The Golden Days

I remember those days very well. I was a young upstart who started to use ex-army gear in a big way.

But the main influence on the huge expansion of angling at that time came from Richard Walker. All of a sudden, the young men of the time changed the course of angling in this country for ever. Specimen hunting became the vogue. The floppy hat and ex-army combat jacket became de rigour amongst the young set as did the Mk IV and hiding behind bushes.

Then came the Specimen Group. I formed one. How many of you were members of a specimen group? We were all young men at the time, in our late teens or early 20s. We laughed at the traditionalists. The term "Noddy" became common and was directed mainly at those older anglers who dressed in flat caps, sat on a basket, who fished for anything that swam, used nothing other than a single maggot on an 18 hook and called the tackle we were using "tow rope".

But by crikey we caught fish. Applying the basic principles taught by Walker we caught lots of fish, and the old school didn't like it one little bit.

Yes I remember those times. Perhaps too well.

You showing your age Ron ??
I agree with you though, we had great fun back then, having to build your own bite indicators{ I remember Brian Crawford and his home constructed alarm, like Battersea Power Station it was !!} We had to make our own rod rests to the Walker design...bit of wire bent about and soldered to a bank stick, making your own landing nets was good fun too !! The Mk 1V split cane carp rod/Mitchell 300 combination ruled the banks, wouldn't dare show your face on the bank unless you had the correct tackle.

I did try and build my own split cane rods, but gave it up as a silly idea....did loads and loads of overtime, borrowed the rest from my Dad, and bought them in the end, from what is now Tony's Tackle in Eastbourne. Back then Tony's father was the big boss man...the word 'discount' never ever appeared in his language !!

Whenever people asked what I was fishing for and I told them I was after big eels, they would look at me with pity in their eyes....much the same as today really !!

Good times though...good anglers...good company...and good memories.

It took me 6 months to save up for a "proper" Mk IV carp rod made by B James. Remember all those whippings. After that I had a Mk IV Avon and a Kennet Perfection.

By crikey they were expensive.

Before that I made all my rods from kits supplied by JB Walker of Hythe in Kent. And before that I had a tank aerial and things sold as "boys rods" from a shop in Worksop. Barrie Rickards would rememeber those "boys rods". They were 9 foot long in 3 pieces with brass ferrules, a lancewood top and tonkin buut and middle joints.

For reels I could never run to the Mitchell 300. I did have an early Intrepid and an Uncle of mine bought me a Felton Crosswind. I thought I had achieved the pinnicle of my life when I had a Crosswind. After all Walker also had one.

I don't mind admitting it but I was a Walker worshipper. I took the Angling Times every week and when I got it, I turned to Walker's column and read it ten times over. Sorry I tell a lie, more than 50 times over.

During my last year at school, and after the A levels had been taken, we seniors had a bit of time to kill. We had discussion and debating groups. One of the topics that came up was: "Who would you like to meet most in your life?"

After all the usual stuff from Winston Churchill to HM The Queen, I dropped a bombshell.

"Richard Walker" I answered. "Who on Earth is he?" asked my housemaster.

"God" I replied.

I did get to meet **** on many occasions in later life.

He did not disappoint.

There are more fish caught in dreams and memories than reality, but we love 'em anyway don't we? Given a choice would we go back? No, I don't think so.

Wouldn't be without the memories though and the older I get the more important they become.

i'm knackered then i have trouble remembering who i am at times.

Interesting question that Graham....would we go back ?
In many ways, yes..I would for one. The waters we used to fish were a lot purer then, and there wasn't half as much litter and rubbish laying about the place. Sometimes nowadays I could{and do}spend fifteen to twenty minutes cleaning up my chosen swim of peoples leftover bait tins, crisp packets, lengths of mono and hooks all littering up the place...not only is it a hazard to wildlife, it's a hazard to me.

Then theres the weather...the summers were always warmer and longer, the fish fed for longer, and your bait choice was that much simpler as well !! You took a few slices of bread, a tin of worms and if it was payday previously, you had a tin of maggots as well. No such thing as boilies or other prepared baits then.

And then there's the tackle we used. Owning a pair of Mk1V's and 300's was the absolute pinnacle then...if you had that, you had arrived. Big time.
If you had the ex-military camo jacket and a big floppy hat as well, you were an overnight instant expert, people looked up to you and asked you question after question....usually answered by a large amount of silence.

Bivvies were't heard of either, we had an umbrella with yards of polythene sheeting strung over it and held down by dozens of tent pegs and miles of guy ropes....you borrowed the family sunbed and that was your overnight accomodation sorted.

None of your all singing, all dancing electronic digital bite alarms either...we made our own from door buzzers, huge great batteries, unreliable contacts, and normally dodgy soldering. Mine was housed in a big wooden box about the size of a large Fox box, and was the bees knees in modern bite indication...it even had two huge great warning lamps that lit up whenever a run occurred, and a door bell which vibrated so much inside the box that every fish for miles must have heard it !

Shame we can't post pictures on here...I have a picture of Brian Crawford taken back in 1969 sitting in his polybivvy on a flowery bedchair, with a battery of beach rods out in front of him, taken on one of our eel fishing trips.
{ Or perhaps it's a good thing we can't post pictures...}

That's what I'd like to go back for...but I'm not sure if I'd want to stay for TOO long.

Really can't make my mind up whether I'd like to go back. Certainly like to re-live some of the magical moments, the laughs, the camaraderie, even some of the disasters. It would be nice to fish again as Richard said when it was all so peaceful and uncomplicated. To sit without the cacophany of buzzes and bleeps every two minutes. Without the crash of spods and the drone of bait boats. And oh! for those days before Satan himself invented the mobile phone! On the other hand these days so many more waters are accessible to 'ordinary' anglers like myself. The weatherproof clothing is another big plus. Best of all perhaps, most people are better off financially so having to scrimp and scrape for rods and reels, bits and pieces, is largely a thing of the past. All things considered if I could go back knowing what I know now and with what Ive got now, then yes, I would.

no polar fleece, fur lined moon boots, gortex jackets.

sitting in the cold in a sodden donkey jacket under a brollie that leaks and weighs more than you do aint all it was cracked up to be you know, it was cold dank and downright depressing at times.
and that was just in the middle of summer.

Overall it's actually not so bad these days. From a specimen hunter's point of view the fish are a heck of a lot bigger and there's a great deal more of them. Take tench for instance.

During the 60s you could count on one hand the number of waters that produced tench over 5 lbs. Now such fish are common place, even in your local canal. Double figure bream again were a rarity and barbel were confined to The Thames, Hants Avon, Dorset Stour and the Yorkshire Ouse tributaries. The Trent in those days was nothing more than an artificially heated open sewer. These days it is one of England's premier barbel waters.

The rivers in my area contained no fish whatsoever!

Most other fish have become bigger with perhaps the exception of rudd, dace and pike.

Go back? No thanks, not in Industrial Lancashire. I?m not saying I didn?t enjoy it as a young lad I just didn?t know any better and couldn?t afford my own transport to fish further a field. I can only remember buying one rod and that was a solid glass one with one of those monkey metal spinning reels. My Dad came home one day when I was about eleven, and said a mate of his said I could have his old 11 ft spit cane leger rod and a Michelin spinning reel, I was absolutely over the moon.
I sit down now and again with a glass of whisky and smile at the adventures of my youth, but I also remember the beatings we got at school for not being able to spell 20 out of 25 spellings, one of the cane for every miss-spelling below 20.

When did you go to school John?

1453?

Go back? - No way!

Sure it was fun then, developing new ideas like extendable bank sticks. Good mates, some no longer with us. Saving like crazy for a new rod or reel.

No, the past is best left behind us. I prefer the future, it's where I'm spending the rest of my life. Onwards and upwards.

In the 50's a small catholic school in Accrington, we stoned the prodies and they stoned us. Came home with many a black eye, but hell did I learn to run fast!!! And Ron I?m not joking about getting caned for spelling. It was only one teacher and for only one year, but at least he whacked those who were bad at tech drawing as well and that was my best subject.

That teacher is obviously dead now, but if he were alive he would be jailed I guess.

I was schooled in the 50s too. We were never caned for bad spelling or other such things. However some very severe canings were carried out on several occasions to a school bully.

One the one occasion proir to this boy being expelled he was given 12 lashes across his back with a 2 yard length of heavy rattan whilst tied to an "A" frame on the stage at school assembly.

We believe that when he got home he was beaten savagely by his father for over 1/2 an hour.

It was Sparta where you went to school then Ron?

Hey Ron, what was the Spanish Inquisition really like?

In a past life my name was Torquemada!

torquemada, the bin laden of his time.

torquenbollox more like!


i wish i could go back....but take all my tackle/bait/rigs etc with me!