Graham Elliot - the last time I looked at the Gade at Croxley moor I was saddened to find it only half its former width, abstraction I guess? You mention North Harrow Waltonians, I was a member for few years, also fished the Harrow pits at Harefield and I was a member of the Cons and a member of the Fisheries for about 19 years until I moved away in 2013. Nice memories, no regrets.
Where did you learn your craft?
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robtherake
Well-known member
The landscaping that finally removed the shale tips - like a lunar landscape - adjoining the nearby steelworks resulted in the damming of a wooded valley. Fed and filled by rainwater, this valley became a fair-sized pond, fully naturalised and alive with perch. I guess I was 12 before anyone thought of dropping a bait in there, and the discovery of our perchy paradise was a revelation for the outdoorsy amongst us, which was mostly every boy in the village. The place was shunned by "real" anglers, so we had it very much to ourselves for several years.
But all good things come to an end, as they say, and with no outlet, the nitrates leached from the surrounding arable land and caused a massive algal bloom that killed off all the fish. Having said that, as far as I know it's been unfished for some time, so for all I know it may have fish in again by now. I might just take a look round there with some binos and polaroids this summer, to see what's what.
But all good things come to an end, as they say, and with no outlet, the nitrates leached from the surrounding arable land and caused a massive algal bloom that killed off all the fish. Having said that, as far as I know it's been unfished for some time, so for all I know it may have fish in again by now. I might just take a look round there with some binos and polaroids this summer, to see what's what.
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rich66
Well-known member
I started when I was 8, taught by my brother on the canals at Foxton. My dad never fished but all my siblings do. Mostly self taught after that, from books etc probably why I'm still **** lol but I love it.
I can remember cycling down to Marks & Marlow tackle shop in Leicester and talking to Ivan Marks at the time it was like meeting a god hung on his every word.
Got married at 20 sold my kit and started up again properly about 3 years ago. And still learning
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I can remember cycling down to Marks & Marlow tackle shop in Leicester and talking to Ivan Marks at the time it was like meeting a god hung on his every word.
Got married at 20 sold my kit and started up again properly about 3 years ago. And still learning
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Ray Daywalker Clarke
Well-known member
I had my two brothers take me when i was 4 years old, lucky that there was, and still is, the local lake just 5 minutes walk from my parents house. First fish was a small Roach of just a few ounces.
Got my own rod and reel when I was 5, so I say I started fishing from 5 years old, as until then i only got to use my brother rods here and there while i watched them fish. I learned a lot from my brothers, casting, tackling up with different methods, but most of my actual fishing I learned as I went along, getting things wrong, and then working out how to get it right. My brothers were always close at hand to help if I needed it.
In 1968 my fishing world changed for ever, my eldest brother was killed in a car accident while going fishing, my other brother and some friends were also there, I should have been to, but for some reason didn't get up. That was unusual as I was always the first up when we were going fishing, and to this day, a trip out gets me buzzing, no matter where it is.
From that day on, I carried on fishing with my brother in mind, and still do. I would walk miles with my gear to get a bus from Potters bar to cheshunt old pond, then walk miles again to get to kings Weir, or North Med Pit, I was just 12. Sometimes there might be 4 or 5 of us, but many a time just a couple of 12 year olds fishing all weekend, nights an all. Trains to Huntingdon and back.
My other brother would take me on trips with some of his mates, Kennett, Ouse, Thames. I loved it and still do, and it doesn't matter, and never has, just how far I might travel for some fishing.
If we could bottle the memories, they would be priceless.
Got my own rod and reel when I was 5, so I say I started fishing from 5 years old, as until then i only got to use my brother rods here and there while i watched them fish. I learned a lot from my brothers, casting, tackling up with different methods, but most of my actual fishing I learned as I went along, getting things wrong, and then working out how to get it right. My brothers were always close at hand to help if I needed it.
In 1968 my fishing world changed for ever, my eldest brother was killed in a car accident while going fishing, my other brother and some friends were also there, I should have been to, but for some reason didn't get up. That was unusual as I was always the first up when we were going fishing, and to this day, a trip out gets me buzzing, no matter where it is.
From that day on, I carried on fishing with my brother in mind, and still do. I would walk miles with my gear to get a bus from Potters bar to cheshunt old pond, then walk miles again to get to kings Weir, or North Med Pit, I was just 12. Sometimes there might be 4 or 5 of us, but many a time just a couple of 12 year olds fishing all weekend, nights an all. Trains to Huntingdon and back.
My other brother would take me on trips with some of his mates, Kennett, Ouse, Thames. I loved it and still do, and it doesn't matter, and never has, just how far I might travel for some fishing.
If we could bottle the memories, they would be priceless.
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Like a few here I started fishing when I was 14 and packed it in four years later. I did most my early learning from reading the two weeklies, the AT and the AM and hanging around in my local tackle shop Dells earwigging what the regulars were discussing.
So different to my return a couple of years ago about the same time as you started Ralph with so much information readily and freely available on the net. Having said that,modern technology still doesn't beat getting out there, even if not fishing. Today I decided to leave the rods at home and just reccy the river and meeting along the way a few anglers who were only to pleased to share their knowledge, tinternet won't give me that.
So different to my return a couple of years ago about the same time as you started Ralph with so much information readily and freely available on the net. Having said that,modern technology still doesn't beat getting out there, even if not fishing. Today I decided to leave the rods at home and just reccy the river and meeting along the way a few anglers who were only to pleased to share their knowledge, tinternet won't give me that.
mikench
Well-known member
fishplate42
Well-known member
When I first started I had no, and I mean no, angling knowledge whatsoever and I found the amount of information available completely overwhelming. I did manage to get some tackle together, but it was only once I got on the bank and started talking to other anglers that I started to find my feet sort the wheat from the chaff.
Two and a half years on, I have grown to understand the terminology a bit more (it might as well have been written in Swahili for all the sense it made in the early months) and the hands on experience has helped no end, but I still find I sometimes read something on a forum and I have no clue what is being discussed. Most of the time an internet search reveals all, when it doesn't, that is where the forums are so useful to the uninitiated, like me.
Ralph.
robertroach
Well-known member
I started learning young and 60 years later, still learning.
Last week I learned how not to catch a roach any bigger than 8 ounces!
Last week I learned how not to catch a roach any bigger than 8 ounces!
Keith M
Well-known member
In the late 1950s my mates and I used to explore the local streams with nets made from old stockings from a very early age of 7 or 8 looking for stoneloach and millers thumbs under and around rocks and minnows and sticklebacks.
Then by the age of 8 or 9 I had started to use a cane, some cotton thread and a crude matchstick float together with a gold strike hook that I had pinched from my dads fishing bag and used to spend many hours after minnows and stickleback.
My father also started to take me fishing at Croxley Green just south of Watford occasionally from the age of around 8 to 10 with the occasional trips to the river Thames and the river Gt. Ouse near where it ran under the A1.
On these magical days I used to borrow one of my dads rods and catch 'real' fish like Roach, Gudgeon, Perch and Bleak, and one memorable day when I was having a friendly match with my neighbours son I caught over 100 bleak and small roach from the Gt Ouse and I well and truly got the bug and started to constantly nag my father into buying or giving me my own rod and reel.
From then on fishing has always been in my blood and my mates and I used to cycle many miles looking for new waters to fish.
Keith
Then by the age of 8 or 9 I had started to use a cane, some cotton thread and a crude matchstick float together with a gold strike hook that I had pinched from my dads fishing bag and used to spend many hours after minnows and stickleback.
My father also started to take me fishing at Croxley Green just south of Watford occasionally from the age of around 8 to 10 with the occasional trips to the river Thames and the river Gt. Ouse near where it ran under the A1.
On these magical days I used to borrow one of my dads rods and catch 'real' fish like Roach, Gudgeon, Perch and Bleak, and one memorable day when I was having a friendly match with my neighbours son I caught over 100 bleak and small roach from the Gt Ouse and I well and truly got the bug and started to constantly nag my father into buying or giving me my own rod and reel.
From then on fishing has always been in my blood and my mates and I used to cycle many miles looking for new waters to fish.
Keith
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rayner
Well-known member
The thing that started me off was seeing the keep net on my neighbours washing line, I was 6yrs old.
I pestered him until I was 11 when he finally relented and gave in.
I really think I had a good grounding from the start. Much like the anglers fresh to fishing now. My knowledge first came from him,
New to angling now get their information from the internet.
The rest is history.
I pestered him until I was 11 when he finally relented and gave in.
I really think I had a good grounding from the start. Much like the anglers fresh to fishing now. My knowledge first came from him,
New to angling now get their information from the internet.
The rest is history.
Tee-Cee
Senior Member
Started on the lake in Finsbury Park, north London at the age of seven or so. Stood shoulder to shoulder with many other anglers of all ages, along with my father. Later, I fished the oh so private New River also in the Park and along by Harringay, IF one could avoid the park/river keepers for any length of time. Held some magnificent roach, even by todays standard...
Joined Negretti & Zambra AC as a young lad and then Kingsbury AC, both of which ran many, many matches on the Thames the whole of its length, where I learned so much.
Living in Finsbury Park (just along from the Arsenal stadium - UGH!) I was able to reach the Grand Union at Camden Town via the tube and then walk (a very long way) to fish the stretch along by the London Zoo for its wonderful roach and enormous gudgeon on caster. Even as a young chap of 12 or so I fished this water until late evening using street lights to see the float (this with my father) and only at weekends..
Joined many clubs (including Barnet AC when we eventually moved to Borehamwood, Herts who had some great waters at Shenley etc.) just as a means to get to the upper reaches of the Thames and later, setting off at midnight to get to the Hants Avon from Ibsley down to Christchurch - 8/10 + tackle in a Dormobile with other club members. Also fished Throop and the famous Royalty (from around 15 or so) -even on club matches!
Happy days................(well, most of the time anyway, as little money and no wheels!!)
My never to be forgotten mentor; Bill Knott with the Kingsbury AC...a special type of angler, without doubt..
ps Also fished in other parts of the country via my job in construction and also other part of the world, but that is another story...
Joined Negretti & Zambra AC as a young lad and then Kingsbury AC, both of which ran many, many matches on the Thames the whole of its length, where I learned so much.
Living in Finsbury Park (just along from the Arsenal stadium - UGH!) I was able to reach the Grand Union at Camden Town via the tube and then walk (a very long way) to fish the stretch along by the London Zoo for its wonderful roach and enormous gudgeon on caster. Even as a young chap of 12 or so I fished this water until late evening using street lights to see the float (this with my father) and only at weekends..
Joined many clubs (including Barnet AC when we eventually moved to Borehamwood, Herts who had some great waters at Shenley etc.) just as a means to get to the upper reaches of the Thames and later, setting off at midnight to get to the Hants Avon from Ibsley down to Christchurch - 8/10 + tackle in a Dormobile with other club members. Also fished Throop and the famous Royalty (from around 15 or so) -even on club matches!
Happy days................(well, most of the time anyway, as little money and no wheels!!)
My never to be forgotten mentor; Bill Knott with the Kingsbury AC...a special type of angler, without doubt..
ps Also fished in other parts of the country via my job in construction and also other part of the world, but that is another story...
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Ray Daywalker Clarke
Well-known member
Tee Cee,
Barnet Ac still going today, and they own a lake just 15 minutes away from me.
You may well know this if your still a member. Borehamwood not that far from me either.
Barnet Ac still going today, and they own a lake just 15 minutes away from me.
You may well know this if your still a member. Borehamwood not that far from me either.
maurice walsh
Well-known member
my dad had me on the river with a 5ft rod by my 4th birthday, showed me float and ledger fishing from the very start, by 5 was freelineing and "bouncing worms" for trout in small fast streams, spinning came shortly after that , and before my 6th birthday had all on my own but with dad looking on, hooked, landed,unhooked and returned alive my first double figure pike, rivercraft was big with my dad also, what to look for and to see whats going on ,a lost art to some, never had for others.... the "awld boys" round my parish were a great help too,apart from new/modern gear i would still use mostly the old ways i was shown way back then, when i was striking out (allowed) on my own , 7ish, for a spot of fishing, my area was very popular with "the english" from april to october, i learned SOOOOO much from chatting to and watching them, started feeder fishing about this time with "the english's" help n gear and had at that stage started gillie'n for them, and getting better gear as payment by 8 i had my first salmon, by 15 i had unknown to myself, as records or hunting records was not a thing, specimen weights caught for perch, roach, bream, river pike, eel, n a funny silvery bream thingmg: roach/bream hybrid i think there called these days , other sports have come n gone e.g hurling, girls, rugby, girls, gymnastics, girls in leotards, rallying, girls in overalls, scuba/water skiing, girls in rubber, snow sports darts etc fishing has taken a back seat at times due to work/family and a host of other things, but has been and remains a constant in my life, i dont know any other thing that has been there as mine n mine alone for my lifetime so far, sorry for the long post but OP did askmg:, and im still learning my craft , hope'n to get to grips with the pole this year , may god have mercy on my poor battered soul for entering the black art lol lol lol lol
) on my own , 7ish, for a spot of fishing, my area was very popular with "the english" from april to october, i learned SOOOOO much from chatting to and watching them, started feeder fishing about this time with "the english's" help n gear and had at that stage started gillie'n for them, and getting better gear as payment by 8 i had my first salmon, by 15 i had unknown to myself, as records or hunting records was not a thing, specimen weights caught for perch, roach, bream, river pike, eel, n a funny silvery bream thingmg: roach/bream hybrid i think there called these days , other sports have come n gone e.g hurling, girls, rugby, girls, gymnastics, girls in leotards, rallying, girls in overalls, scuba/water skiing, girls in rubber, snow sports darts etc fishing has taken a back seat at times due to work/family and a host of other things, but has been and remains a constant in my life, i dont know any other thing that has been there as mine n mine alone for my lifetime so far, sorry for the long post but OP did askmg:, and im still learning my craft , hope'n to get to grips with the pole this year , may god have mercy on my poor battered soul for entering the black art lol lol lol lol
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steve2
Well-known member
Looking back we nearly always fished local places that could be cycled to. In my case South Weald lakes, Hainault lake, Bedfords Park ponds,River Roding. Hollow Ponds. The odd trip by train to places like Richmond on Thames or Kingston.
One thing I would say is don’t make the mistake of going back to them they are not as you remember them. Went to visit another one the other day it’s now £6 to park plus £7 to fish. Reason for these costs according to the website is to make sure that the paths and surroundings meet health and safety standards. Bit of a joke when the car park and road to it resembles a bombsite. This is the second place I revisited this year where the fishing is now so restricted in the name of conservation it's not worth the hassle.
One thing I would say is don’t make the mistake of going back to them they are not as you remember them. Went to visit another one the other day it’s now £6 to park plus £7 to fish. Reason for these costs according to the website is to make sure that the paths and surroundings meet health and safety standards. Bit of a joke when the car park and road to it resembles a bombsite. This is the second place I revisited this year where the fishing is now so restricted in the name of conservation it's not worth the hassle.
rich4930
Well-known member
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Good stories, see a lot of similarities with my beginnings
I was about 8 when I had my first rod, bought (so I'm told) via an offer on a packet of Weetabix!
My Dad knew nothing about fishing back then (though he did get into it too, later on) so I had little to guide me except what he'd vaguely heard. So that saw me sat at the side of the canal with a lump of smelly cheese on probably a size 4 hook. Needless to say, the perch bobber bobbed around a lot but never actually went under ;-)
But for some reason I was determined to succeed and stuck at it, always taking the rod with me on holiday. Couple of years later, on holiday in Suffolk, I think it was Thorpeness Meare where an angler told me about maggots and size 18 hooks - a whole new concept for me! A visit to the tackle shop soon had me geared up with appropriately and that afternoon I caught my first 7 or 8 roach/rudd. And like most, I was hooked thereafter!!
Early teenage years mostly on the local canal and various farm pits around where I lived in Cheshire, progressing to tench and bream in larger lakes, then carp and pike when I was 15/16 and the first overnight sessions at 16/17.
Sadly (in retrospect) I stopped fishing when I was about 22. Being into punk and alternative music, I ended up getting persuaded that fishing is a bad thing. I was also paying a shed load for PAAS but only going out 2 or 3 times a year, being more interested in music and beer ^^
But older and wiser now, I make my own decisions now about what's right and wrong, good and bad and after over 20 years break, I'm back again. Been fishing again for 3 years now but it's still almost like starting again from scratch. Cos now I'm in a different country (where the fishing culture is miles apart), live in the city and don't have a car. All different to how I once knew fishing.
What's still the same though is that addictive element of excitement and anticipation, never knowing what just might happen next...
I was about 8 when I had my first rod, bought (so I'm told) via an offer on a packet of Weetabix!
My Dad knew nothing about fishing back then (though he did get into it too, later on) so I had little to guide me except what he'd vaguely heard. So that saw me sat at the side of the canal with a lump of smelly cheese on probably a size 4 hook. Needless to say, the perch bobber bobbed around a lot but never actually went under ;-)
But for some reason I was determined to succeed and stuck at it, always taking the rod with me on holiday. Couple of years later, on holiday in Suffolk, I think it was Thorpeness Meare where an angler told me about maggots and size 18 hooks - a whole new concept for me! A visit to the tackle shop soon had me geared up with appropriately and that afternoon I caught my first 7 or 8 roach/rudd. And like most, I was hooked thereafter!!
Early teenage years mostly on the local canal and various farm pits around where I lived in Cheshire, progressing to tench and bream in larger lakes, then carp and pike when I was 15/16 and the first overnight sessions at 16/17.
Sadly (in retrospect) I stopped fishing when I was about 22. Being into punk and alternative music, I ended up getting persuaded that fishing is a bad thing. I was also paying a shed load for PAAS but only going out 2 or 3 times a year, being more interested in music and beer ^^
But older and wiser now, I make my own decisions now about what's right and wrong, good and bad and after over 20 years break, I'm back again. Been fishing again for 3 years now but it's still almost like starting again from scratch. Cos now I'm in a different country (where the fishing culture is miles apart), live in the city and don't have a car. All different to how I once knew fishing.
What's still the same though is that addictive element of excitement and anticipation, never knowing what just might happen next...
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Kevin Perkins
Well-known member
Well, Graham, we appear to have trodden the same paths....with Chesham being a coarse fish desert (although inexplicably, it had two shops selling fishing tackle) apart form the Park Pond, poaching on the Chess was the only option. Although I did hatch a cunning plan to go out with with the Latimer Park gamekeepers daughter in order to possibly get access to both her and the fishing and after stumping up for a very expensive Chinese meal I got nowhere on either count...
Other than that it was on the bike to the GUC at Berkhamsptead and Cow Roast or Tring Reservoirs. Train to Rickmansworth for the Colne or the Aquadrome. Bus to Windsor for the Thames, or back on the bike for the Thames at Cookham or Black Park Lake near Gerrards Cross (famously used in Hammer Horror films, amongst others and a genuinely scary place at night for a youngster)
Its amazing to think that many of us on here may have come across each other early on in our fishing adventures without ever knowing.
Graham Elliott 1
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Kevin.
Chesham Park pond. Guilty M'lud.
And all the Thames bits. Yes. I am sure I could add a few more. Other early bits included the
Roses Lime factory canal bit at Hemel, where the river flows in and under mad roundabout for good roach....many strange looks from drivers!
And the dodgy Greenford Canal. Always under pylons it seems.
Chesham Park pond. Guilty M'lud.
And all the Thames bits. Yes. I am sure I could add a few more. Other early bits included the
Roses Lime factory canal bit at Hemel, where the river flows in and under mad roundabout for good roach....many strange looks from drivers!
And the dodgy Greenford Canal. Always under pylons it seems.
theartist
Well-known member
I like many other it seems started out on the Gade at Croxley and Cassiobury park and I still fish them to this day. Back then they were the only rivers we could get to by train as we had no car, we once did the bus to Northolt to fish the GUC - never again. We didn't have a clue what we were doing till I watched a guy trotting hemp and maggots. After a while dad got a company van he could use but it was still the Gade as that was such a good river back in the day putting our new found skills to good use. When I got my first car the world seemed a much smaller place and for a poor kid from a London council estate going to places like the Thames and Colne seemed like going to another world.
peter crabtree
AKA Simon, 1953 - 2022 (RIP)
Started sea fishing on holidays as a kid but never caught much. Living in Harrow in the early 60's I'd often cycle to the GUC at Greenford but never caught much.
Moved to SW Herts in my early teens and was surrounded by rivers, the canal and many lakes.
Met Son of Meldrew at school and he introduced me to the Gade in Cassiobury park and Croxley moor. Occasionally we'd visit the Aquadrome to fish the lakes and the nearby canal. SoM was a very good float angler and taught me many of his techniques, I called him Mr Crabtree hence my forum name....
I still live in the area and funnily enough I met him this morning in the Aquadrome car park to fish the Colne but it was persisting down with rain and blowing a hooly so we aborted.....
Moved to SW Herts in my early teens and was surrounded by rivers, the canal and many lakes.
Met Son of Meldrew at school and he introduced me to the Gade in Cassiobury park and Croxley moor. Occasionally we'd visit the Aquadrome to fish the lakes and the nearby canal. SoM was a very good float angler and taught me many of his techniques, I called him Mr Crabtree hence my forum name....
I still live in the area and funnily enough I met him this morning in the Aquadrome car park to fish the Colne but it was persisting down with rain and blowing a hooly so we aborted.....
Keith M
Well-known member
I have lived in and around Borehamwood since 1953 apart from the 11 years I spent in the RN.
I have also belonged to Barnet AC in the past and Colney lakes are just a couple of miles from me.
I am now a member of Verulum AC and also a member of Tykes Water AC. who's estate lake I was awarded a lifetimes membership to.
Maybe we might all get together on the bank one day soon.
Keith
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