The Bernard Venables/ Mr Crabtree generation

flightliner · Nov 20, 2015

What a fabulously inspirational start to thousands of young budding anglers born a little before and after BVs book was first published. Over the years they must have witnessed so many amazing changes in angling thinking, tackle development and catches of fish that at the time must have been thought impossible .
Maybe as good a time as any to start a fishing career.

Chevin · Nov 20, 2015

flightliner said:
What a fabulously inspirational start to thousands of young budding anglers born a little before and after BVs book was first published. Over the years they must have witnessed so many amazing changes in angling thinking, tackle development and catches of fish that at the time must have been thought impossible .
Maybe as good a time as any to start a fishing career.

I well remember being enthralled by Mr Crabtree and Peter and I would frequently spend the evening before a fishing trip looking for any help that Mr Crabtree could give me, though I must confess that at the time I needed help, I rarely got it from the book. Things never really worked out quite the way BV depicted them. However, the book was inspiring and I gradually became more successful to the point that I too wanted to write about fishing. After writing numerous letters to magazines, I eventually began writing professionally in 1963, although I never wrote anything as inspirational as Mr Crabtree. However, although it didn't really matter, there were a few mistakes in several sections of Mr Crabtree Goes Fishing and in the 1970's when Fred J Taylor was asked to revise the book I was delighted when he asked to me to do the revision on a couple of sections. I have been especially pleased with a number of articles I have written, but nothing in my 40+ years of journalism gave me as much pleasure being involved in the revision of such an iconic angling book as Mr Crabtree Goes Fishing.

wanderer · Nov 20, 2015

Fantastic publication, loved it as a kid, a true icon of our sport, wonderful guy.

Peter Jacobs · Nov 20, 2015

Those books were the inspiration for me to start fishing and I still have them today in my book cases

no-one in particular · Nov 20, 2015

Mr Crabtree was a brilliant format for kids, they got it just right but, it was all comics back then when kids read avidly anything with a comic book style. And these would be swapped around with all there mates which must have inspired many. With TV still only a couple of channels B/W and many maybe not having one and no computers. I do not know what kids are into these days but I doubt it is this style of publication. It was perfect for its times.
I wonder what and how kids could be inspired to take up fishing these days? I rarely see them fishing or on forums in fact. There's a park reservoir near me that 20 years ago used to be full of kids, its nearly always empty now apart from a few. Computers and 300 channels provide all the entertainment they need probably. I wonder what the average of this forum is? 108 would be my guess........

Still, times change and I doubt anything would make much difference, nothing will compete with that for kids attention.

Derek Gibson · Nov 20, 2015

I can hear it now, my Mother's words, ''Derek, are you reading that book again, turn out the light and go to sleep''. Yes, a veritable spawning ground for young angler's, inspirational to my and many others minds, outstanding.

barbelboi · Nov 20, 2015

I'm not sure if BV's books, or my late fathers copy of BB's bedside book was first the angling book I read in the mid 50's. Both bring back fond memories and I still have BB's book.

The first books I was given as a birthday present were the first editions of Fred Taylor's (before he used the 'J') 'Angling in earnest' soon followed by 'Walker's Pitch' - both still 'browsed' through...................

flightliner · Nov 20, 2015

I think it was the first "cant put down page turner" I ever read. For a young lad living on a huge council estate in a big city starved of access to water it took me to a more magical place.

robertroach · Nov 20, 2015

I am reading this and also remembering reading these books when I was about 10 when my addiction to angling really started.

But I just realised in the last 6 or 7 years since I have been fishing club waters on the upper Stour I cannot recollect ever seeing a youngster on all those miles of river, even in the Summer hols. How sad is that?

cassey · Nov 20, 2015

And what’s just as amazing is they are still quite relevant in today’s fishing world, especially Walker.

no-one in particular · Nov 20, 2015

flightliner said:
I think it was the first "cant put down page turner" I ever read. For a young lad living on a huge council estate in a big city starved of access to water it took me to a more magical place.

That's how it was for me Flight,suburbia fishing and wondering about all those lovely pictures of ideal locations and fish. Then the old man got a invite to a private stretch of the Kennet near Reading somewhere. It was all there; Mr Crabtree himself could have turned up. Lovely old musty fishing hut, big field and the opposite bank lined with old over-hanging trees and big bends in the river.
The old man stuck his big red float in a eddy and caught one big old Perch , his mate fished the bend and pulled out chub and roach all day. I cannot remember what I caught but, magical day seeing it all as it should be for the first time. Still stuck in the old memory bank that one.

Peter Jacobs · Nov 20, 2015

Having sent years reading Mr Crabtree I finally got to visit the Hampshire Avon with the angling club back in the 60's, when I was a junior (under 18)

We took the charabanc to Ibsley and fished Col. Crow's section and it was truly enlightening.

On the way back we stopped at the Bull in Downton, but being under 18 us juniors had to sit in the charabanc supping lemonade . . . . .

Today my home is on the opposite side of the road to the Hampshire Avon on the stretch where Frank Sawyer (Keeper of the Stream) was employed for many years. His grandson lives in the village still and sells PTN's by mail order . . . . . .

I guess you could say that those Crabreee publications certainly had a long lasting effect on me and my fishing.

Derek Gibson · Nov 20, 2015

And lets not forget those wonderfull illustrations throughout the book, guaranteed to fire up the fertile mind of any budding angler. And in my case it definately did that.

barbelboi · Nov 20, 2015

It was also a good excuse for buying the Daily Mirror in those days (I thought the Jayne strip was quite good too)...............

terry m · Nov 20, 2015

The illustrations were incredibly powerful, and many of those grew to be stereotypical images associated with different species by a generation of anglers, perhaps two.

But I do think it was generational, if launched today would it generate the same inspiration? I don't think so.

Time moves on.

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be eh?

flightliner · Nov 20, 2015

Peter Jacobs said:
Having sent years reading Mr Crabtree I finally got to visit the Hampshire Avon with the angling club back in the 60's, when I was a junior (under 18)

We took the charabanc to Ibsley and fished Col. Crow's section and it was truly enlightening.

On the way back we stopped at the Bull in Downton, but being under 18 us juniors had to sit in the charabanc supping lemonade . . . . .

Today my home is on the opposite side of the road to the Hampshire Avon on the stretch where Frank Sawyer (Keeper of the Stream) was employed for many years. His grandson lives in the village still and sells PTN's by mail order . . . . . .

I guess you could say that those Crabreee publications certainly had a long lasting effect on me and my fishing.

Peter, my bags and tackle are packed and I,m on my way. The back bedroom or even the garden shed will suffice.:wh

john step · Nov 20, 2015

I still have my very tatty and worn Mr Crabtree book. I cannot see a date anywhere but it has 5/- on the cover. That was my Christmas present.
(25p for younger anglers) That's inflation for you.

I also have a signed 1993 copy of Bernards Memoirs. Lots of atmospheric paintings/ illustrations.

chub_on_the_block · Nov 20, 2015

Although they were probably just a little before my time i was still entranced by the Crabtree cartoon strips as a kid in the early 70s. They certainly taught me about me about eddies for Perch - if nothing else. The imagination could run wild by combining those illustrations with fleeting sights of truly "big" real fish that were probably just 12oz Perch with the benefit of hindsight.

Peter Smith 2 · Nov 23, 2015

In the last years of Bernard's life he used to stay at my hotel, Caer Beris, on the Wye in Builth Wells. The first time I took him out barbel fishing he said ' My boy, I haven't fished the Wye since 1937!' Not many people could claim that. My well thumbed first edition of Crabtree is now inscribed to my son - To Luke - Best wishes Bernard. Back in the early sixties, myself and a couple of other kids , had the use of a fishing hut near Hampton Court. There was a copy of Crabtree there and we would have 'readings from the bible' on cold evenings over cups of tea. Over 50 years on, we still get together once a year to cast a line. One one occasion we were all at my hotel at the same time as Bernard and he graciously accepted the offer to be our little groups patron. What a gentleman.

robtherake · Nov 23, 2015

Sadly, since I'm a spring chicken compared to youse old farts, I missed out on the Crabtree books (although there are a couple on my bookshelf now) but I seem to remember seeing the serial reissue of the strip in the Angling Times (not the Mail?) and it, too, had some bearing on my early experiences, although the teachings of Walker were what really fired me up. I had Stillwater Angling on semi-permanent loan from the local library; that and Fred taylor's "Tench" (although the tench I fished for - slightly illegally - in the "Police pond" seldom broke the 3 pound mark.)

What brings it all back for me are those gaudy cork floats (Harcork) that everyone seemed to use before the more modern patterns by the likes of Ultra hit the market. I only had two to begin with; one was a spherical-bodied "perch bob" and the other looked like a pair of carrots glued end-to-end, like a large avon with a body that was central on the length of the stem. You'll be able to pick out your own favourites from this little lot.

The Bernard Venables/ Mr Crabtree generation

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