Richard Walker (angler)

He went to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, but his studies were interrupted by the Second World War, during which he worked for the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough.

His inventions included the electronic bite alarm and the arlesey bomb weight, and he was instrumental in the development of the carbon-fibre fishing rod.

Walker's record held to 1980[9] when it was beaten by Chris Yates' 51 lb 8 oz fish[10] The current BRFC recognized record currently stands at 68 lb 1 oz held by Dean Fletcher caught in 2016[11] Walker was also an innovative fly angler fishing chalk streams, small stillwaters and reservoirs.

[12] With the opening of Grafham Water in 1966 Walker concentrated his efforts in addressing the new problems[13] faced at what was at that time the largest man-made stillwater in England.

As a result, he was instrumental in the design of many reservoir fly patterns including Walker's Midge Pupa, the Chomper,[14] Longhorns,[15] Mayfly Nymph, Red Sedge, Dambuster,[16] Polystickle,[17] Mrs Palmer, and Sweeney Todd.