Fishing as a lad!

[Dick Dastardly]

As has already been said happy days!

 

And wasnt it so much simpler and so much more fun? The excitment was electric both before and during a trip,nothing grips me these days like a days fishing did then.

 

Ive got great memories of huge pike and carp.Enough giant cats to last me forever but despite the pleasure I got from a lot of these fish none of the memories are as "deep" (?) as the ones of angling as a kid.Jeeze if I close my eyes I can actually smell those days and feel the conditions.Even if I gave up angling all together Im sure those memories would still be my most important ones.

 

People say we shouldnt keep looking back but I for one enjoy remembering those days and still get a warm feeling,like a nice present that no one can ever take away.

[starlight]

Made me think a bit this one! Even though as a teenager I owned an ABU mk5 All England and Mitchell 300 I had to work and save very hard to get these.Prior to this though I had a 9' splitcane fly rod with an Anon Shaw Olympic fixed spool reel.On that rod I caught everything! minnows to pike,carp to mackeral! everything near enough.In reflection it gave me a real good comparison of how different sea and freshwater fish fought.Wish I still had that outfit.

an abu mk 5 and a mitchell 300!!!! you are talking budgie! that was my exact 15th birthday pressie, will never forget it, best present ever! boy did i think that i had arrived. did your mum have a traffords catalogue as well?

[chesters1]

Yeah those were the good old days when all that mattered was catching fish.Nowadays if you've not got flash "old tackle" or flash "new tackle" worth many pennies your frowned upon.I think Chesters is doing theright thing keeping his tackle from his teens in the 40's

laugh but your modern stuff wont be around those old gold plated hooks to kroic didnt bend or snap after a fish or two like these new ones ,pity mine are barbed there forbidden in the club but i always crushed the barb anyway so the holes in your trousers ,keep nets ,hat or mates ear wern't so obvias to your mum

an abu mk 5 and a mitchell 300!!!! you are talking budgie! that was my exact 15th birthday pressie, will never forget it, best present ever! boy did i think that i had arrived. did your mum have a traffords catalogue as well?

in my later teens it was freemans catalogue and those sealey blue matches i hankered for ,seeing i,m still going through my fiberglass period a 14ft blue match or 14ft 6" enterprise is on my wishlist.

 

being kids we tried at the hardest places keston ponds then the boating lake at crystal palace ,the excitement grew as larger fish were sought at a juvenile horton kirby ,i'v fished quite a few places since then but theres something missing .....perhaps a maggot! i'm on the 404st generation since i bought a pair at the tackle shop on masons hill bromley (began with k?)

Edited December 20, 2007 by chesters1

[Dick Dastardly]

did your mum have a traffords catalogue as well?

 

Yes It was from a catalogue! (well the rod any way!) but I cant remember which one (Littlewoods maybe?).Also I had to save up all of the princely sum of around £18 to pay for it in full as she didnt agree with tick before she ordered it! Do you know what? when I re rung that rod with Fuji's in the early 80's it cost me more just for the rings!

 

I was always a bit of a tackle tart though! No pin up girls or football teams on my bedroom doors I used to have those colour ABU rod and reel combo's adverts from the back page of the Times or Mail up instead!

 

Another bit of boyhood tackle nostalgia for you- remember when you could get Hardy,ABU and Bruce & Walker rods from the Embassy Cigarette and Green Sheild stamp catalogues?

[chesters1]

Yes It was from a catalogue! (well the rod any way!) but I cant remember which one (Littlewoods maybe?).Also I had to save up all of the princely sum of around £18 to pay for it in full as she didnt agree with tick before she ordered it! Do you know what? when I re rung that rod with Fuji's in the early 80's it cost me more just for the rings!

 

I was always a bit of a tackle tart though! No pin up girls or football teams on my bedroom doors I used to have those colour ABU rod and reel combo's adverts from the back page of the Times or Mail up instead!

 

Another bit of boyhood tackle nostalgia for you- remember when you could get Hardy,ABU and Bruce & Walker rods from the Embassy Cigarette and Green Sheild stamp catalogues?

my dad was the smoker so the embassy tokens went on stuff for him and greenshield stamps for my mum but i got a pair off shoes with the co-op divvy and wore them to london that day ,blood you should have seen it as as usual you had to grow into them ,modern kids are lucky.

 

if codger is a codger the only plastic intrepid was the crappy new popular probably the only centerpin that came pre warped,mind you "wonder" materials were tried and failed in the standard ,nylon wasent the wonder material for reels as was first thought!

 

freemans was by far the best catalogue with real fishing gear you could use without averting your gaze when someone looked at it!

mind you woolies had fairly good gear for the price later ,still got a rod somewhere

Edited December 20, 2007 by chesters1

[starlight]

yes i remember the stamps and fag coupons we always tried to get enough for an intrepid black prince or something those were the days!

[Dick Dastardly]

laugh but your modern stuff wont be around those old gold plated hooks to kroic didnt bend or snap after a fish or two like these new ones ,pity mine are barbed there forbidden in the club but i always crushed the barb anyway so the holes in your trousers ,keep nets ,hat or mates ear wern't so obvias to your mumin my later teens it was freemans catalogue and those sealey blue matches i hankered for ,seeing i,m still going through my fiberglass period a 14ft blue match or 14ft 6" enterprise is on my wishlist

 

 

Oooh er Chesters I'm getting stirrings in my loins! Names to conjure with (as those ponces on Bargain Hunt would say!) Edgar Sealy TTT (in 14' of course!) ABU Mk 5 and the even finer tipped Mk6! Hardy Matchmaker,Bruce&Walker CTM and maybe the Shakespeare International? but not quite the same class!

 

But lets not forget that compared to modern (even cheap) carbon they were heavy! But none of the modern rods have that same inspiring magic do they? I suppose the nearest are the Normarks but even those are pretty much dated now.

 

And your right about longevity my Mitchells are still going strong dont think I will be able to say that about some of the gear Ive got now in 30 years time.

 

Even your beloved Intrepids (although total sh1te IMHO ) were far more influencial in my angling back then than are any of the modern day reels that seem to come and go changing (but remaining the same!) each season.

 

And dont even start me on the subject of whatever happened to ABU!

 

I think it was once Chesters who explained the bizzare habit of collecting old (but of the individuals time as a kid) tackle.Kind of "closure" by owning what you wanted so bad back then but couldnt afford!Maybe the same with waters visited and fished?

Edited December 20, 2007 by BUDGIE

[chesters1]

i agree later intrepids were tat but most anglers owned at least one in the early years if they are in their 50's ,i still have one or two

 

 

speaking to Barrie Welham today and hes never seen a better collection of intrepids and he was MD of the company for most of its life ,all you see is intrepid and two more boxes to go up

 

ps no the lady isnt a prototype intrepid its a naked lady

the mitchells live in the loft that all the space my mrs allows me ,just enough room for a shelf over the door

the bare reels you see are awaiting their particular boxes so i may have to get rid of the misses

Edited December 20, 2007 by chesters1

[Newt]

Sorry to toss in a dissenting note here but while I enjoyed fishing as a youngster when gear was much cruder, I think I really prefer the new stuff.

 

It might not be absolutely necessary (and less needed here than under UK conditions) but to me, the best of the modern rods, reels, lures, lines, fish finders, and all the rest are fun to use as long as they are suited to the type fishing you are doing.

[Steve Burke]

being kids we tried at the hardest places keston ponds then the boating lake at crystal palace

 

I remember those venues well, especially the boating lake at Crystal Palace Park where I caught my first big perch!

 

The lake at South Norwood Park (an old reservoir I believe?) was also one of my regular haunts. I gather it got polluted a few years back.

 

My local tackle shop was Penge Angling Supplies, in the days before it was taken over by a chain. The owner in the 60s (John?) was very helpful indeed. I also went to the old tackle shop in South Norwood, that was much more old-fashioned and full of lovely old gear and even more lovely old-fashioned smells. The owner was very good to us lads as he was willing to split packets of hooks as we couldn't afford a whole one!