He was a kennel huntsman at the time with Cottesmore Hunt and the land in question was a popular location for chasing foxes.

That was more than 30 years ago and now John makes his living at the majestic reservoir, overseeing angling activities as senior warden for Anglian Water.

John (54), who is preparing for the start of the fishing season at Rutland Water said: "When they first talked about the reservoir I was a bit ante it. It was a lovely valley, the Gwash, and I thought there was a lot of wonderful countryside going to go under water.

"I've changed my attitude now of course. I'm sure everybody realises how important it has been for a small county like Rutland in terms of bringing business and tourism to the area."

This will be John's 25th fishing season at Rutland Water. He basically runs angling activities, manages the car parks, polices the reservoir, enforces water park byelaws and liaises with Anglian Water's business partners. John works with four other full time wardens and three seasonal wardens.

It's a job he clearly loves. "I'm an outside kind of guy. I don't like being indoors too much. It's a wonderful picturesque place to work and I really appreciate the surroundings where I spend my working day."

Rutland Water is Britain's finest trout fishery and it draws anglers from all over the country and abroad. Regulars travel from Belgium, France, Scotland and Ireland and most of the big international matches are held there, thanks to the quality of the fish and the 65-strong boat fleet.

John said: "Every angler has heard of Rutland and they all want to come here and have a go. Once they've been, most of them come back again."

Visitors to the fishing lodge at Edith Weston often get to rub shoulders with celebrities. Television presenter Chris Tarrant, World Cup-winning footballer Jack Charlton, former athlete Geoff Capes and Coronation Street actor Shaun Wilson have all enjoyed the sport there.

Almost 20,000 trout have been released into the reservoir in preparation for the new season and nearly 100,000 will be stocked over the course of the campaign.

John, who plays golf at Greetham Valley and cricket for Tilton and Lowesby, is of course a keen angler himself. "I fish quite a bit down here," he said. "Rutland is quite a challenging lake because it is so large. It is about 25 miles around the outside and there is 18 miles of bank fishing available.

"I get a lot of enjoyment trying to find the correct method to catch fish on a given day."

John was born at Knossington. His family moved to Oakham when his father took over the old Three Crowns (now the Griff Inn) in Northgate.

When he left school John worked as a groom with the Cottesmore Hunt. He worked his way up the ladder to become a kennel huntsman.

He enjoyed the work but did not get on with one of the new masters and decided to take a job as a temporary warden at the new Rutland Water.
John recalled: "It was only meant to be a stepping stone until I found a job back in hunting.

"But I enjoyed it so much I ended up taking a full time position here."
He doesn't hunt anymore but he often goes out to watch it. John has strong views on the ban on foxhunting.

"I'm sure it would be better for the fox if we were still hunting them," he said. "I used to love watching foxes where I live but I don't see them at all now because there are fewer of them alive.

"People used to tolerate them because we would be hunting them but now farmers, gamekeepers and shooting parties will just shoot them.

"We only used to catch the ones which were ill or old but those now just die a lingering death."

It's fish which now occupy most of John's thoughts. With the season about to start he has been working hard with his colleagues to make sure boats and other equipment are in perfect order.

John, who is married to Jane and has sons Adam and Tim, added: "We all get on well at work and we are all mates as much as work colleagues.

"Anglian Water is a great employer and I am looking forward to a few more years working for them."