In reply to Post #834
pete
Ive enjoyed your writings of days gone by as much as anybody. You have mentioned photos acouple of times,if you have any old ones to share on here thatwould be great.
happy new year to you
james

In reply to Post #835
hi James i have had some put on already a few threads back about my fishing days ill see whats in the album i have some going back years when i was eleven or twelve i have some of foxes also but not appropriate to put on here and albums of fish and general nature, problem is i am not to good at putting them up i emailed them to big dave in cumbria last time and he put them up. there will be some appearing in jasons new book which is being launched latter next year thanks james i am glad you like my stories happy new year to your self and family god bless pete

In reply to Post #834
Well its now melting raining here quite sharp and warmer than its been for days. hurry up the spring when the floor of the woods will be white with snow drops. From february we shoot the pigeon for the local farmers as they come into roost the one spinney we shoot gets absolutely covered in these lovely flowers from around the middle of march if not before , The brook i poached all those years ago runs through this little spinney so i know it very well years ago it was full of trout they had been stocked by the land owner for his friends and local gentry to fish although some were leased to tenant farmers, but it is all different now the tenant farmers have now bought the farms long ago the big estate that i remember are no more you could not walk on the property when i was young there were signes on trees telling you to keep out trespassers will be prosecuted or another that was a favorite keep out or you will be shot on sight there was about 16 keepers in all they had so much land to look after and two head keepers old bell was one and Gerry at bomere the other, i think there is still a sign the one end of bomere in an old oak tree saying you would be shot on sight they would not get away with it today they were a different breed of the keeper in those days.

I have had them chase me on more than one occasion and have hid up some old fir or oak tree and listened to them discussing who they thought it may be i have laid across a branch and watched and listened to the keepers telling PC Stan sharp and Sgt landers all about the incident and how they thought there may of been more than one taking the trout i could hardly contain my self from laughing more than one there was only me, i was on the village a few days after the incident and PC sharp called me over i saw you up that tree the other night pete i was cob smacked to say the least did the Sgt landers know, i did not tell him says old Stan i happened to look up and saw your face in the semi darkness it was you was it not i really did not know what to say no it wanna me Mr sharp i was no where near he just smiled and said let that be a lesson to you as i don't want to see you there again, funny really years after i was working at the local fire station fitting the radios in the appliances and old Stan was working there he had retired from the police and was now the handy man at the fire station every time i saw him he always reminded me of that night many years before and we would have a few laughs about it but i never really told him it was me he asked and i would say no but he would have none of it he was convinced it was me and i suppose he was right but stan has now gone like many before him god rest his soul but i will always remember that night many years before . more latter

In reply to Post #837
I have sat behind the rods so many times and faced the south westerly wind that made the water foam at your feet the stars shone over head and you could here the call of the coot in the distance the trees would sway over your head and you would worry that one would come crashing down we watched the planes pass way over head and you would wander where they were heading some foreign climes far away. all we had was the old garden lounger and if you were cold a blanket and a piece of canvas to cover your self up.

They were good days no pressure you were there to catch the fish that inhabited the ancient lake it was all that was left from the ice age i would wander what this place was really like so many centuries ago and what animals roamed its ancient banks . what fish had swam in its depths but we were here to catch the bream and roach our eyes would get tired watching the doe bobbins hanging from the line between the reel a but ring did it move or was was my eyes playing tricks, we could not sleep we watched the bobbin for any movement it made and when it came and slid towards the but ring you would strike with a swift movement what a satisfying feeling you got as you played that fish under the stars which you duly landed in your net no time to weight the bream you had caught back out went your bait into the darkness of the lake and into the giant keep net went your prize we did this so many times we caught the roach the Rudd the bream and carp they were lovely days. The Tawney owl would screech in the old oak over head and you would hear the fox give a sharp bark in the nearby field this was the way we fished so long ago, the water still foamed at our feet but the wind was warm you needed no heavy jackets on tonight we caught the roach then the bream and popped them in the net. the moon shone brighter it was a full moon and you watched the geese fly over head the ducks as well going to some stubble field to satisfy there hunger hundreds passed us by that night it would soon be September and we would be huddled under some hedge waiting for them to come to roost, the dog lying at your side shaking with anticipation but that would have to wait as we were fishing this ancient place tonight, when morning came you would be tired and weighed your fish what a night you had 100 pounds of roach and bream this is how we fished, then off home to a welcome bed and dream of things to come this was the late sixtys. more latter

In reply to Post #838
My old friend joe lived on my village all his live and i can honestly say he was one of the best poachers i have ever seen joe died two years ago and i am sure his family would not mind me telling you all about his escapades and believe me there was many. he like myself loved wild life especially birds he would be away across the fields with a sack full of traps i know i have been with him or he would use bird lime and catch the wild linnets gold finches even yellowhammers he would take them home to his aviary and breed with them after they had reared there chicks he would return the adults to the wild. He had a great understanding and compassion for all wild things. In his garden he had his pigeon loft he had breed and raced these birds all his life i used to go down and see him and he would pick these birds up and talk to them they loved him and would respond to his kindness

I remember going to see him this one day and he was not really interested and seemed a bit distant this was not the man i knew whats up joe, buggers have got my traps who joe the police some one has reported me i think others are involved, i was tipped off Im expecting the police any time you can help pete i have got to get rid of my birds the ones that have no rings and that's what happened he popped them in a sack and i let them go up the fields the police arrived next day poor old joe denied every thing they were not his traps and of course his birds in captivity were all legal but it certainly effected him in lots of ways he trusted no one from then on exept me we were the same breed loved the country way of life but this was years ago. we would be away at night he was a great shot with his old air rifle i think it came out of the ark the stock was held together with wire but could he use it my job was to use the lamp and he would do the shooting he killed hundreds of pheasants over the years with that old rifle but it always seemed more powerful than the normal air gun and it was he told me he had fitted a more powerful spring into it but he always shared the profits with me i got summat for you pete he would say and hand me a few notes i was grateful as times were hard, but not once did i see joe fishing over the years i asked him to come but he was just not interested but he loved to be out with his ferrets although the rabbit population was not what it was he loved to be out using them joe had kept ferrets all his life we could be out all day and only catch three or four as they were just making a come back from the terrible disease myxomatosis but i dont think joe would of minded if he had only caught one as he was out with his beloved ferrets and doing what he had done all his life. It was really an honour knowing joe and when he passed my life seemed a bit empty as he had been a great freind he was of the old school and he had lived throught some very hard times. well a bit more latter

In reply to Post #839
When i was a youngster just down the road was a wood called the berrys i loved to go down as the gypsies had an encampment there they were wonderful people and lived in the old Romania caravans the caravans were beautifully painted and i really got on well with them they made quite a fuss when i went down and would always give me an apple or a handful of sweets, they had half a dozen horses which were always quite tame and well behaved old jack lock would let me ride on the back of the one old horse no saddle bare back, i would ride him up and down the path through the wood they were marvelous days they had a few dogs as well mostly lurches and terriers which they used for doing a bit of poaching old mr lock would let me go along to watch and off down the fields we would go the terrier would put the rabbits up from the hedge rows and the lurches would run them down i had some wonderful days with him. I always remember them coming to see my mother to ask if it was alright for me to go with them rabbiting, hello misses he says to my mum you got a gooden there his been coming down to see us at the vans that alright with you he will be alright you know. she let me go i was fascinated i watched them for hours they would make cloths pegs for the washing line, and then sell them around the villages on there horse and cart. Mr's lock would make little posies out of the wild flowers and also sell them if some one bought a bunch she would wish them all the luck and read there palms i think she told every body the same thing bless her but they did have a certain some thing they lived as one with nature, old jack had a linnet in a cage and it hung from the caravan the bird would sing it was wonderful to hear i suppose i was only seven years old ,they showed me how to make a catapult and how to use it i think old jack made my first one. jack was a brother to old fiddler lock who i mentioned a few threads ago i can just remember him sitting around the open fire playing his fiddle and they were all singing and smoking there clay pipes the women as well . But those days have now gone old Dollie lock and her sisters have passed on many years ago so to has jack, the family still exist but now live in houses. the true shropshire Romany gypsys have now passed on they are now history, but i knew them all the locks, the stevens, they are just two of the clans, but there were many more some poeple were scared of them but they were gentle poeple who lived the life on the road, we will never see there likes again and i feel the world is a poorer place without them more latter

In reply to Post #840
Where do i start i got married in 1960 it certainly curtailed things like fishing i had very little money and i was made redundant the night before i got married i went to live with my in laws who lived up in hill country a place called the stiperstones it was very rough country we lived on the side of the hill a place called gorsty bank. my main priority was to get a job as things were still very hard i managed to get a job working for a building firm in Shrewsbury called Boswells they ran a works buss from a place called plox green i had top walk six miles to catch the buss every morning and walk back at night it was hard going then i had jobs to do when i got home like fetching water getting and cutting fire wood they were very hard times but i fell in love with the country side and its people.


As i have said before the place was steeped in folklore and in the evening my father in law would tell me stories that would make your hair curl he used to frighten me to death and when i had to walk any distance in the dark i was always looking over my shoulder, i did not know the country that well i had walked the woods and hedge rows in the dead of night when i was at home but this was different i think most of the older residents that lived there believed in the supernatural i tried to push it to the back of my mind but my father in law was a big believer .

my wife had four brothers all had left home except you youngest john who i got on really well with the oldest was called fred and lived at a place called Hinckley when he came home for a week end we would be out together he was a very hard character and stood no nonsense he lent me his gun a nice side by side it really opened things up for me i would be away over the hills the one estate was about six miles from our house the owner was a politician a man called jasper more they reared hundreds of pheasants i soon got to know the lay of the land and would shoot his property it was quite heavily keeper i suppose i was lucky i never got caught especially using a shot gun but i would have a couple of birds then i was away home, back over the hills, the birds were always welcome as i have stated before my father in law never worked because he had silicosis which was caused through mining Britte's so everything helped us get by, old jasper had a lake in front of his house surrounded with lovely lawns i would creep around the lake and fish through the reeds i caught some lovely tench when i first decided to have a go i thought it was stocked with trout but i soon found it was all course fish but he did have a few ducks on the water i would lie in the reeds and shoot them with my old air rifle which i had brought from mum and dads, they would flutter a bit then lie still some times i would have to get into the water to fetch them but after a bit of thought i cut a long stick and would fish them out from between the reeds when i had finished i would hide the stick until the next time i went, i had so many mallard over a peroid of time but they were a welcome change to our diet we never starved this is how we lived in my early married life it was hard but fun. well a bit more latter

In reply to Post #841
The love of my life was fishing and the wild life although i have shot all my life my love for fishing came first i even played truant from school as i have already mentioned i taught my self although i went with my grandad he died in 1947 so i was left on my own with just mum , my father had got killed in the war i acquired an old bamboo rod where from i cant remember it came with an old wooden star back reel i think the next door neighbour gave it to mum for me it was better than having nothing i managed to get a few hooks and floats the hooks were nothing like you get today they were like Ruddy big meat hooks well that's all you could get the line was like string well i suppose it was silk but thick old stuff i would get a few worms from the garden and go down the Rea brook which ran down the fields from our house mum would worry in case i fell in, i would stand on the bridge and try and trot with a big plastic float and a worm for bait i certainly did not catch much but i was on my way i was proud of myself and the tackle i owned, then one day i was standing on the bridge and the float vanished out of sight i can still remember and thought i had lost it i started to reel in and felt a tug i could not believe my eyes i had a fish on was it big well it was to me all of half a pound but it was my first fish i was so proud i took it home to mum who said she would cook it i soon found out what it was as my next door neighbour Mr Jarvis did a bit off fishing himself it was a roach not very good for eating he told us we soon found out for our selves to many bones but i was well and truly hooked.

Not long after mother met a man called Albert pemberton and they got married in 1949 just after the war i was seven years old i took on his name pemberton he was a signal man on the railway and we soon moved to south Shropshire a place called Craven arms he knew i liked fishing and came home one night and gave me two rods i have had these made for you they were the old tank aerial jobs they altered my whole life i still had the wooden star backed reel i really only needed one but managed to acquire another from a friend of my dad a mr Bill jane i was over the moon just over the field from the house was the river onny only about 500 yds away i would be over the wall and down that river at every opportunity there were signs every where you looked private fishing it was stocked with brown trout thinking back shropshire fly fishing club owned the lease on much of the river, but not all, by gum they were posh and would fly fish for the trout i really did not understand what they were doing but by watching i soon cottoned on they were using artificial flies it did not take me long to learn to fish this river it also held grayling the lady of the river . a little more latter

In reply to Post #842
Its new years eve once again i have now seen sixty eight but one year to the other is always the same we do the same things we try to live a good life we go fishing and generally do the things we like to and believe me that gave me a lot of scope i loved to be out in all weather be it rain wind or snow there was always something to learn and see. how many of you on here have just sat in a wood or field and watched a pair of buzzards soar high up on the thermal a marvelous sight or sit and watch the tree creeper run up a tree around and around he would go looking for insects under the bark or watch the wood pecker drumming away with his beak on some old rotten tree i have and it all gave me pleasure.

Life is so wonderful and very precious i cant believe how fast life passes us by it seems the older you get the quicker it goes i remember when i did not have a care in the world and would walk the paths and wood land fish the streams rivers and lakes i would catch the crafty trout spin for the pike and perch or fish some forgotten lake it was my bit of paradise, i can say i have not been the best of blokes i have had my faults i would fight when i was young i loved the ring at the fair, i got knocked around a bit and still have the scares i know it worried my parents but i am still here gone are those days the teddy boy suit long gone. what i am trying to tell you all make the best off your life as it is so short when you are young you don't give old age a thought, i certainly did not but the chaps that were young when i was a kid and some i worked with have now passed on .

how things have changed over the years living is much easier no scrapping a couple of bob together for a smoke or a pint or poaching the woods for a peasant or two no need any more but i loved those days and i still miss them, when i was young you could leave you back door open but not to today where has all the trust gone in our fellow man, you were respectful to your elders you learned respect at a young age mostly at school if you did wrong you were punished you would think twice the next time where have all the morals gone they do not seem to exist today.

I was lucky i had the run of the land i could go birds nesting not always to steal the eggs just to look i could go fishing poach the brown trout or catch the gray ling the world was your oyster as long as you did not get caught i fished the private lakes you would be out all day but you were safe from harm your parents knew you were safe. i would clime the trees up the woods and look with awe at the eggs whithen the nest. or take a rabbit from the keepers snare i did that so many times and soon learned to reset the snare the old keeper never knew i had been there they were great days we never wanted much only a full belly and a loving family thanks for reading my stories most are from an age long ago there is still more to come but that can wait in the mean time i would like to wish you all a very peacfull and happy new year to you and your familys god bless you all pete

In reply to Post #842
Its new years eve once again i have now seen sixty eight but one year to the other is always the same we do the same things we try to live a good life we go fishing and generally do the things we like to and believe me that gave me a lot of scope i loved to be out in all weather be it rain wind or snow there was always something to learn and see. how many of you on here have just sat in a wood or field and watched a pair of buzzards soar high up on the thermal a marvelous sight or sit and watch the tree creeper run up a tree around and around he would go looking for insects under the bark or watch the wood pecker drumming away with his beak on some old rotten tree i have and it all gave me pleasure.

Life is so wonderful and very precious i cant believe how fast life passes us by it seems the older you get the quicker it goes i remember when i did not have a care in the world and would walk the paths and wood land fish the streams rivers and lakes i would catch the crafty trout spin for the pike and perch or fish some forgotten lake it was my bit of paradise, i can say i have not been the best of blokes i have had my faults i would fight when i was young i loved the ring at the fair, i got knocked around a bit and still have the scares i know it worried my parents but i am still here gone are those days the teddy boy suit long gone. what i am trying to tell you all make the best off your life as it is so short when you are young you don't give old age a thought, i certainly did not but the chaps that were young when i was a kid and some i worked with have now passed on .

how things have changed over the years living is much easier no scrapping a couple of bob together for a smoke or a pint or poaching the woods for a pheasant or two no need any more but i loved those days and i still miss them, when i was young you could leave you back door open but not to today where has all the trust gone in our fellow man, you were respectful to your elders you learned respect at a young age mostly at school if you did wrong you were punished you would think twice the next time where have all the morals gone they do not seem to exist today.

I was lucky i had the run of the land i could go birds nesting not always to steal the eggs just to look i could go fishing poach the brown trout or catch the gray ling the world was your oyster as long as you did not get caught i fished the private lakes you would be out all day but you were safe from harm your parents knew you were safe. i would clime the trees up the woods and look with awe at the eggs whithen the nest. or take a rabbit from the keepers snare i did that so many times and soon learned to reset the snare the old keeper never knew i had been there they were great days we never wanted much only a full belly and a loving family thanks for reading my stories most are from an age long ago there is still more to come but that can wait in the mean time i would like to wish you all a very peacfull and happy new year to you and your familys god bless you all pete

In reply to Post #844
When i was young and lived with my mother it was still in the war years we had a land army girl lodge with us well i say lodge she really became part of the family her name was Joan hay i am sure she will not mind me telling her story and the times we had together yes she is still alive and lives not to far from my village. when she arrived at our house she had already got about five years experience in the women's land army. she was transferred to jimmy locks farm at bomere her job was to milk the cows by hand and machines she also hearded goats and looked after the pigs. But her real love was horses she was very happy working at bomere and as a young boy at times i would accompany her down to the farm the farmer mr lock had a daughter called rosemary and she would take me for rides on her pony as i said she had lodgings with my mother who was a young widow and had me to support.

Joan would cycle from our house every morning past the old quarry and would be at work by 7 am the farm stood next to bomere pool and it still does but in those days it was a beautiful wild place and when i was a child it was reputed to be bottomless the geese gathered in huge flocks. after a few months jimmy lock died joan was transferred once again to otley farm belonging farmer mottram he was not the easiest of men to get on with well he chased me a few times poaching his game but that was long after joan was there, she did the milking and looked after the heard she also worked in the fields old mottram found fault with most things and was disliked by most he employed he was a crusty old faggot, so Joan moved once again to Home farm condover she still lived with us and earned two pounds ten shillings a week she had to pay her keep out of that we had no running water and we got our water from the conduit outside the house this would freeze up, we would unfreeze it with boiling water.

home farm was run by Mr Cartwright and he had two sons who i am still friendly with today john and Jeff i would go down the farm and the three of us would go birds nesting or fishing in the brook Joan dug potatoes and cut beet it was a back breaking job they worked from 7am until 5 pm that was in the winter but she could be still working until dark in the summer old Cartwright so she told us once made her move 92 one hundredweight bags of corn from a lorry then carry up the steps to the granary. But as Joan once said they were happy days she loved the old shire horses and would walk them from the farm to our house at bayston hill she would tie them to an old mangle in the garden, the out side privy was next to the mangle and i would be frightened to death going past them but they were gentle animals she would also walk them to the black smith in abbey foregate shrews bury some times i would go along and ride on there backs she also worked for johnny crow another farmer . i have poached his farm many times in the past joan would always bring us some eggs home if the farmer had some to spare, they were always welcome at home, she also looked after the bull his name was bill he loved apples and she spent many hours looking after him she would cut the kale by hand and her hands would be raw, hoe the beet harvest the swedes and mangolds and pick the potatoes and she would also thresh the corn it was a hard life i feel privileged to know Joan and to have known her all those years ago she left the land army in 1948 after eight years of hard slog but we could not of got by without the land army. well there a bit more about my young life . a bit more latter

In reply to Post #845
When i was a boy the hedge rows and the bank side would be ablaze with flowers primroses cowslips violets ragged robin the meadows were also covered in wild flowers yellow rattle blue milkweed purple orchids they were a haven for butterflies it was a common sight to see foxes and the occasional red squirrel sadly lacking in our country side today.

when not at school i would be down the river or some small brook fishing another thing i did was catch the grass snakes i took a couple home but my parents did not like them in the house so i would take them down the woods or fields and let them go again i told you the story about putting one in my school teachers desk he would cane us lads for hardly anything me included, i got my own back by putting this snake in his desk i can see it now he opened his desk and put his hand in and all hell was let loose but Ive told the story before.. i was happy just walking the woods looking for birds nests i had a old hob ferret and would love to be out with him and catch a couple of rabbits that's all we lived on for some time after the war we had rabbit pie roast rabbit and stewed rabbit and i never tired of eating it
Even thought we lived in the countryside we were given gas masks i hated them mother had lessons how to use them thank god they were never needed , what really sticks in my mind is the severe winters and walking through the snow to school at times it could be up to our knees but we went the only heating was an old stove that stood in the centre of the class room. but we had great summers there was not much traffic on the roads and us lads would play football on the main road or play marbles you could not do that today, or we would be down the brook jar and net in hand catching the stone loach bull heads or lampreys sadly most have now disappeared. i would also visit prices farm which was situated next to were we lived a youngan he would shout go see if you can find some chicken eggs for the misses they were free range chickens they would lay there eggs any where in the haystack in the buildings hedge rows but i would always find a few it would two to the farmer and one to me he did not know but at times would take home a dozen eggs by gum they were welcome at home.

What days they were i would be off up the river rod in hand and spin the falls at halford i caught trout and lovely perch just under the sill of the falls it was strictly private but as a young lad i had no fear the water bailiffs would patrol the water on a regular basis so you had to keep your eye open on old prices side he kept the fishing to himself he loved his fly fishing and i liked my spinning and worming so i would fish his side as it was a bit safer but he wised up he put an old bull i the field he had a nasty temperament and he chased me on a couple of occasions but i always made it across the brook, but he was not that bad as long as you kept your eye on him i think it was only when he had a few young heifers with him that made him temperamental.. i saw my first otters on mr prices and watched them playing rolling diving and catching the odd fish i suppose the year would be arround 1949 or there abouts . a bit more latter

In reply to Post #846
Pete tin of maggots has inspired me to write this but it was long ago without getting my diary and album out i would say around thirty seven years ago a it seems a life time ago i loved to fish my beloved Rea brook and one way i had lots of success in those days was on bread and cheese paste i would mix up the bread paste and add danish blue it would stink to high heaven but it caught me some fabulous chub and some lovely roach.

all i needed was rod and reel a couple of small ledgers or even a couple of swan shot a size eight hook landing net and rod rest and a small bag to carry you flask and sandwiches and a few odds and ends i would walk miles like this i loved the brook when it had a bit of colour in, i would fish all the pools and under overhanging banks i would stand well back from the bank cast into the pool put the rod on the rests and wait for the bang of the rod tip i did not have to wait long the tip would violently slam over and i would be in it was very exiting fishing you may if you were lucky catch two from a pool then it was time to move on to the next you would repeat it all over again and by the end of the day you could catch anything up to twenty chub and roach i think the biggest chub i ever caught on the Rea in those days was four and a half pounds but it was a massive fish for such a small brook mostly they would be between a couple of pounds and three pounds but it was great fun and i could easily loose myself it was pure magic .

In those far off days there always seemed to be a lot more wild life to be seen of course there were no mink and while you fished you could watch the timid water vole or water rat as we called it they were quite numerous in those days, i have had the kingfisher perched on the tip of my rod many times and he would dive below and catch the minnow i would stare in awe at his vibrant colour and would make no movement while he perched and fished from the tip of my rod, the little dipper was lot more common than it is today i would listen to the willow warbler and find her nest in the bushes the chiffchaff was another one you rarely see today or the spotted fly catcher she loved to nest in the ivy and creepers that grew on trees, the reed warbler was another who's nest i found in the dense
reed beds beside the river where have they all gone one thing i have noticed this year is the absence of the green finch i would get loads feeding in my garden i have only seen two this year are we destroying our nature and our selves ? you would also see the tracks of the otter they were still around but not in the numbers you see today just the odd pair.

Another method i used for catching the chub was floating bread i would feed a stretch of water with a few pieces and get the fish feeding, then drop a piece of crust in amongst the free offerings with my hook attached it was exiting fishing you would watch a big pair of lips break surface and suck in your crust in, i had loads doing this and even caught the odd trout they certainly were not returned i have caught chub after chub doing this once they got onto the bread nothing mattered and on the right day could have a bag full the Rea has still got the chub in but its now mostly trout and gray ling but i have a few friends that float fish for the dace and roach with maggot and caster and catch some respectable bags. well a bit more latter

In reply to Post #847
Its so sad i went to my old estate lake over the week end the one i told you about old lordys lake all the fish are belly up and still under thick ice years of fishing gone forever i am absolutely gutted a bailiff friend has also told me about another lake in Shropshire that has gone the same way very sad indeed as far as restocking if we still get these bad winters it would be useless even contemplating it.

I never saw this happen when i was a youngster the lakes and pools would be frozen for weeks and some were very shallow and the fish survived but we certainly have had some very low temperatures in the last three years but we had the same temperatures in 1982 we lost hundreds of wood pigeon frozen to the ground i have picked them up frozen on the tops of kale but this year they seem to have survived, i have not seen any water fowl frozen in the snow either but it seems to have hit the fish badly some of these lakes go back centuries and i really cant see them recovering.

My syndicate shot yesterday and had a good day it was the first time for at least three weeks as most have to travel and the snow has been very bad in some of the Shropshire villages so i felt we had to cancel as there were not enough of us to carry on., i was quite pleased we saw a good show few teal and pheasants old foxy showed up in his winter colours he really looked in good nick he was left to carry on his way and until he becomes a pest and does us some damage he will be OK i like to see the odd one about the two lakes were still frozen solid even after the rain we had i hope the fish survive in these i think they may as they have a better depth of water its been a hard year for the wild life the birds in my garden seem OK but how many have succumb down the woods to its penetrating cold i did see a couple of robins and Wrens but it must be very hard for them years ago i used to make feeding stations down the woods and i would like to think it saved lots of our feathered friends but with my arthritis i find it difficult to do the things i did, carry feed and such i now leave that to the younger members of my syndicate.

I struggled a bit yesterday we have both been ill over christmas and my wife's still the same i thought i was better but i have not felt to good today must be my age well with Xmas over for another year, i could not believe my eyes i watched a magpie building or should i say patching up her old nest today as i waited for my wife at the doctors surgery she was carrying sticks and such back to her nest bit early as its only January but i have seen the rooks also adding to there nests they are always early but not this early something is not quite right maybe they can sense spring is not that far away i think we could all do with a bit of sun on our backs it makes you feel a lot better i hope your lakes and fish turn out alright but i think this weather will effect our fishing country wide. well a bit more latter

In reply to Post #848
How many have walked the woods fields and streams at night and watched the barn owl under the bright moon drift across the hedge rows like a a silent ghost or have free lined a worm down some forgotten stream and listened to the call off the tawny high up in some old tree in the woods the shriek of the vixen that would curdle the blood its all part of our heritge.


To sit on some old lake deep within the country side and listen to the call of the coot or the moorhen and hear the splash of the fish way out in the depths of this old lake, to cast the rods and watch the bobbins on the line while you lie on the old garden chair and listen to the noises of the night it was a wonderful feeling you would shake with anticipation awaiting that first bite and when it came and you hooked that fish and played it to the waiting net and looked within the folds and stare at the beauty that lay in the beam of the torch it was a magic that would remain with you for ever to lift the fish with trembling hands and place in the giant keep net to weight in the morning this was how we fished many years ago.

I have watched the stars over head the moon casting shadows on the lake the call of the cock pheasent that had gone to roost in the old oak tree that had stood for centuries in that old spot beside the lake, i would wander how many more had fished below that old oak its branches stretched out like gigantic arms as thought they were welcoming you, to hear the plop of the vole it was all part of fishing that i have loved all my life. To walk the fields on a windy night with your freinds for company to hold the rifle in the forked stick and take aim at the rabbit the lamp had lit up this was our way of life or watch the badger scamper to the safty of the hedge or the wood i am so lucky i have done it all, to lie in the grass above the old hedge row and watch the cubs at play watch the vixen bring them food what a wonderfull world we live in, nature is a marvalous thing i have seen it all, i have fished for eels in some old pool and have not made a noise incase the keeper caught us there but we were lucky and never caught but we have heard him walking by we would hide deep withen the reeds no alarms to sound that would give us away it was all part of my life all those years. A bit more latter