Your first ever set up

[Vagabond]

You folks all seem to have started at a pretty high-tech level.

 

 

...and even you Newt, all that tackle was all too clever for me.

 

I started on my own in the summer of 1941 at age 7 and a month or two, with absolutely no help from anyone. No money, and there was no fishing gear for sale anyway - there was a war on.

 

Saw some small brown fish in a brook - watched one go under a stone.

Piled a circle of stones and gravel around the stone to above water level, lifted the stone, and kept filling in the pool I had made with small stones and gravel until I could catch the fish (Miller's Thumb, aka Bullhead) by hand. I had re-invented the process of "lading".

 

Progressed to a handline of linen thread and bent pin, which caught more Miller's Thumbs and some Stone Loach, and was using a bush pole by the end of the summer and catching small roach from a farm pond.

 

Made my own rod and reel - and saw no manufactured tackle (apart from some hooks-to-gut stocked by the local hairdresser at the exorbitant price of 3d a hook) until an angler married my aunt two years later.

[Phone]

Vagabond,

 

So - - - then did you have to "filch" the hooks from your newly aquired uncle? Or - - - did he share willingly?

 

Phone

(What's a "hooks-to-gut" look like??)

[Vagabond]

What's a "hooks-to-gut" look like?

Like "hooks-to-monofilament nylon" but thicker, stiffer, and you had to soak the gut in water to get it to straighten before fishing with it.

[Ken L]

Made my own rod and reel - and saw no manufactured tackle (apart from some hooks-to-gut stocked by the local hairdresser at the exorbitant price of 3d a hook) until an angler married my aunt two years later.

 

That puts a whole new twist of "Something for the weekend ?"

[chesters1]

i wonder if "have you a spare hook Mr" would go down so much nowadays ,would the child not approach an elderly angler today for fear (backed up by the media and parents) he would suddenly drag him into the bushes and abuse him or would the angler dare to give the kid a hook because in some eyes he was "grooming" the child?

 

i find it strange parents trust their kids to talk to me (textbook pedo look alike!elderly, fat ,dribbling etc) ,leave them in the utter conviction i stand around guarding them until they are collected and readily chat giving away things (especially women) i could use to my benefit if i was a pedo.

all i have is a bit of paper showing i'm a bailiff ,no CRB check ,nothing whatsoever to say i'm not whilst on one hand its a shame kids cant be kids on the other its a shame pedo's are out there err pedoing.this is the time the kids are about in the holidays dropped off first thing and collected after work ,kids causing trouble or kids having fun the dividing line is far thinner today ,causing a fuss back in the fifties would get you a clip round the ear to reinforce your respect of the grown up it appears today beating grown ups is more fun.

nothing new of-course i encountered them myself as a kid,perhaps i was lucky but to my knowledge (which i admit on the subject is scarce) there wasn't groups out there singling out kids ,perhaps a sad fact of this modern technology that aids us

 

luckily our local pond is rather old fashioned in its ways and mostly silver fish so no trademarks to sneer over ,but yesterday a brat was shouting and throwing stones his dad shouting at him ,i asked if there was a problem and was told he had "asbergers" hmmmmm i didn't come across that excuse in the 50's but that thick ear obviously cured many "diseases" that are now excuses not to control your kid ,i asked him to stop him or take him home ,if i hd my way it would be gaffa taped to the nearest tree

now its sad for the parent that the kids uncontrollable (for any reason) but sense says if it is you cant let it loose on the rest of the anglers and spoiling their fun ,either stop taking it or leave it at home ,harsh? not so sure i cant do many things not because my mrs throws stones but she cant do many things i would love to ,i just as any other sensible person does makes changes to their lifestyle to suite everyone

 

kids are rather spoilt today ,not a lot of money gets them fishing but without the effort of waiting or making mending or manufacturing your own kit which was a great bit of the scene in the past ,even the close season has gone so the dark days suddenly ending and the anticipation of the days before gone ,a bit sad really with this instant gratification people can have nowadays

Edited August 22, 2011 by chesters1

[Alan Stubbs]

I borrowed my dad's kit when I was a nipper in Singapore - 9' split cane rod and non-descript Chinese fixed spool reel...although he did once set me up with his Mitchell (204, I think).

 

Fast forward 40 years, I was told by the consultant surgeon 'Need to get your fingers working. Take up fishing.'

 

I thought it would be a 6 month fad, something I have to do, rather than something I now WANT to have to do. I went to The Anglers' Den in Franklin Road, Gillingham picked up all the stuff the book I'd taken from the library told me I needed and went to the checkkout.

 

The owner saw the state of my hand and asked 'why are you going fishing, when your hand's such a mess?'

 

He then put everything I'd picked up back and set me up with a Shakespeare 10ft match rod, D.A.M Quick 40 reel spooled with Daiwa Sensor 4lb, a landing net and unhooking mat, Size 18 hooks to nylon (I couldn't tie a hook because of my hand at the time) and a tube of floats, box of Anchor assorted weights and an adaptor for quick-change of float.

 

This stuck in my mind, as what I had picked out was going to cost me over £300. What I actually paid was £42, and into the bargain, a guy in the shop said he was going to fish the venue I was off to the following day and that he'd show me the ropes... he used to post on AN.....

 

I was so made up with the 1 oz perch I caught after 15 minutes and the 3oz roach I caught later, I took the photograph to show the consultant... 'Oh. I meant fly fishing...'

[Vagabond]

I was told by the consultant surgeon 'Need to get your fingers working.

 

 

When I bust a bone in my hand the house surgeon plastered me up to the elbow. The following Monday I saw the consultant, who immediately produced some shears and cut off the plaster. He gave me exactly the same advice. Except he wasn't a fly fisherrman but a model engineer (and knew I was also) "Get to work with your lathe" he said "If you are doing something interesting, you ignore the twinges when using your hand - its much better than physiotherapy"