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

In reply to Post #541
In reply to Post #539
Lovely tale, Pete. Wish I'd been there

you would have been a young chap then ken chasing them all over the lake

In reply to Post #545
it took some time but eventually i got permission for myself and graham to fish bomere. we were the only ones fishing the place the locals could not believe that we had permission i have mentioned this in an earlier thread we would fish for the pike in the winter usually on a sunday morning it was i think the late sixties. we would use mackerel sprats or herrings the problem was casting out as the rods were only around ten ft so if we had a bit of wind i would sail the baits out on a polystyrene tile i would fix a balloon to it with a length of thick line so we could pull it back just put the mackerel onto the tile when it got to where we wanted it we just pulled it off it worked a treat as long as we had a wind. put the rod in the rests with the bail arm open we would clip a piece of polystyrene on the line so it floated on the water just below the tip ring this was our indicator when we got a run we would watch the indicator slowly move away and disappear under the water it worked and we would on occasions catch as many as ten good pike in a morning all on dead baits they weighted anything from twelve to eighteen pounds but it was real good fishing and the best thing was we had it all to our selves. old sam davies the owner would come down and watch us to make sure we got up to no good ha ha we did not. he used to say if you catch anyone fishing or in the woods cutting bean sticks go see the keeper or myself ill have them in court and he really did mean it. but some how we struck up this friendship i suppose we were not taking his pheasants and he knew where we were. well he thought he did we would still have a bird or two to make a bob that's how we lived. we tried catching the roach in the winter to use as live baits but it was impossible its like the lake turned off you could not catch anything but the pike. there were also some big perch present in those days and we caught them on small roach in the summer up to two and half pounds but there was some a lot bigger i had one come off i got it to the net and he let go of the small roach it was well over four pounds but then the lake had the big perch kill and it knocked them all on the head they were floating dead everywhere you looked and it took years to recover We would catch some very good roach in the summer float fishing with a good many going to over two pounds all on bread flake more to come latter

In reply to Post #546
Have not read anything so interesting and entertaining for a long time Pete. looking forward to your next installment mate.

Best regards
Mike

In reply to Post #546
thanks mike ive been poorly the last five days with the sickness bug so my stories will have to wait for now but will put some more on soon

In reply to Post #548
Get well soon my mate,thinking of you..

In reply to Post #548
Sorry to read you are poorly again Pete.
Get well soon and I look forward to the stories continuing.

In reply to Post #546
the day off the barbel

although i have not been able to fish for the barbel for the last three years now i have had my two knees joints done i hope to start again latter this year so this is the story of the last session i had at the sydney avenue stretch in shrewsbury.

it was approx three years ago and turned out to be one of the best sessions that i ever had after these hard fighting fish it had rained for a number of days with big falls in the upper reaches bringing plenty of colour the river rose dramatically and was very fast i decided i would fish just below shrewsbury weir, i must admit i did not fancy my chances very much but decided i would fish two rods with 10 line and three oz gripper leads. i was using a bait which was called chops in fact it was pieces of bolie and had found them very good and had been trying to keep it very quite as i had some very big hits using it.

i had soaked them over night in salmon oil and only intended to use two at a time on the hair i also made some paste up tp wrap around the boile which with a bit of luck would draw any barbel present up into my swim well from the very first cast i had the rod ripped right out of the one rest i ended making a dive for the rod and ended up on my back and with my arthritis i could not move or get to my feet a friend came running down and got me upright i was bloody shacking all over but still had the fish on the fish came in after some fight and weighted in at 12 pounds and three quarters a good first fish and my personal best a good fish for the severn but it never ended there it was fish after fish i think at the time the smallest was about six pounds plus. i hooked one fish and could do nothing it just swam upstream against the current i tryed all ways to get it under control but the line parted company this was crazy fishing and they just kept coming i ended the day and that was five hours latter with 32 fish catching three doubles i think with out looking back 12 and three quarter pounds 11 and a quarter pounds and 10 pounds plus what a day i was absolutly knakard and ready for home more to follow

In reply to Post #551
Good to see you're feeling better Pete

When are you going to write a book

Regards
Mike

In reply to Post #548
sorry you not well mate.enjoyed your thread again looking forward to the next one take care.

In reply to Post #551
I loved my barbel fishing as much as the carp and you would see me going at least three times a week being a bailiff for the shropshire federation really helped and would combine my fishing with my bailiff duties. although the bailiffing was a bit hairy at times i would be out all hours not really nice if you are by yourself in the dark you never knew who you would meet but i made some really good friends and could rely on them if i got into any trouble. i would usually fish from five in the evening till around 1 in the morning and caught some really big bags rarely catching under 20 barbel ,in an evening i also caught some wonderful chub some 6 pounds plus with many around the four pounds very good fishing. i have on the odd occasion hooked one of the big carp that are in the severn at shrewsbury but alas have always lost them in the fast water and believe me there are some very big carp present. the other fish i have hooked while barbel fishing is the salmon and have caught them on halibut pellet. but they have been returned unharmed i found over the years it was becoming more difficult to fish the river due to my arthritis and i decided that i could not cope with the walking any more untill my knees were operated on so this year i hope will be the first year back after those majestic hard fighting fish. you would also see me ledgering dead baits for the big pike and we have caught some very impressive fish using this method. i loved the grey friars stretch or the quarry as the water did not move much it was deep and slow i would watch the locals come and feed the ducks with bread. plus they would feed the roach as well and this would draw the pike in so you would always have a chance or two and rarley did we not catch mostley between 12 and twenty pounds in weight but well worth the effort i also liked trotting down a big dead bait and have caught some good fish on that method. more to come

In reply to Post #554
looking back i think it was early seventies when i first took bomere on as a syndicate. the lads were mostly from the three county specimen group with a few locals as well. the fishing was brilliant especially the roach we would catch them to over two pounds. i always remember graham and myself catching eight in one night all over the magical two pounds there was some big old tench in there as well and i caught them to 9 lb 4oz big fish for those days . it also held some good bream not huge but fish around the eight pounds mark but if you could get them going you could catch some real good bags. There was one punt on the lake and gray and myself used to love going out and float fishing from it we had some good days using a slider and fishing in twenty ft of water using bread flake tipped with maggot. we had some real good bags of roach we would also live bait for the pike from the punt no sooner did your live bait hit the water and it would be away these pike would take off and tail walk across the water fantastic fishing and it was very rare to catch under twelve pounds using this method we would catch as many as 16 in a day we also took on shomere that was real good sport we had bags of bream to over 100 pounds lovely fish and really fought well on light float tackle we also caught some big old Rudd mostly on bread flake. but it was a dangerous place and you had to watch where you walked as you could vanish up top your neck. I got to know the place over the years from my poaching days so i knew what was safe and what was not. the other problem was the mozzies there was millions of the little buggers and you could end up with lumps all over your body. i used a lemon and used the juice rubbing it all over then put your clothes over the top it did seem to work. there was a pike problem in shomere only jacks but we had some good days using live baited small Rudd would they go on light tackle we could catch as many as twenty a days but great fishing. the other fish it held were great big eels a friend caught them to 6pound 80z on lob worm. a few years ago we electro fished it and had eels to 6 pounds plus so they are still there. perhaps one day i may have a go health permitting more to follow

In reply to Post #555
what with fishing and rabbit clearance for the local farmers i don't know how we had time to work. we were out most nights with the rifles after the rabbits and would regularly shoot over fifty and we got a pound a rabbit not bad money for a few hours a night. it certainly paid for our fishing tackle and such we got on well with the farmers we were doing a good job for them and as i said in an earlier thread we acquired lots of fishing for doing the job for them. WE still did a bit of poaching on the local brooks after the trout and would really have some nice evenings free lining with a worm and catching some nice browns to round a pound really good eating size i always remember i was fishing the river rea and had a take on lob off it went and i had to run to keep up, i ended up in the river playing that fish i eventually got it to the net it was a Salmon weighting ten pounds that was the second i had from there how it got up that far i dont know as the were some big falls further down stream. it must of come up on the floods. i was away home fast i can tell you i soon sold that for a fair price to a local hotel. over the years i had some nice trout and gray-ling out of the Rea. but the chub fishing was brilliant and i caught many fish between 3 and 4 pounds . we carried on river fishing i did a bit of salmon fishing with another friend and we managed a few between us i think looking back twenty five pounds was the biggest but those days have long gone when younger you would see salmon show every where you looked on the severn your lucky to see any these days but a few still get caught. i have not caught one for years so i now don't take a licence out they seem to have disappeared i think mainly due to all the netting at sea and in the estuary . its a shame really its the same with wild life a lot of the birds that were around when i was a youngster have now gone due mostly to habitat changes and they went through a bad time when the farmers were using pesticide sprays the hair nearly died out in shropshire terrible really lovely animal but they are now making a steady come back well going to docs now more latter

In reply to Post #556
always a pleasure to read you little flashbacks, mate

In reply to Post #556
going to docs now more latter

Hope everythings okay Pete

Looking forward to the next piece.