In reply to Post #555
once again enjoyed the thread.have you a read about your first carp im sorry if you have allready done it keep them comeing take care.
once again enjoyed the thread.have you a read about your first carp im sorry if you have allready done it keep them comeing take care.
In reply to Post #559
well after i have said once before in an earlier thread about my carp fishing when i was young. but yes i can remember my first ever carp i suppose i would be about eight years old and it was caught at a little pool where i lived in craven arms. it was only three pounds but a huge fish for me. i caught it out of a weed bed with floating crust. the problem was getting the crust out there as tackle in those days was very limited i used an old wooden centre pin line was silk i think mine was black and silver with the old tank aerial rods. The hooks were as i have said before the old black eel hook but they did the job. i would pull the line from the spool and put it in coils behind me on a piece of plastic put the crust on then give it the big heave ho with a bit of luck out it would go with the crust intact. then put it in to home made ,rests pull some line from the reel and wait i caught hundreds fishing like this and even surprised my self catching to 10 pounds in weight i think i have some black and white photos somewhere ill have to have a look. in those days you did not think very much about the significant of catching a ten pound common but it was a very good fish for that period. i also learned to use par boiled potatoes not very big like the small salad ones you buy today i would get mum to boil them up for me and would take a bag of them every time i went and throw a dozen or more in they soon got on to those and we really hammered the place. what i still cannot understand why no one else used them. we had great success with them. i also used maggot but it was a stinky job collecting them from the local abbitor i would get them from the discarded animal skins that had been dumped and were waiting to be collected by the rag and bone man. my mum would play hell i would stink like a poll cat. but they worked. Well i had my first carp out of that big weed bed on crust and did it go i managed to get it throught the weed and land it the gentelmen that was watching weighed it at three pounds i was well chuffed and my dad came and did the photos with a brownie box camera well there you are arfer my first carp and i have had many since that wonderfull day all those years ago more to follow
well after i have said once before in an earlier thread about my carp fishing when i was young. but yes i can remember my first ever carp i suppose i would be about eight years old and it was caught at a little pool where i lived in craven arms. it was only three pounds but a huge fish for me. i caught it out of a weed bed with floating crust. the problem was getting the crust out there as tackle in those days was very limited i used an old wooden centre pin line was silk i think mine was black and silver with the old tank aerial rods. The hooks were as i have said before the old black eel hook but they did the job. i would pull the line from the spool and put it in coils behind me on a piece of plastic put the crust on then give it the big heave ho with a bit of luck out it would go with the crust intact. then put it in to home made ,rests pull some line from the reel and wait i caught hundreds fishing like this and even surprised my self catching to 10 pounds in weight i think i have some black and white photos somewhere ill have to have a look. in those days you did not think very much about the significant of catching a ten pound common but it was a very good fish for that period. i also learned to use par boiled potatoes not very big like the small salad ones you buy today i would get mum to boil them up for me and would take a bag of them every time i went and throw a dozen or more in they soon got on to those and we really hammered the place. what i still cannot understand why no one else used them. we had great success with them. i also used maggot but it was a stinky job collecting them from the local abbitor i would get them from the discarded animal skins that had been dumped and were waiting to be collected by the rag and bone man. my mum would play hell i would stink like a poll cat. but they worked. Well i had my first carp out of that big weed bed on crust and did it go i managed to get it throught the weed and land it the gentelmen that was watching weighed it at three pounds i was well chuffed and my dad came and did the photos with a brownie box camera well there you are arfer my first carp and i have had many since that wonderfull day all those years ago more to follow
In reply to Post #560
i think i have some black and white photos somewhere
didnt even know they had cameras then
i think i have some black and white photos somewhere
didnt even know they had cameras then
In reply to Post #560
IT was the early seventies when graham and myself started to use maze for a lot of our fishing what a bait not many were using it then so we had a bit of an advantage my brother inlaw worked at a mill so we would buy a couple of hundred weight from him. i would leave it soak for a few days before boiling i would also add a bit of salt. when boiled still leave to soak in its own juice it would really stink when we used to bait up for the bream with it i would also add some sausage rusk with it to stiffen it up so you could ball it out. but did it work we had some amazing catches of roach and big bream. the biggest ever catch we had was catching over two hundred weight of bream over a period of six weeks with lots between seven and nine pounds plus which were quite good fish for those years. the roach we caught using it always seem to be the bigger size mostly around one half pounds to two pounds lovely old fish. we used the maze on most of the meres in shropshire and did very well using the stuff i must admit i never once saw any one else using it which was really a surprise. by this time gray and myself were fishing everywhere acton burnell was a favorite place and we would be off on a friday night and ledger for the tench we had some great nights on there catching tench to seven pounds it was stuffed with them and our maze certainly worked we also caught some nice roach bot not as big as we had out of bomere i think it was about this time when we caught our first carp from there a nice fish of seventeen pounds i still have the photos not big by today's standards but good enough then and there was more to come and i mean more some very big fish caught over a period of time by myself gray and bernard but that's another story. we also caught well from betton catching bream by the bucket full not big fish only around four pounds but very good sport we would lose the occasional carp. but you could do nothing about as the tackle you used for the bream was to light. they were good years we lived for our fishing. more to come latter
IT was the early seventies when graham and myself started to use maze for a lot of our fishing what a bait not many were using it then so we had a bit of an advantage my brother inlaw worked at a mill so we would buy a couple of hundred weight from him. i would leave it soak for a few days before boiling i would also add a bit of salt. when boiled still leave to soak in its own juice it would really stink when we used to bait up for the bream with it i would also add some sausage rusk with it to stiffen it up so you could ball it out. but did it work we had some amazing catches of roach and big bream. the biggest ever catch we had was catching over two hundred weight of bream over a period of six weeks with lots between seven and nine pounds plus which were quite good fish for those years. the roach we caught using it always seem to be the bigger size mostly around one half pounds to two pounds lovely old fish. we used the maze on most of the meres in shropshire and did very well using the stuff i must admit i never once saw any one else using it which was really a surprise. by this time gray and myself were fishing everywhere acton burnell was a favorite place and we would be off on a friday night and ledger for the tench we had some great nights on there catching tench to seven pounds it was stuffed with them and our maze certainly worked we also caught some nice roach bot not as big as we had out of bomere i think it was about this time when we caught our first carp from there a nice fish of seventeen pounds i still have the photos not big by today's standards but good enough then and there was more to come and i mean more some very big fish caught over a period of time by myself gray and bernard but that's another story. we also caught well from betton catching bream by the bucket full not big fish only around four pounds but very good sport we would lose the occasional carp. but you could do nothing about as the tackle you used for the bream was to light. they were good years we lived for our fishing. more to come latter
In reply to Post #563
Another hobby of mine has been wild life photography. I have spent hours with my video camera lying in some very wet and unpleasant places. but have some real good footage of foxes and their cubs but it has took many long hours. i have also got some good footage off badgers and their cubs. i have even had old brock walk over my feet while i have been taking shots of their cubs it is surprising how tame they will get. and they really like peanut butter they go wild over it and if tame enough will take it out of your hand. when gray and myself used to go out with the rifles rabbiting the badgers got so used to seeing us that they would stay put worming out in the fields the only time they would run was if you got to close they were not frightened by the light at all and it was always a pleasure watching them. but there is a down side they are lovely animals but there are far to many at the moment a lot of the local farmers are not amused the one set not far from my home is absolutely huge and there is about ninety holes the problem is the ground is now getting under tunneled and the farmers tractors are going into the set up to there axles not good not long before some one gets seriously hurt. the badger society do and can move them to other locations but its a case of hours trapping them and then transporting them a big job all round but i love them and would not like to see them disappear. last year we had a pair of hen harriers breeding on the fringes of bomere a wonderful sight and the first i have seen for years we have the peregrines breeding at the quarry anther wonderfull sight they kill the pigeon in my garden hitting the pigeon in mid flight leaving feathers everwhere. In the last few years we have been visited by the osprey at bomere and to watch them fish is somthing else it soars and hovers above the water then dives and seizes the fish in its talons it looks a real awkward bird but it a big privalidge to see it now and again. this all works in with my fishing and love every minute of it more to come latter
Another hobby of mine has been wild life photography. I have spent hours with my video camera lying in some very wet and unpleasant places. but have some real good footage of foxes and their cubs but it has took many long hours. i have also got some good footage off badgers and their cubs. i have even had old brock walk over my feet while i have been taking shots of their cubs it is surprising how tame they will get. and they really like peanut butter they go wild over it and if tame enough will take it out of your hand. when gray and myself used to go out with the rifles rabbiting the badgers got so used to seeing us that they would stay put worming out in the fields the only time they would run was if you got to close they were not frightened by the light at all and it was always a pleasure watching them. but there is a down side they are lovely animals but there are far to many at the moment a lot of the local farmers are not amused the one set not far from my home is absolutely huge and there is about ninety holes the problem is the ground is now getting under tunneled and the farmers tractors are going into the set up to there axles not good not long before some one gets seriously hurt. the badger society do and can move them to other locations but its a case of hours trapping them and then transporting them a big job all round but i love them and would not like to see them disappear. last year we had a pair of hen harriers breeding on the fringes of bomere a wonderful sight and the first i have seen for years we have the peregrines breeding at the quarry anther wonderfull sight they kill the pigeon in my garden hitting the pigeon in mid flight leaving feathers everwhere. In the last few years we have been visited by the osprey at bomere and to watch them fish is somthing else it soars and hovers above the water then dives and seizes the fish in its talons it looks a real awkward bird but it a big privalidge to see it now and again. this all works in with my fishing and love every minute of it more to come latter
In reply to Post #564
i was also bailiff for a big trout fishery not far from my home for around seven years it was real hard going and you had to be there all times m night and day and it could be a real dangerous job the poachers would mostly come after midnight and it was you against them lucky i had a good relation ship with the the police and they were a good and always willing to help out at any time. we even had sheep skinned and took from the adjacent field by the poachers over the years we caught many and it did eventually stop. they knew they were not going to get away with it and end up in court or worse. i loved my trout fishing and would regularly catch up to forty in a day my biggest was an eighteen plus rainbow but they don't fight as well as a three pound-er the brownies really went well i think my biggest was around fourteen pounds and fought like stink we always returned the brownies to be caught another day. i was on the punt one particular day when i hooked this fish on lure it certainly was not a trout i had it on for some time it went under the anchor rope managed to get the anchor up and managed to catch sight of the fish it was a huge carp probably in his thirtys but i lost it . we also caught some big old eels from there a freind had the biggest a 6 -80z speciemen but i had to call a halt to this as they were catching some big trout as well you would catch them on dead bait or worm it certainly was not good for the fishery, the son of the boss did not like me stopping him eel fishing as he made a few bob out of the trout he caught but stopped it was there was some big old perch in this fishery as well and a freind had them to just under five pounds on lures fished very deep while fly fishing for the trout. i was also fishing up at lordy quite a bit and had managed to catch some lovely looking chub to six pounds plus graham had them to seven pounds, all caught on bollie we had some nice tench and carp but the place was becoming so weedy it was fast becoming impossible to fish. so lordy decided to have it sprayed with some sort of weed killer what a good job it did it never hurt the fish one bit but certainl cleared the weed and made it a lot easier to fish we had some great days after catching some realy good carp more to follow
i was also bailiff for a big trout fishery not far from my home for around seven years it was real hard going and you had to be there all times m night and day and it could be a real dangerous job the poachers would mostly come after midnight and it was you against them lucky i had a good relation ship with the the police and they were a good and always willing to help out at any time. we even had sheep skinned and took from the adjacent field by the poachers over the years we caught many and it did eventually stop. they knew they were not going to get away with it and end up in court or worse. i loved my trout fishing and would regularly catch up to forty in a day my biggest was an eighteen plus rainbow but they don't fight as well as a three pound-er the brownies really went well i think my biggest was around fourteen pounds and fought like stink we always returned the brownies to be caught another day. i was on the punt one particular day when i hooked this fish on lure it certainly was not a trout i had it on for some time it went under the anchor rope managed to get the anchor up and managed to catch sight of the fish it was a huge carp probably in his thirtys but i lost it . we also caught some big old eels from there a freind had the biggest a 6 -80z speciemen but i had to call a halt to this as they were catching some big trout as well you would catch them on dead bait or worm it certainly was not good for the fishery, the son of the boss did not like me stopping him eel fishing as he made a few bob out of the trout he caught but stopped it was there was some big old perch in this fishery as well and a freind had them to just under five pounds on lures fished very deep while fly fishing for the trout. i was also fishing up at lordy quite a bit and had managed to catch some lovely looking chub to six pounds plus graham had them to seven pounds, all caught on bollie we had some nice tench and carp but the place was becoming so weedy it was fast becoming impossible to fish. so lordy decided to have it sprayed with some sort of weed killer what a good job it did it never hurt the fish one bit but certainl cleared the weed and made it a lot easier to fish we had some great days after catching some realy good carp more to follow
In reply to Post #565
well yesterday i took the wife in the car to craven arms i had not been so well since my operation with a few complications so i few hours out did us a lot of good. i went to the old house where my game keeper friend sam lived it was not there its been knocked down the old apple trees have gone the price of progress i suppose but it really brought a tear to my eye as i have many happy memories of the house and the man himself. the river is just the same and would dearly like to fish it once again but legally next time apparently it still holds a few trout and gray ling but it is mostly a course river now the environment agency have now stocked it with salmon Parr aoi am interested how it fairs over the coming years. oh i do wish they had been there when i was young there would have been a few missing they would have given us a good meal. well i have lost my parents in the last eighteen months and it has took some getting used to as they were always there for me when i was younger and always encouraged me to fish i could not of asked for better parents. i went out to club and had a look at the brook where i caught all those lovely trout all those years ago i used to cycle there and hide my bike its not changed one bit and there's still some excellent trout in there no good me poaching it as i cant run any more getting to old for all that its nice to reminisce as it seems so long ago and was nice to have a look around. the carp lake is still there the owners told me it held some nice cats now as well as carp it looked nice but i don't think ill be having a go a bit expensive to fish and i have so much to have a go at in shrewsbury with a bit off luck that's just what i will be doing in the next few months graham and myself have got a bit planned with a few barbel sessions thrown in cant wait. my beloved bomere has been knocked around a bit for the better in the long run English nature has been working with the forestry commission and have took all the fir trees down and are now clearing the all the bushes out of the woods so all the natural flowers will grow primroses and blue bells and such it has been to over grown for years they have cleared all arround shomere you can see it from the road now which you have not been able to do for years. its an on going job and is going to take some time to complete but i have seen the improvment it has on the wild life already well all for now more latter
well yesterday i took the wife in the car to craven arms i had not been so well since my operation with a few complications so i few hours out did us a lot of good. i went to the old house where my game keeper friend sam lived it was not there its been knocked down the old apple trees have gone the price of progress i suppose but it really brought a tear to my eye as i have many happy memories of the house and the man himself. the river is just the same and would dearly like to fish it once again but legally next time apparently it still holds a few trout and gray ling but it is mostly a course river now the environment agency have now stocked it with salmon Parr aoi am interested how it fairs over the coming years. oh i do wish they had been there when i was young there would have been a few missing they would have given us a good meal. well i have lost my parents in the last eighteen months and it has took some getting used to as they were always there for me when i was younger and always encouraged me to fish i could not of asked for better parents. i went out to club and had a look at the brook where i caught all those lovely trout all those years ago i used to cycle there and hide my bike its not changed one bit and there's still some excellent trout in there no good me poaching it as i cant run any more getting to old for all that its nice to reminisce as it seems so long ago and was nice to have a look around. the carp lake is still there the owners told me it held some nice cats now as well as carp it looked nice but i don't think ill be having a go a bit expensive to fish and i have so much to have a go at in shrewsbury with a bit off luck that's just what i will be doing in the next few months graham and myself have got a bit planned with a few barbel sessions thrown in cant wait. my beloved bomere has been knocked around a bit for the better in the long run English nature has been working with the forestry commission and have took all the fir trees down and are now clearing the all the bushes out of the woods so all the natural flowers will grow primroses and blue bells and such it has been to over grown for years they have cleared all arround shomere you can see it from the road now which you have not been able to do for years. its an on going job and is going to take some time to complete but i have seen the improvment it has on the wild life already well all for now more latter
In reply to Post #566
Well as you can see by my stories i have been no angel and have done my share of poaching. not far from my home there is a small lake. and when i was young no one would go near the place it was strictly private but full off big rudd and roach. i was determined to have a go and would go down in the evening and float fish the place the rudd were massive i had them to three pounds on bread flake i also caught some nice hybrids going to round four pounds. on this particular one evening the owner must of spotted me and he fired a shot over my head it hit the branches above my head i was away i can tell you he chased me across the fields but i lost him when i got to the A49 and managed to get home it was not long till old sgt landers was at the house asking if it had been me he could not prove anything so once again i got away with it I fished that little lake many times after that incident and never once saw the owner again. i even poached his ducks well he should not have shot at me . i still caught the eels, from the honey meadow alas no longer there it was drained years ago and the eels were all put in bomere. how things have changed and not always for the better. i used to fish the dell in shrewsbury it was great fishing my self and a friend would float fish for the tench using worm or bread flake tipped with maggot we had some great days catching fish to four pounds plus also catching perch and roach they were lovely days we still fished my beloved rea brook and had some great days i always remember one morning ledgering cheese paste i caught 46 pounds of chub with some nice fish going four pounds plus you could walk that brook and hardly see a soul not today most is private and stocked with trout and grayling.I loved the place and still do. any where i could fish i did some time legally sometimes not but i enjoyed every minute of it and would do it all again if i had the chance. i poached acton burnell and would fish for the pike from the dam wall, i did get caught there by the keeper bert howlett but instead of throwing me off he let me fish when i wanted to and he became a good friend over the years introducing me to the owner who also became a friend and ended up giving me a ticket to fish anytime i wanted. it was great.. more latter
Well as you can see by my stories i have been no angel and have done my share of poaching. not far from my home there is a small lake. and when i was young no one would go near the place it was strictly private but full off big rudd and roach. i was determined to have a go and would go down in the evening and float fish the place the rudd were massive i had them to three pounds on bread flake i also caught some nice hybrids going to round four pounds. on this particular one evening the owner must of spotted me and he fired a shot over my head it hit the branches above my head i was away i can tell you he chased me across the fields but i lost him when i got to the A49 and managed to get home it was not long till old sgt landers was at the house asking if it had been me he could not prove anything so once again i got away with it I fished that little lake many times after that incident and never once saw the owner again. i even poached his ducks well he should not have shot at me . i still caught the eels, from the honey meadow alas no longer there it was drained years ago and the eels were all put in bomere. how things have changed and not always for the better. i used to fish the dell in shrewsbury it was great fishing my self and a friend would float fish for the tench using worm or bread flake tipped with maggot we had some great days catching fish to four pounds plus also catching perch and roach they were lovely days we still fished my beloved rea brook and had some great days i always remember one morning ledgering cheese paste i caught 46 pounds of chub with some nice fish going four pounds plus you could walk that brook and hardly see a soul not today most is private and stocked with trout and grayling.I loved the place and still do. any where i could fish i did some time legally sometimes not but i enjoyed every minute of it and would do it all again if i had the chance. i poached acton burnell and would fish for the pike from the dam wall, i did get caught there by the keeper bert howlett but instead of throwing me off he let me fish when i wanted to and he became a good friend over the years introducing me to the owner who also became a friend and ended up giving me a ticket to fish anytime i wanted. it was great.. more latter
In reply to Post #567
Well i have just been reading the thread about otters and control. as i have mentioned in an earlier thread years ago they were controlled by dogs and men when i was a youngster it was not a pretty way and i was not very impressed with the method but it served the purpose at the time it was not the hunting that caused the decline in the otter population it was the lack of habitat and the use of pesticides in fact in the days they were hunted they were quite well looked after their Holt's were looked after and they were encouraged to breed. but then they brought the protection order in which in my opinion was very much needed at that time. But the situation has now got out of hand far to many a little bit like badgers. so what do fishery owners do the only thing is otter proof fencing very dear and on some waters out of the question the rivers i dont know the river rea had eight pairs from shrewsbury to its start which is only about 10 miles now they have released another four pairs this is a crazy situation the river will cease to exist the fish will all be gone. the environment agency must take a good long look at the situation and come up with some sort of control sooner than latter before its to late. and they must now stop introducing them into the wild. when i was young i would spend hours lying on the river bank out of sight watching this majestic animal but now you don't need to hide as they will quite happily play in front of you. its a terrible sight to see a number of carp dragged to the bank by there noses and have one bite took out of them and left to die its sport to the otter the natural thing to do especially a family as that's how they learn their cubs to hunt but not for the fishery owner i have found carp to over thirty pounds lying on the bank still alive . so some one has to take a stance the goverment english nature or enviroment agency and the more lobying we do as anglers the better sooner than latter some one going to sit up and take notice. more latter
Well i have just been reading the thread about otters and control. as i have mentioned in an earlier thread years ago they were controlled by dogs and men when i was a youngster it was not a pretty way and i was not very impressed with the method but it served the purpose at the time it was not the hunting that caused the decline in the otter population it was the lack of habitat and the use of pesticides in fact in the days they were hunted they were quite well looked after their Holt's were looked after and they were encouraged to breed. but then they brought the protection order in which in my opinion was very much needed at that time. But the situation has now got out of hand far to many a little bit like badgers. so what do fishery owners do the only thing is otter proof fencing very dear and on some waters out of the question the rivers i dont know the river rea had eight pairs from shrewsbury to its start which is only about 10 miles now they have released another four pairs this is a crazy situation the river will cease to exist the fish will all be gone. the environment agency must take a good long look at the situation and come up with some sort of control sooner than latter before its to late. and they must now stop introducing them into the wild. when i was young i would spend hours lying on the river bank out of sight watching this majestic animal but now you don't need to hide as they will quite happily play in front of you. its a terrible sight to see a number of carp dragged to the bank by there noses and have one bite took out of them and left to die its sport to the otter the natural thing to do especially a family as that's how they learn their cubs to hunt but not for the fishery owner i have found carp to over thirty pounds lying on the bank still alive . so some one has to take a stance the goverment english nature or enviroment agency and the more lobying we do as anglers the better sooner than latter some one going to sit up and take notice. more latter
In reply to Post #568
It was the late sixties when dick walker contacted me. he wanted to know all about the big bream we were catching how and where what bait i was stunned. but from then on i had a real good relation ship with the great man and would go down to his factory on a regular basis. and as i said at the start of my stories stayed at his private fishing hut on more than one occasion. he was a big inspiration to myself the three counties specimen group and was always there to give us fresh ideas. he was going to come and fish with us on the meres but could not make it on the date that had been arranged so the editor of angling times came instead bringing Pete taylor and a few others with him it was not a bad week but we caught none of the biggies i think the biggest was around eight pounds but they were satisfied i think the editor at the time was pete collins angling times fished with our group quite a few times over the years and always enjoyed there visits. they fished on colmere white mere blakemere in fact all the meres. and we always managed a fish or two for them as i said earlier on dick tried to get me to write for angling times i was no writer so i ended up writing the stories out for dick and he would edit them. but i really had not got the time as work came first i had a young family which always came first with fishing a close second. by this time graham and i had got quite a reputation for our fishing exploits and appeared in angling times on quite a few occasions. we were known all over shropshire and were quite respected within the angling community. i suppose looking back we could have made a living from fishing but it was not that easy in those days although we had the backing of dick. we fished with dennis kelly of the big bream fame one of the best bream anglers i have seen there was only a few about then graham marsden pete stone and a few others dennis came out near the top he was also chairman for stoke angling society and we fished together on and off for years. it was a big shock when he died i went to his funeral. since then his wife and daughter have aproached me and asked if i could do some talks to clubs about old style bream fishing. with a heavy heart i refused as i did not have the confidence i did not think i could put it over and be good enought but thats me. at sixty eight years old it now seems like years ago all this happened ,but it did and i feel very privalidged to have had this life and met and fished with so many good anglers. and i hope to do a bit more before its my turn to go. more latter
It was the late sixties when dick walker contacted me. he wanted to know all about the big bream we were catching how and where what bait i was stunned. but from then on i had a real good relation ship with the great man and would go down to his factory on a regular basis. and as i said at the start of my stories stayed at his private fishing hut on more than one occasion. he was a big inspiration to myself the three counties specimen group and was always there to give us fresh ideas. he was going to come and fish with us on the meres but could not make it on the date that had been arranged so the editor of angling times came instead bringing Pete taylor and a few others with him it was not a bad week but we caught none of the biggies i think the biggest was around eight pounds but they were satisfied i think the editor at the time was pete collins angling times fished with our group quite a few times over the years and always enjoyed there visits. they fished on colmere white mere blakemere in fact all the meres. and we always managed a fish or two for them as i said earlier on dick tried to get me to write for angling times i was no writer so i ended up writing the stories out for dick and he would edit them. but i really had not got the time as work came first i had a young family which always came first with fishing a close second. by this time graham and i had got quite a reputation for our fishing exploits and appeared in angling times on quite a few occasions. we were known all over shropshire and were quite respected within the angling community. i suppose looking back we could have made a living from fishing but it was not that easy in those days although we had the backing of dick. we fished with dennis kelly of the big bream fame one of the best bream anglers i have seen there was only a few about then graham marsden pete stone and a few others dennis came out near the top he was also chairman for stoke angling society and we fished together on and off for years. it was a big shock when he died i went to his funeral. since then his wife and daughter have aproached me and asked if i could do some talks to clubs about old style bream fishing. with a heavy heart i refused as i did not have the confidence i did not think i could put it over and be good enought but thats me. at sixty eight years old it now seems like years ago all this happened ,but it did and i feel very privalidged to have had this life and met and fished with so many good anglers. and i hope to do a bit more before its my turn to go. more latter
In reply to Post #568
seriously pete have you ever thought about putting pen to paper.all your comments well worth reading.take care.
seriously pete have you ever thought about putting pen to paper.all your comments well worth reading.take care.
In reply to Post #570
Graham and myself had got bream fever we could not leave the big bream fishing alone we were out at every opportunity maybe going on a friday night till sunday night and by the time we got home we were truly knackered. we had no buzzers only visual indicators which put quite a strain on your eyes and further to that got not much sleep. by the mid seventies we were becoming very disillusioned with our fishing we could not get away from other anglers we would be followed around all over the place the police even caught two chaps fishing acton burnell posing as us of course they were took to court and dealt with lucky we new the policemen involved as i worked at the local nick we had quite a laugh over it. but it was getting impossible we would bait a swim maybe catch a few fish but that was that we would not get in that swim again or we would turn up to fish and some one was in our swim fishing over our ground bait. not nice. i always thought fishing was a hobby and we went to relax and for piece and quite there was a lot of jealousy and we even had our swims soaped with carbolic al;thought the culprits were removed from the fishery after the event. It left a nasty taste in our mouths and graham was at the point of packing up, the other thing it was becoming more like a job than a hobby. you were always striving to catch bigger and bigger fish although our group broke the record three times it was only claimed once. by an eleven pounds plus bream we were becoming more secret about our catches. i think it was late seventys graham packed he had enought of all the this following arround, i found it very hard without him. but he is fishing again and really enjoying it no pressure to catch for papers and mags go when you want come back when you want and we have been catching some nice fish. but i have left offut for a bit due to my arthrities and operations but i hope to be going again before long more latter
Graham and myself had got bream fever we could not leave the big bream fishing alone we were out at every opportunity maybe going on a friday night till sunday night and by the time we got home we were truly knackered. we had no buzzers only visual indicators which put quite a strain on your eyes and further to that got not much sleep. by the mid seventies we were becoming very disillusioned with our fishing we could not get away from other anglers we would be followed around all over the place the police even caught two chaps fishing acton burnell posing as us of course they were took to court and dealt with lucky we new the policemen involved as i worked at the local nick we had quite a laugh over it. but it was getting impossible we would bait a swim maybe catch a few fish but that was that we would not get in that swim again or we would turn up to fish and some one was in our swim fishing over our ground bait. not nice. i always thought fishing was a hobby and we went to relax and for piece and quite there was a lot of jealousy and we even had our swims soaped with carbolic al;thought the culprits were removed from the fishery after the event. It left a nasty taste in our mouths and graham was at the point of packing up, the other thing it was becoming more like a job than a hobby. you were always striving to catch bigger and bigger fish although our group broke the record three times it was only claimed once. by an eleven pounds plus bream we were becoming more secret about our catches. i think it was late seventys graham packed he had enought of all the this following arround, i found it very hard without him. but he is fishing again and really enjoying it no pressure to catch for papers and mags go when you want come back when you want and we have been catching some nice fish. but i have left offut for a bit due to my arthrities and operations but i hope to be going again before long
more latter
In reply to Post #571
Catching big bream in the late sixties early seventies. was not such an easy task. we fished the big cheshire and shropshire meres. and it took weeks of preparation. we would start to watch our chosen mere about three months before we actually fished it. watching for the roll of a bream or where they would show and would gradually over a period of weeks find where they patrolled and were they favoured to feed, we would be on the mere at first light with our binoculars and stay till about mid day watching for any movement that would betray there presence. depth was another thing that we always tried to get right. we did manage to acquire a fish finder not as good as today's models but good enough and coupled with a small boat it did the job as we did the depths it was all put on paper with a rough drawing of the mere with all the individual swims. i aways favoured fishing from a point where the land jutted out as we found the water at that point was not so deep. baiting up started approx a month before we actually fished putting a little bit often three times a week usually mondays wednesdays and fridays. or when you fished. We would step the amount up we put in as the the date came around that we were to fish which was june the 16th. it was a lot of work and cost a bit for fuel as we were not well paid in those days ,graham and myself would share the expenses. bait was another thing lucky we had a big bakery not far from my home and they let me have any loaves left over and i could also get the bread crumbs from the slicing machine so this helped in a big way i would go to the butchers and get a big bag of sausage rusk and mix with the bread when it had soaked and the bread crumbs which we would ball up and throw or take out with the boat and dropped into our swim it certainly worked we always used bread flake on the hook or maggot but we found we caught the bigger fish on flake. i think over the years flake has caught more big fish than most other bait and i really rate it and i suppose i still do for certain fish more to come latter
Catching big bream in the late sixties early seventies. was not such an easy task. we fished the big cheshire and shropshire meres. and it took weeks of preparation. we would start to watch our chosen mere about three months before we actually fished it. watching for the roll of a bream or where they would show and would gradually over a period of weeks find where they patrolled and were they favoured to feed, we would be on the mere at first light with our binoculars and stay till about mid day watching for any movement that would betray there presence. depth was another thing that we always tried to get right. we did manage to acquire a fish finder not as good as today's models but good enough and coupled with a small boat it did the job as we did the depths it was all put on paper with a rough drawing of the mere with all the individual swims. i aways favoured fishing from a point where the land jutted out as we found the water at that point was not so deep. baiting up started approx a month before we actually fished putting a little bit often three times a week usually mondays wednesdays and fridays. or when you fished. We would step the amount up we put in as the the date came around that we were to fish which was june the 16th. it was a lot of work and cost a bit for fuel as we were not well paid in those days ,graham and myself would share the expenses. bait was another thing lucky we had a big bakery not far from my home and they let me have any loaves left over and i could also get the bread crumbs from the slicing machine so this helped in a big way i would go to the butchers and get a big bag of sausage rusk and mix with the bread when it had soaked and the bread crumbs which we would ball up and throw or take out with the boat and dropped into our swim it certainly worked we always used bread flake on the hook or maggot but we found we caught the bigger fish on flake. i think over the years flake has caught more big fish than most other bait and i really rate it and i suppose i still do for certain fish more to come latter
In reply to Post #572
Another place we fished was whixall moss you cant fish it now but at the time it held some lovely fish. the bream went to around eleven pounds with some great big roach which were all of two pounds. We would wade through the shallows until you got to the deeper water i would actually fish sitting in the water on our chairs. i know i go on about bread flake but we used it to good effect on the moss catching some stonking roach. We did have a problem the bottom was very soft in the deeper water and when we used arsley bombs they would sink in to the silt dragging the bait with it. So we managed to get around the problem by making slow sinking ledgers out of the arsley Bombs we managed to get some big cork stoppers the ones you use in wine bottles hollow them out and glue a quarter 0z arsley into it then get some sand paper and round the cork till it was smooth it was trial and error and you would then test it in a bucket of water until it sank slowly and just rested on the bottom once you had got it right i would seal them with paint usually green then seal with a good varnish they worked a treat and really improved our fishing we used them with good effect on a good many of the meres we fished. They took a bit of time to get right but were well worth doing, i have never used them while fishing for carp in silt but i would think there is no reason why they should not work. The ledgers were so good i caught lots of fish on the drop while the ledger and bait were slowly sinking to the bottom. And usually it was the bigger fish we caught like this. . in those days we made most of our tackle and devised lots of different equipment some worked some did not but it was all part of the fun. i loved fishing whixall moss and it was not unusual to catch half a dozen roach that were over the magical two pounds mark in a session good roach even by today's standards. Another good bait was tares we had some magnifficant catches of roach using them on the severn and some of the meres and also caught some nice bream with them. it was funny really all the time we were using tares i hardly saw anyone else catching with them they were certainly a good bait. I started to use maze in the early seventys a fantastic bait and really hammerd some lakes and meres using it but thats another story more latter
Another place we fished was whixall moss you cant fish it now but at the time it held some lovely fish. the bream went to around eleven pounds with some great big roach which were all of two pounds. We would wade through the shallows until you got to the deeper water i would actually fish sitting in the water on our chairs. i know i go on about bread flake but we used it to good effect on the moss catching some stonking roach. We did have a problem the bottom was very soft in the deeper water and when we used arsley bombs they would sink in to the silt dragging the bait with it. So we managed to get around the problem by making slow sinking ledgers out of the arsley Bombs we managed to get some big cork stoppers the ones you use in wine bottles hollow them out and glue a quarter 0z arsley into it then get some sand paper and round the cork till it was smooth it was trial and error and you would then test it in a bucket of water until it sank slowly and just rested on the bottom once you had got it right i would seal them with paint usually green then seal with a good varnish they worked a treat and really improved our fishing we used them with good effect on a good many of the meres we fished. They took a bit of time to get right but were well worth doing, i have never used them while fishing for carp in silt but i would think there is no reason why they should not work. The ledgers were so good i caught lots of fish on the drop while the ledger and bait were slowly sinking to the bottom. And usually it was the bigger fish we caught like this. . in those days we made most of our tackle and devised lots of different equipment some worked some did not but it was all part of the fun. i loved fishing whixall moss and it was not unusual to catch half a dozen roach that were over the magical two pounds mark in a session good roach even by today's standards. Another good bait was tares we had some magnifficant catches of roach using them on the severn and some of the meres and also caught some nice bream with them. it was funny really all the time we were using tares i hardly saw anyone else catching with them they were certainly a good bait. I started to use maze in the early seventys a fantastic bait and really hammerd some lakes and meres using it but thats another story more latter
In reply to Post #573
IT was in the early seventies i first met and fished with jack hilton i had the syndicate on berrington at the time. jack wrote to me and asked if he could join us and do some bream fishing as he had never caught big bream in his life he had read all about the big bream we had been catching on the big cheshire and shropshire meres and wanted to have a go so it was fixed up he brought his long term fishing partner bill quinlan with him. also present was myself graham and dennis kelly i have mentioned about this session in an earlier thread. i baited the swims for three weeks prior to us meeting him. i found him a very funny chap and an excellent fisherman as i said once before its the first time i had seen a bivi jack and bill had made their own out of thick plastic the stuff you used in a market garden but coloured black they were really brilliant and certainly did the job. he fished with us all week and we caught some real big fish.if any one can remember there was quite a big write up in the angling times. i know chris ball told me he had a piece about the session but whether it was in a book or paper i don't know. i think the biggest fish was about the ten pound mark and i think jack was a bit surprised how well they fought using light tackle. we only fished at night so we managed to get some sleep in the day gray and myself would go home as it was only three miles from our homes. we also caught was some big Rudd and roach which was an added bonus im not sure where they were fishing for the carp at the time but he told me about all the thirties they had caught it may have been Red mire but my memories not as good as it was and its a long time ago. but i really enjoyed their company and i was very privileged to have known and fished with them it was not long after that jack packed fishing in because of his religious convictions a real shame but that's life. we continued fishing betton mostly for the big eels it held and caught some really big specimens mostly on lob worms. we were also catching some good tench and roach from bomere the biggest tench was over the nine pound mark a good fish for those years we had some nice bream from bomere but nothing over eight pounds but could catch some good bags i mean 100 pound bags great fishing for the early seventys more latter
IT was in the early seventies i first met and fished with jack hilton i had the syndicate on berrington at the time. jack wrote to me and asked if he could join us and do some bream fishing as he had never caught big bream in his life he had read all about the big bream we had been catching on the big cheshire and shropshire meres and wanted to have a go so it was fixed up he brought his long term fishing partner bill quinlan with him. also present was myself graham and dennis kelly i have mentioned about this session in an earlier thread. i baited the swims for three weeks prior to us meeting him. i found him a very funny chap and an excellent fisherman as i said once before its the first time i had seen a bivi jack and bill had made their own out of thick plastic the stuff you used in a market garden but coloured black they were really brilliant and certainly did the job. he fished with us all week and we caught some real big fish.if any one can remember there was quite a big write up in the angling times. i know chris ball told me he had a piece about the session but whether it was in a book or paper i don't know. i think the biggest fish was about the ten pound mark and i think jack was a bit surprised how well they fought using light tackle. we only fished at night so we managed to get some sleep in the day gray and myself would go home as it was only three miles from our homes. we also caught was some big Rudd and roach which was an added bonus im not sure where they were fishing for the carp at the time but he told me about all the thirties they had caught it may have been Red mire but my memories not as good as it was and its a long time ago. but i really enjoyed their company and i was very privileged to have known and fished with them it was not long after that jack packed fishing in because of his religious convictions a real shame but that's life. we continued fishing betton mostly for the big eels it held and caught some really big specimens mostly on lob worms. we were also catching some good tench and roach from bomere the biggest tench was over the nine pound mark a good fish for those years we had some nice bream from bomere but nothing over eight pounds but could catch some good bags i mean 100 pound bags great fishing for the early seventys more latter