In reply to Post #37
So to the nub...
It's late May 1987 and I was at the lake looking for fish. I spotted a small group not far from the diner plate tight into the bank under one of the willows. Creeping into the shade I lowered the bait with a three-bait stringer tied to the hook down the edge with the float almost touching the bank. The fish were so close in I could have touched them with my rod tip. I kept my eyes glued on the hookbait and out of the corner of my eye saw Daddy waddling along so closet I swear he was rubbing his left flank along the bank. I saw his mouth open, he turned and bolted and that was when I realised he had picked up the bait. All hell broke loose. Line poured off the reel but then stopped. I pulled back but all was solid; he had weeded me up and in addition to that the line was also entangled in the overhanging branches of the willow!
By pure good fortune a guy who has just started fishing Salamander that year was walking the lake. I thrust the rod into his hand and started to strip off. I was down to my pants when Paul said that the fish was free again so I grabbed the rod off him and started playing the fish only for the line to catch in the branches of the willow again. I was shaking like one of the leaves on that bloody willow by now, convinced that I was going to loose the fish. In desperation I prepared to go in for him but then by pure luck the line pulled free and the fish wallowed on the surface. I reached out with the net and my heart stopped as this big lump slid over the cord. Phew! We laid the fish down in the long grass and I got out the scales, zeroed them with the wet sling on the hook and then hoisted Daddy up. It watched in amazement as the needle swung round into the purple sector, finally settling on 26lb 14oz at the time my second heaviest fish. I was chuffed to bits and chucked my weigh sling into the air...where it got caught in the same sodding willow. Did I care? Not care one jot!
By now there were several twenties in the lake as well as a thirty and Salamander was fast acquiring a country wide reputation and for the first time we began seeing 'strangers' on the lake. This was worrying! We are (still are) pretty hard done by for decent lakes with big fish in them and for one of our own to become known up-country was a concern.
So to the nub...
It's late May 1987 and I was at the lake looking for fish. I spotted a small group not far from the diner plate tight into the bank under one of the willows. Creeping into the shade I lowered the bait with a three-bait stringer tied to the hook down the edge with the float almost touching the bank. The fish were so close in I could have touched them with my rod tip. I kept my eyes glued on the hookbait and out of the corner of my eye saw Daddy waddling along so closet I swear he was rubbing his left flank along the bank. I saw his mouth open, he turned and bolted and that was when I realised he had picked up the bait. All hell broke loose. Line poured off the reel but then stopped. I pulled back but all was solid; he had weeded me up and in addition to that the line was also entangled in the overhanging branches of the willow!
By pure good fortune a guy who has just started fishing Salamander that year was walking the lake. I thrust the rod into his hand and started to strip off. I was down to my pants when Paul said that the fish was free again so I grabbed the rod off him and started playing the fish only for the line to catch in the branches of the willow again. I was shaking like one of the leaves on that bloody willow by now, convinced that I was going to loose the fish. In desperation I prepared to go in for him but then by pure luck the line pulled free and the fish wallowed on the surface. I reached out with the net and my heart stopped as this big lump slid over the cord. Phew! We laid the fish down in the long grass and I got out the scales, zeroed them with the wet sling on the hook and then hoisted Daddy up. It watched in amazement as the needle swung round into the purple sector, finally settling on 26lb 14oz at the time my second heaviest fish. I was chuffed to bits and chucked my weigh sling into the air...where it got caught in the same sodding willow. Did I care? Not care one jot!
By now there were several twenties in the lake as well as a thirty and Salamander was fast acquiring a country wide reputation and for the first time we began seeing 'strangers' on the lake. This was worrying! We are (still are) pretty hard done by for decent lakes with big fish in them and for one of our own to become known up-country was a concern.
In reply to Post #38
News about the little Cornish lake was gradually seeping out, and Big Daddy had acquired a rather unwanted status as a target for anglers in southern counties but we could hardly say we were overrun. Nevertheless, angling pressure took its toll and the fish were becoming spookier by the week. There were now three or four twenties in the lake as well as a very distinctive black mirror, which both Tat and I had seen but never caught. It looked like a coal barge in the water when swimming with the others, as black as your hat. I really wanted that fish, so was chuffed to bits when I finally caught it. Though not as (in)famous as the other Black Mirror of Colne Valley fame our lovely Cornish double was a real prize for us guys in Cornwall.
It was small wonder that up-country guys were appearing on the lake. We had some real beauties coming through, now that they were getting fed a decent diet. Here are a few of the other twenties that were in the lake in the mid-to late-80s. First a lovely sleek mirror that was something of a mystery. Neither me nor Tat recognised it when Ken Jones (pictured) caught it and to the best of my knowledge nobody else claimed it during that period either. I did catch what I thought was The Mystery a few years later but my pix were rubbish, taken, as they were by a passer-by, badly framed and out of focus, so I'll never be sure. Here's KJ with the lovely creature.
This is one of two twenties I caught in half an hour one summer's morning in about 1986.
This is the other:
And this is one I caught the following day. Three twenties in 24 hours was something very special in our parochial little world but your couldn't keep a capture like that quiet for very long and word was spreading on the grapevine like wildfire.
Early visitors came down from Pompey and Paul Hunt, later to become famously associated with Rainbow Lake, caught the prize fish at over thirty. By huge misfortune a journalist was there that day, a guy who did a short weekly angling column for the Cornish Guardian newspaper. His name was Gerry Savage, once a famous (some might say infamous) Kent carper, now sticking his nose in where it was not required in Cornwall. Gerry took some pix which he published in the Cornish Guardian. Worse still he named the venue. Floodgates opened and every Tom, Dick and Harry and their dogs came flocking to the lake in search of Cornwall's largest carp. (Unfortunately Mr Savage had a penchant for naming venues we were trying to keep secret. Thanks a bundle, Gerry.)
Sadly we had plenty of real numpty's join in the free for all too. I knew it was only a matter of time before all this was lost so I decided to have one last go for Big Daddy to try and catch him at thirty plus before I got crowded off the water once and for all. I succeeded and he weighed 33lb 8oz and do you know what? It was such an anti-climax, almost an insult to the old boy, that I didn't even take a trophy shot, just one on the mat. Somehow it didn't seem right.
News about the little Cornish lake was gradually seeping out, and Big Daddy had acquired a rather unwanted status as a target for anglers in southern counties but we could hardly say we were overrun. Nevertheless, angling pressure took its toll and the fish were becoming spookier by the week. There were now three or four twenties in the lake as well as a very distinctive black mirror, which both Tat and I had seen but never caught. It looked like a coal barge in the water when swimming with the others, as black as your hat. I really wanted that fish, so was chuffed to bits when I finally caught it. Though not as (in)famous as the other Black Mirror of Colne Valley fame our lovely Cornish double was a real prize for us guys in Cornwall.
It was small wonder that up-country guys were appearing on the lake. We had some real beauties coming through, now that they were getting fed a decent diet. Here are a few of the other twenties that were in the lake in the mid-to late-80s. First a lovely sleek mirror that was something of a mystery. Neither me nor Tat recognised it when Ken Jones (pictured) caught it and to the best of my knowledge nobody else claimed it during that period either. I did catch what I thought was The Mystery a few years later but my pix were rubbish, taken, as they were by a passer-by, badly framed and out of focus, so I'll never be sure. Here's KJ with the lovely creature.
This is one of two twenties I caught in half an hour one summer's morning in about 1986.
This is the other:
And this is one I caught the following day. Three twenties in 24 hours was something very special in our parochial little world but your couldn't keep a capture like that quiet for very long and word was spreading on the grapevine like wildfire.
Early visitors came down from Pompey and Paul Hunt, later to become famously associated with Rainbow Lake, caught the prize fish at over thirty. By huge misfortune a journalist was there that day, a guy who did a short weekly angling column for the Cornish Guardian newspaper. His name was Gerry Savage, once a famous (some might say infamous) Kent carper, now sticking his nose in where it was not required in Cornwall. Gerry took some pix which he published in the Cornish Guardian. Worse still he named the venue. Floodgates opened and every Tom, Dick and Harry and their dogs came flocking to the lake in search of Cornwall's largest carp. (Unfortunately Mr Savage had a penchant for naming venues we were trying to keep secret. Thanks a bundle, Gerry.)
Sadly we had plenty of real numpty's join in the free for all too. I knew it was only a matter of time before all this was lost so I decided to have one last go for Big Daddy to try and catch him at thirty plus before I got crowded off the water once and for all. I succeeded and he weighed 33lb 8oz and do you know what? It was such an anti-climax, almost an insult to the old boy, that I didn't even take a trophy shot, just one on the mat. Somehow it didn't seem right.
In reply to Post #39
What followed piled disaster upon disaster. In 1993 the local council decided to de-silt the lake using heavy plant. The fish were netted and kept in the council's own pond while the diggers and bucket dredgers did their worst. Most of the swims were destroyed, the trees cut down, a stupid artificial island constructed. When they brought the fish back, with them came thousands of small roach and rudd to compete with the thirty 30 carp that were restocked (yes, I counted them all back again!).
The soul of the lake was lost completely, but as if this desecration was not enough, a well organised gang of thieves came down and netted the lake again only this time it wasn't for the council it was to line their own pockets. Saddest of all was the fact that the albeit rare offspring of those Salamander carp were as robust and eager to feed as their parents growing very quickly in the richness of the lake. Given the way their parents had thrived I am sure several of their kids would have gone on to make thirty. I watched this little beauty grow from 11lb to 19lb in just four years. Just imagine what a water Salamander could have become.
This is the last Salamander fish I caught. It weighs 17lb and as far as I know this was the only time it was ever landed. It too disappeared in the back of the thieves' lorry.
Daddy achieved a maximum weight just prior to the theft, caught by young Andrew, a very accomplished angler who in now an angling coach. Twenty years ago he was a mere slip of a lad, but he knew how to catch carp. Sadly Daddy had been damaged again, this time loosing the top lobe of his tail Poor old soul.
So that is the story of the jewel in Cornwall's crown, now merely a fading memory, a sad loss to the county's carping history. I like to dream that Daddy is alive and well and enjoying a well earned retirement. Sadly I know this not to be true, for I know he has lost loads of weight, most of his tail and he looks like he'd been dropped from a plane without a parachute. I also know who nicked him and where he lives and it's a turgid bog of a place with as much atmosphere as a the inside of a dustbin, a sad ending for such a magnificent fish.
I have so many happy memories of the lake and it's carp, as I am certain do others who have pioneered a lake, like Ian J. and I did back in the day when Salamander was such a precious gem. Big Daddy meant a lot to me so I am glad I caught him when he was whole again, full tail, lovely big body and the power of the man after whom he is named.
Finally: Throughout this I have referred to Big Daddy in the masculine when in fact he was a she as Lou Reed would say!
What followed piled disaster upon disaster. In 1993 the local council decided to de-silt the lake using heavy plant. The fish were netted and kept in the council's own pond while the diggers and bucket dredgers did their worst. Most of the swims were destroyed, the trees cut down, a stupid artificial island constructed. When they brought the fish back, with them came thousands of small roach and rudd to compete with the thirty 30 carp that were restocked (yes, I counted them all back again!).
The soul of the lake was lost completely, but as if this desecration was not enough, a well organised gang of thieves came down and netted the lake again only this time it wasn't for the council it was to line their own pockets. Saddest of all was the fact that the albeit rare offspring of those Salamander carp were as robust and eager to feed as their parents growing very quickly in the richness of the lake. Given the way their parents had thrived I am sure several of their kids would have gone on to make thirty. I watched this little beauty grow from 11lb to 19lb in just four years. Just imagine what a water Salamander could have become.
This is the last Salamander fish I caught. It weighs 17lb and as far as I know this was the only time it was ever landed. It too disappeared in the back of the thieves' lorry.
Daddy achieved a maximum weight just prior to the theft, caught by young Andrew, a very accomplished angler who in now an angling coach. Twenty years ago he was a mere slip of a lad, but he knew how to catch carp. Sadly Daddy had been damaged again, this time loosing the top lobe of his tail Poor old soul.
So that is the story of the jewel in Cornwall's crown, now merely a fading memory, a sad loss to the county's carping history. I like to dream that Daddy is alive and well and enjoying a well earned retirement. Sadly I know this not to be true, for I know he has lost loads of weight, most of his tail and he looks like he'd been dropped from a plane without a parachute. I also know who nicked him and where he lives and it's a turgid bog of a place with as much atmosphere as a the inside of a dustbin, a sad ending for such a magnificent fish.
I have so many happy memories of the lake and it's carp, as I am certain do others who have pioneered a lake, like Ian J. and I did back in the day when Salamander was such a precious gem. Big Daddy meant a lot to me so I am glad I caught him when he was whole again, full tail, lovely big body and the power of the man after whom he is named.
Finally: Throughout this I have referred to Big Daddy in the masculine when in fact he was a she as Lou Reed would say!
Ken this thread has lot of feelings , your history of fishing is immense well documented and to share it with us is outstanding and very generous.
Of course Carol your companion equally qualifys for the good angler award. As i doubt there were many ladies fishing for Carp back in the day **** bed chair or not 😒
I love these stories of yesteryear,
Thank you Ken
Of course Carol your companion equally qualifys for the good angler award. As i doubt there were many ladies fishing for Carp back in the day **** bed chair or not 😒
I love these stories of yesteryear,
Thank you Ken
In reply to Post #41
Agreed,its fantastic ,proper Cornish carp fishing history ..
I have seen these fish in their rightful place,i used to go to college not a million miles away from the lake..Although i could not drive back then i had a clay country mate who could and we used to go down and watch these submarines cruising around ....nice chap he was ,as he showed some other places locally as well...break times have never been the same since....
............
also....now i`m remembering a few things.Ken wrote a really good article called `Rejuvenation at Rashleigh`or similar..well of course this fired me up and i especially wanted to catch `Busted tail`so i joined for the year Roche AC..
Anyway,i used to fish three rods ..long story short middle rod went off in the `long chuck`as it was known ,i got into a right ol mess ,chap up the bank came down to see what was happening and offered to land this carp for me plus all the other tangled rods etc.It went like this `think you`ve got ol busted tail on mate`....at this point what ever it was fell off..i still have bad dreams...and hence why i hate fishing three rods in tandem....always two plus one....
Agreed,its fantastic ,proper Cornish carp fishing history ..
I have seen these fish in their rightful place,i used to go to college not a million miles away from the lake..Although i could not drive back then i had a clay country mate who could and we used to go down and watch these submarines cruising around ....nice chap he was ,as he showed some other places locally as well...break times have never been the same since....
............also....now i`m remembering a few things.Ken wrote a really good article called `Rejuvenation at Rashleigh`or similar..well of course this fired me up and i especially wanted to catch `Busted tail`so i joined for the year Roche AC..
Anyway,i used to fish three rods ..long story short middle rod went off in the `long chuck`as it was known ,i got into a right ol mess ,chap up the bank came down to see what was happening and offered to land this carp for me plus all the other tangled rods etc.It went like this `think you`ve got ol busted tail on mate`....at this point what ever it was fell off..i still have bad dreams...and hence why i hate fishing three rods in tandem....always two plus one....
In reply to Post #42
Yeah - great stuff Ken, loving these write ups; especially the salamander & Roche stuff & it's great to see pics of of some "old friends"
Yeah - great stuff Ken, loving these write ups; especially the salamander & Roche stuff & it's great to see pics of of some "old friends"
In reply to Post #44
Great post and photo...Trencrom,I used to hear a lot about this place,wonder what happened? Probably ottered,shut to the locals...or turned into a soulless place like Shillamill...aka Stonerush...
Great post and photo...Trencrom,I used to hear a lot about this place,wonder what happened? Probably ottered,shut to the locals...or turned into a soulless place like Shillamill...aka Stonerush...
In reply to Post #45
Adam - I had a quick look at the "crom" whilst passing by back in the summer,
The top lake was totally weed choked - bank to bank/ top to bottom,, however the surrounding area & bankside is totally manicured with bbq areas, a summer house complete with decking & gazeebos!! Looks like the owners use the area for socialising in the summer......
Also there were loads of duck boxes, islands & feeders along with a few ornamental/ non indigenous ducks swimming around,
No obvious signs that angling had occurred recently........
It's quiet up there & with a stream running through the pools & an estuary nearby - I can't believe that old lutra hasn't popped by for a visit or two - & in a small shallow pool there's only going to be one winner.
DP
Adam - I had a quick look at the "crom" whilst passing by back in the summer,
The top lake was totally weed choked - bank to bank/ top to bottom,, however the surrounding area & bankside is totally manicured with bbq areas, a summer house complete with decking & gazeebos!! Looks like the owners use the area for socialising in the summer......
Also there were loads of duck boxes, islands & feeders along with a few ornamental/ non indigenous ducks swimming around,
No obvious signs that angling had occurred recently........
It's quiet up there & with a stream running through the pools & an estuary nearby - I can't believe that old lutra hasn't popped by for a visit or two - & in a small shallow pool there's only going to be one winner.
DP
In reply to Post #46
Ahh not another special place lost to Cornish carping..👎
I had this long list of waters,literally that i intended to fish one by one..all of them in Cornwall ,this was my plan ..
One night,last winter during a howling storm I once again revisited my list,after a short while I realised most of these places were lost to angling,so I screwed up this list and threw it into my open fire..
My problem is I don't wish to fish up country and Im only interested in Cornwall carping and over the border into Devon..
Not much compares to the peace and solitude we used to have..
Ahh not another special place lost to Cornish carping..👎
I had this long list of waters,literally that i intended to fish one by one..all of them in Cornwall ,this was my plan ..
One night,last winter during a howling storm I once again revisited my list,after a short while I realised most of these places were lost to angling,so I screwed up this list and threw it into my open fire..
My problem is I don't wish to fish up country and Im only interested in Cornwall carping and over the border into Devon..
Not much compares to the peace and solitude we used to have..
In reply to Post #45
Wandle1 - The last I heard (online, as I am "up country" now) the property had changed hands and the new owner did not want anglers coming and going so it is now out of bounds.
It had Commons mainly, to around mid twenties in the early 1990's and was a splendid secluded location. More often than not I, or we if I went with a friend, had the place to ourselves, mid-week.
Nigel Britton's friend Steve Westbury (now in Canada) did a good write-up called "Tales of Trencrom" under the pseudonym "Carpsava."
If you paste: http://webspace.webring.com/people/kw/waterwize/carpstories.html into your browser you can read it together with stories of College Reservoir and Bilberry Pool.
I have seen it described by another Cornish exile as: "a real gem hidden away in a little valley in the Cornish moorland. It's actually two small ponds, about an acre and a half apiece......... Trencrom was a magical little place, a rare piece of seclusion in a very overpopulated little island."
According to Steve and Nigel they loved sweet baits especially Tutti's, I used Tropicanos and did OK. I remember Gary Thomas (who fished College at the time) saying fondness of sweet baits was a particular trait of Commons.
Unfortunately a stream runs through and Otters may have found and cleared it out now?
The photo below is from the first day I ever fished the place (29/06/90.) They were crashing all over when we arrived, a "cannot go wrong" type of day though not often repeated!
Wandle1 - The last I heard (online, as I am "up country" now) the property had changed hands and the new owner did not want anglers coming and going so it is now out of bounds.
It had Commons mainly, to around mid twenties in the early 1990's and was a splendid secluded location. More often than not I, or we if I went with a friend, had the place to ourselves, mid-week.
Nigel Britton's friend Steve Westbury (now in Canada) did a good write-up called "Tales of Trencrom" under the pseudonym "Carpsava."
If you paste: http://webspace.webring.com/people/kw/waterwize/carpstories.html into your browser you can read it together with stories of College Reservoir and Bilberry Pool.
I have seen it described by another Cornish exile as: "a real gem hidden away in a little valley in the Cornish moorland. It's actually two small ponds, about an acre and a half apiece......... Trencrom was a magical little place, a rare piece of seclusion in a very overpopulated little island."
According to Steve and Nigel they loved sweet baits especially Tutti's, I used Tropicanos and did OK. I remember Gary Thomas (who fished College at the time) saying fondness of sweet baits was a particular trait of Commons.
Unfortunately a stream runs through and Otters may have found and cleared it out now?
The photo below is from the first day I ever fished the place (29/06/90.) They were crashing all over when we arrived, a "cannot go wrong" type of day though not often repeated!
In reply to Post #48
Wow,again a fantastic photo of what looks a very nice place......your most probably right about the lutra as well..
When i was on Rashleigh ,i heard guarded whispers about the place ,eventually a couple of lads who spoke about the place realised i wasn`t too bad a lad and could be trusted to keep mum,....even today i know of one or three ! special places that i have kept quiet about and would NOT tell anyone about........and thats over 32 years ago...
I know Gary Thomas ,he was great to me when he ran his bait firm ,gosh what was that bait called pink exstacy or similar,i used that on Lower Tamar...[cypro baits]...
Thing is a lot of carpers in the UK don`t realise just how fantastic Kernow used to be before the coming of the Lutra and,overt second home,lodge disease etc.....ie locals used to fishing lovely quiet places for many years kicked off when a rich so and so bought the place and so on............
We didnt have the biggest fish thats for sure ,but the one thing that was in evidence was the camaraderie thought the county ,the friendliness and the feeling that we were fishing for the unknown...
i loved it,and wish it was still the same......
Wow,again a fantastic photo of what looks a very nice place......your most probably right about the lutra as well..
When i was on Rashleigh ,i heard guarded whispers about the place ,eventually a couple of lads who spoke about the place realised i wasn`t too bad a lad and could be trusted to keep mum,....even today i know of one or three ! special places that i have kept quiet about and would NOT tell anyone about........and thats over 32 years ago...
I know Gary Thomas ,he was great to me when he ran his bait firm ,gosh what was that bait called pink exstacy or similar,i used that on Lower Tamar...[cypro baits]...
Thing is a lot of carpers in the UK don`t realise just how fantastic Kernow used to be before the coming of the Lutra and,overt second home,lodge disease etc.....ie locals used to fishing lovely quiet places for many years kicked off when a rich so and so bought the place and so on............
We didnt have the biggest fish thats for sure ,but the one thing that was in evidence was the camaraderie thought the county ,the friendliness and the feeling that we were fishing for the unknown...
i loved it,and wish it was still the same......
In reply to Post #49
Wandle1 - All too true when you say "Not much compares to the peace and solitude we used to have."
I now, looking back, realize just how lucky we were in Cornwall at that time and that it is mostly gone, for one reason or another. Just the memories left.
You'd need a friendly landowner, plenty of money and lots of fencing (if geographically possible, which it often isn't) to recreate and secure the low pressured gems we used to be lucky to fish.
Wandle1 - All too true when you say "Not much compares to the peace and solitude we used to have."
I now, looking back, realize just how lucky we were in Cornwall at that time and that it is mostly gone, for one reason or another. Just the memories left.
You'd need a friendly landowner, plenty of money and lots of fencing (if geographically possible, which it often isn't) to recreate and secure the low pressured gems we used to be lucky to fish.
Please be patient, guys. The missus broke her foot and ankle again on Thursday and I have turned into t full time house husband. Got 00s of photos to upload too. Bear with me. I will get this thread back on track directly!
In reply to Post #51
The missus broke her foot and ankle again on Thursday
she will have to stop kicking your Butt mate
The missus broke her foot and ankle again on Thursday
she will have to stop kicking your Butt mate
In reply to Post #52
Third times in ten years now, Brian. I call it clumsy; she says it's bad luck!
Edit: It's 4 times in 14 years. I forgot 2002. Poor lass!
Third times in ten years now, Brian. I call it clumsy; she says it's bad luck!
Edit: It's 4 times in 14 years. I forgot 2002. Poor lass!