him of any fishing magazine, including his deputy Roger Mortimore, and contributors Mike Thrussell, Steve Allmark, Glen Milligan and Shaun Cumming, who are all experts in their fields. and have proven track records.
Tel: +44 (0) 1327 311999
Fax: +44 (0) 1327 311190
E-mail: barney.wright@dhpub.co.uk
Roger Mortimore - Deputy Editor
Roger, who has almost 50 years of fishing experience, has been UK casting champion twice, European ground-casting champ on three occasions and has picked up two gold and one bronze medal with the England team.
Although specialising in shore fishing, he has also fished from dinghies since the age of 12 and spent time doing crew work on charter boats in the West Country and Jersey.
Roger was chairman of his Felixstowe club for many years and chairman of the United Kingdom Surfcasting Federation and has enjoyed success in fishing matches at club and open level too.
His time spent casting at European and world level for 17 years has meant him visiting more than a dozen countries as well as being involved in coaching and casting seminars around the world while fishing in Europe, America, Asia and Australia/New Zealand.
He said: “When Barney Wright from Total Sea Fishing invited me to join the team it was a fantastic opportunity to be able to write about my passion in life – fishing. With my experience of fishing and casting at the top level around the world, hopefully I can help readers of the magazine to enjoy the sport as much as I do.”
Tel: 01327 311999
Fax: 01327 311190
E-mail: rogerm2@dhpub.co.uk
Total Sea Fishing provides sea anglers with the all the hottest news and gossip, along with expert advice from the best anglers in the business. You’ll find no-holds barred reviews on all the latest tackle, detailed step-by-step features on how to catch the fish you seek, plus several pages dedicated to your catch reports.
The Complete History Of Total Sea Magazine
It was the arrival of Mr Whippy that sparked the launch of a new DHP magazine back in 1998. No, we’re not talking about an ice cream manufacturer here, but a man called Jim Whippy, an England international boat fisherman and former carpet fitter who had previously run a southern-based sea angling newspaper by himself in the laid-back environs of Pevensey Bay in East Sussex.
Jim’s experience of running an angling title of his own, albeit a news-based publication that was more of a hobby than a professional glossy magazine, was exactly what DHP was looking for. Such experience meant that he would bring with him a wealth of fishing knowledge and, more importantly, an inside view of the trade that few other potential editors would have.
Usually, DHP’s philosophy when it comes to hiring editorial staff is to employ anglers who are experts in their field, rather than journalists. “It’s easier to teach people to write than it is to turn them into accomplished anglers,” as David Hall always says!
In Mr Whippy DHP felt that it had both cones covered. He was certainly an expert angler. You don’t get to fish for England if you’re not. This had one major bonus; it meant that Jim knew all the best writers and sea fishermen personally, and he reckoned he could get them writing for Total Sea Fishing (TSF).
Jim jumped at the chance of becoming the launch editor of TSF. A plan was formulated, the target readership assessed and, based on information gained as to what DHP felt the market wanted, articles were commissioned. DHP was confident that Mr Whippy would give the magazine a neopolitan flavour.
Then, six weeks later, the first issue hit deadline. It was a typical DHP magazine launch! “Editor found equals magazine on the shelf within two months,” we joked in the office. It was no joke, though. Not many publishing companies could realistically expect to do this successfully with no picture library and no features already in the bag.
From the start, Mr Whippy wanted TSF to be “the nuts.” It was designed to be a magazine that would encompass all aspects of the sport. Boat fishing, shore fishing, pier fishing, rock fishing and even sea match fishing would all be covered to some degree. The best anglers in each field featured heavily from the start, with articles aimed primarily at informing, inspiring and generally helping readers catch more fish.
Its success was instant and sales were good from the start, though Mr Whippy didn’t quite have his rivals ‘licked’, because back in 1998 DHP didn’t have the resources to fully compete with Emap. However, straightaway TSF became the second biggest sea-fishing title in the UK, a fact DHP was very pleased with. In fact, so successful was the launch that within a year DHP needed more staff to help make the magazine bigger and even better.
In 1999, accomplished angling journalist Dave Barham arrived from rival Emap to assist Jim at deputy editor level. Then, one day Mr Whippy ‘melted’, deciding to leave in 2001 to pursue other career aims. As such, Dave took over the reins as editor, with another Emap exile, Darren Taylor, taking over the deputy role.
Dave Barham’s initial brief was to carry on what Jim Whippy had started and produce a magazine for sea anglers written by sea anglers, with articles and features from the best, most knowledgeable guys in the business.
His main aim was simple. He wanted to pass on all the top tips he could, all the secrets from the UK’s best sea anglers that would help the readers gain an edge and catch more. Dave wanted to get out there himself, fish with the top guys and take the readers on that journey with him. If he could learn off them, so could the readers – whether they were general anglers or beginners who wanted to improve.
It wasn’t easy, though, because the magazine had to cater for so many disciplines within sea angling – from boat fishing, shore fishing and match fishing – as well as providing news pages, tournament casting reports and even a bit of foreign coverage.
Dave’s reign as editor saw TSF’s sales figures grow and even touch the newsstand sales of Sea Angler, its biggest rival. But all good things come to an end and, in early 2006, Dave moved on to another project with another publisher and we were once again looking for a new editor.
Because Darren Taylor had done such a good job as Dave’s number two, he was promoted to editor. Barney Wright, an England international tournament caster, who up until this point had been a retained freelancer, then came on board permanently as Darren’s deputy.
The last few months have seen a shake-up of the editorial content and a redesign, to try and create the most forward-thinking sea fishing magazine the UK has seen. A key core of top-level contributors has been formed, including former World Shore Fishing Champion Steve Allmark, current England gold medallist boat angler Glenn Milligan and all-round expert and TV star Mike Thrussell.
Today the magazine is holding its own in the market and the future looks bright. It deserves to be considered the best sea angling magazine on the market and DHP has that coveted No1 position in its sights
