Jon Jagger
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With the river season only a week away I thought I'd ask for peoples opinions - who are the anglers you rate as being the greatest river anglers....
Great River Anglers
- Thread starter Jon Jagger
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Trent water rat {mark}
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John dean without a shadow of a doubt was possibly the greatest stick float angler of his dayon the Trent. Also rate Don slaymaker highly along with Wayne Swinscoe and John Allerton. Does it show im a bit of a Trent head?
R
Robert Woods
Guest
Tom Pickering.
Morespiders
Senior Member
Dont forget Mr Barlow, unfortunatly not with us anymore.
The Sogster
Well-known member
John Allerton and Ivan Marks.
Mr Cholmondeley-Corker (PaSC)
Senior Member
Clubby Dugwin
Graham Whatmore
Senior Member
Years ago when river matches were the norm for match anglers there were some cracking anglers most of whom were unknown nationally but won their fair share of matches and remember these were usually 50 peg plus matches and even 100 peg matches were ten a penny. To pick out a particular individual as the bestwould be very difficult and probably misleading because the crack match squads were full of top class river anglers any one of which were quite capable of winning.
Some made a name for themselves but don't ever think they were unbeatable because eventhe bestlost more matches than they ever won such was the competition in those days. They used to say thedifference between a good angler and a bad angler was that a bad angler could lose on a good peg whereas a good angler could win on a bad peg.
Some made a name for themselves but don't ever think they were unbeatable because eventhe bestlost more matches than they ever won such was the competition in those days. They used to say thedifference between a good angler and a bad angler was that a bad angler could lose on a good peg whereas a good angler could win on a bad peg.
Mark Wintle
Well-known member
Until the West Midlanders complained, the Matchman of the year was 80 peggers. John Dean had a record number of points, I think he won it twice and was runner-up. Simply, absolutely, brilliant on stick and waggler. Even Allerton, whose record spans many more years and wins, couldn't live with Dean at his sublime best. You have to look at the detailed Trent match results on 300 peg matches of 1979, 1980, 1981 to get the real idea of how good he was. My regret is that I only watched him once. Watching the Div. 1 Trent Nationals of 80, 83 and 87 made me realise that the chasm between ordinary extremely good match anglers and the sublimely brilliant Notts Fed that even Barnsley couldn't even get near on the Trent was huge.
slime monster
Senior Member
i and hundreds of mere mortals had the pleasure of being thrashed by gentle john dean on more than one occasion and the money could not have gone to a nicer bloke.
Wish I'd seen this earlier.
John Dean was second to none on a river.
John Dean was second to none on a river.
Neil Maidment
Moderator
John Dean was the best float angler I've ever seen.
Similar to Mark, I watched him just once at Burton Joyce in a peg just as the road meets the river and turns right towards the outfall (is that still there?). I sat with several others for quite some time and watched him fish the stick and waggler, a stunning demonstration.
I chose to watch him that day because the previous season I had gone up to Burton Joyce only to find a lot of anglers in the pegs I fancied and decided to tryGunthorpe instead. I later found out those "anglers" were predominently some mob called Notts Federation with a few "guests" from Leicester! It also turned out that according to the landlady of the B&B I was staying in at Stoke Bardolph, a couple of them had stayed there the previous night. Another opportunity missed!
Similar to Mark, I watched him just once at Burton Joyce in a peg just as the road meets the river and turns right towards the outfall (is that still there?). I sat with several others for quite some time and watched him fish the stick and waggler, a stunning demonstration.
I chose to watch him that day because the previous season I had gone up to Burton Joyce only to find a lot of anglers in the pegs I fancied and decided to tryGunthorpe instead. I later found out those "anglers" were predominently some mob called Notts Federation with a few "guests" from Leicester! It also turned out that according to the landlady of the B&B I was staying in at Stoke Bardolph, a couple of them had stayed there the previous night. Another opportunity missed!
R
Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)
Guest
Steady on chaps - you tend to be too match oriented here.
To my mind the greatest ever river coarse angler this country ever produced was JW Martin, the Trent Otter himself.
Period!
To my mind the greatest ever river coarse angler this country ever produced was JW Martin, the Trent Otter himself.
Period!
R
Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)
Guest
Oh and before I forget, what about the great JHR?
Mark Wintle
Well-known member
Watch them fish, did you, Ron? The two you mention were successful but the match scene on the Trent in that era was at its level best and contested by hundreds of extremely skilful anglers yet John Dean slaughtered them.
Ray Daywalker Clarke
Well-known member
very hard to say, Match anglers, speci Anglers, on the match side look at the barnsley blacks line up of years gone by.
on the speci sideyou still have Terry Lampard catching great fish, so i am not going to even try and pick someone out, to many great anglers to pick from.
on the speci sideyou still have Terry Lampard catching great fish, so i am not going to even try and pick someone out, to many great anglers to pick from.
R
Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)
Guest
Mark we are talking about anglers in different eras. Nobody today comes near the greatness of Martin, and I would put Bazley number 2. These people were giants, not just good anglers.
And then you get to other greats like William Bailey, Henry Coxon and FWK Wallis.
But none of them, if we are talking about river anglers, comes near JW Martin!
In my time I have spoken to some very great names in English coarse angling. And here I will include the likes of Walker, Taylor, Lane, Stone, Barnes and a few others.
They all revered the great Trent Otter.
And then you get to other greats like William Bailey, Henry Coxon and FWK Wallis.
But none of them, if we are talking about river anglers, comes near JW Martin!
In my time I have spoken to some very great names in English coarse angling. And here I will include the likes of Walker, Taylor, Lane, Stone, Barnes and a few others.
They all revered the great Trent Otter.
J
john conway (CSG - ACA)
Guest
Match fishing has never been my scene yet as a young man, I held Ivan Marks and Walker as my heroes through reading the Angling Times and watching the early BBC fishing programs.
Then there was a big gap in my fishing when I found new heroes like Don Williams and Joe Brown (Climbers) Bobby Charlton and Denis Law all legions in their own fields. It's almost impossible to compare old and new heroes and to say who was the best. However, you can compare who won the most cups and was the first to achieve memorable milestone in their field of excellence.
Ron, I've just read, for the first time, J.W.Martin's "My Fishing Days and Fishing Ways" it was not his ability to catch fish that caught my interest but how they fished in the late 19th and early 20th century. I also noted with interests that J.W.Martin on several occasions mentions with respect several local anglers intimating that they were as good if not better than he was.So where does that leave me on the "who's the best river angler"? I honestly don't know but Walker, Chris Yates and Ivan Marks where the men of the moment during my youth so I'm going tp vote for one who never existed other than in the pages of a book and in my own head;Mr Crabtree.
Then there was a big gap in my fishing when I found new heroes like Don Williams and Joe Brown (Climbers) Bobby Charlton and Denis Law all legions in their own fields. It's almost impossible to compare old and new heroes and to say who was the best. However, you can compare who won the most cups and was the first to achieve memorable milestone in their field of excellence.
Ron, I've just read, for the first time, J.W.Martin's "My Fishing Days and Fishing Ways" it was not his ability to catch fish that caught my interest but how they fished in the late 19th and early 20th century. I also noted with interests that J.W.Martin on several occasions mentions with respect several local anglers intimating that they were as good if not better than he was.So where does that leave me on the "who's the best river angler"? I honestly don't know but Walker, Chris Yates and Ivan Marks where the men of the moment during my youth so I'm going tp vote for one who never existed other than in the pages of a book and in my own head;Mr Crabtree.
R
Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)
Guest
Martin was a true giant and an innovator, not so much as regards tackle, but methods. He was also a skilled rod builder using the best materials that were available in those days.
Martin's books and many articles were unique. He left "school" at the age of 10 and spent the next few years working in factories, as a barge boy, bricklayers labourer and blacksmith's assistant. He taught himself to read and write inlater life, and look how well he did it.
Mr Crabtree of course started off as a gardener!
Martin's books and many articles were unique. He left "school" at the age of 10 and spent the next few years working in factories, as a barge boy, bricklayers labourer and blacksmith's assistant. He taught himself to read and write inlater life, and look how well he did it.
Mr Crabtree of course started off as a gardener!
Specihunter
Well-known member
Merv Wilkinson and Paddy Paradine 2 people who know there stuff.