Not sure where to start, at the beginning, it would be a great
shame if....some parts of carp angling were lost because it was
not put in print, I've been a carper since the early 80's and there
are a lot on here could add at least another 10 years to that,
(oldgeezer etc) I think it would be a big seller if all the old carpers
could write a section for a complete history book, not the every
day stories we all know but the ones like how the beach caster
was developed, how did you tie your first hair rig, there must be
loads of stories untold, in the early years there was no internet
and not a lot of secret stuff went into the mags, so, can it be done?

In reply to Post #1
I think that would be a lovely thing to do..

Myself,there was only one other proper carp angler in my area,and I watched the Cornish carp angling scene,grow and grow..of course I'm talking Nth Cornwall,

Of course,the South Coast and clay Country would be a massive influence,Ken and the Southwest memories posts come to mind,I have in my home literally hundreds of 35mm pics all documenting the birth and demise of fisheries,some defunct, otterrd or other ,they should not be forgotten,neither should ol Tom Stone of Egloskerry..and his tales of the Mohan stocking and three wheeler man and his early morning sex exploits,all good stuff..in his 70s and his 40 yr old girl friend..in a three wheeler..ha,ha..!!

I get asked a lot to write a book ...

In reply to Post #2
I get asked a lot to write a book ...

Well, before its too late....just write a chapter to start
with, small incidents that only you and some mates
know about, something like....I got matey with a guy
who started carping like me, we struggled a lot at first,
then I heard if a small water in Guilford where you were
bound to catch, we agreed to meet there , he would be
late and asked where I would be (no mobiles then), I
said when you get there you will know, ok, when I set up
I tied a lot of balloons on the brolly, he never showed,
the locals must have thought I was on whatever was
the going drug at that time

In reply to Post #3
OK...it won't be in order,life never is..!

So..I started fishing when I was about five,my grandfather, father and three uncles all fished,mainly course fishing except for my grandad,who I have a picture of sea fishing out in the Pacific ,off rocks whilst serving on board HMS Victorius .in the 2nd world war

Now this all seems jolly hockey sticks,but life isn't like that,see I was given some old books Mr Crabtree fishing in all waters and another by Fred j Taylor .I spent a lot of time reading those books thinking I was Peter,but in reality it was quite different..

See I'd read those books by torchlight under my bedclothes,pretending that what I was hearing wasn't really happening,as yet again mum and dad had fallen out ,..there was a lot of unhappiness, but those books became my crutch,and I learnt to switch off from bad things..later in life,angling was my saviour..and still is..!
I still have those books..
I was,and still is fascinated by water,this fascination,nearly cost my life,on the river Wandle,hence my nickname,the Thames at Sonning by the French horn pub,and in my village,Boscastle under queen's head,in the harbour,three times fishing near cost me.

I spent many hours in the Valency valley,fishing for wild trout and learning as much about the countryside as I could,as a result I spent a lot of time with real country people,some of them had never been abroad or Plymouth even,I loved those old timers,I soaked everything up they taught me like a sponge..

As a result I came to view things a lot differently to other people..I respect the old ways,and the changing of the seasons,and have seen stuff,at night not many people get to see..
This is what made me an angler,and outdoorsman,those old ways.

In reply to Post #4
Adam, brilliant, this is the type of memories I'm talking about,
if more of this comes forward I would like to copy it to a document
and maybe stick it up on here when there is enough to fill a mag.
Not to make anything out of it financial or otherwise just to
preserve some untold memories, so, come on lets have some more

In reply to Post #5
looks like there aren't any good stories to be told....best forget the whole idea

In reply to Post #6
I'm surprised as well..

I'll do another,see if that will encourage others,I think its to do with nano chip impregnation,it might be hard to bypass the memory or happy wires in the frontal lobes..

Let's see if anyone can bypass it..

Lol...

In reply to Post #6
I dont read fishing books normally they just piss me off lol
things like
it graced my net the daftest thing ever written IMO ................ ( I get a mental picture of a fish splashing holy water on a landing net )
the fish I had been dreaming of ....eh ? what tosh you dream of porn not fish ?

In reply to Post #8
Xhamster.com..thats quite a good one..

Lol..

Years ago,if you wanted to come to Cornwall,you'd have to travel through Lifton, lewdown etc,past Jethros old night club,get caught in a load of traffic, stressed and moaning about who's stupid idea it was to come on holiday in the first place,but if you was an angler, unknowingly you would have driven past old mines,slate or copper,..those old pits are deep and have galleries and go sheer drop almost..there is history attached to many of them.
I used to fish up that way,it meant driving through the back lanes,and seeing places hidden by the passing traffic,one such journey entailed driving through a pristine valley,this valley abundant in all manner of wildlife,a lovely unspoilt place..
One day on this drive ,I saw some signs,I stopped and felt great sadness as the valley was going to be raped,ruined and become part of the A30..
I had just bought a mk1 Titan from Exeter angling,I was proud of this new age bivvy,no one I knew had one,plus I had a chance to catch up with a good friend Hiram,in the tackleshop.

I could see the damage being done to the valley on my drive,I tried to not acknowledge my visuality,or the impending destruction..
The lake I was fishing ,faced Dartmoor,in all its raw beauty and I was only the third member of this three man club,if you will.!

The owner of this lake was odd,and I mean that,as on one occasion I spotted him watching my every move from a small copse,his springer dog giving his presence away..I thought no more of it,..
One morning the owner said,it was raining last night at 3am,so I laid you wellys down to stop them getting wet inside.!!!
I thanked him...
I started to catch lots of fish using my Asafoetida semos,copied from a Roche AC ,member,my catches got the two Bristolian members a bit jealous..and they tried to get me off the water.

One morning I had a double take,two big upper doubles in the same net,I couldn't help it..it was one one those things..

At that point the owner ,the odd bod,came around, and told me to leave,as I'd been damaging his fish,scales on the bank etc.

To emphasise his point,a 20 bore shot gun was waved in my face,and a single barrel let off over my head..

I got the message,and I hold the UK record for fastest packdown ,ever..

Turned out a otter was killing his carp,the Bristolians wanted me off..

I went...and the beautiful valley is full of traffic..

In reply to Post #6
Credentials , none, Enyway a long time ago 3 of us were walking through a forest and when your 10 or so everythings new , a big adventure and me being the youngest by several years always tagged along, and not owning 2 bruce and walkers or 2 300,s I had much to aspire to in my mind , there was this secret society called carp fishing where grown men with long hair and dirty clothes practiced there art at the weekend and stank the house out during the week, I wanted in , my life was mapped out and all I needed was matching rods.

Back to the woods , we err well thay found a tiny pond amongst silver birch trees , a quite stunning setting even a 10 year old could get, me being a learner with only gudgeon from the thames and chub from the roading to my name, crept slowly bringing up the rear imitating the 2 carpers who would tell me if it was worth fishing, we , err no thay found carp , hushed voices described the plan , I just nodded with whatever was next on our operation.

These 2 experts, well thay were to me, much laughter 48 years on, the only thing we did not have was cocoa on our faces, mum would never have allowed that even for a secret society , lol sounds like the masons,

Right a plan was hatched, desperate men do desperate things, so I'm lead to believe, I was only there so some poor sod could keep tabs on me as I had a puncture and the last spoon I broke trying to mend it,. my 2 experts and me walked slowly , like thay do in carpology, we were ahead of the game lol, oh the tension , as we walked those carp knew we were there,we had been rumbled so much for expert ahh. the fish just swam up the other end and when we got up there thay went swimming again.

My experts kept calm and focused , I just thought I was getting dizzy going round and round the pond, I gave myself a talking to, this is carp fishing, there must be pain stinging nettles, etc, its all part of my learning curve,
as the carp were small , these guys had caught doubles and not just 1 or 2 thay gave me the rod told me to crouch
down and be still, I did what I was told for a quiet life.

So our 2 best men when up the other end and the carp came down to me and took the size 2 and lump of crust, I obviously panicked and did everything that a carp man would not do , rod tip to low, clutch to loose etc, enyway thay barked orders and I obeyed and the 3 lb willdie was mine, never to be forgot.

In reply to Post #8
She lay before me shimmering in the moon light , on the most quiet of nights , I had spent months chasing her
and now she was mine, just an old girlfriend , I put her back and never weighed her, that's 4 u gerry

In reply to Post #11
She lay before me shimmering in the moon light , on the most quiet of nights , I had spent months chasing her
and now she was mine, just an old girlfriend , I put her back and never weighed her, that's 4 u gerry


translated is it ??
sweating like a bstd thought the hook was gonna pull S***ting myself every time the f****r rolled and the line twanged on its dorsal at last got the net under the **** and was chuffed to fook it was one of the big ones left my scales at home so couldn't weigh the bstd

In reply to Post #8

In reply to Post #12
That's it you've got something there

Be Honest (to yourself)

I arrived at the club water just as one of the IN guys was playing a fish, it was beating him and it showed, I thought I would watch before I set up, after a while it snagged him, another IN guy came to help, (I don't think I would have been allowed), he said shall I go in with a landing net? he got approval and in he went, "I can feel it", "is it big", yeah, then....twang, the fish had freedom, one of them said I think it was the big one, well, thats how it started, as more IN men visited during the course of the day the story changed from I think it was the big one to it had to be....and finally it was the big one, ffs none of us saw it jeeeeze