Graham Whatmore
Senior Member
I said I would and I have. I have just had a very long conversation with Ken Giles about the origins of the waggler, basically this is the gist of the conversation.
The waggler was developed specifically for the '71 national, the last of the "by weight" nationals and the BAA team were determined to win this at any cost. There was no such thing as the waggler before this time though various bottom end floats were used throughout the country, mainly using balsa and porcupine and sometimes a combination but non of them were good enough to fish the Severn. They had various stillwater floats that were used in the East Midlands like the Swinger etc but these were useless in the pacy Severn.
In a bid to gain distance and sensitivity and after much trialing and experimentation with various types and materials all attached top and bottom they came up with the waggler purely by accident. One of the team was fishing shallow, about two or three feet Ken thinks, using a top and bottom float and some of the shot got tangled directly underneath the float, he carried on fishing with it like this and he discovered that not only was it easier to cast but the bites were more positive as well. From that one accident the waggler eventually evolved, they soon realised they didn't need to attach the top at all and they could fish at any depth by locking the float either side, all they needed was a suitable material for the float.
Ken actually has a list of all the anglers that participated in the development but the main input was from Clive Smith (Ken's next door neighbour, his wife still is incidently) Kevin Ashurst, John Toulson(not sure of the spelling) Ron Russell, Stan Lewis and of course Ken himself. Being next door neighbours Ken and Clive discussed at great length all the findings of those that were reporting on their progress. The use of peacock quill came about through Kevin Ashurst because it was apparently the custom up north in terraced houses to display a vase with peacock eyes, the end part of the feather, this he realised was a likely candidate for making floats.
Ivan Marks had no input into this whatsoever as he was a member of the opposition and neither did Benny Ashurst, though his son obviously discussed it with him. Leicester Likely lads won the match using pacemaker floats which was their chosen tool.
So there you have it, from the horses mouth so to speak, the origin of the waggler float. It wasn't a development really because they started with a blank sheet, there was no waggler to develop and you must remember this was 35 years ago and they didn't have all the materials that we take forgranted now, in fact as Ken pointed out, their first wagglers used safety pin eyes at the base of the waggler, valve rubber off cycle tyres was their 'silicon rubber'.
Ken was, incidently, a great friend of Benny Ashurst and he also told me how the stick float was developed by Benny but I'll leave that for another day.
The waggler was developed specifically for the '71 national, the last of the "by weight" nationals and the BAA team were determined to win this at any cost. There was no such thing as the waggler before this time though various bottom end floats were used throughout the country, mainly using balsa and porcupine and sometimes a combination but non of them were good enough to fish the Severn. They had various stillwater floats that were used in the East Midlands like the Swinger etc but these were useless in the pacy Severn.
In a bid to gain distance and sensitivity and after much trialing and experimentation with various types and materials all attached top and bottom they came up with the waggler purely by accident. One of the team was fishing shallow, about two or three feet Ken thinks, using a top and bottom float and some of the shot got tangled directly underneath the float, he carried on fishing with it like this and he discovered that not only was it easier to cast but the bites were more positive as well. From that one accident the waggler eventually evolved, they soon realised they didn't need to attach the top at all and they could fish at any depth by locking the float either side, all they needed was a suitable material for the float.
Ken actually has a list of all the anglers that participated in the development but the main input was from Clive Smith (Ken's next door neighbour, his wife still is incidently) Kevin Ashurst, John Toulson(not sure of the spelling) Ron Russell, Stan Lewis and of course Ken himself. Being next door neighbours Ken and Clive discussed at great length all the findings of those that were reporting on their progress. The use of peacock quill came about through Kevin Ashurst because it was apparently the custom up north in terraced houses to display a vase with peacock eyes, the end part of the feather, this he realised was a likely candidate for making floats.
Ivan Marks had no input into this whatsoever as he was a member of the opposition and neither did Benny Ashurst, though his son obviously discussed it with him. Leicester Likely lads won the match using pacemaker floats which was their chosen tool.
So there you have it, from the horses mouth so to speak, the origin of the waggler float. It wasn't a development really because they started with a blank sheet, there was no waggler to develop and you must remember this was 35 years ago and they didn't have all the materials that we take forgranted now, in fact as Ken pointed out, their first wagglers used safety pin eyes at the base of the waggler, valve rubber off cycle tyres was their 'silicon rubber'.
Ken was, incidently, a great friend of Benny Ashurst and he also told me how the stick float was developed by Benny but I'll leave that for another day.