Matt Forrester, Skipper and owner of Silver Halo, has been a keen fisherman since the age of 9.
It all started in the late seventies around Torrington, North Devon, fishing with two younger brothers, Ben and Dan, on the river Torridge for trout, eels and dace. Many a weekend were also spent coarse fishing on the waters at Stevenstone, Cranford and Darracott Reservoir.
Regular trips to grandparents living in Torquay during the Summer holidays also allowed pier and rock fishing, with the added bonus of occasional trips on his Uncle’s 12ft boat, Miss Makkerel.
The late 80’s were spent fishing in South Devon, mostly on the Dart for trout and mullet and occasionally fishing all night in the lower reaches, dead baiting for big eels.
At 18 Matt completed a YTS in fish farming. Work experience was at Valley Springs Trout farm near Slapton, South Devon and the theory completed at Hampshire College of Agriculture, Sparsholt.
In the nineties, Matt travelled to Australia twice. This was perfect for regular surfing and fishing, catching a wide range of fresh and salt water species, the standout was a monster fresh water eel at approx 1.8m long and 200mm round!
Over the last 16 years Matt has also travelled to South Africa many times, a good amount of time was spent lure and fly fishing in the freshwater dams for Large Mouth Bass and Yellow Tail.
Fishing in the UK over the last 15 years has mainly been from the shore, casting into the surf and over rough ground, rock hopping with lures targeting wrasse and bass along some of South Devon’s most beautiful coastline. These rich shallow, inshore grounds are now fished from the boat.
Matt finally bought his first boat, a Warrior 175 in 2012. A great fair weather boat and often used for wrecking trips up to 30 miles offshore. This last 5 years of boat ownership set things in motion for the new charter business and upgrade to the 7.9m Cheetah, SILVER HALO.
Early in 2017 Matt completed all the requirements to become a full time commercial skipper. These requirements included RYA / MCA Advanced Power Boat with a commercial endorsement, VHF short range radio operators license, RYA 1 day radar course, Sea Regs Training Elementary First Aid and Personal Survival Techniques and the RYA Professional Practices and Responsibilities course. So, along with Cheetah Marine’s excellent safety record and build quality you can rest assured you are in safe hands!