Kim learnt his fishing both on the upper Thames and the western end of the Kennet & Avon Canal, targeting small fish like gudgeon and bleak. He won his first open match at Hempsted bend on the Gloucester Canal with skimmer bream taken on the straight lead. As bloodworm and the pole became the winning method, Kim moved with the times to record numerous match wins on rivers, canals and still waters throughout the country.
His string of successes saw him win both the prestigious Browning and Kamasan Matchman of the Year titles. He won the Van Den Eynde Classic in 1988 followed by the 1990 Octoplus Super League. Kim then won the 1992/3 Van den Eynde League.
Angling success
Kim enjoyed a great run in the NFA run Embassy Challenge pairs, making the final no less than five times and finishing second in 1994 and 2001 where he and team partner Matt Greaves picked up £3,000 between them.
He fished for a number of highly successful Winter League and National teams including Swindon Isis, Stanley Falcons, Gloucester United, Gordon League, and the Shakespeare Superteam before going on to captain Van den Eynde Essex managed by Peter Clapperton. As Essex County this clubs had bene the first English side to win the World Club Championships.
Kim made his first England International appearance in 1990 when Dick Clegg included Kim in the England squad. He fished the 1994 Legrand World Championships at Holme Pierrepont in what was to be a dire, almost fishless event but concluded in victory for Bob Nudd individually and England won the coveted gold medal.
Change of heart
Kim was to be part of the set-up for seven years, taking the bronze individual place in the 1997 World championships in Hungary. But just weeks before the 2001 Paris World Championships, Kim resigned from the England squad for personal reasons. In the same year, Highfield's Stuart Conroy and Starlet Sean Ashby made their debuts at world level, the latter replacing Kim in the squad at short notice. England beat the French in the team stakes on their home soil.
Disillusioned with top class fishing Kim Milsom had this to say in Match Angling Plus in 2002
‘At the moment very few of the top teams take Nationals seriously. The event has lost a considerable amount of its prestige, and the NFA needs to ask why. Events like the Angling Times Team Champs are far more sensible targets and, arguably, carry more prestige. At no time are teams expected to practise for a near-l,000-peg match where half the team might not even arrive at their pegs in time.'
Kim has subsequently packed up match fishing and is now a serious bird watcher.
Like many top match anglers, he put pen to paper in a 1994 book ‘Match Fishing A Champions Guide' and for a number of years afterwards wrote regular articles for Match Angling Plus, Angling Times Advanced etc.
