A bit of angling history. No 1

[Vagabond]

Thought I would share this with you carpies.

 

Boilie-like baits have been mentioned in French and German angling literature from 1920 onwards, and we have already had a couple of threads on the subject in recent years.

 

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/invents...amp;hl=noquette

 

Now the same researcher (Thomas Kalweit) has come up with evidence of cooked doughballs mentioned in a magazine (Deutsche Angler Zeitung) as early as 1909. The author of the article refers to his "50 years practical experience" which raises the likelihood of boiled baits being used as far back as the mid to late 1800's.

 

The article is in the current issue of Classic Angling and also mentions a carp attractant "Lachsol" made by Schumacher and Co.

Edited September 29, 2009 by Vagabond

[gozzer]

No matter how often some of todays 'experts' try to say different, there are very few (if any), truly original ideas in angling. They might be changed slightly, due to modern materials or manufacturing methods, but the idea is still the same.

I wonder how many are willing to admit that the 'bolt rig' is based on a 'set line', often used by poachers, for instance?

 

John.

[Anderoo]

I wonder how many are willing to admit that the 'bolt rig' is based on a 'set line', often used by poachers, for instance?

 

The one thing I've learnt over the years is that, no matter how carefully you groundbait, sometimes nothing bites

[gozzer]

The one thing I've learnt over the years is that, no matter how carefully you groundbait, sometimes nothing bites

 

But you continue to put out a bait just in case, don't you?

 

John.

[Vagabond]

I wonder how many are willing to admit that the 'bolt rig' is based on a 'set line', often used by poachers, for instance?

 

 

Anyone who has fished from the shore with a large lead to which a paternoster (or perhaps a flowing trace) is attached (for cod, whiting, bass, flatties and the like) has been using a "bolt rig"

 

It has been going on for hundreds of years. At your end there may be a beachcaster, or a handline winder, or even the line tied to a stake and collected the next morning The more refined beachcasters used to have a ferret bell clipped to the rodtip so you knew when a fish was hooked.

 

Putting four rods on a horizontal scaffolding and aligning them exactly parallel with each other is just a freshwater variation. It is remarkable we all took so long to realise carp can be caught with codfishing tactics.

 

...and of course the modern bolt rig has electronic alarms - you can visit your mates bivvies (or even a nearby pub), and with the aid of a "remote", tell which of your set lines (cough - bolt rigs) has got a self-hooked fish on. Clever, innit?

[Anderoo]

But you continue to put out a bait just in case, don't you?

 

John.

 

I know someone who, if they don't catch the first night, puts out twice as much bait the next He catches them in the end.

 

There are loads of instances of rigs which, although are in theory 'free running', are actually 'fixed' rigs of one form or another. For example, anything on the end of a quivertip.

[gozzer]

There are loads of instances of rigs which, although are in theory 'free running', are actually 'fixed' rigs of one form or another. For example, anything on the end of a quivertip.

 

I agree that some are Andrew even if unintentional, but I would argue with your last point, that using a quivertip means that it's automatically a 'bolt rig'.

 

John.

[poledark]

Knock as much as you want, but the fact is that the INTENTIONAL use of an exposed hook is a modern idea aimed specifically at carp fishing. Prior to that we (us old carpers) used to take great pains to hide the hook.

 

Dough balls are not boilies, boilies were invented to beat the bream, and were usually golf ball size, rolled by hand,mounted on the hook using a baiting needle and dipped in eggwhite. They were then lowered in boiling water to "put a skin" on them. Quite soon after this period, someone came up with the idea of actually mixing the egg in the bait, and then boiling it to harden it.

 

I know this to be true, because I actually did it (with a few other guys)

 

Don't ask me for a date though, but it was a bit later than 1909 (not much though )

 

Den

[Vagabond]

Dough balls are not boilies, boilies were invented to beat the bream, and were usually golf ball size, rolled by hand,mounted on the hook using a baiting needle and dipped in eggwhite. They were then lowered in boiling water to "put a skin" on them. Quite soon after this period, someone came up with the idea of actually mixing the egg in the bait, and then boiling it to harden it.

 

The method of production of "dough balls" may have been different from the "boilie", but the intention was the same - to produce a large hard bait to avoid smaller fish. The dough "balls" were actually cubes, with sides two fingers thick (and called whatever the German equivalent is for "bricked baits") . They weren't coated/mixed/boiled with egg white, but put out to dry and harden in air.

 

Dunno if the Germans hair-rigged them back in the 19th century, but the French were certainly doing so by 1930 - they incorporated a thread in each "noquette"

 

INTENTIONAL use of bare hook

Sea-anglers have been using mackerel strip that way for yonks (ie just the tip of the strip hooked). One of the first pieces of sea-fishing advice I was ever given was "don't try to hide the hook".

[Horrocks]

There was also an article in Classic Angling by Thomas Kalweit about the invention of boiled baits in combination with a hair and a fixed lead. This revolutionary method has its roots in the area around Dresden (Germany) in the 1930 years.

 

Some more information to the invention of boilie, hair and boltrig. Sorry, but only in German:

 

http://www.fischundfang.de/456,2187/