In 1987 I had a large tree next to my back garden wall. In the morning after the hurricane I found it had been uprooted and it pivoted over the wall into next door’s garden. They weren’t impressed when I knocked and asked for it back.

In reply to Post #25
Loved Flashing Blade, particularly its theme song. Sometime ago I started singing”you’ve got to fight for what you want….” And a whole bunch of old guys joined in. I thought I was the only one who remembered it.

I’ll get my coat.

In reply to Post #25
Did you win it in a raffle?

In reply to Post #31
It’s curious that playing carp on fly tackle feels more vulnerable than on low test curve rods or feeder rods, but I have never worked out why. Any thoughts?

In reply to Post #12

Magical post. I too remember the 16th, cycling from school to Cassiobury Park in Watford to fish with my pals. Had the Crabtree books too.

Another vote for Penn Affinity

There are no pots in the heater. Can I have a prize for pedantry?

388lb 8 ozs
Good sport Mark

Great fun Mark.
388lb 8 ozz

In reply to Post #19
Ok Kells. There is much to enjoy in The Still of the Night. It is very well written and It covers a young angler from the late 1950s to the late 1970s: so no hair rigs but plenty of dough bobbins and so on. I find I'm unsettled by the degree of obsession over one fish over several years, and the damage it does to the young man. Nothing to do with social media or peer pressure but a kind of helplessness. I find my feelings at the end of the tale are very different to those that I experience reading about the end of a TH quest.
The book is on Kindle if you are curious.