Revisiting old haunts

[chub_on_the_block]

During my fishing "career" i have lived in three different parts of England. But i have rarely or never revisited the waters i used to fish when i lived in a different region, including waters i fished regularly some 30 years ago now.

Does anyone try to revisit their old haunts to see how they have changed? Were they better/worse/different?.

I am hoping to get back one day to the Wensum and Bure / Norfolk on a holiday after a 20 year gap from the area. I worked my way around many of the places to fish there that were in Wilsons "Where To Fish In Norfolk & Suffolk" and generally had a great time - even though many places were "pants".

---------- Post added at 13:39 ---------- Previous post was at 13:12 ----------

One of my haunts during my "apprenticeship" years were Londons' Royal Parks, Commons, the Thames and tribs like the Mole/Ember. Although i was only 14-19 years old, i probably caught as well during that period as any other since. Nothing too big mind but some nice bags. That was thirty years ago. In all cases i have never fished the places since.

 

[barbelboi]

Been local to the Colne valley for all but a couple of early years (Lea @ Broxbourne) Caco, however loved my fishing holidays in Norfolk over the years - you just can't seem to go more than a few miles in any direction without finding water.
Jerry

 

[chub_on_the_block]

Been local to the Colne valley for all but a couple of early years (Lea @ Broxbourne) Caco, however loved my fishing holidays in Norfolk over the years - you just can't seem to go more than a few miles in any direction without finding water.
Jerry

It must be great having a long history with the places that you fish, just wished sometimes i was nearer to the places i used to fish - although some are now unavailable anyway.

 

[terry m]

I have always been reasonably close to the Hnats Avon so nothing changes there, but I have moved stillwaters many times. And going back to fish stillwaters that I virtually lived at as a teenager was not a good move. The magic had gone, prefer to keep my memories.

 

[Paul Boote]

1) Remember them for what they were.

2) Never go back.

3) Keep moving on.

4) And avoid the rest of the pack.

 

[simon dunbar]

I think sometimes you are better off leaving old haunts in your memories , revisiting places that you had great times at in the past will often lead to disappointment , plus there are always new places to visit , I love fishing places that I never fished before....

 

[Derek Gibson]

I think it was **** Walker who, many years ago wrote,''I think it is a mistake to re-visit the scenes of angling triumphs many years later''.

From my own standpoint, after more than fifty years of angling, I am sure he was right.

 

[andreagrispi]

There was one place I fished as a kid which held almost mystical properties - I re-fished it and it had lost this factor together with it's surrounding mystery.

Generally, when I re-visit a water it is disappointing, although there are some exceptions.

I lived in 6 counties over a 20 odd year period, so have fished dozerns of waters. Even now, I tend to only fish a water for 2-3 seasons; again there are exceptions.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

I think it was **** Walker who, many years ago wrote,''I think it is a mistake to re-visit the scenes of angling triumphs many years later''.

I think that all depends upon what one expects from the experience . . . .

As a young boy between the ages of 12 and 14 I would fish the Longwater at Hampton Court virtually every weekend in the season and it was there that I had many 'firsts' in my angling career that now stretches 50 years on.

My first ever 2lb fish, my first ever Tench, my first ever 1lb Perch and many more besides were all taken from the famous old canalised venue behind the palace.

In those days there were free-roamning sheep on the side of the venue that you were allowed to fish, and many times in those years they would manage to get into my old army bag and steal my sandwiches. It seems I never learned not to leave my bag under the shade of that tree.

I went back there a couple of years ago, not to fish, but to just sit and enjoy the venue, and eat my sandwiches and drink my tea from my flask under the shade of a big old tree that I remembered as being much smaller back when I was 13 or so.

I have promised myself another trip back there to fish one day, but that will need another permit I suppose, I'll have to look into that now that my nenory has been jogged along that particular path.

 

[Derek Gibson]

I understand your sentiments Peter, and share them. But here we are surely embracing nostalgia, not an expectation of a ''red letter'' day.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

I understand your sentiments Peter, and share them. But here we are surely embracing nostalgia, not an expectation of a ''red letter'' day.

Absolutely Derek, there are very few places where you can go back to and fully expect them to be the same, and to catch the same or to repeat red letter days, and I find that sad.

So, we are left to nostalgia I'm afraid.

I've just checked out Hampton Court website and apparently as I'm over 60 I can get a permit to fish Longwater for just £16.00 and they observe the Close Season too . . . . so, guess where I might just be fishing on the opening day of the new season?

 

[chub_on_the_block]

The Long Water is one of those places i fished many years ago. I have at least been back and seen the place - which is almost unrecognisable as all the large oak trees were ravaged by the 1987 gales, with remainders then removed a few years back. So it is now quite an open aspect venue. Also it is now full of large carp from what i have read. My favourite waters in that park had the fishing banned in about 1982 - thinking here of the Wall Pond as you enter the park, where i had many a great day (bunked off an O level exam as itv clashed with the opening day to bag 8 tench there in 1980!). I aslo used to fish the "Overflow Pool" at the end of Long Water. Great times, and im sure it still a lovely place (but a long walk).

 

[terry m]

1) Remember them for what they were.

2) Never go back.

3) Keep moving on.

4) And avoid the rest of the pack.

Good advice indeed Paul !

 

[chub_on_the_block]

1) Remember them for what they were.

2) Never go back.

3) Keep moving on.

4) And avoid the rest of the pack.

I am coming round to agree fully with you. It does seem whenever i read about somewhere i fished before it is invariably bad news one way or another - the Boldemere thread in the carp section being the latest example. So often the fishing is either outlawed now, syndicated, the water controlled by d**heads, or has disappeared under a sustainable development scheme of roads or houses.

 

[peterjg]

NEVER GO BACK!!!! Only disappointment waits!!!! As a kid I used to fish the lake behind the cricket pitch on Stanmore Common, 35 years ago I fished the river Colne at Denham, for about 10 years I fished the Cons at Harefield ......

Best to rely on memories.