Keith M
Well-known member
Now that another year is coming to its end; and I have entered my ‘Old Moaning Codger’ years; I was reminiscing about my formative years fishing when I was just a small lad.
Like most kids I started out with a cane, cotton and bent pin after the huge mnnows in the local brook.
But my earliest memories after real fish were when my dad and his mate used to take me fishing on the canal at Croxley Green when I was about 10 (or less). I used to use a heavy Tonkin cane rod which was huge both in length and width together with a tiny wooden reel. I was shown how to tackle up with a large porqupine quill float and a 16 hook to 'Cat Gut'. Hooks were ‘GoldStrikes’ and were litterally like gold as my dad usually only had one packet of ten and I would get the customary moan "and don’t lose this one as it's your last!!". I used to catch gudgeon and the occasional stunted roach using ‘Gentles’ (maggots) as bait (in tin bait boxes).
When I got into my early teens I got bought a solid fibreglass Abu spinning rod and an ‘Intrepid Extra’ reel and some cork bodied Thames floats; and used to float fish with my father and his mate on the Thames & Great Ouse. My father used a Mitchell reel with a ‘half bail arm’ that swung outwards for casting and a spit cane rod with a swing tip, and his mate used a ‘hollow Steel Match rod’.
I will always remember the early mornings on the Thames when the mist was on the water and the church bells rang out and the woodpidgeon cooed, and you couldn,t hear any traffic.
Nowerdays we are lucky with the tackle that’s available today and a lot of anglers start out with a Carp rod n reel, bite alarm, chair and a landing net. And a book on Carp fishing. But I look back to my earlier years with great fondness. As I now enter my ‘Old Moaning Codger’ years.What memories do you have of when you were first introduced to the wonderful world of the Angler???.
Like most kids I started out with a cane, cotton and bent pin after the huge mnnows in the local brook.
But my earliest memories after real fish were when my dad and his mate used to take me fishing on the canal at Croxley Green when I was about 10 (or less). I used to use a heavy Tonkin cane rod which was huge both in length and width together with a tiny wooden reel. I was shown how to tackle up with a large porqupine quill float and a 16 hook to 'Cat Gut'. Hooks were ‘GoldStrikes’ and were litterally like gold as my dad usually only had one packet of ten and I would get the customary moan "and don’t lose this one as it's your last!!". I used to catch gudgeon and the occasional stunted roach using ‘Gentles’ (maggots) as bait (in tin bait boxes).
When I got into my early teens I got bought a solid fibreglass Abu spinning rod and an ‘Intrepid Extra’ reel and some cork bodied Thames floats; and used to float fish with my father and his mate on the Thames & Great Ouse. My father used a Mitchell reel with a ‘half bail arm’ that swung outwards for casting and a spit cane rod with a swing tip, and his mate used a ‘hollow Steel Match rod’.
I will always remember the early mornings on the Thames when the mist was on the water and the church bells rang out and the woodpidgeon cooed, and you couldn,t hear any traffic.
Nowerdays we are lucky with the tackle that’s available today and a lot of anglers start out with a Carp rod n reel, bite alarm, chair and a landing net. And a book on Carp fishing. But I look back to my earlier years with great fondness. As I now enter my ‘Old Moaning Codger’ years.What memories do you have of when you were first introduced to the wonderful world of the Angler???.