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In reply to Post #958
When we first started carp fishing seriously it was hard as some of the lakes we fished had very low stocks we had no idea how to even start this would be in the middle sixties quite often when eel fishing we would hook a big carp on lob worm as it happened most that we hooked were lost in the big weed beds lilies and such. i know one lake we used to fish in the Telford area graham and i would ledger big bunches of worms we would catch a fish a cast not big but at least they were carp we were on a learning curve and catching any carp gave us a boost of confidence. I think it was in the mid sixties or early seventies we met a man who has been a good friend ever since a lad called Bern weaver he was mad to catch eels and carp we fished together at acton burnell betton really all over Shropshire's and some times over the border into wales he was dead keen his father Aubrey always came along and his brother charlie they were out most week ends and had caught some very impressive eels and the odd carp and some really good tench.
Bern with the first thirty from acton it weighted 33 pounds
Bern with his twenty seven pounds fish
Bern Graham and i were like the three musketeers never apart in fact Bern is a member of my shooting syndicate all three of us are now getting on a bit, but we can still remember the good times, when we fished in wales together i think in two days we caught over eighty fish the locals told us it was hard i was completely knackered from catching them we had fish to fifteen pounds, some of the nicest times together were at betton and acton burnell we would catch the tench in big numbers from acton and most fish averaged anything from five to seven pounds i well remember Bern catching a thirty three and a twenty seven pound carp on the same night i suppose that was the early seventies i think if a remember right it was the first thirty from acton but looking back she was severely spawn bound i had three the same night and i think graham had a number of tench some over seven pounds but they were great days we were still learning and were managing to catch a few.
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my self with a common from the same night
another from the same night
When i met lordy and he asked me if i would like to fish his private lake i really never looked back a few months went by and lordy asked if i would like to form a syndicate on the lake i snatched his hand off i had 14 in the syndicate and Bern was one of them we had some great times on that lake we caught chub big fish some going to seven pounds, graham caught seven in one morning, but it was the carp we wanted and managed to catch a few biggies it really changed in the eighties the Hair had arrived and i heard on the grape vine about using peanuts i would bait up often not to many at a time the fish went mad for them we absolutely slaughtered the place the other members could not believe how many we were catching or what we were using and i think to this very day they dont know. well ill tell you a bit more latter
 my rods out at acton early eighties
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In reply to Post #957
Well its been the last day of shooting for my syndicate, the two lakes had once again frozen over we had a few pheasants but one thing we must sort out is the foxes i don't mind seeing one about the place but we saw six today a few to many i love old foxy but you must control them the farmers will be having a go next as it will soon be lambing time the one dog fox i saw was nearly black first time i have seen one so dark he looked a majestic animal and in really good nick its a shame we have to resort to such measures but needs must before we get complaints from the farmers, i really wandered if some had been let go as we have been in that position before its not only cruel but very foolish as they cannot look after them selves or hunt like the old country fox the one that came out in front of me did not have a care in the world he was in and out of the wood just like he was used to being around humans a wild fox would catch your scent and would of been away but not this one unfortunately he was dispatched cleanly and so was a vixen having a look at the vixen she was barren not carrying cubs but i still wander if some have been caught up in the city and have been let go on our patch how many more there is i dont know as we did not shoot all of the wood and land but on what we saw this morning i would think more its strange how they have turned up with a week we have always had the odd one which i like to see, i shall over the next week be having a look around as i feel something is not quite right.
 the lake frozen again
 my syndicat members another year over
 end of the second drive
i had an email from a friend who is a bailiff for the federation and he sent a nice picture of a roach caught at sydney avenue shrewsbury it was two pounds eleven oz a most beautiful specimen and what made it all the better was the chap that caught it has just started fishing and this was his first visit to the severn with rod and line i would be very proud if i was him its a fish of a life time most have never seen a two pounder never mind a bigger one well done him and i wish him all the luck and i hope he contiues to fish the river i have not heard of any barbel being caught in this cold weather only a few chub but at least some are catching a bit cold for me as yet but i shall be having a go as it warms up. well a bit more latter
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In reply to Post #956
 my mate graham with another from ellesmere
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In reply to Post #955
 one from ellesmere
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In reply to Post #954
 one from whitchurch
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In reply to Post #951
 my dog sam who i painted better poacher than me god could he catch fish
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In reply to Post #951
 another just landed a few years ago
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In reply to Post #951
When i first moved to craven arms i was about seven or eight years old we had no money as such so we scraped by i helped the best i could as i have said before i would bring the ducks eggs home and the moorhens, one egg i loved was the peewit i would lie down and watch her land then run to her nest i would traverse the field until i found the nest they were lovely to eat small but nice my mum would pickle them in vinegar the peewit was quite common when i was young of course its true name is the lapwing, but as lads we always knew them as peewits, i could always find half a dozen nests in one field i would only take two eggs from each nest, sad today they are not around in numbers like when i was a boy. the habitat has gone for a good many ground nesting birds, another i would watch and find was the curlews nest the big grass pastures are not here like they used to be i have not seen a curlew in my area for some time sad as they were quite common years ago,
Anything to survive but i suppose the rabbit was the main stay until myxomatosis appeared terrible disease as lads we would go up the fields there would be hundreds just sitting there heads like footballs we would put them out of there misery with a big stick, it was awful it made life easier for the farmers, but some estates lost revenue as they made money out of the rabbit it was some time before you saw a rabbit and then it was the odd one it nearly wiped them out a lot of people would not eat them after mixie, but over the years they made a steady come back some became immune to the disease and are now nearly back to pre war years . as i once said i had an air gun for christmas this one year, that really altered things i got quite good with it and would shoot a pheasant or two that really helped at home i got to know the woods fields and most of the shoots around the area i loved every minute it really gave me a big kick the adrenaline went sky high i loved to out fox the keepers but they really never gave a young lad like me a second look i think they thought we would never poach and were to scared .
I was fourteen when i moved back to Bayston hill the village of my birth then my poaching really began i would walk for miles and at the age of sixteen had my first gun a webley and Scot four ten god did i shoot some birds with that and i did not wait for them to fly we needed food so it was bang and away to another spot i managed to acquire a high powered air rifle that was even better as i could go out at night with a torch strapped to the barrel or with a freind who would hold the torch but i prefered being by myself i woul;d shoot the pheasents out of the trees when at roost we were never whithout a dinner mum would worry sick you will get caught but i never did i loved the way of life i learned so much about the country side and its ways i think i walked every wood around condover bomere over to hanwood any where i coulsd get a free meal i fished the streams and rivers some stocked by the esatates for the owners and freinds to fish well i was a freind was i not i knew there woods and feilds back to front ha ha i have been chased a few times but i can honestly say i was never caught. well a bit more latter
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In reply to Post #946
I have had a great life i have met many friends fished shot and i have loved the country side i taught my self to fish sometimes successful other times not but i persevered and eventually caught fish i cut my teeth fishing a river in south Shropshire the onny it was strictly private in those days and heavily baliffed but that did not stop me fishing the place i got chased on more than one occasion but i only got caught once and that was not my fault the lad i was with was petrified and i could not leave him they confiscated my tackle but i managed to get it back the policemen brought it to our house and said as long as i did not fish there again or along those lines i could have my tackle back i should coco I carried on fishing it until we left and came back to live in the village of my birth Bayston hill so i hold it in my heart and memory, craven arms is where i met old Sam the keeper he taught me so much about the country side and its inhabitants.
Sam taught me so many things i am eternally grateful to him and his wife he taught me how to eel fish at stretford all about nature in general what not to shoot, that nature was a gift from god and not to be abused well that's how SAM saw it he showed me how he reared pheasants in the big rearing field they sat broody hens on pheasant eggs in little coups it was a hard life and SAM at times lived with his birds he would protect them from any predators that would destroy his hard work it was his job to make sure the birds survived he would trap rats stoats weasels even shoot the odd fox. how things have now changed all rearing done with incubators if old SAM was around now his job would have been a lot easier but most of all he was a friend that will remain in my heart forever at times i go, back to the church at halford that stands by the old water fall, i used to fish, such a pretty place to lie in slumber, so many friends now lie within the old church yard old SAM his wife and many more i went to school with, its a place of piece and quite the only noise you hear is the bird song and the sound of the river down below ,i look and leave them to there slumber i hold them in my heart and will forever more.
I have vivid memories about fishing stokesay court it was strictly private but i had a wonderful time catching the big Rudd and roach it held i have even fished the place when they had a shooting party i hid in the bushes and reeds that surrounded the place. The style is till there today where i would get over and hide my bike things have changed very little over the years and i think it is still a private place strictly no fishing its still a very big shooting estate i remember that horrible keeper that gave me a clip while i was at sams and how i got my own back by poaching his trout from the brook i had a few of his pheasants to, he would brag to sam how no one poached his patch i would smile little did he know but they were hard but great days and would live it all again if given the chance. a little more latter
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In reply to Post #949
 a very old warrior from betton
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In reply to Post #948
 graham with a chub
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In reply to Post #947
 tench bomere years ago
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In reply to Post #946
 another from lordys
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In reply to Post #945
I think we are going to struggle to find places to fish in Shropshire i hear about more fish loses every day some lakes have got away with it others have not it seems the deeper the water the better off you are terrible as some of the waters are steeped in history some i have fished all my life. The one lake has lost half a dozen fish over thirty pounds and loads of mid twenties and below are they worth restocking i doubt it very much as it could happen again, i was just sitting here thinking of days gone by the times we have had, good times by anyone's standards when graham and i were in our twenties we had the run off most lakes in and around shrews bury we could pick, an choose where we fished . we spent many hours fishing acton burnell we caught some lovely carp and tench they were lovely days no pressure you rolled up and fished when you liked, and you stayed as long as you wanted, no pressure to catch big fish you were pleased with whatever came your way of course it was nice if you caught a biggie but it was not all about fishing it was also being out and watching nature it was all part of our hobby.
When graham and i first fished nib's heath we were young and still learning we made most of our own tackle which added to our enjoyment we made our own floats, ledgers, rod rests and such things it was a long time before we met dick walker. We were two young men on a learning curve we experimented i well remember trying blood i would go to the local abitor and get a big bucket of blood straight from the tap god did the workers look at me strangely what on earth do you want blood for and by the time we went fishing it would stink to height heaven but it worked we tried mixing it with layers mash sausage rusk and maggots graham worked in telford at the time and on the way from work on a Friday he would call at the maggot farm and bring a gallon of maggots they only cost shillings, in those days, we would mix the maggots in the blood and mash and throw it in your chosen swim i think it attracted every fish in the lake we would float fish we caught perch two pounds plus every cast was a fish the biggest haul of tench was 134 pounds but would regularly catch eighty pounds plus we caught tench to five pounds a good fish for those years we found the blood would work on most lakes and really caught some great fish using it but other anglers were catching on to our big catches and it became more and more awkward to go fishing without being troubled by other anglers, i did not mind at first and we tried to help others but we found that we would not be able into our chosen swims as otheres would beat us to it, we would not take our keep nets out of the water with others present, as we would not get in that swim any more it got so bad that the police caught two anglers fishing at acton burnell and when asked there names they stated pete pemberton and graham wakley well the policmen knew me and the owners took them to court but it happened and nearly drove us to pack up fishing but i am glad we did not as i have met so many freinds over the years . well a bit more latter
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In reply to Post #944
 a bream berrington years ago
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Stickies