R
Ron Troversial Clay
Guest
This article. in many ways, could have been written today.
There is no doubt that many anglers have to look "right" or they wouldn't even go fishing. I must admit that in a way I and some of my fishing friends were a bit like that in the 50s and 60s. However in those days you had to look as scruffy as possible.
I remember walking through Sheffield with a couple of friends. We came to a shop with the name: "Dunn's" on it which if you remember was a high class men's hat and general outfitter.
In the window were various hats in smart tweed.
One of my friends walked into the shop and started looking at the hats. He asked to try on a few. He picked a very nice looking Harris Tweed "pork pie" hat, tried it on, liked it and paid the assistant ?5, which was a lot of money in those days.
The assistant offered to put the hat into one of Dunn's classy boxes wrapped in tissue paper. My friend told him not to bother, dropped the hat on the floor and to the utter horror of the shop assistant, he started stamping on it in no uncertain terms!
We also followed the lead of several other great anglers of the time, especially one Ray Webb. Old sacking became a cult. The grottiest jackets from Army stores, torn and with missing buttons became "de riguer".
Frank Guttfield set that style.
In later years, trout fishing on still waters became very popular.
But do you remeber those horrid "reservoir" rods that everyone carried? Cut down carp blanks with dirty great centre-pin reels on them.
They weighed half a ton.
And the handle designs. I've seen single handled fly rod handles in the 60s almost 18 inches long. A worst still the reel fittings were designed to fit the reel right at the end of the butt to "balance" the rod.
Thank goodness in this day and age, all of the fly rods sold are designed properly with up locking reel seats and short handles.
And thank goodness that todsay the vast majority of rods of most designs have cork handles.
Anglers have finally discovered just how horrid duplon is; mind you it took them years to find that out, and there are still people today who still actually use the bloody stuff!
There is no doubt that many anglers have to look "right" or they wouldn't even go fishing. I must admit that in a way I and some of my fishing friends were a bit like that in the 50s and 60s. However in those days you had to look as scruffy as possible.
I remember walking through Sheffield with a couple of friends. We came to a shop with the name: "Dunn's" on it which if you remember was a high class men's hat and general outfitter.
In the window were various hats in smart tweed.
One of my friends walked into the shop and started looking at the hats. He asked to try on a few. He picked a very nice looking Harris Tweed "pork pie" hat, tried it on, liked it and paid the assistant ?5, which was a lot of money in those days.
The assistant offered to put the hat into one of Dunn's classy boxes wrapped in tissue paper. My friend told him not to bother, dropped the hat on the floor and to the utter horror of the shop assistant, he started stamping on it in no uncertain terms!
We also followed the lead of several other great anglers of the time, especially one Ray Webb. Old sacking became a cult. The grottiest jackets from Army stores, torn and with missing buttons became "de riguer".
Frank Guttfield set that style.
In later years, trout fishing on still waters became very popular.
But do you remeber those horrid "reservoir" rods that everyone carried? Cut down carp blanks with dirty great centre-pin reels on them.
They weighed half a ton.
And the handle designs. I've seen single handled fly rod handles in the 60s almost 18 inches long. A worst still the reel fittings were designed to fit the reel right at the end of the butt to "balance" the rod.
Thank goodness in this day and age, all of the fly rods sold are designed properly with up locking reel seats and short handles.
And thank goodness that todsay the vast majority of rods of most designs have cork handles.
Anglers have finally discovered just how horrid duplon is; mind you it took them years to find that out, and there are still people today who still actually use the bloody stuff!
