| June 16th, Angling Past and Present. 19:47 - Jun 16 with 1310 views | StochesStotasBlewe |
Love a day on the bank. Always have and will do until i meet my maker.
Was having a trip down memory lane earlier and remembering the anticipation we felt as kids and well into adulthood of the start of the coarse fishing season after what seemed an eternity when the season ended on March 15th.
Rod and landing net handle tied onto the bicycle crossbar, wicker basket with tackle, bait (usually maggots) and a few sandwiches over the shoulder, landing and keepnet on each side of the handlebars, off we'd go, sometimes several miles to some stretch of the river waveney or a murky pond.
Remembered the day when six of us didn't have a bite all night only for my float to bob about at first light and a very angry newt was swung in, nothing else caught at all.
Another memorable first night of the season was sitting on the park bank at Diss Mere, tilly lamps glowing in the dark, my daft mate thought it would be a laugh to et fire to his trainers with parrafin, only problem, he was still wearing them. Mad dash into the water and luckily only singed trouser legs. Caught very little that night too. A couple of crucians or a few roach were considered a right result back then.
How things have changed over the years. Only rivers are subject to the close season, lakes and canals are open to legally fish 365 days of the year, commercial style fisheries have sprung up the length and breadth of the country, many stocked with vast numbers of "mud pigs" (carp, a mythical beast when i was a youngster) where not a great deal of water craft is needed to catch all day all for the price of a packet of Bensons. Most swims you can park behind, for those you can't, a vast array of the latest gear can be transported on specially designed trolleys (i got one last year, idle git) to your peg of choice and the array of baits and flavourings is mind boggling.
It will only be a matter of time before the closed season is abolished on rivers. Will be a bit of a shame that the anglers of the future won't have the glorious 16th to look forward to.
Time, methinks, to put on an episode or two of Mortimer and Whitehouse, fishing like it used to be, grab a beer and reminisce a little more.
Tight lines. [Post edited 16 Jun 2022 19:50]
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| We have no village green, or a shop.
It's very, very quiet.
I can walk to the pub. |
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| June 16th, Angling Past and Present. on 21:45 - Jun 16 with 330 views | Plums |
| June 16th, Angling Past and Present. on 21:37 - Jun 16 by StochesStotasBlewe |
Last two summers have been camping and fishing on a site at Denver with the son. Nice lakes with a good head of quality roach.
Used to have our annual school fishing trip to Hilgay at the relief channel in the 70's.
Eels mainly caught on thoe trips. |
I seem to remember this was the river at Hilgay but we also used to fish the channels for zander and wonder at the size of bream the mink were taking but we weren’t getting anywhere near.
Wood End on the Broads was also a favourite, we were there the night England thumped Holland in ‘96, it was brilliant watching all the boats jumping as the goals went in. |  |
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| June 16th, Angling Past and Present. on 21:59 - Jun 16 with 318 views | longtimefan |
| June 16th, Angling Past and Present. on 20:17 - Jun 16 by Swansea_Blue |
Post of the year and a walk down memory lane. The commercialisation of it killed it for me and I haven’t been for years (not helped by moving to Wales where the coarse fishing is a bit meh unless you’re prepared to travel. We were spoilt in the Ipswich area when I was growing up. So many places I could reach on my bike, rods strapped to the top of the frame and my Shakespeare seat box flung over my shoulder. I used to go to Barham Pits like that from IP4. Or piling on the Number 5 bus from the top of Foxhall Road and going down to the river at the cut by Westend Road up to Riverside Road. All developed now with a new housing estate. Sproughton was my first fishing trip (used to be a good tench spot under the bridge).
My first carp came from Holbrook Millponds before it was sold and they stopped anglers. Lovely spot that was. I spent hours and hours at Anderson lakes tench fishing. Used to be some cracking fishing on the float there with fish of 6-7 lbs, which back then was pretty big. Cracking bream fishing on Alton Water. The farm carp pits out at Trimley. I used to get into another carp pit somewhere that was workers only, through a friends dad. I can’t remember what that was called, but it was stuffed with fish. You’d easily pick up 20 or more carp to 18 lbs in a session.
TWTD. The close season definitely added to the excitement, for sure. |
Crikey, I could have written most of that. Spent much of my youth cycling to either Barham Pits or Riverside Road from IP3. Occasionally cycled to King’s Fleet too. Later I was lucky enough to get into the East Ipswich Angling Club spent a lot of time fishing the Purdis Heath lakes. Used to really look forward to getting up at the crack of dawn on 16th to fish there. I wasn’t a great one for night fishing there though due to the number of rats. They really wouldn’t leave you alone and you spent half the night warding them off with your landing net! The Stour at Cattawade was also one of my favourites and had many great days there catching Bream. When I came back from Uni match fishing a Alton Water had really taken off and I’d generally spend at least one day of the weekend there, often two if ITFC weren’t at playing at home. |  | | |
| June 16th, Angling Past and Present. on 22:03 - Jun 16 with 311 views | earlsgreenblue |
Lovely thread, sharing a picture of a Dorado I caught at the weekend. If only it would load! [Post edited 16 Jun 2022 22:05]
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| June 16th, Angling Past and Present. on 06:59 - Jun 17 with 262 views | ElephantintheRoom |
Yes indeed. Carp fishing used to be the pursuit of the unknown - youthful imagination fuelled by Mr Crabtree, Richard Walker - and later Chris Yates. Now it’s the pursuit of the known with obsessives crouched behind banks of rods fitted with buzzers waiting for a fish so well known it has a name to hook itself.
The curse of club waters used to be bream - stocked in vast and unsustainable numbers for match fishermen - now it’s small carp which are hugely damaging and unsuited to the life chosen for them
Strangely there is a branch of fishing that is totally overlooked and a throwback to the 60s. If you’re prepared to walk (and get stung by nettles) - small river fishing I used to fish the upstream cam and Lea - all owned by clubs but I never saw another angler in two decades. Interestingly one stretch of the Lea, which is a nature reserve where they have built fake otter holts to encourage released otters, totally unaware that there were otters already in residence. So those overstocked otters will also be leaving for pastures new. I doubt the barbel and chub have thrived as a result either - a pity as it was probably the best place in the country to catch chub, dace and barbel on fly tackle - and virtually unfished. | |
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