The Way We Were!

I recieved some photocopies of old articles published in the Angling Times and Angling Telegraph yesturday. They were written by Geoff Bates, **** Clegg and yours truly.

Both Geoff Bates and **** Clegg were members of the Sheffield based Northern Specimen Group which I formed in 1962.

Reading a piece by Geoff Bates, it seems like the North/South divide was pretty strong then.

Geoff says in his article:

"If you value your Mk IV, never boast about the South when you "talk barbel" with a Northern angler. He's liable to adapt the test-curve to the shape of your head - and I don't blame him!"

Geoff goes on to say: "Fishing in all the rivers demands strong tackle - lines of 5 or 6 lbs breaking strain and large hooks!!"

I don't think there are many barbel anglers these days who would use such light tackle. I use 10 and 12lb stuff most of the time.

This particular picture feature shows many barbel in keepnets, yet Geoff says: "They should never be put in a keepnet after being played - they will sulk and turn turtle. Barbel ought to be netted with the minimum of delay and returned to the water, where it may be necessary to nurse them for a few minutes."

The next article shows **** Clegg dislaying a catch of nine barbel and 5 chub from a night on the Swale in June. **** tells how he was fed up with catching lots of small barbel from the Swale and that from henceforth he will be concentrating on the Yorkshire Ouse.

In the same vein is yours truly at the tender age of 24, decribing how he now prefers the Ouse and displaying a fish of 7lbs 1 oz, which was the biggest recorded in 1966 from Yorkshire.

Next piece is an Angling Times centre spread wrtten by yours truly and published on September 9th, 1966.

It describes the barbel tagging activities of the Northern Specimen Group.

We discovered how migratory barbel really are, and also how few were obviously in our rivers. The numbers of recaptures were significant.

There are pictures published then that would be howled at today. Like Barry Whitworth weighing a barbel in a rabbit or purse net. And the universal use of keepnets.

But that's the way we were I guess. And it was suggestions by groups like ours that eventually saw the availability of knotless keenets, unhooking mats and fish friendly weigh slings.

Ron do you remember the linseed oiled knotted keepnets we all had which were about 3or4ft long. Looking back at some old photos I cringe when I see these abominations and the Landing nets were not much better and usually way too small. The only way to improve these things was to make them yourself!

I used a 20 inch diameter landing net for most of my fishing. I also had an Efgeeco triangular net with 30 inch arms that was popularised by Fred J Taylor at the time.

The keepnet I used I made myself. It was about 26 inches in diameter if I remember using nylon rings and a square top.

It was over 6 feet long and used to get all sorts of comments from other anglers. Other than a B James Mk VI Mk VI Avon and Kennet perfection I finally aspired to, I made all my own rods. My roach rods were ferruless bored out tonkin or Spanish reed with spliced split can tops. They were very fragile.

In about 1965, when I was earning decent money, I moved onto Hollow Glass rods made with blanks from Sportex. My old friend Tag Barnes used to get me blanks fairly cheaply. At a later stage I was lucky enough to be sponsored by Sportex and got several rods from them on condition that I mentioned the name and that they were displayed in the many articles I was writing then.

These were heady days for one so young.

I'll never forget them.

And in many ways far more special than the buy success at any cost easy come easy go fishing ethos we see at times these days

Lee, these were days before the bolt rig, boilies and long stay fishing. In the short sessions we had fishing we had to make use of every minute of time.

We also made the very best of the waters that were available to us. In the late 50s and early 60s we travelled as far as the Yorkshire rivers - Swale, Ouse, Nidd and Ure by sharing travelling expenses. Even then, fuel seemed expensive. We also used the railway a great deal. Many people will not believe me but rail services were far superior to what we have today, and a hell of a lot cheaper.

We also learned to travel light. I cringe when I see the mountains of gear many coarse anglers hump along the bank these days.

Many of us could spend three or four days, totally self contained in the Yorkshire or Lincolnshire countryside, everything being carried in an old ex-army rucksack and a single rod bundle.

Water was the biggest problem, but we drank the river or lake water after boiling it.

Nothing untoward ever happened to me.

Apart from the hairy palms and a tendency to howl at full moon!