One of the worst ever was an old boy who was the bailiff for Verulam Club on the Lea at Wheathampstead in Herts. He wore a light colour mac and would walk up this VERY shallow river in full view and demand your membership card EVERY SINGLE BLOOMING TIME EVEN THOUGH IT WAS APPARENT HE RECOGNISED YOU FROM UMPTEEN PREVIOUS VISITS.
One of the worst ever was an old boy who was the bailiff for Verulam Club on the Lea at Wheathampstead in Herts. He wore a light colour mac and would walk up this VERY shallow river in full view and demand your membership card EVERY SINGLE BLOOMING TIME EVEN THOUGH IT WAS APPARENT HE RECOGNISED YOU FROM UMPTEEN PREVIOUS VISITS.
I fished the GtOuse for barbel at Radwell many years ago on what is called the roadside(silvers/Alex knows this well),now it's a narrow,shallow,clear bit of river,with if not high,steepish banks,I had hid low down in the grass and fed for hours to get barbel feeding confidently,without putting a bait in the water,I'd just cast in at around 4-30pm when a guy in a bright red t-shirt walked past along the top of the bank,before I could say a word he had jumped up and down pointing into my swim saying there's one,was one,as the cloud of dust the four barbel left was the last I saw of them,plonker....
Last edited:
Whitty, totally agree.
Unless I'm with family I now always fish on my own. You can then fish where you like, stop/start/move swims, etc, etc. I go to fish not chat or socialise.
I did have a fishing mate, we fished together for about 15 years but it was difficult sometimes to sort venue/swims etc and I am sure that sometimes both our fishing suffered because of this. The final straw was me finally getting fed up with his continual lying, he just couldn't help it.
Unless I'm with family I now always fish on my own. You can then fish where you like, stop/start/move swims, etc, etc. I go to fish not chat or socialise.
I did have a fishing mate, we fished together for about 15 years but it was difficult sometimes to sort venue/swims etc and I am sure that sometimes both our fishing suffered because of this. The final straw was me finally getting fed up with his continual lying, he just couldn't help it.
I have heard of this crowding. I must say when I was a member it was popular but never crowded at least mid week. I was a member when the barbel were stocked in numbers. They were put in at about half a pound. At the time the chub fishing was good as were the roach.
I used to catch river carp there which I believe came up from Stanborough lakes after a flood. I even had a crucian.
I much preferred the section upstream where the club dug a small backwater lake off the river. Same problem though with the gawkers who used to stand behind you and scare the fish. I nearly came to blows a couple of times. Not good I know.
I hated Marford,with a vengeance,you'd go there with your barbel gear only to find you couldn't get a peg,that beggars the question 'where to now',many's the time I've gone back home and got my float gear out and gone elsewhere...
Marford Farm... I had forgotten the venue name. On the very last day of the season a few years ago I rolled up on my favourite spot on the Trent after a long walk to find two anglers already there. A remote and usually deserted spot.
Thats life. Sods law. On speaking to them I discovered they were members of Verulam. I enquired about why they had come all that way up the A1 when they had barbel on their doorstep.
It was them that explained to me about the crowding of swims.
Not only that,Verulam anglers are always early on the water,it's the only way they can get a peg on their own water,now no longer with us Keith Speer was always standing waiting for it to be light enough to fish...
thecrow
Well-known member
Do you know Graham,he always amazed me,he would spend absolute ages not actually fishing,had many a chat with him,seems odd to say,but I fished the swim he had his 17-14 barbel from three times last season,trotting on the pin,barbel don't frequent the swim now,but it used to be an absolute flyer for good barbel in the last month of the season,feels like I'm pinching it from him,shaking head smilie needed...
Exactly S63. I'm a member of several clubs also more than a handful but I only feel 'connected' with one of them.
I think that's the ideal place to start is a club, back in 'my day' (when the world was flat
) it was more easy because your work colleagues would of been littered with anglers however nowadays not so many fish however there are still clubs around me that have friendly matches for a few quid and banter. Join a few clubs OCF many are very low cost 30-60 quid a year test the water, pardon the accidental pun many clubs are happy to have non committed ticket holders as long as they play by the rules.metalmicky1944
Active member
There seems to be something a bit fishy "Pardon the pun" about this original post. It may be genuine but I'd be a bit careful :wh
Alan - with mention of Verulam, do they still own the pegs opposite the roadside? I remember when they put the platforms in - whereas previously the bank and reedbeds made it pretty much unfishable from that bank
Yes Alex,Verulam annoyed me when I was a member,like many clubs,they had a two work party rule with a hefty fine if you didn't do them,the ones I did were at Smallford,a deep pit fished mainly by carp anglers,the club told me where my work parties would be,anyway,my job for the day was shifting hard-core to make a path round the lake so the 'anglers' could wheel they're lager round and don't say it wasn't because I watched two different guys trollying a case of fosters round,it was ok before the path went down,I just think the club has to think up jobs for the entire membership...
O
O.C.F.Disorder
Guest
Well it is good to be careful around meeting people from the internet in real life but I must ask what made my post fishy?
Long shot but it was posted by a fisherman on a fishing forum about going fishing with another fisherman to catch fish