In reply to Post #528
Excellent reading pete, keep it up m8. love the old pictures.
Excellent reading pete, keep it up m8. love the old pictures.
In reply to Post #529
i`ve just noticed this thread...phew this could take a while
i`ve just noticed this thread...phew this could take a while
In reply to Post #528
i think it was about this time that i met lordy i mentioned him in my early threads. i nice chap who gave me permission to fish his private estate lake. it was a beautiful lake but the one problem it had was the weed full of the stuff, it held some big old chub carp tench and eels although i never did fish for the latter. the banks were very overgrown with trees so it was very awkward to fish. the first time i fished it was with a chap from work we had to get a rake and pull some of the weed out it was full of small snails and shrimps there was an abundance of natural food. it had not been fished seriously for years exept for a few estate workers who were not serious fishermen. Lordy had never let anyone fish the lake so really we had got it all to, our selves it was heaven piece and quite well it still is after all those years. at the beginning we mostly float fished it for the tench using maggot or bread flake the tench were not really that big but fought well on light tackle we had some really good chub catching them to five pounds plus which were big fish for those days, we did eventually have them over six pounds but that was to be in the future. we would get broken occasionally by the carp but on light tackle you could do nothing about it. we, decided to try for the carp we ledgered big pieces of bread flake worm par boiled potatoes baiting up a little bit often with maggots and big balls of bread crumbs mixed with layers mash . it certainly worked we would get cracking runs nearly taking the rods out of the rests you would hook them and loose the majority to hook pulls caused by the weed but we did land a few looking back they were mostly around twelve pounds the biggest sixteen but we did see fish a lot bigger the fish we landed were mostly commons but there were mirrors in the lake so it was a matter of time before we caught one. i did one summers day i remember it well really to hot for fishing we were sunning our selves on the bank and away it went it took a bit of landing due to the weed but we eventually got it in the net it weighted 19 pounds plus we were gob smacked as fish of that size were not that common in the sixties, so we certainly kept it very quite graham also caught some nice fish. we were also fishing acton burnell we got on quite well with the owner and the keepers and could fish the both lakes any time we liked we more or less had them all to our selves exept for a few locals he let fish the place. but we very rare saw anyone the tench fishing was excellent and would catch tench to five pounds plus. we would sit on our baskets and fish the dam end. mostley float fishing with bread flake we had some great days catching great nunmbers of tench with the ocassional roach. things were really looking up the farmers and some of the keepers were really tusting us. more to follow
i think it was about this time that i met lordy i mentioned him in my early threads. i nice chap who gave me permission to fish his private estate lake. it was a beautiful lake but the one problem it had was the weed full of the stuff, it held some big old chub carp tench and eels although i never did fish for the latter. the banks were very overgrown with trees so it was very awkward to fish. the first time i fished it was with a chap from work we had to get a rake and pull some of the weed out it was full of small snails and shrimps there was an abundance of natural food. it had not been fished seriously for years exept for a few estate workers who were not serious fishermen. Lordy had never let anyone fish the lake so really we had got it all to, our selves it was heaven piece and quite well it still is after all those years. at the beginning we mostly float fished it for the tench using maggot or bread flake the tench were not really that big but fought well on light tackle we had some really good chub catching them to five pounds plus which were big fish for those days, we did eventually have them over six pounds but that was to be in the future. we would get broken occasionally by the carp but on light tackle you could do nothing about it. we, decided to try for the carp we ledgered big pieces of bread flake worm par boiled potatoes baiting up a little bit often with maggots and big balls of bread crumbs mixed with layers mash . it certainly worked we would get cracking runs nearly taking the rods out of the rests you would hook them and loose the majority to hook pulls caused by the weed but we did land a few looking back they were mostly around twelve pounds the biggest sixteen but we did see fish a lot bigger the fish we landed were mostly commons but there were mirrors in the lake so it was a matter of time before we caught one. i did one summers day i remember it well really to hot for fishing we were sunning our selves on the bank and away it went it took a bit of landing due to the weed but we eventually got it in the net it weighted 19 pounds plus we were gob smacked as fish of that size were not that common in the sixties, so we certainly kept it very quite graham also caught some nice fish. we were also fishing acton burnell we got on quite well with the owner and the keepers and could fish the both lakes any time we liked we more or less had them all to our selves exept for a few locals he let fish the place. but we very rare saw anyone the tench fishing was excellent and would catch tench to five pounds plus. we would sit on our baskets and fish the dam end. mostley float fishing with bread flake we had some great days catching great nunmbers of tench with the ocassional roach. things were really looking up the farmers and some of the keepers were really tusting us. more to follow
In reply to Post #529
thanks taffi there is more to come when dave has time thanks pete
thanks taffi there is more to come when dave has time thanks pete
I remember buying mags only to get the free swimfeeder they came with, scratching round for old shot on the ground so I didn't have to buy new ones, tying hooks with overhand knots, never being able even to imagine what it must be like to fish all night - would some magical thing happen after it got dark - would i be 'the same' in the morning?, 8ft spinning rods used as float rods whipped with thick thread and yacht varnish, jumping for joy at catching a 6oz crucian, dad scrambling madly for the camera when landing a 1lb bream, sleeping on the ground my first few nights etc...
I've been there man! I've got the 1000 yard stare
I've been there man! I've got the 1000 yard stare
In reply to Post #531
we fished acton burnell quite a bit in those early years. we did a bit of night fishing we caught tench up to seven pounds with some beautiful roach i dont think we caught one under a pound and i know when the syndicate had it at a latter date they caught them to two pounds plus alas i dont think they are there anymore but that's the price of progress. i was quite interested in the salmon fishing on the severn. and would go with a work mate we would mostly fish the upper reaches we would spin using great big devon minnows i made my own out of wood then painted them they certainly worked as we also caught some great big pike i think at the time the biggest was twenty one pounds and was caught by welshpool. the first salmon i caught was twenty pounds and caught on the worm at monkmoor shrewsbury. and it was sold to a local hotel called the brooklands and we got thirteen pounds for that fish not bad money for the sixties it certainly helped out at home and bought a bit more fishing tackle. it was very expensive to fish the weir and monkmoor it was out of my pocket i could not afford the price they were asking. but a friend owned a private stretch at monkmoor and he let me go free of charge so i suppose i was very lucky. graham and myself got permission to fish another private lake not far from shrewsbury it was owned by a middle aged lady and she told us it was full of tench and also some big carp. it was about three acres very dirty no weed at all so we decided to float fish with our favourite bait bread flake ,and maggots we could not believe our eyes the fishing was fast a fish a cast lovely looking deep belled tench in fact the owner came and sat with us for most of the morning i think she was a bit gob smacked at the amount of fish we were catching. when we weighed them all together at the end of the mornings fishing, we had caught eighty five pounds of tench not bad for arround five hours fishing, she said we could go back any time we wished, we had some great days on that lake with some very big bags but we never did catch a carp, all things come to an end we went one day and she had started to let the fishing for three shillings a day. i think she saw what we were catching and thought maybe she could make a little bit of cash out of the fishing it started to get quite popular but we carried on fishing it for some time after and still caught some nice tench more latter
we fished acton burnell quite a bit in those early years. we did a bit of night fishing we caught tench up to seven pounds with some beautiful roach i dont think we caught one under a pound and i know when the syndicate had it at a latter date they caught them to two pounds plus alas i dont think they are there anymore but that's the price of progress. i was quite interested in the salmon fishing on the severn. and would go with a work mate we would mostly fish the upper reaches we would spin using great big devon minnows i made my own out of wood then painted them they certainly worked as we also caught some great big pike i think at the time the biggest was twenty one pounds and was caught by welshpool. the first salmon i caught was twenty pounds and caught on the worm at monkmoor shrewsbury. and it was sold to a local hotel called the brooklands and we got thirteen pounds for that fish not bad money for the sixties it certainly helped out at home and bought a bit more fishing tackle. it was very expensive to fish the weir and monkmoor it was out of my pocket i could not afford the price they were asking. but a friend owned a private stretch at monkmoor and he let me go free of charge so i suppose i was very lucky. graham and myself got permission to fish another private lake not far from shrewsbury it was owned by a middle aged lady and she told us it was full of tench and also some big carp. it was about three acres very dirty no weed at all so we decided to float fish with our favourite bait bread flake ,and maggots we could not believe our eyes the fishing was fast a fish a cast lovely looking deep belled tench in fact the owner came and sat with us for most of the morning i think she was a bit gob smacked at the amount of fish we were catching. when we weighed them all together at the end of the mornings fishing, we had caught eighty five pounds of tench not bad for arround five hours fishing, she said we could go back any time we wished, we had some great days on that lake with some very big bags but we never did catch a carp, all things come to an end we went one day and she had started to let the fishing for three shillings a day. i think she saw what we were catching and thought maybe she could make a little bit of cash out of the fishing it started to get quite popular but we carried on fishing it for some time after and still caught some nice tench more latter
In reply to Post #534
we would still do, a bit of poaching things were still a bit hard and the money would come in handy we would be out at night rabbit shooting and also shoot a few pheasants that had gone up to roost we had no trouble getting rid as most of the locals would buy them off you. we had a red lamp gray or myself would shine it up into the trees pick a pheasant up in the beam i would then shoot it with the gun we used sub sonic ammunition so there was no noise. we would pick them up and away to the next tree we never over did it as the keeper or farmer would soon spot the tell tale feathers left on the ground and would know he had been poached. there was also a nice pool we used to guest it was and still is a most beautiful place to fish. it was in the grounds of a big house i am not going to mention the name as not to cause embarrassment to the owners. we fished on the lawns going down to the pool it had a garden house so if it rained you could sit in there it was magic lilies all over the pool i suppose it was no more than one acre maybe a bit more there was some good tench and eels in residence but it was very hard. we fished it on more than one occasion and graham i think had the first eel we had out of there, the ones we caught were mostly around three pounds mark and we returned them all. a friend we knew had one of six pounds plus which was a big fish it was kept very quite. but the big ones eluded us. we never ever did get caught fishing there. and i know today it is very private and never fished no good us two going we cant run any more but i would love one more chance it was like fishing in heaven more to come
we would still do, a bit of poaching things were still a bit hard and the money would come in handy we would be out at night rabbit shooting and also shoot a few pheasants that had gone up to roost we had no trouble getting rid as most of the locals would buy them off you. we had a red lamp gray or myself would shine it up into the trees pick a pheasant up in the beam i would then shoot it with the gun we used sub sonic ammunition so there was no noise. we would pick them up and away to the next tree we never over did it as the keeper or farmer would soon spot the tell tale feathers left on the ground and would know he had been poached. there was also a nice pool we used to guest it was and still is a most beautiful place to fish. it was in the grounds of a big house i am not going to mention the name as not to cause embarrassment to the owners. we fished on the lawns going down to the pool it had a garden house so if it rained you could sit in there it was magic lilies all over the pool i suppose it was no more than one acre maybe a bit more there was some good tench and eels in residence but it was very hard. we fished it on more than one occasion and graham i think had the first eel we had out of there, the ones we caught were mostly around three pounds mark and we returned them all. a friend we knew had one of six pounds plus which was a big fish it was kept very quite. but the big ones eluded us. we never ever did get caught fishing there. and i know today it is very private and never fished no good us two going we cant run any more but i would love one more chance it was like fishing in heaven more to come
In reply to Post #535
i hope the younger generation after reading my stories don't get the idea its alright to poach and guest some lakes its not. i did years ago because it was a necessity for food and generally to survive. today its just not worth doing pheasants are ten a penny you can go and catch trout for a reasonable price or buy them from the supermarket. things have changed even the country side people have more access there are still the game keepers around but not the old buggers i came across .real hard characters who ruled there patch with a rod of iron.since those days i have done my share at catching the poacher not actually doing it as some one once said to me it takes one to know one and that is very true. i did quite a bit for the shropshire federation myself and friend mike would be out all hours. checking permits along the river severn in shrewsbury. the number that would try to fish without paying never ceased to amaze me the cost at the time was six pounds not a lot so our job was to collect the revenue you would meet some real hard characters but most would pay up those that would not and were awkward were banned we would take there car reg number and that would be circulated around the other bailiffs and given to the police and hopefully that was that. i suppose i have been privileged to live such a good life and meet some of the greats and some of the old characters long gone. those days will never return and i will never see the likes again. yes it was hard you took chances and lived life to the full i would live it all again if i could you would do anthing to make a shilling not much compared with todays money but it helped us survive the food was still being rationed for quite some time after the war and you would have to have petrol coupons but people were happy you could leave you front or back door open and would never get done you cant do that today and most lived in harmony and helped one another. more to come latter
i hope the younger generation after reading my stories don't get the idea its alright to poach and guest some lakes its not. i did years ago because it was a necessity for food and generally to survive. today its just not worth doing pheasants are ten a penny you can go and catch trout for a reasonable price or buy them from the supermarket. things have changed even the country side people have more access there are still the game keepers around but not the old buggers i came across .real hard characters who ruled there patch with a rod of iron.since those days i have done my share at catching the poacher not actually doing it as some one once said to me it takes one to know one and that is very true. i did quite a bit for the shropshire federation myself and friend mike would be out all hours. checking permits along the river severn in shrewsbury. the number that would try to fish without paying never ceased to amaze me the cost at the time was six pounds not a lot so our job was to collect the revenue you would meet some real hard characters but most would pay up those that would not and were awkward were banned we would take there car reg number and that would be circulated around the other bailiffs and given to the police and hopefully that was that. i suppose i have been privileged to live such a good life and meet some of the greats and some of the old characters long gone. those days will never return and i will never see the likes again. yes it was hard you took chances and lived life to the full i would live it all again if i could you would do anthing to make a shilling not much compared with todays money but it helped us survive the food was still being rationed for quite some time after the war and you would have to have petrol coupons but people were happy you could leave you front or back door open and would never get done you cant do that today and most lived in harmony and helped one another. more to come latter
In reply to Post #536
great last line that pete ..about people being happy and leaving there doors open ...just wish people could do that today but it will never happen due to all the other aspects of life in this country now poverty drugs ect
great last line that pete ..about people being happy and leaving there doors open
...just wish people could do that today but it will never happen due to all the other aspects of life in this country now poverty drugs ect
In reply to Post #536
here is one you might like, a mate came to see me at home an old gentleman from a small village in north shropshire asked him if he knew any one that would clear the rabbits on his property so he put my name and grahams forward. we went out to see the said gentlemen who lived at great bolas about eight miles from my home he lived in a most beautiful bungalow with extensive gardens he employed a full time gardener the gardens were full of shrubs and at the time all the daffs were in flower. he had one or two fields attached to the property and he was absolutely over run with rabbits in fact we had not seen so many for years. We made arrangements to go the following week end as due to work that's the only time we had available. we also took another friend from our village who was also quite well known for his rabbiting skills his name was dave and any locals reading this will know who i am talking about he died last year aged seventy two and it was a privilege knowing him. well we rolled up on the sat morning i had four ferrets and with daves we had a total of nine we netted all the road side hedge rabbits bolted all over the place i think out of that one hedge we had about twenty rabbits. well dave was one for a pint and dead on twelve it was retire to the pub gray and i did not want to drink but we tagged along when i mean drink dave really could and ten pints latter it was back to the rabbits. his job was driving a jcb on local building sites. i kid you not he was like a human jcb digging rabbits after a few pints i have never seen the like since if i had drunk that much i would have been bed for a couple of days but it did not seem to effect him in any way. We were out there for about three weekends and had caught lots of rabbits and i mean lots. well the old chap said could we clear them from his garden but please be careful of his flowers and such. well i had an old lab very strong headed but he certainly knew what a rabbit was. on the appointed day we put a big net around the garden and dave stood in the field with his whippet in-case any escaped. well i put my old lab blaze into the shrubs, i really have never seen anything like it rabbits flew every direction pheasants as well the old man stood in the middle waving his stick and shouting at the top of his voice he really was enjoying it graham was kept busy extracting the rabbits out of the net we had twenty five rabbits out of his garden the old man stood surveying his garden it just looked like somthing out of world war two complete devestation not a daff standing i was quite embarrased and to top it all my dog blaze walked over to him looked up as if to say havent we done a good job and piddled all over his front door. well he really took it all in good part and was very pleased with the rabbits we had caught althought his garden was in a mess he really did us a favour and got permission for us to clear the local farmers rabbits and fish the river roden well more to follow
here is one you might like, a mate came to see me at home an old gentleman from a small village in north shropshire asked him if he knew any one that would clear the rabbits on his property so he put my name and grahams forward. we went out to see the said gentlemen who lived at great bolas about eight miles from my home he lived in a most beautiful bungalow with extensive gardens he employed a full time gardener the gardens were full of shrubs and at the time all the daffs were in flower. he had one or two fields attached to the property and he was absolutely over run with rabbits in fact we had not seen so many for years. We made arrangements to go the following week end as due to work that's the only time we had available. we also took another friend from our village who was also quite well known for his rabbiting skills his name was dave and any locals reading this will know who i am talking about he died last year aged seventy two and it was a privilege knowing him. well we rolled up on the sat morning i had four ferrets and with daves we had a total of nine we netted all the road side hedge rabbits bolted all over the place i think out of that one hedge we had about twenty rabbits. well dave was one for a pint and dead on twelve it was retire to the pub gray and i did not want to drink but we tagged along when i mean drink dave really could and ten pints latter it was back to the rabbits. his job was driving a jcb on local building sites. i kid you not he was like a human jcb digging rabbits after a few pints i have never seen the like since if i had drunk that much i would have been bed for a couple of days but it did not seem to effect him in any way. We were out there for about three weekends and had caught lots of rabbits and i mean lots. well the old chap said could we clear them from his garden but please be careful of his flowers and such. well i had an old lab very strong headed but he certainly knew what a rabbit was. on the appointed day we put a big net around the garden and dave stood in the field with his whippet in-case any escaped. well i put my old lab blaze into the shrubs, i really have never seen anything like it rabbits flew every direction pheasants as well the old man stood in the middle waving his stick and shouting at the top of his voice he really was enjoying it graham was kept busy extracting the rabbits out of the net we had twenty five rabbits out of his garden the old man stood surveying his garden it just looked like somthing out of world war two complete devestation not a daff standing i was quite embarrased and to top it all my dog blaze walked over to him looked up as if to say havent we done a good job and piddled all over his front door. well he really took it all in good part and was very pleased with the rabbits we had caught althought his garden was in a mess he really did us a favour and got permission for us to clear the local farmers rabbits and fish the river roden well more to follow
In reply to Post #538
here's another you might like it certainly caused me some embarrassment at the time i dont think i mentioned it in an earlier thread it was in the early seventies and graham and myself had been fishing berrington there was an old oak tree as you walked down to the pool then a style which you got over to fish the one side of the pool. on this one occasion why i don't know i happened to look up in the tree and screwed to the trunk was a cross it was well made but it was up side down. i said to gray why a cross upside down the first thing that came to mind was the dark arts a witches coven a bit off putting when you are night fishing. by the way this is true every word i am saying to you. i would go down three times a week to bait up putting a little bit in often at the time we were after the big bream and the roach bream hybrids we had already caught the latter to four pounds and we had had bream to nine pounds plus. i had climbed the tree and got the cross with i said was very well made and had been stained a very professional job and threw it into the nettles and undergrowth. two days latter a friday night we went down to fish our chosen swim and as we got over the style we noticed the cross was back and screwed upside down once again we were rather cob smacked how on earth did they find it in the undergrowth it was really a bit spooky and we were looking over our shoulders all night but nothing happened. we left the cross up there. we really never gave it much thought after till one afternoon i went to bait up i got over the style and heard this noise like singing i went to my swim and what a sight greeted me there was about twenty women all in the nude singing and chanting it was a bloody coven i was away as quick as my feet would carry me. before i got to the style i heard a voice say are you embarrassed i turned around to see this women stark naked yes i am i said come with me i will explain well she took me back with her to meet her friends my face was burning i did not know what to say they all stood around me and told me they were witches and lived at berrington hall at a hippie commune they explained the cross was theirs and they were good witches i was bloody shaking some were absolutely gorgeous and they never batted an eye lid i could not get away fast enought some blokes would have been in there element not me i was away and could not wait to tell graham. well nothing more happened for a few weeks untill we went to bait up one evening i said to graham they are here go and have a look he did but we were away quick not wanting to disturb there chanting we saw them on a number of ocassions after that but we always gave them a wide birth more to come
here's another you might like it certainly caused me some embarrassment at the time i dont think i mentioned it in an earlier thread it was in the early seventies and graham and myself had been fishing berrington there was an old oak tree as you walked down to the pool then a style which you got over to fish the one side of the pool. on this one occasion why i don't know i happened to look up in the tree and screwed to the trunk was a cross it was well made but it was up side down. i said to gray why a cross upside down the first thing that came to mind was the dark arts a witches coven a bit off putting when you are night fishing. by the way this is true every word i am saying to you. i would go down three times a week to bait up putting a little bit in often at the time we were after the big bream and the roach bream hybrids we had already caught the latter to four pounds and we had had bream to nine pounds plus. i had climbed the tree and got the cross with i said was very well made and had been stained a very professional job and threw it into the nettles and undergrowth. two days latter a friday night we went down to fish our chosen swim and as we got over the style we noticed the cross was back and screwed upside down once again we were rather cob smacked how on earth did they find it in the undergrowth it was really a bit spooky and we were looking over our shoulders all night but nothing happened. we left the cross up there. we really never gave it much thought after till one afternoon i went to bait up i got over the style and heard this noise like singing i went to my swim and what a sight greeted me there was about twenty women all in the nude singing and chanting it was a bloody coven i was away as quick as my feet would carry me. before i got to the style i heard a voice say are you embarrassed i turned around to see this women stark naked yes i am i said come with me i will explain well she took me back with her to meet her friends my face was burning i did not know what to say they all stood around me and told me they were witches and lived at berrington hall at a hippie commune they explained the cross was theirs and they were good witches i was bloody shaking some were absolutely gorgeous and they never batted an eye lid i could not get away fast enought some blokes would have been in there element not me i was away and could not wait to tell graham. well nothing more happened for a few weeks untill we went to bait up one evening i said to graham they are here go and have a look he did but we were away quick not wanting to disturb there chanting we saw them on a number of ocassions after that but we always gave them a wide birth more to come
In reply to Post #539
great story that pete...you must have had a little peak now and again
great story that pete...you must have had a little peak now and again
In reply to Post #539
Lovely tale, Pete. Wish I'd been there
Lovely tale, Pete. Wish I'd been there
In reply to Post #540
great story that pete...you must have had a little peak now and again
we kept away they were really a bit weired they worshiped the ground water and fire. i was telling ken a few years latter they opened a shop in shrewsbury selling health foods spices ect this was done as a joint venture for the commun i think they did very well from the revenue they made and i think it is still open. they also grew there own veg and sold that at the market.
great story that pete...you must have had a little peak now and again
we kept away they were really a bit weired they worshiped the ground water and fire. i was telling ken a few years latter they opened a shop in shrewsbury selling health foods spices ect this was done as a joint venture for the commun i think they did very well from the revenue they made and i think it is still open. they also grew there own veg and sold that at the market.
In reply to Post #539
we fished betton quite a lot in the late sixties. we were really interested in then big eels that were supposed to be in there. you would see myself and gray out on a rainy night collecting the lobs from the lawn and from the grass out side peoples houses on the village we would be out all hours collecting these worms and has i have said in an earlier thread we have nearly been arrested on a few occasions by policemen patrolling in thier mini vans. i have even had them helping when they realized what you were doing, you could not get much better than that could you showing the bobbies how to snatch worms but its all very true they did and we would have a couple of hundred in a good night i used to put them in moss to harden up mixed with damp newspaper. we would fish on a friday night and a sat and would put big bunches off lobs on the hook. we used to fish two rods a piece on the shallows. we used ping pong balls as indicators i put a small bulb in them at a latter date with a very light twin cable to a six vault motorcycle battery they really worked well you would leave you bail arm open and the ping pong balls used to float on the surface under you butt ring, that's if you were sitting on your chair in the water they just looked like two small electric lights i would glue a hair grip into to top of the ball and would use this to clip onto the line they worked excellent up they would fly if you had a run as soon as they reached the butt ring they would fall off we had some big old eels using this set up the place in those days produced some real biggies as i said earlier on to six pounds plus we would also get broken on a few occasions and this certainly was not eels it was when for the first time i realized it held carp not many but a few but real biggies that really put a bend in your rod. you would mostly hook them when fishing for other species and you had no chance of landing them on light tackle. i was even broken using 10 pounds line when fishing for the eels but i think it was due to the weed and getting snagged in it. more to come latter
we fished betton quite a lot in the late sixties. we were really interested in then big eels that were supposed to be in there. you would see myself and gray out on a rainy night collecting the lobs from the lawn and from the grass out side peoples houses on the village we would be out all hours collecting these worms and has i have said in an earlier thread we have nearly been arrested on a few occasions by policemen patrolling in thier mini vans. i have even had them helping when they realized what you were doing, you could not get much better than that could you showing the bobbies how to snatch worms but its all very true they did and we would have a couple of hundred in a good night i used to put them in moss to harden up mixed with damp newspaper. we would fish on a friday night and a sat and would put big bunches off lobs on the hook. we used to fish two rods a piece on the shallows. we used ping pong balls as indicators i put a small bulb in them at a latter date with a very light twin cable to a six vault motorcycle battery they really worked well you would leave you bail arm open and the ping pong balls used to float on the surface under you butt ring, that's if you were sitting on your chair in the water they just looked like two small electric lights i would glue a hair grip into to top of the ball and would use this to clip onto the line they worked excellent up they would fly if you had a run as soon as they reached the butt ring they would fall off we had some big old eels using this set up the place in those days produced some real biggies as i said earlier on to six pounds plus we would also get broken on a few occasions and this certainly was not eels it was when for the first time i realized it held carp not many but a few but real biggies that really put a bend in your rod. you would mostly hook them when fishing for other species and you had no chance of landing them on light tackle. i was even broken using 10 pounds line when fishing for the eels but i think it was due to the weed and getting snagged in it. more to come latter