In reply to Post #279
Brilliant as normal
bringing back memories those were the happy days of fishing m8
Brilliant as normal
bringing back memories those were the happy days of fishing m8 
In reply to Post #280
Thanks old geezer very much appreciated
Thanks old geezer very much appreciated
In reply to Post #279
In the winter we would go roach fishing on the meres and rivers of Shropshire one place i loved to go was whixall moss it held some very big roach, and Bream, the latter went over twelve pounds plus a friend caught one over twelve pounds and put it back he would not kill the fish to claim the record but that's how it worked years ago there was a big island on the water we would wade out to the island the water was only a foot deep, but deeper the other side we would fish from the island some times we float fished and had some fair bags of fish i would also ledger two rods usually baited with bread flake tipped with maggot i used a butt indicators i had made they were quite sensitive i showed one to Dick and he seemed quite interested i would cast out tighten up then slacken line from reel and the indicator would hang down bites, were fast and furious the indicator would fly up hitting the butt section and stay there i would only have to pick the rod up and and i was in they were beautiful fish as the water was in the middle of a peat bog they had lovely golden flanks we would catch them to two pound plus usually there was only myself graham and Dennis we did not really think about the significance catching these big roach now looking back they were very big fish for that era i really don't know who owned the moss as we never asked permission and never got challenged unfortunately you cant fish it today as English nature runs the place its now a treble ssi Ramsay site they have done an excellent job up there encouraging snakes and different insects and some very rare plants to grow so there is now no fishing shame really i must have a drive up and have a look it would be nice to see the old place.
We also fished for the roach on the meres at Ellesmere either float fishing or ledgering newton mere was a favorite we would fish by the old boat house i don't know if its still there today we would catch a fish a cast wonderful fishing we would use mostly bread flake tipped with a caster den would bring the casters we never caught huge roach from there but they were mostly around the pound mark we would end the day with some excellent bags i would love to be on the water on a frosty morning you never saw another soul and had the place to your self Dick would ring me at work and ask how we were getting on and what we had been catching he was always interested god its a good job we never had the tackle like you have today we would have never been at home and its a good job we had understanding wives as we fished most of our free time then.
We would also fish the river Rea and would trot a float down the fast current as it reached the slow water under the bank the float would dip and slide away we had wonderful morning fishing the Rea, and you never knew what you would catch as it held some good roach a few perch and chub to four pounds plus we would catch a fair net full on a Saturday or Sunday morning the biggest chub i caught from this small river weighed in at four pounds eight oz we also caught the occasional Trout i myself even caught salmon how they got over the big water falls i don't know but today the falls have gone the river is now full of trout gray ling and chub stocked by a local club. well there's a bit more for you all. A bit more latter
In the winter we would go roach fishing on the meres and rivers of Shropshire one place i loved to go was whixall moss it held some very big roach, and Bream, the latter went over twelve pounds plus a friend caught one over twelve pounds and put it back he would not kill the fish to claim the record but that's how it worked years ago there was a big island on the water we would wade out to the island the water was only a foot deep, but deeper the other side we would fish from the island some times we float fished and had some fair bags of fish i would also ledger two rods usually baited with bread flake tipped with maggot i used a butt indicators i had made they were quite sensitive i showed one to Dick and he seemed quite interested i would cast out tighten up then slacken line from reel and the indicator would hang down bites, were fast and furious the indicator would fly up hitting the butt section and stay there i would only have to pick the rod up and and i was in they were beautiful fish as the water was in the middle of a peat bog they had lovely golden flanks we would catch them to two pound plus usually there was only myself graham and Dennis we did not really think about the significance catching these big roach now looking back they were very big fish for that era i really don't know who owned the moss as we never asked permission and never got challenged unfortunately you cant fish it today as English nature runs the place its now a treble ssi Ramsay site they have done an excellent job up there encouraging snakes and different insects and some very rare plants to grow so there is now no fishing shame really i must have a drive up and have a look it would be nice to see the old place.
We also fished for the roach on the meres at Ellesmere either float fishing or ledgering newton mere was a favorite we would fish by the old boat house i don't know if its still there today we would catch a fish a cast wonderful fishing we would use mostly bread flake tipped with a caster den would bring the casters we never caught huge roach from there but they were mostly around the pound mark we would end the day with some excellent bags i would love to be on the water on a frosty morning you never saw another soul and had the place to your self Dick would ring me at work and ask how we were getting on and what we had been catching he was always interested god its a good job we never had the tackle like you have today we would have never been at home and its a good job we had understanding wives as we fished most of our free time then.
We would also fish the river Rea and would trot a float down the fast current as it reached the slow water under the bank the float would dip and slide away we had wonderful morning fishing the Rea, and you never knew what you would catch as it held some good roach a few perch and chub to four pounds plus we would catch a fair net full on a Saturday or Sunday morning the biggest chub i caught from this small river weighed in at four pounds eight oz we also caught the occasional Trout i myself even caught salmon how they got over the big water falls i don't know but today the falls have gone the river is now full of trout gray ling and chub stocked by a local club. well there's a bit more for you all. A bit more latter
In reply to Post #282
Most of the big names i met over the early years were really gents one such man was jack Hilton and his mate Bill quinlan we were doing a feature for angling times and jack wanted to fish for the big bream after reading about our big fish catches he was a great man and he told us many stories about the big carp that inhabited Redmire more or less the same as Dick told me he brought his long term mate bill along with him they were both top of there game which you all know was carp fishing, at the time i owned the lease on a pool in Shropshire called Berrington pool it held some lovely Bream we had caught them to double figures i had baited up our swims for a period of two weeks before we fished we thought that it may give them both a better chance of catching a few we decided night fishing would give us all a better chance as the pool did not respond much to day time fishing. It was the first time i had seen a bivvy jack was a full time Gardner having his own business and made the bivvies out of the thick black plastic . we were to fish nearly a week his mate bill was a bit of a card and we had some great laughs. fishing that week was myself graham Dennis Kelly jack and bill we would finish fishing in a morning graham and myself being local would go home to bed leaving jack and bill in the bivvies Den traveled all the way back to stoke, we had a big boat house on the lake next to the swim Graham and i fished. we put our big keep nets in there and pegged them out there a bit of a story here on the first night graham has a run and landed a three pound Rudd a beautiful fish so its off to the net to pop him in but i tripped loosing the fish in the process and getting very wet its good job we could all laugh about it our camera man was Don Bridgwood who did a lot of free lance photography and write up for angling times.
It was not a very productive week we caught a few and it was enough to make a story thinking back the biggest was just under ten pounds jack and i had quite a talk and he said how well they fought on light tackle which they did most of my bream fishing was done with five pound BS line but i had stepped down to three pounds BS when bites were finicky in fact one of the biggest bream i caught was just under eleven pounds and i landed that on three pounds BS line jack asked me about my alarms and i said Dick had given me them they certainly improved my fishing at least i could close my eyes without missing a bite, we used the old garden bed chair loungers they were not that comfortable i fell through a couple times over the years but we survived and carried on fishing the week soon ended we saw jack and bill off he said he would be in touch but he never did and not long after he packed up fishing to become a jehovah witness i did not think jack was all that religious as he never came over like that but it was the end of a era it was the last time we ever saw him i think angling times must have this story in there arkives i know a certain gentlman that comes onto the forum has the said cutting well thats it for now more latter.
Most of the big names i met over the early years were really gents one such man was jack Hilton and his mate Bill quinlan we were doing a feature for angling times and jack wanted to fish for the big bream after reading about our big fish catches he was a great man and he told us many stories about the big carp that inhabited Redmire more or less the same as Dick told me he brought his long term mate bill along with him they were both top of there game which you all know was carp fishing, at the time i owned the lease on a pool in Shropshire called Berrington pool it held some lovely Bream we had caught them to double figures i had baited up our swims for a period of two weeks before we fished we thought that it may give them both a better chance of catching a few we decided night fishing would give us all a better chance as the pool did not respond much to day time fishing. It was the first time i had seen a bivvy jack was a full time Gardner having his own business and made the bivvies out of the thick black plastic . we were to fish nearly a week his mate bill was a bit of a card and we had some great laughs. fishing that week was myself graham Dennis Kelly jack and bill we would finish fishing in a morning graham and myself being local would go home to bed leaving jack and bill in the bivvies Den traveled all the way back to stoke, we had a big boat house on the lake next to the swim Graham and i fished. we put our big keep nets in there and pegged them out there a bit of a story here on the first night graham has a run and landed a three pound Rudd a beautiful fish so its off to the net to pop him in but i tripped loosing the fish in the process and getting very wet its good job we could all laugh about it our camera man was Don Bridgwood who did a lot of free lance photography and write up for angling times.
It was not a very productive week we caught a few and it was enough to make a story thinking back the biggest was just under ten pounds jack and i had quite a talk and he said how well they fought on light tackle which they did most of my bream fishing was done with five pound BS line but i had stepped down to three pounds BS when bites were finicky in fact one of the biggest bream i caught was just under eleven pounds and i landed that on three pounds BS line jack asked me about my alarms and i said Dick had given me them they certainly improved my fishing at least i could close my eyes without missing a bite, we used the old garden bed chair loungers they were not that comfortable i fell through a couple times over the years but we survived and carried on fishing the week soon ended we saw jack and bill off he said he would be in touch but he never did and not long after he packed up fishing to become a jehovah witness i did not think jack was all that religious as he never came over like that but it was the end of a era it was the last time we ever saw him i think angling times must have this story in there arkives i know a certain gentlman that comes onto the forum has the said cutting well thats it for now more latter.
In reply to Post #283
The day Dick told me he had the dreaded big c it made me cry infact i only found out by chance i had tried ringing him a few times but no one answered but this one day a lady answered the phone i was told i could not speak to him as he was ill, then i heard his unmistakable voice in the back ground asking who is it she said peter, ill speak to him he said hello Pete how are you, alright i said what have you been catching i told him we had been doing alright and we were fishing on berrington and bomere i have got cancer Pete he said i was dumb struck no cure i am afraid, i felt the tears welling up in my eyes i am so sorry i said what do you say to some one who has been your boy hood hero some one i had looked up to, and some one who had become a friend. Over the few years that i had known him he was always there to give advice god how i would miss our telephone conversations we said our goodbyes and that was the last time i spoke to Dick not long after he died what annoyed me most was i could not get the time off from work to get to his funeral i worked for the Home office they were going through a busy period and i could not take time off but i have thought about him many times since i never even thought in my wildest dreams that i would meet this big man and the help and kindness he gave me over the years was immense he wanted me to write many years ago i am sure if he had been alive he would have been very proud of my stories.
But life goes on i missed my trips down to his factory very much by this time graham had packed up fishing so i was left on my own we had fished for years together he could not get the time from work to go fishing as he worked a seven day week, And also some of the stuff that had happened to us like soaping swims had got to him it got to me as well but i was not going to pack up. It was a few years before he came back to the fold, i met another chap who worked with me and we started fishing together he name was George Kimberly we fished at lordys quite a lot and caught some wonderful carp i can see him now he would wade out in his underpants if a fish snagged us in the big weed beds he was fearless old bugger but he did it once to often got stuck in the weed bed and nearly drowned there was me panicking on the bank he had vanished from sight all i could see was big bubbles appearing on the surface i swam halfway across the lake before i got to him he came up coughing and gasping for breath leaving the landing net sticking up out of the weeds i got him back to the bank he was a bit white in the face and shaking a bit, but after about an hour he was his usual self i never once saw hime wade out again . little bit more latter
The day Dick told me he had the dreaded big c it made me cry infact i only found out by chance i had tried ringing him a few times but no one answered but this one day a lady answered the phone i was told i could not speak to him as he was ill, then i heard his unmistakable voice in the back ground asking who is it she said peter, ill speak to him he said hello Pete how are you, alright i said what have you been catching i told him we had been doing alright and we were fishing on berrington and bomere i have got cancer Pete he said i was dumb struck no cure i am afraid, i felt the tears welling up in my eyes i am so sorry i said what do you say to some one who has been your boy hood hero some one i had looked up to, and some one who had become a friend. Over the few years that i had known him he was always there to give advice god how i would miss our telephone conversations we said our goodbyes and that was the last time i spoke to Dick not long after he died what annoyed me most was i could not get the time off from work to get to his funeral i worked for the Home office they were going through a busy period and i could not take time off but i have thought about him many times since i never even thought in my wildest dreams that i would meet this big man and the help and kindness he gave me over the years was immense he wanted me to write many years ago i am sure if he had been alive he would have been very proud of my stories.
But life goes on i missed my trips down to his factory very much by this time graham had packed up fishing so i was left on my own we had fished for years together he could not get the time from work to go fishing as he worked a seven day week, And also some of the stuff that had happened to us like soaping swims had got to him it got to me as well but i was not going to pack up. It was a few years before he came back to the fold, i met another chap who worked with me and we started fishing together he name was George Kimberly we fished at lordys quite a lot and caught some wonderful carp i can see him now he would wade out in his underpants if a fish snagged us in the big weed beds he was fearless old bugger but he did it once to often got stuck in the weed bed and nearly drowned there was me panicking on the bank he had vanished from sight all i could see was big bubbles appearing on the surface i swam halfway across the lake before i got to him he came up coughing and gasping for breath leaving the landing net sticking up out of the weeds i got him back to the bank he was a bit white in the face and shaking a bit, but after about an hour he was his usual self i never once saw hime wade out again . little bit more latter
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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