you never had it so good!

As some of you know i threw a wobbler a while back and sold nearly all my coarse gear and turned to the fly.......however, after spending warm summer nights walking the banks of the Wye and Lugg i succumbed and purchased a new barbel rod......to many "told you so's" from the missus.

After looking about at the various coarse gear i have come to the conclusion that we have never in the history of mankind! had such cheap and useable gear available.........even when i was a kid (60's) a decent reel (mitchel) could cost a weeks wages.......it would now be possible to kit out totally for Barbel for less than the average weekly wage and with gear that is far better than available in the 60's/70's..........we really did never have it so good!

The "bits" hooks, leads etc etc i gave away are costing me nearly as much to replace!..........got to try and keep the small bits secret from her in charge!

"got to try and keep the small bits secret from her in charge!"

No nned to keep em secret mate, she's known about your small bits for years!

So, Mr Williams you're keeping your bits a secret from your missus eh! Too much information I fear!

You are right about tackle of course, individually the items are reasonably cheap, its the accumalation of tackle that is costly. Bet you'll think twice the next time mate!

Wol.....i've had "surgical work"... gonna melt down the "stretch leads" to make 2oz flat leads now!

Graham.......i rarely think twice mate.....it can be both a pain and a blessing!

Rods, reels and luggage etc are incredibly cheap compared to what they were 20 or 30 years ago.

However, if you want to buy 100 metres of line of almost any description it will cost you 3.50. Hooks when the word 'Carp' (or sadly now, 'barbel') is used 3.50 to 5.00 for ten. A small tub of one size shot will cost you 2.00 minimum.

Terminal tackle is bloody expensive.

Ric, that's probably because it work nowadays.
I remember 1960's hooks - if you wanted to set an 18 with a pound-and-a-quarter hooklength, you had to crush the barb - whereupon the point usually broke. If you didn't, then you either broke the line, or only set the very tip of the hook and lost the fish. Now you can buy barbless or micro-barbed hooks that do the job properly, straight out of the packet. Worth paying for. And I can understand how carefully designed and moulded carp clips would cost a bit. And #22 swivels that actually work! Just avoid labels with "Carp" on.
Wrong forum, know, but if the people who can now produce custom-made carp hooks could just read Darryl Martin's "Micropatterns" and knck out the hook whose design he gives...???

Those of you who fished in the 50s and 60s qill remember how lousy the hooks were. The best hooks for big fish anglers were Allcocks Model Perfects. But even they had to be worked on to get them right.

They were blunt as heck out of the box and the barbs were horribly rank. Every so often one of these hooks would either snap at the least provocation or simply straighten out.

Then came the Richard Walker Carp Hooks, which had smaller barbs closer to the point but even then the temper varied greatly. Mustads made them I believe.

Then came those awful Goldstrike hooks. You couldn't sharpen them no matter how hard you tried.

And if you wanted to use a small hook for big fish, forget it.

The best allround big fish hook was the Sealy Speedbarb which had a shape not unlike many modern carp hooks. Those who could get the Eagle Claw American hooks were very lucky. They were the world's best hooks in my opnion in those days.

Modern hooks are a revelation of course. I think it was Peter Drennan whole was partly responsible for that.

I can always remember buying my first fixed spool reel, couldnt afford one of the new French Mitchell`s, a blue Interpid Monarch from memory 19/6d, took me ages to save up for it

My first fixed spool reel was an Intrepid. It had a simple wire bale arm that closed by hitting a bit of the housing. This bail arm soon had a groove in it that ruined lines. The bit that closed the bale soon broke through metal fatigue.

I was pround of that reel howver.

I then graduated to Intrepid Elites and Mitchell Princes and 300s.

Yes they were expensive. The Mitchell was the ultimate in those days.

I made virtually all my own rods in those days. I used to get kits from JB Walker in Hythe when **** Walker (no relation) recommended them in Still Water Angling. I often wonder how much business this little company got due to Walker's mention in his classic book. He never made a penny out of it of course.

I also used to build rods for other people. I used to get bits and pieces from Dawsons of Holme Lane in Sheffield as well as blanks, such as bored out Tonkin and Spanish reed from Joe Emmens (anyone remember him - a lovely bloke - he was a coal merchant)

My speciality was a 12 foot 3 piece Sheffield Style roach rod. It had a split cane top with a spliced hollowed out tonkin centre section and butt. It was totally ferruless.

Even lighter was the 13 feet 12 1/2 Spanish Reed ferruless rods made by a few craftsmen in Sheffield. Joe Emmens used to sell them.

I made 3 of these rods If I remember and hell the work in one of them was incredible. **** Walker was so impressed with the quality of the Sheffield built roach rods he ordered one from Joe Emmens and used it to very good effect to catch lots of big roach.

I had a call the other day from a friend who now lives in Northern Ireland. He still has one of these rods and written in Indian ink on the butt is: "Maker - Ronald Clay - 1961."

Happy Days.

As regards quality hooks for big fish, it must have been around 1965 that some of the carp anglers discovered salmon fly hooks or salmon "irons" as they where often called. I think it was Jack Hilton who may have been the first to recognise the strength of these hooks. They were made in Redditch by a few craftesmen in the needle industry.

Jack cut off a bit of the shank and then the eye and soldered a blob on the end. He then tied them to his main line using a spade end whipped finish knot and used them to great effect on many big carp waters, Redmire Pool included.

The history of fish hooks is fascinating. During the latter part of the 19th century, high quality hooks were quite common. They were hand forged, sharpened and temper by Redditch craftsmen and were exported all over the world. **** Walker once sent me a couple of fly hooks made in 1875. The quality was superb and certainly equal to the best that Kamsan have to offer today.

The quality of fish hooks deteriorated terribly beween the World Wars. Maybe the craftsmen of Redditch became employed making other things such as guns and their skills were never handed down.

By the way are Partridge still making hooks. You don't see them much these days.

Yes you can still get partrifge hooks, I'm fairly sure of that. Mainly treble's I think. Endorsed by Nev Fickling.