In reply to Post #284
Read more about Pete's life and times with Dick, Graham, George and others in his chapter in Carping Journeys...Terrific read.

In reply to Post #285
Thanks ken i hope people like it

In reply to Post #284
Hi Pete,
I have been keeping up with your thread for a while now, and i just want to say there are a great read,so much personal stuff and the passion for your/our beloved sport and friends shines through every time you post.
Thank you very much Pete for taking the time to post these.
Cheers,
Paddy.

In reply to Post #287
Thanks paddy very much appreciated

In reply to Post #285
My copy arrived monday

Got my self a bedside lamp, and have a little read before sleep.

In reply to Post #289
Hope you like it pete

In reply to Post #290
I suppose i was about thirteen when dick started writing for angling times i remember buying the paper from our local news agents it must have been about 1952 or there abouts it was approximately 5am on September the 13Th that Dick caught his record carp which we all know was 44lb what a catch but he said to me many times that it could of been his mate Petes fish as there baits were only yds apart it was wonderful for me to hear the story from the big man himself, can you imagine what this was like for us youngsters he was our hero i also had one of the first copies of Mr crabtree goes fishing which also inspired us youngsters to go out and catch fish. so it was to be two young lads sitting beside a carp lake in south Shropshire ,it belonged to a local farmer Sid Evans i would knock on his door to pay our money come on in young un where is your mate he would say his old table in the front room would be covered in food he would get two glasses and fill them full with home made ginger beer does your mum know where you are we would answer yes he would not except any money from us young lads and always kept an eye on us.

We learned a lot watching other anglers to us some where mysterious chaps who crept around the lake fishing here and there, i never really saw them catch that much we tried night fishing at first we had no luck we used silver paper as our indicator or a piece of doe pinched on the line between reel and butt ring and used a old flash light from our bikes to show our indicators up i forgot where i had the information from but i was told about par boiled potatoes the small ones they worked really well my mother would boil them for us i would take a few up and scatter them around we certainly had runs but could not hit them a freind called peter finch said we needed bigger hooks after getting the bigger hooks we caught a few not big fish by today's standard but to myself and my mate Raymond they were huge we could not weight them as we had no scales some of the other anglers would kindly weight them for us with there sprung salter scales most were between three or four pounds but we did not care they were fish carp and we had caught them.

The best fish came out of the weed beds we would watch the carp moving around pushing the big pieces of crust that we had thrown in they would break it up, we would watch as a big pair of lips would appear and with a slurp the crust would disappear we decided we would have a go at these carp Raymond was not with me but a chap called Chris dodd was, we would put a piece of crust on a big hook dunk the bread in the water then we coiled the line behind us then we gave it the big chuck some times your line would catch in the grass getting in a tangle but we managed most of the time it would fly out into the weed bed we would be full of adrenaline as a fish approached our crust it would knock it around then a big pair of lips would suck the bread in your line would streak through the weeds as you struck some time you connected others you did not but most of the time we caught. The biggest we had from the lake was just ten pounds we did not know the significance of this fish we were told it was a big fish for those years but to us young uns it was huge we had no cameras to record our catch but we did not care we were just happy to sit and watch the wild life as we waited for another run it was just a pleasure to be there. well a bit more latter

In reply to Post #291
Hi Peter
I received my copy of " the only way is carp " and just finished the 1st chapter.
I really enjoyed your stories which brought back many memories for me with my grandfather when he introduced me to fishing in the late 1950s for which I am grateful.
I discovered your thread on here this morning and have been reading ever since.
I must tell you that they are truly wonderful nostalgic stories and make a fasinating read.
Thankyou,and I hope you continue writing
Regards
Peter

In reply to Post #292
hi peter i am glad you like the stories thanks for the kind words i have not read the book yet but every one tells me its great getting my copy in a couple of weeks thanks again pete

In reply to Post #291
Most of my early life fishing was done with an old bamboo rod given to me by a neighbour it had seen better days but it got me by it was coupled with a wooden reel loaded with silk line i would catch the minnows on the river Rea and one or two gudgeon i really had no idea how to fish as my father was killed in the war and my grandad died in 1947 so i was on my own but i got over some of the difficulties and started to catch roach and chub in fact i broke the rod landing a chub the top broke off i was absolutely broken hearted mum could not afford the money for another as times were very hard. Not long after she had met a man that she eventually married although he knew nothing about fishing he encouraged me to go and had two rods made for me they were made out of tank aerials why two i don't know but i did most of my fishing using them from trout to carp i still used the wooden reels until one Christmas morning when i awoke to a mitchell reel loaded with nylon line it took a bit of getting used to but it was a god send i also acquired an Ambidex it was given to me by an old gentleman but in my opinion it was never as good as the mitchell but it got me by and caught some good fish using it how my step father afforded the tackle i never found out as wages were not that good in the late forties and early fifties, although he has now passed away i will always be grateful for all he did for me, i soon learned to trot a float and caught trout grayling and the odd chub i also caught one or two beautiful perch as i have said before i spent most of my spare time fishing even playing truant from school ill say no more about that but i was learning all the while i poached nearly every lake i knew in south Shropshire using my bike to travel arround and i caught some really big Rudd not realizing the significance of there size they were big you could not get your had around them it was years latter when graham and i fished for them did we realize how big they were three pounds plus huge specimens.

My fishing really got me in a few scrapes with keeper and river bailiffs as it was quite an offence in those days if you got caught, i was lucky and only got caught once and that was not my fault the lad i took with me his name was Allen Barker would not run and was frozen to the spot with fear i stayed with him and had my tackle seized god i thought i am in trouble now as it was hardy's built cane rod which my father had bought me for Christmas it was a combination rod it was only after his death that we found the receipt it cost him seventy pounds how on earth he afforded that i don't know but he did we had a knock on the door that night it was the police returning my rod with a bit of a telling off don't poach the river again mum and dad said nothing it went in one ear and out the other and i can honestly say i never got caught again i got chased a few time, i hid up trees and swam the river even crawled into a ditch and the keepers dog actualy stood on me and they still did not relize i was there i listened to them talking untill they moved away, well that how i started fishing i learned such a lot not just about catching fish but about the wild life as well even the trees and flowers that grew in the hedgerows. well a bit more latter

In reply to Post #294
Another wonderful read.
I remember when I tagged along with my grandfather in the 1950s on the river Lea he used a rod that was made from a tank ariel.
When I was older about 14 I used to go poaching with my schoolmate Dave to some gravel pits.
The company were still excavating some newer pits nearby but a foreman used to come around occaisionly and used to chase us off.
On one occaision we got caught but were let off with a cuff around the ear.
We still went back as the lake contained a huge head of beautiful Rudd to well over 3lb and every cast was another beautiful Rudd
Happy memories

In reply to Post #294
From the age of fifteen i spent a lot of my time fishing the river Severn there were no Barbel then only Roach chub perch pike eels and salmon i did my fair share of salmon fishing i went with an old gentleman call George Taylor he had fished for salmon most of his life he had Morris car so we would be away most of our fishing was done on the upper reaches of the Severn George was also very good with the fly rod and would also catch a few brown trout, on our travels but most of our fishing was done spinning the biggest salmon i caught was twenty five pounds a good fish by any ones standard we also caught our fair share of pike catching them to over twenty pounds mostly caught on wooden Devon minnows we made our own in those days out of wood dowel, when finished they would be painted silver, or gold, i had them hanging all over the house, we also made our own floats, what we could not afford we made i would make them from balsa wood i also used goose, quills corks, from bottles, even drinking straws, i had them hanging all over the house even in my bedroom but they were cheaper than buying ready made ones. If i went spinning for the trout or perch i would be away down the river Rea with a minnow trap i would put some bread in it and leave it over night there would be plenty 0f minnows in the trap by morning i would use a minnow mounted in a flight for trout fishing i had many a night out poaching the local rivers using the humble minnow but as i have said before it was a necessity then i would catch as many as twenty or even more on the right night sharing them out between us and our neighbours the rivers were stocked by the owners of the estates for there own use and for there friends sport.

I also caught many eels from the Severn on dead minnow they were mostly around two to three pounds it was good sport i tried them on the estate lakes but for some reason i did no good i found they would take small roach, or Rudd, but i seemed to catch the bigger eels, on big buches of lob worms. One fish i really liked to catch was the roach, i made all my own bait mostly bread paste flavoured with honey, i even used custard, powder mixed in. The one bait that did excel was bread paste and Danish blue, i would buy two shillings worth from the coop shop on our village good job my parents never saw me make it as times were still very hard, i would be off down to the grey friars bridge in shrewsbury the locals came down and fed the ducks, and swans, with any scraps left over from the week the roach, would shoal under this bridge i would sit on my old fishing creel and rest the rod on the railings beside the bridge i would hold the rod the top would flicker you would strike some times you missed but you learned by your mistakes i caught some beautiful roach, from under that bridge most were around a pound but i did have them a lot bigger.

At the same time you could have a bit of fun catching the pike, i always carried another rod made up for the pike, where you caught roach the pike, would be you would see them strike at your fish as you played it in i would soon put on a live bait with trebles and a big cork float i would cast it out it would look after its self it would bob about then slowly vanish beneath the surface i had them to fifteen plus from under that old bridge the trouble was if the locals were around they would try and cadge it for eating but i would put it back they were a beautiful colour especially in winter, i had some great days trotting for the dace, but those days have gone and so have the fish to many predators mergansers are terrible they hunt in a line across the river i have seen at least thirty doing this then we have the cormorant and now the otter when i was young you never saw these birds you never saw the otter very often as they were kept in check by hunting and game keepers. well thats it for now more latter

In reply to Post #296
Hi Pete,
Another great read ,
it really does take me back to my youth reading these stories. i was lucky enough to have a bailiff ( family friend) teach me the right and wrongs, he used to take me in his big cortina estate over to woodstock ponds in newport, teach me the basics , watercraft, how to set up correctly , play fish, he always kept an eye on me while i was there and would take me back home.
i probably drove him mad with the questions i asked . Close season we would clear the swims , cut the trees back , put down grass seed ,we laid foundations for the new bridge to our new lake ( morgans pool ) made all the bailiffs tea !! spent many happy years on those waters , i got to seventeen and chose the armed forces as my career, and always whilst on leave i would always go over to see Rex and the other bailiffs and they still made me brew their tea !!.
All of them have sadly passed away now but i have never forgot what they did for me. Great times.
Paddy.

In reply to Post #297
Once again thanks paddy i very much apprecate your kind words it makes it all worth while

In reply to Post #296
Getting away from fishing for a few moments i see an article in one of the national news paper complaining about foxes, in the cities and about them going into peoples houses they have one thing on there mind when doing this its called food they are not there to attack humans, but to scavenge and get them selves food, as you all know i love old charlie, and have studied him for many years they are a most beautiful animal but can cause the farmers a few problems where the damage is severe, like taking lambs or killing large amounts of chickens geese and such he is dealt with found and shot. One of the worst things humans living in cities can do is leave out bags full of rubbish they are inquisitive and will rip the bag open in there search for food. Foxes are not a threat to humans no more than the badger i am afraid its time to live in harmony with these beautiful animals after all they have been here since the ice age and have just as much rights as us to live here. I see a chap from Scotland has shot a huge fox weighing 32 pounds that is a big animal as he was nearly five feet long i have seen one of 28 pounds, and i thought that was big unfortunately this big fox, was caught in the act attacking a lambs when it was shot, i am afraid then it is a necessity to control the animal.

Well back to fishing besides fishing the river Severn, i spent many happy hours fishing my beloved river Rea, it was Rea where i first went fishing i was only a fledgling and went with my grandad the rod was a cane and a bent pin for a hook, plus a jam jar and piece of string putting the bread in the jar and catching minnows this was the start of my obsession with fishing and my love of all wild things. I found i could catch the chub from the surface by feeding big lumps of bread and watching the fish take it greedily from the surface with a big splash it was a lovely way to fish just like we fish for carp today i only found out by accident after throwing what bread i had left at the end of the day into the water the chub were on it instantly so the next time i went i took a big loaf with me and let pieces of bread drift on the current it would vanish in a silver spray, of water as the chub, competed for the food i caught hundreds using this method . I would also trot a maggot down with a float to catch the little roach they never grew that big most were around a pound but i did catch the occasional one bigger i would trundle a worm under the far bank for the trout or chub i always returned the chub, but the trout, went home, if big enough i have said once before how i had this gentle tug when i was fishing worm i struck only to feel a most powerful fish on the other end it shot down stream i had to run to catch the fish up before i could control it. the nettles stung my legs as i ran through the undergrowth, and the brambles, drew blood i was determined to land this fish, and when i did it was a bit of a shock as looked down at this bar of silver lying at the side of the river, my net was not big enought to land him so i lifted him out it was salmon around eight pounds i made sure no one was around before knocking him on the head i put him in my old post office bag and made my way home it was cooked and served with boiled potatoes and peas it was woderfull eating and my parents were well pleased it was not the last salmon i caught from that small river. Ill tell you more latter