I used to be a regular ten years ago and thought that their bad attitude was because they didn't like me for some reason. Turns out, as mentioned below, that the Danson mob are like that with everybody!

Since owning a car I've never set foot in there since, I'd rather spend another 20 minutes driving to get to the TB than ever spend another penny there!

In reply to Post #29
Reading it now, very informative!

In reply to Post #19
The post hasn't been edited Sir.

I am interested in the very beginnings of carp so I feel that it's a valid question (to those who think it's a strange question).

And I did acknowledge at the beginning that class is not as easily defined now.

However it would have been back in the first part of the 1900s when very small numbers of people dabbled in carp.

The post war era saw a boom in angling as workers had more free time, manufacturing techniques made gear more accessible and things that were once out of reach for working class people were now available to all.

Jim Shelley, haha, well he's built like Henry VIII.

In reply to Post #17
1) oldgeezer - I am aware of the backgrounds of people from that era. They represent an era where a community (however small) was starting to develop but there were people who came before them, and chapters in books about fishing for carp dating back well before the anglers you mention.

2) Fly fishing in the UK is now very mixed, which contrasts with its origins. From personal experience I've encountered labourers to lawyers and people from all over the world and from different ethnic groups. When I was carp fishing on Walthamstow I naturally assumed that they were mostly middle class - until I took up fly fishing and spent my first year on the trout ressies on the complex

I am hoping that there may be a historian here.

The average carp angler today is working class - although the definition is increasingly blurred as plenty of trades persons lead thoroughly middle class lives (house, car, holidays etc.).

However some of the original carpers/specimen anglers were posh boys (Yates and Walker - I am assuming the latter was middle class).

In fact a lot of pastimes were up until recently the preserve of the rich.... foreign travel, pet ownership to name a couple.

Would anyone be able to shed any light?

I am 37 and remember watching the series when it was first aired - so watching it brings back memories of not just the programmes themselves but of that era, the family home for instance.

If carp fishing is still around in thirty years' time then another 37 year old may get as misty eyed when rewatching the Urban/Euro Banx series as some of us are when we revisit A Passion for Angling.

It's not about one era, technique etc. being better than another. Both series I've mentioned capture a moment in time - the equipment used, the vehicles, the technology - things that provide a reference point to look back on and see how society and has evolved and changed.

In reply to Post #2
What's the going price for one?

I recently purchased the second edition to complete the trio. I sourced mine from eBay but at the same time saw that there was a first edition on auction with bids at £90 with several days to go.

My carp gear hasn't seen the light of day in over a year as I returned to fly fishing so can someone tell me why such a high price?

I am almost tempted to sell mine purchase a new lens for my Olympus!

John Roberts or ESP!

In reply to Post #1
An algal bloom can consist of millions of individual algae spores that require light and nutrients. Thunderstorms often punctuate hot periods and the sudden loss of light and input of rain kills of large numbers of algae.

The 'dead bodies' of each individual spore are then feasted on by bacteria which require oxygen. We all know that water holds less oxygen at higher temperatures, which combined with huge numbers of bacteria consuming oxygen cause levels to dip.

These are the same bacteria we encourage to colonise filters in our fish tanks, they help metabolise fish waste by converting lethal ammonia in to less harmful nitrate (which ironically feeds plants and algae). Not only will less oxygen in effect suffocate fish, higher ammonia levels as a result of insufficient bacteria can also contribute.