It was the early to mid eighties when I first started my on-off affair with Carp fishing. Living in the Colne Valley I suppose this was inevitable.
At the time THE shop to use was a very reasonable distance from home. It was Middlesex Angling run by Keith Selleck and his partner. This shop was to carp fishing then what The Tackle Box is to carp fishing now I suppose; full of luminaries both behind and in front of the counter.
The atmosphere on a Friday night was fantastic. You would have the Savay anglers and the Hayes and Harlington match team shoulder to shoulder and the banter was free flowing. To a mere whippersnapper like me it was second heaven. We teenagers and those in their twenties would say nothing, but listen for any tips we could scrounge.
One of the things I did pick up was that Owner hooks were the kiddies and although things in carping come and go these hooks are still the best around. In fact if you look at most of the short shank beaked 'boilie' hooks on the shelves today there is no guessing where the pattern originated.
Owners were never the easiest hooks to get hold of and until recently this was still the case. Not only that but if you didn't like spade-ends you were on the look out for another pattern, probably Sprites or Mustads.
Today though, thanks to Harrison Advanced Rods, these hooks are a 1st class letter and a cheque away. The range has increased and now the famous Iseama hook is found in spade and eyed patterns. Names such as Cutting Point, Flyliner ,SSW are hooks that have been around and they still feature, as well as the newer (to me anyway) AYA and Chinu hooks.
For Predator anglers their Rig n Hooks for rubber lures will be of interest and sea anglers are catered for too. Best of all to my mind is the pricing of these superb hooks. £1.50 for 14 size 3 Iseama spades.
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FISHINGmagic VERDICT
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All you need to be careful of with all the hooks in the carp range is the sizing. This has always caused grief and it is due to the fact that these hooks are Japanese through and through. They have not heard of Redditch in Japan let alone a Redditch Scale. It is best to enquire direct with Harrison before buying, but an example is that size 3 looks like a big 8 or small 6 and a size 10 looks like a size 14.
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Harrison will sell direct to you. Phone 0151 7095981 or email rods@rapid.co.uk.
Their web site is www.harrisonsrods.co.uk.
