Crucian
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Posts posted by Crucian
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Thanks Newt,
Brilliant, I would love to watch one fishing.
Paul.
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Yes they were good times. I think that perhaps we were spoiled over there, I certainly didn’t realise of what quality the fishing, and specifically the roach fishing was. I wasn’t very experienced with the species in the UK, I did know from reading that 2lb’ers were good fish, but catching a few of them in almost every pleasure session and often in matches became the ‘norm’. In Berlin the predominant species was bream and one needed to get at least 30 plus lbs in a 5 hour summer match to get into the prizes. I joined a German club in Spandau and learned lots including 'ice fishing' techniques.
Although I vowed to continue it, I never really got back into that type of match fishing very much once back in the UK.
Petri Heil
I can well remember my excitement at catching my first 2lb roach from the Weser, but the only reaction I got from the regulars was 'oh yeah, how many'.... I hadn't caught roach that size either before or since. When the Weser flooded in winter, which it often did, we used to fish the little feeder streams which would become so full of big roach that it was almost boring after several hours of catching a fish every cast. Difficult to imagine now, but it happened regularly. Being soldiers, we had access to a lot of restricted military areas on the Weser that were hardly ever fished, including two 'Tug pools', we were a bridging regiment, Royal Engineers and the tugs which we used as safety boats were moored up in one of these pools. A small stream ran into one of these pools and when the roach were spawning, it seemed as though you could have walked across their backs, they were so numerous, big ones too. All of a sudden, the roach all but disappeared, no one knew why. All sorts of theories were put forward by the locals, including 'salt' from the east? but it was never the same again and it happened almost overnight. very strange. We used to fish a series of lakes at Hess Oldendorf which were connected to the river by an open channel. These used to become full of bream, real 'dustbin lids' when the river flooded.
I too gave up match fishing on my return to the UK. I was posted to a place just outside Cambidge and fished one match on the river Cam. The match was won with a few oz's of very small roach. It was enough for me and I sold my match gear.
The ice fishing sounds interesting.
Paul.
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How often do we hear 'land them nice and quick to avoid exhaustion' and then find a lively fish on the matt jumping all over the place and the captor desperately trying to hold it down.
Even with smaller fish they are lifted out of the water flapping and jumping, all the while ripping the hook hold. I see just as many mangled mouths on small roach as on bigger fish.
But who the hell cares? they hav'nt got names and are not valued in hundreds of pounds.
Isn't that the truth? good point, well made.
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First of all only use barbless or circle hooks! When you land them laythem on a mat and cover their eyes with one hand and stroke them full length of their body with the other (make sure its wet to avoid removing slime) after a while they will become still and calm....keep stroking for a bit longer.Then you can unhook a lot easier and indeed hold them reasonably easy if you wiosh for a photo.Works most of the time but there are exceptions.Not deep ghooking them in the first place is the key.
Budgie, I tried this stroking thing, 'why not' I thought..... but it coughed, and then started to shrink.... became much more placid after that...
Did I stroke for too long?-
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Brings back good memories Paul.What a great river the Wasser was.Strange how the roach suddenly dissapeared though wasnt it? Ive not been back to Hameln for many years but when I was traveling through Germany regularly (when fishing in Czechoslovakia) I often considered a "detour" for old times sake!
Amazing how the carp scene (both with squaddies and Germans) has exploded since then! I remember when we fished Deckbergen, Wibeck (sp?) and the likes for Carp and the locals would be allways comming up and fiddling (and giggling at as well!) with my Optonics! They were still very much in the days of 8m telescopic "Big Bertha" rods,treble hooks and pototoes then!
I enjoyed my match/pleasure fishing on the river back in those days (even though I was never that good at the match fishing unlike you!) but do now regret a little that I didnt try to explore the big fish potential on the river a bit more.
Like I said though good days.
Very good memories Budgie! great river and great company. You are right about the roach disappearing, I had forgotten that, didn't the locals reckon it was salt or something coming down from east of the border or something like that? We were actually on our way to visit hameln when helen became ill, we had been touring europe for some time in a camper van and were coming back from Portugal (great fishing) when Helen became seriously ill, which meant we had to return to the UK. So didn't get back to hameln after all..... one day maybe.
Changes in the carp scene! where shall we start? I too remember the reaction to our optonics. Still got mine and still use them now and again, more reliable than my latest 'tackle tart' delkims, only joking, but the delkims have been back 3 times now and they're only 2 years old. Never had the optonics serviced and they are still going strong after more than 30 years. Mind you, same with my old 300's, still use 'em, can't wear 'em out. Do you remember lending me some carp sacks one night so I could get some pictures in the morning? well...I had never seen a carp sack before but I'll never forget your face when I lifted them out with 3 or 4 carp in each one... you were kind enough not to take the p*** at the time, but you must of thought 'what a plonker!' I didn't know any better... had never seen a carp sack before.... I thought they were like a keep net for carp........memories. Still got those photo's too. I do remember the local 'carp gear', treble hooks, spuds, rods stuck vertically in the bank complete with several bells on the end and the 'anglers' all having a social (lots of beer and bratties) 200 yds up the bank! bet you can't remember the old boy catching that pike from the lake we carp fished or the pike match that you organised on the same water... good days.
I enjoyed my fishing on that river. Didn't you catch some nice zander from the barge harbour? along with a young german lad, a specimen angler too was'nt he? a rare thing in germany, in those days. I agree about the potential, I often think about it, do you think there could have been any cats in there, if so they wouldn't have been hungry! what about the 'nase', remember them?
As for those HGFC hoodies, didn't we think we looked cool, I can remember Ernie sat on his box with the hood pulled up, he looked like a gnome, we couldn't stop laughing .Remember Manfred? he took the P*** so much, Ernie took it off and spent the rest of the match shivering..... and it was a five hour match.... in mid winter too.
Good days.....very good days.
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I agree, where light tackle is the correct tackle for the job, hence the thread on overgunned tackle with people using gear more suitable for shark fishing when targeting fish that rarely approach 20lb in weight. Unfortunately the carp circus have been using stupidly heavy tackle for years and now this is moving into river fishing territory. More to do with egos than sport fishing in my opinion. Using split cane rods and centrepin or fixed spool (spinning) reels loaded with 6 or 8lb line I've had no problem landing barbel to low double figures in fast flowing rivers. I've been fishing those methods for over thirty years Phone, the 'new' techniques are just the tackle industry/carp circus latest fad. Unfortunately the barbel has now become the running water carp and, anglers are employing a variation of carp angling on a fish that needs no such gear!
Worms,
I also agree, light tackle is a joy to use, where appropriate. I too use cane rods, not for any reason in particular and certainly not because it has become fashionable over the last few years, I simply prefer the nice forgiving through action that a good cane rod provides. I have caught plenty of barbel, not to any great size, I hasten to add and have never felt 'undergunned' at any time using 6/8lb line. Regarding fish exhaustion, following a prolonged fight, I think that returning barbel quickly and holding them in the current to recover should be part of every barbel anglers standard approach to fish care.
I accept that my next comment may be controversial, but please be assured that is not my express intention; I used to regularly fish for carp and other species in known snags, this usually involved fishing 'locked up' with heavy gear, and 'hit and hold' tactics. I caught plenty of fish, but couldn't accept the regular mouth damage that occurred, and believe me it did happen, too often for my liking. I no longer intentionally fish known snags as a result... on many popular and heavily fished waters, the snags represent the only sanctuary for pressured fish.
I question the need for 3lb + tc rods and 15lb + line for most carp fishing. I often hear the argument that it is needed for the extreme distances needed to catch fish in a particular water. The near bank margins are often the most neglected areas in these waters as a result.... makes you think, doesn't it?
Having said all that, I don't think that fishing for large fish on ultra light gear is sensible either. Appropriate, balanced gear and the best fish care we can provide should be our first consideration and hopefully will ensure that we still have fish to catch in the future.
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I last fished the Weser in '82, drove through the night from Berlin to take part in a British forces match. I remember doing all right on feeder tactics too until a barge came too close and fast and a wave rubbed my keepnet againt a bit of old 'wriggly tin' and tore a hole in it.
I was in Minden from '74 until late '77 with the Weser running right through the town, but I hadn't really got into that type of coarse fishing then, fishing was spinning for trout and perch in the Hertz mountains.
I speak German too (especially about fishin') but it wasn't me at that show.
Hi Emma,
I have fished the Weser many times at Minden and almost certainly fished the same match in 1982. I was posted back to the UK the same year. I remember the Hartz mountains well, there was some good trout fishing in the streams around Goslar (hope I have spelt that correctly). Good skiing too.
Hope you enjoyed fishing the Weser, I would love to go back and fish it again.
Weren't those big barges something else, I have seen anglers and loads of gear washed into the river with the wash......good times.
Best regards,
Paul.
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I still fish the Weser now and then. A brilliant river but not so many fish as back in the day.
I was in the UK back in March at the Big One show, selling DVDs from the world championships.
Got talking to some chap about the weser, and how he used to fish it a lot. He could even speak abit of German.
Was,t one of you lot was it?
Jayson
Hi Jayson,
It's nice to hear that there are still some fish in the Weser, it was a brilliant river to fish in the late 1970's and early 1980's. It had everything an angler could wish for, we used to fish a summer league, organised amongst ourselves and soldiers from our sister regiment in Hameln and it often produced in excess of 50lb of mainly roach in a 3 hour match. The sidestreams were good fishing when the river was in flood in the winter, most of the roach would go a pound and often better, this was on 3lb line straight through to a size 14 and double maggot. It would produce good bream in numbers from the slower stretches, the occasional barbel and even odd carp and some biggish chub. We often caught a fish called a 'nase' (not sure I've spelt that correctly, it means 'nose' in german) they were like a cross between a roach and a barbel, loveley fish of around 2/3lb that fought like tigers. Eels were plentiful too.
It probably was an ex soildier you were talking to, most of us picked up a bit of the language.
I would be interested to hear how the river is fishing. I have fond memories of it, the best river I ever fished.
Best regards,
paul.
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Hi Chris,
I couldn't agree with you more.
Personally I reckon that these type of carpers and so called barbel anglers just don't have the skills required to win their fish on lighter balanced tackle. I'm not talking of match tackle but of a 1.75 - 2lb TC rod, 10lb main line and maybe an 8/9lb hoohlength. It can be done and Richard Walker proved it! I recently went for a rare carping session and used my old B.James/R.Walker Mk4 with Mitchell 300 and 8lb mainline. I heard a few snickers from others sitting comfortably in the sun as I crept around the bank but I was soon the one catching carp while they sat there fishless! Sure they weren't monsters, the best being 16lb but within the first hour I'd had 4 fish off the top! I don't fish to lose them but surely if it does happen, it's better for the fish to carry a lost hook rather than have it's mouth torn and disfigured for the rest of it's life! That's not being concerned for the fishes welfare at all!
The types that are using this "overgunned" tackle want the "big specimen hunter" tag and just aren't concerned on how they go about it.
P.S.
Of the 10 or 12 carp anglers that I encountered that day, 8 of them commented upon the "nice old rod" but didn't have a clue what it was and had a "vague memory" of someone called Walker and B.James (most of them thought the B stood for Bob James !
).It seems to me that we are losing our knowledge of our angling history!
Hi,
I couldn't agree more. I too use cane rods for much of my fishing these days, B.James mkIV carp and mkIV Avon (1.1/4lb tc) Not just for the pleasure of using nice tackle but for the forgiving nature of the rods as well. I think you have to be sensible with lighter tackle and wouldn't fish tight to known snags or in heavy weed, but would use appropriate gear instead. Light tackle is hard to beat in my opinion, it's worth remembering that Chris yates landed his 51lb fish from Redmire on an Avon mkIV... makes you think, doesn't it... I fished at a local stillwater only yesterday, using an 11ft cane float rod and had a lovely mixed bag in a few hours, including tench and bream to around 3 lb and rudd to around a pound, all on a rod which cost me £5 at a car boot sale... rain as well, it was delightful day.
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Hi and welcome to Anglers' Net.
Once you reach 15 posts, you will have full use of the site including PMs so you can send a message to anyone you like and they can send to you.
In the meantime and if you wish, I can give your email address to someone who wants to contact you - but only with your permission.
Hi Newt,
I forgot to mention that the member I wish to contact is Dick Dastardly.
Thanks and regards,
Paul.
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Hi Newt,
Thanks for the welcome, much appreciated.
The person I am trying to contact is 'Budgie' Burgess. If you could give him my email address please. We haven't spoken since I left Germany in the early 1980's.
Thanks and best regards,
Paul.
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Hello all,
As a new member, this is my first post.
Whilst browsing 'Anglers net' this evening for the first time, I noticed a face and a nickname that was familiar to me, this took me down memory lane, back to my Army days and the time I spent in BOAR . We mainly fished the river Weser both for pleasure and in regular competitions both among ourselves and with our German hosts. An interesting aspect of our fishing was the newly formed specimen group, started and run, I believe, by an 'Anglers Net' member from the Kent area.
Being a new member, I am, understandably, a little restricted as to how I post and contact other members. However, if the member concerned wishes to contact me, please do so, I would love to hear from you again. Not being very computer 'savvy', I'm not too sure how this can be done, any suggestions appreciated.
I hope all members have had a good start to the new season.
Thanks for a great site.
Best regards,
Paul.
Apologise to all friends and customers from Budgie
in Coarse Fishing
Posted
Best wishes Budgie, sorry to hear your news.
Paul.