The First ever Bite Alarm you had?

[chesters1]

The first commercial ones were Herons for me ,just after i got mine my fishing mate,s dad showed me the buzzers used in bleeptone phones (he was a gpo engineer) .quick as a flash the crappy heron buzzers were taken out and the new ones installed ,before that i made my own with two thick wires so stiff they could stand upright and a bit of tinfoil on the line which completed the circuit to a box with a buzzer in

I bought the herons in beckenham near to where i worked .

The biggest push forward i guess were the optonics ,i still have a pair of sensitrons (daiwa) knocking about somewhere but due to my mrs realising "bank voles" were really rats my carp fishing night forays are long gone.

Thinking back i bought the herons in 1967 ,not ofcourse because they were new on the market but they had become affordable to me now half my pay wasnt being spent on trainfares to london where my first job was.

I think the original herons were green and introduced in the late? 50's ,i had been night fishing since i was ten there were no "specimen hunters" or carp fishermen at night just "strange people" now it seems normal compared ,then few people were seen fishing much after dusk and for 10/15 years it was just me or perhaps one or two others on a lake ,nowadays if you dont find a peg by friday dinnertime your out of luck on most lakes with carp in

 

Before electronics entered my arena the only noise was a penny hitting a tin tray ,the penny was balanced on the spool of the reel with the bailarm in the open position so the fish could take line ,not ideal in a breeze so bits and bobs abounded usually involving elastic bands and pegs ,monkey climbers were old hat they were not indicators as such more like devices to stop the line blowing everywhere before the fairy bottle cap came to be common practice

Baitrunners are a luxury compared to the past although intrepid elites did IMHO have a crude system ,if you left the anti reverse of a reel when a fish ran it let line out but in many cases the line tangled or you rapped your knuckles trying to grab the spinning handle ,the elite had an extra function where the line was allowed out but as there was a clicker built into the anti reverse the line was kept taught ,no adjustment on tension that was years away.you could loosen the spool on any reel to release line with the bailarm engaged but the hard part was tightening itback up with the rod in one hand with the fish on

Edited February 27, 2013 by chesters1

[ayjay]

Optonic Compacts - one low tone one high tone, still got them but rarely use them now, 90% of my carping is done on the surface and on the move.

[Dave H]

The first commercial ones were Herons for me ,just after i got mine my fishing mate,s dad showed me the buzzers used in bleeptone phones (he was a gpo engineer) .quick as a flash the crappy heron buzzers were taken out and the new ones installed ,before that i made my own with two thick wires so stiff they could stand upright and a bit of tinfoil on the line which completed the circuit to a box with a buzzer in

I bought the herons in beckenham near to where i worked .

The biggest push forward i guess were the optonics ,i still have a pair of sensitrons (daiwa) knocking about somewhere but due to my mrs realising "bank voles" were really rats my carp fishing night forays are long gone.

Thinking back i bought the herons in 1967 ,not ofcourse because they were new on the market but they had become affordable to me now half my pay wasnt being spent on trainfares to london where my first job was.

I think the original herons were green and introduced in the late? 50's ,i had been night fishing since i was ten there were no "specimen hunters" or carp fishermen at night just "strange people" now it seems normal compared ,then few people were seen fishing much after dusk and for 10/15 years it was just me or perhaps one or two others on a lake ,nowadays if you dont find a peg by friday dinnertime your out of luck on most lakes with carp in

 

Before electronics entered my arena the only noise was a penny hitting a tin tray ,the penny was balanced on the spool of the reel with the bailarm in the open position so the fish could take line ,not ideal in a breeze so bits and bobs abounded usually involving elastic bands and pegs ,monkey climbers were old hat they were not indicators as such more like devices to stop the line blowing everywhere before the fairy bottle cap came to be common practice

Baitrunners are a luxury compared to the past although intrepid elites did IMHO have a crude system ,if you left the anti reverse of a reel when a fish ran it let line out but in many cases the line tangled or you rapped your knuckles trying to grab the spinning handle ,the elite had an extra function where the line was allowed out but as there was a clicker built into the anti reverse the line was kept taught ,no adjustment on tension that was years away.you could loosen the spool on any reel to release line with the bailarm engaged but the hard part was tightening itback up with the rod in one hand with the fish on

Ah yes sensitrons there the one's i could not quite remember the name. the shop in beckenham would have not have been the company before Penge Angling would it it's interesting to know as i have used it for 30 years

Edited February 28, 2013 by Dave H

[Now there's a right un.]

I remember mine being a Diawa Sensor Z. It was like a Brick. it was totally useless in the rain and the dials used to freeze up. It did work in the dry . the line sensitive know though was incredible it was either go off at a 1mph breeze or not work at all if you tried adjusting it...it did look good in its day though...LOL

My first bite indicator was aluminium foil wrapped around my line between the reel and first eye.

 

After that I used nightlights which I attached to the end of my rod.

 

Everything was visual for me initially.

 

It wasn't until my early thirties that I became lazy and purchased a set of three bite alarms.

[Old geezer]

All I hear around me on the one water I go to is BIP BIP BIP

 

Determined I don't want to add to the din.........

[chesters1]

Ah yes sensitrons there the one's i could not quite remember the name. the shop in beckenham would have not have been the company before Penge Angling would it it's interesting to know as i have used it for 30 years

I cant remember the name of the shop ,but there were far more retailers back then even a bicycle shop in bromeley sold tackle then there was ivans? on masons hill one at holmesdale road who name eludes me at the moment plus the beckenham one and a few others .

I worked at a printers in chantry? Lane beckenham so the tackle shop was withing dinnertime wanderings

 

The sensitrons were advertised as the ones with sensitivity control as if it were new but ofcourse in the heron it was always there so not a new feature .

Mine kept going mad when it rained in the end i went back to my optonics ,i remembered the sensitrons lying in the airing cupboard just after they went out o warrenty but sent them back to be looked at ,daiwa had the cheek to bill me for £30 thefor drilling two small holes in each head to let the water out! Seemed to do the trick though

Its strange the amount of tackle sellers even in the 80's here in farnham a hair cutting salon( nigels) still sold tackle in one corner ,the salon is still there but the tackle long gone now theres just one in aldershot and one in greyshott and one in bordon being the closest

Online shopping has killed off shops but i think in the case of angling over the years the amount of shops declined with the amount of anglers so only the fittest survived ,i remember my first trip to gerry's of london! Gobsmacked such places existed i think i ventured there after the london tackle show in 67?

Angling seems to be very unpc today and hardly anyone sells tackle apart from lidl not directly associated with angling ,once nearly everybody did ,we know woolworths did but do you remember marks & sparks got involved

All the newspapers were involved in a big way ,nowadays not a peep compared

Edited March 1, 2013 by chesters1

[ayjay]

All I hear around me on the one water I go to is BIP BIP BIP

 

Determined I don't want to add to the din.........

If you wanted to, you could get some Optonics like mine, I can barely hear them sitting next to them.

[Dave H]

I cant remember the name of the shop ,but there were far more retailers back then even a bicycle shop in bromeley sold tackle then there was ivans? on masons hill one at holmesdale road who name eludes me at the moment plus the beckenham one and a few others .

I worked at a printers in chantry? Lane beckenham so the tackle shop was withing dinnertime wanderings

 

The sensitrons were advertised as the ones with sensitivity control as if it were new but ofcourse in the heron it was always there so not a new feature .

Mine kept going mad when it rained in the end i went back to my optonics ,i remembered the sensitrons lying in the airing cupboard just after they went out o warrenty but sent them back to be looked at ,daiwa had the cheek to bill me for £30 thefor drilling two small holes in each head to let the water out! Seemed to do the trick though

Its strange the amount of tackle sellers even in the 80's here in farnham a hair cutting salon( nigels) still sold tackle in one corner ,the salon is still there but the tackle long gone now theres just one in aldershot and one in greyshott and one in bordon being the closest

Online shopping has killed off shops but i think in the case of angling over the years the amount of shops declined with the amount of anglers so only the fittest survived ,i remember my first trip to gerry's of london! Gobsmacked such places existed i think i ventured there after the london tackle show in 67?

Angling seems to be very unpc today and hardly anyone sells tackle apart from lidl not directly associated with angling ,once nearly everybody did ,we know woolworths did but do you remember marks & sparks got involved

All the newspapers were involved in a big way ,nowadays not a peep compared

Now i know you had the same diawa's as me as the damn things used to go nuts in the rain it was like a disco in the 80's . I am not sure whether Diawa made anymore after that and i am not surprised!. The one in West Norwood ( holmsdale) is still there and i think with a tackle shop in sutton is owned by the old match fisherman Kenny collins . Croydon angling was there for donkeys years sadly shutting down about 15 years back. ...It's a shame as you just don't get that banter anymore. Green st green is still going and biggin hill but the latter is struggling both have been there for over 30 years i think.

Edited March 1, 2013 by Dave H

[Andy Macfarlane]

My first homemade indicators were monkey climbers, made from cotton reels and a little bent wire hook at the top. When the fish ran, the climbers slipped right off their stake, tipped to one side and came off the line. Quite efficient looking back on it. I might make some new ones actually and see if I can make them a little more snazzy....lol

[Worms]

Sorry to be boring but eyes (watching the bait being snaffled), rod tip and float. Audio alarms are the clicker on multis when tope and shark fishing!