During the early 50s, Richard Walker and his Carp Catchers Club together with his little group of big fish hunters in the Hitchin Angling Club, inspired many other anglers to form similar types of angling groups. They became known as Specimen Hunter's Groups after the term for a big fish - a "specimen" fish.
I formed the Sheffield Based Northern Specimen Group. Graham Marsden was also involved with a similar group, Tony Miles formed the Coventry SG, Bob Church formed the Northampton SG, Frank Guttfield formed the Whopper Stoppers SG, Peter Butler formed the London Specimen Hunter's Club, Jack Hilton and Bill Keal were in the Herts Chiltern SG.
Many other groups were also formed. They consisted of anglers who were in the main - young men. I was only 20 when I formed the NSG.
One of the members of my group was a very talented angler and organiser, one Eric Hodson, who in 1965 formed the National Association of Specimen Groups. This organisation was responsible for the massive increase in big fish angling in the UK and it spawned an enormous tackle industry.
In a year or two since its foundation with 7 groups, the organisation had expanded ten fold to 70 groups representing over 1000 specimen or specialist anglers.
As the years passed, the all round specimen group idea became less popular as single species groups began to take root. Groups like The British Carp Study Group, The Carp Society, The National Carp Club, The Pike Anglers Club of Great Britain, The Barbel Society, The Chub Study Group, The Lure Society, The Grayling Society, The Tench Fishers and a few others. All these single species groups came under the umbrella of the National Association of Specialist Anglers.
This organisation in time became the Specialist Anglers Alliance which untimately became part of the Angling Trust.
Many of us who were involved in the old specimen groups should be proud of what we eventually achieved and that is one single body to represent all anglers in this country. It's a very great shame that my old dear friend Eric Hodson is not alive to see that his dream WAS realised.