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Post by suggsy on Nov 7, 2014 16:21:10 GMT
I've not been able to even see 26s for some years! Can't believe I used to tie hooks that small, and without a hooktyer. My first rod was a 6 foot solid glass effort which I only chucked last year. I "upgraded" to a 3 section 9 foot rod, again solid glass and white coloured! My next one was a 12 foot Daiwa float rod which was hollow fibre glass- that one went in the wheel spokes of my bike, sending me over the handlebars. I started out with a wooden box- it was a toolbox in a previous life. My brolly was one of my Mum's rejects, I remember holding the brolly with one hand and holding the rod in the other. I believe I still have my original small wicker basket in the loft- my lad used it when he was a youngster- he used to go round the bank with the basket round his neck shouting "Hot Pies!" (he'd seen something similar at Bramall Lane football matches). Now that was embarrassing. Can't believe how everything was done on a next to nothing budget in those days including catching service buses to the fishing spots, or walking there if it was less than a couple of miles away (no car. Then you see posts where people are spending 2 grand on a new pole.....(my first pole cost me a quid, from a mate!) I carnt even see the price on a packet of 26s ..need mi glasses on now to thread mi line ..all these posts bring back great memories for me though ..when I was a nipper my mum used to take me and spend all day behind me knitting just so I could fish ..and I've even known her tie a rope round my waist and to nearest tree in case I fell in ..later on in life there was probably times she wishes she hasn't bothered lol ..
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Post by suggsy on Nov 7, 2014 16:24:34 GMT
put it on then was there as well Wish I knew how to mate .off topic but seen him over twenty times and that was probably the best .
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Post by suggsy on Nov 7, 2014 16:34:41 GMT
Still got mi old fellas Edgar sealey split cane rod .he had some barbel out of boston spa on that beast .we should have a social match and ban carbon ..just for old times sake or only tackle over 40 year old allowed ..with the exception of knotted nets ..lol
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Post by zathras on Nov 7, 2014 16:42:53 GMT
Yes Suggsy, my Mum used to take me up to Damflask just north of Sheffield on the bus when I was young. We went nearly every weekend in the Summer and had some good days fishing. She still comes with us occasionally, and they've been known to disappear in the car and spend my weekly allowance into the bargain! - I daren't take a rope these days or they would use it.
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tj65
Junior Member
Posts: 93
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Post by tj65 on Nov 8, 2014 15:45:32 GMT
Anyone know if there is a chatroom on here or do you have a link ?
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Post by crofton blade on Nov 8, 2014 16:23:17 GMT
Not aware of a chatroom. There's a Facebook page- Yorkshire Fishing, which is a closed group.
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Post by bobj on Nov 9, 2014 0:14:15 GMT
Late '40s at Pontefract, fishing with an uncle. He used to take me out, I think it was Kippax way, for pike for the table (still had ration books and fish supplemented the meat, well, 14 in the family)
Moved to British West Bradford in the early 50s and fished with the very heavy ex army tank aerials and a couple of old centrepin reels I found on a tip. Added the guides and butts myself. Mainly fished for pike and redfin.
Cheers, Bobj.
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Post by neptune on Nov 9, 2014 18:57:18 GMT
Used to fish Navigation road on the Foss in York, during the winter when the power station was discharging warm water into the river during the late 6OS. Anglers used to come from all over Yorkshire, the roach fishing was incredible.
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Post by spdysnr on Nov 27, 2014 19:21:34 GMT
who remembers the northern anglers hand book
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Post by BOF on Nov 28, 2014 10:16:28 GMT
Remember it? I still have one! BOF
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Post by crofton blade on Nov 28, 2014 13:36:00 GMT
What was it cos I dont remember it. Maybe I was too midlandish being from Derbyshire.
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Post by jerseyman on Nov 28, 2014 19:59:16 GMT
You lot have some memories!! Shame its not possible to collect and sticky somewhere " memories from the river bank"
Nafs comment on going fishing rather than catching illustrated the reality of fishing up north in the late 60's though, whilst there were some good fish around, i rarely caught one as a kid.It is actually funny, that one of my clearest recollections is of losing a big roach ,in the pylon swim at Roecliffe, due to my amateur hooktying. Brother had me tying hooks every night the following week as both punishmeent and practice.
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Post by spdysnr on Nov 28, 2014 20:22:24 GMT
a directory of fishing venues in the north of England, where to get day tickets /private and club stretches what to expect catch wise, type of water
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Post by pdcourier on Nov 28, 2014 23:00:50 GMT
oh the memories just came flooding back.i was lucky enough to have peter hardcastle and bobby becks try to teach me and our pete to fish back in the late fifties,early sixties,peter was wrestling then to get spends for the weekend matches,and his big cigars,we used to be fishing on the barge yard every night after school,summer into winter.we used to scrounge lifts with any club who had a spare seat on the bus for any match ,we travelled all over ,and met almost everyone who was anyone back in the day,i was given loaded wagglers by ivan marks at coombe abbey lake,and a bloodworm rig and float by kevin ashurst at roundhay. golden days when the best pegs were the longest walks,and we saved embassy coupons to get a basket,catching a few fish was a bonus.the swale was full of tommys, wharfe had loads of eels ,and commercial waters had not been spoken of ,but we had loads of fun ,i can remember going to les silverwoods in hyde park road for a tanners worth of solids (maggots without sawdust) and pimping for roach,fishing on top with a matchstick,also i remember jolly harding a man who told us kids how he caught massive catches wherever he fished,i never did see his name in the angling times though.i have had almost sixty years enjoying this sport of ours ,and i hope others will enjoy it in the same way.tight lines to you all.
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Post by BOF on Nov 29, 2014 14:23:12 GMT
The golden days may seem rubbish to anyone born after 1990, but no doubt you too will have your own golden memories in good time. Here is another of mine:- Back in the mid 70's Carp were still fairly rare beasts up here. So when we came across a lily covered lake on the way to the Derwent we had to have a quick look "just in case". You see everyone fished rivers in those days, only going on to lakes when the rivers were in flood, 'cause we didn't (couldn't?) leger. No it was always float fishing for most folk, (there, that in itself is another golden memory). So we stopped off for a look round and were entranced. It only took an occasional glimpse of a large shadow or a twitch of a reed stem to convince us we needed to have a day on the place the next time the rivers were "unfishable". It didn't take long before we were back, various so called "Carp" rods in hand, and in our rucksacks the latest very secret bait that was hammering the fish down south, Sweetcorn! Amazingly this staple of specialist anglers for the last 20 years or more was not herd of in Northern angling circles, you used Maggots, Worms, or Bread in some form, end of story! Anyway, we climbed over the fence, and split up for our intended swims. For me it had to be a swim right over the far side of the lake near the end of the big lily bed, (I was an awkward so and so even then), whilst the others found open water to have a go in. I say swim, but in fact mine was only a small gap in the lily pads, but you see there is one thing about lilies, they may look solid, but underneath it can be open water with only the odd stem here and there, and fish can give away their presence by knocking away at the leaves as they confidently feed. This was what I had seen on the earlier visit that had alerted me to that area of the lake. So I dropped a handful of Corn between the pads, followed by my baited hook right under my rod tip, (that's another thing, we freelined in those days, no weights or shot, just your hook). Of course we had no heavy indicators to clip on the line, just a tiny lump of bread paste squeezed onto the line, or in my case kitchen foil which had been rolled round a broom handle to give it shape. This had the advantage of rustling as it was pulled over the grass when the line tightened. Which it eventually did of course, and then the fun started. I say fun, but in reality it was a few moments of pure adrenalin fuelled terror, as the clutch on my Mitchell 300 simply jammed solid, (if you ever see John Wilson on TV he ALWAYS tests the clutch on his reels, by riving on his line. Now you know why! John like me used to use Mitchell's back in the day). Anyway the fish went off, and my 1 1/2lb tc "carp" rod hooped over so fast I couldn't believe what I saw, and the clutch wouldn't give any line! Of course I should have released the anti-reverse lever, but by this time I was on my knees thrusting the rod tip under the pads and hanging on to the rod with both hands, and didn't have one spare. It didn't last of course, even 10lb Maxima will break eventually in those circumstances, and it did. Much to my dismay I was left without a hook and with only a short length of curly line fluttering from my rod tip. I wasn't to get another sniff all day, despite dropping into several swims, but it didn't matter I'd had that golden moment, which has stayed with me for these 40 years or more. It may not seem much to anyone these carp infested days, but then I was overjoyed that I had even been briefly attached to such a wonderfully powerful fish. BOF
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Post by gazmc on Nov 29, 2014 16:05:32 GMT
Good memory phil is then water still here now and if so what is it called.
Gaz
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Post by BOF on Nov 29, 2014 16:26:50 GMT
PM sent Gaz. BOF
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Post by crofton blade on Nov 29, 2014 19:25:27 GMT
And did you go back and catch that carp Phil?
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Post by BOF on Nov 30, 2014 17:37:12 GMT
No I wish I had, but as I said we usually fished rivers unless they were flooded, and it never seemed the right time. BOF
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Post by jerseyman on Nov 30, 2014 21:20:13 GMT
oh the memories just came flooding back.i was lucky enough to have peter hardcastle and bobby becks try to teach me and our pete to fish back in the late fifties,early sixties,peter was wrestling then to get spends for the weekend matches,and his big cigars,we used to be fishing on the barge yard every night after school,summer into winter.we used to scrounge lifts with any club who had a spare seat on the bus for any match ,we travelled all over ,and met almost everyone who was anyone back in the day,i was given loaded wagglers by ivan marks at coombe abbey lake,and a bloodworm rig and float by kevin ashurst at roundhay. golden days when the best pegs were the longest walks,and we saved embassy coupons to get a basket,catching a few fish was a bonus.the swale was full of tommys, wharfe had loads of eels ,and commercial waters had not been spoken of ,but we had loads of fun ,i can remember going to les silverwoods in hyde park road for a tanners worth of solids (maggots without sawdust) and pimping for roach,fishing on top with a matchstick,also i remember jolly harding a man who told us kids how he caught massive catches wherever he fished,i never did see his name in the angling times though.i have had almost sixty years enjoying this sport of ours ,and i hope others will enjoy it in the same way.tight lines to you all. " pimping for roach" now's thats a phrase you don't hear these days!! as a thought any one still got one of those plastic floats with the little gold top and the 2 holes punched in the flattened bottom?
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Post by crofton blade on Dec 3, 2014 17:35:41 GMT
In our club in the seventies were a couple of older guys- they were always assigned pegs 1 and 2, and a lad with one leg- he lost the other in a motorbiking accident and had an artificial leg. He refused to have a peg near the bus as he was a really good angler and wanted to fish with the rest of us and have a fair crack at the draw. So the rule was that if you were drawn next to him, you helped him with his tackle. I drew next to him just the once- on Popeams Eau at Three Holes- he on peg 40 and me on 39. What a caper. In those days we each had the wicker basket and a holdhall, then your nets in one hand and a big bucket, full of groundbait in the other hand. The one legged lad had the same set up so you can imagine what it was like getting 2 lots of tackle down the bank, over stiles for 40 pegs- so about 3/4 mile. Everyone else did a runner and I was left to lug all this gear on my own. When we got to the pegs I was absolutely bu$$ered. Saw my peg and it was overgrown with rushes. Looked like no one had fished it for years, I couldn't even see the water! 5 hours later, a lot of reed chopping, stung by a wasp, only caught a few roach and it was time to carry all the tackle back up to the bus- I think I recruited some help going back. To top it all my mate won the match with a stonking net of bream. I've never been in such a foul mood since! Same one legged lad was dropped off the bus after another match and we looked back to see him stuck in the middle of the main A61 Sheffield to Chesterfield Road. His metal leg had seized up and he was stuck. We had to drag him across the road to safety. Johnny Ball- if you're reading- we loved ye!
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Post by BOF on Dec 4, 2014 19:16:17 GMT
Ya got to give respect where it's due, well done those guys. BOF
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Post by Phil Rogers on Dec 9, 2014 18:00:11 GMT
I concentrated on carp for a brief spell in the 70's so BOF's reminisce brought back some memories Virtually all carp used to grab your bait and charge off in those days so we all fished with little or no weight and an open bail arm on the old 300. I tried the foil tube initially but invariably ended up with a foil encrusted, jammed spool! My patented bite indicator was a piece of paper or thin card folded over the line and set on a cut down tin can- a small pebble weighing it down. When the line took off the pebble and card fell off and made a fairly noisy indication - well that was the general idea! Still recall getting card jammed under bail arm on occasion tho Some clever people started to come up with better ideas in later years such as monkey climbers, swingers and electronics but by then I'd turned my attention to other species Looking back I sometimes wonder at the simplicity of the way we fished and how we improvised to solve problems. The amount of gear available nowadays to cover every eventuality, especially in carp fishing, is mind blowing
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Post by 3x2 on Dec 17, 2014 20:12:57 GMT
Crofton: Who can remember the Olden (golden?) Days of Fishing?
I was thinking today of what it was like back in the late sixties and early seventies for us older anglers.
Well you certainly wouldn't be fishing The Calder back then! Check the 'Fisherman's handbook' circa late 70's. Short version - no fish in the river beyond Cooper Bridge. This was true into the 90's.
Getting 'yer thing on' for Barbel back then would have marked you out as a complete muppet.
In short, there has never been a 'golden era' for anyone alive today. It is all 'summer was much better when I was a kid'. Honestly - our rivers (round here) have never been cleaner than they are now. We should recognise and appreciate this fact.
I've been fishing for a long time and I can guarantee that there has never been a better time for anglers (around here, at least). Hopefully new anglers will find an even better world.
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Post by zathras on Dec 17, 2014 20:35:36 GMT
I had a 'golden era' in the later 60's,70's and 80's though I didn't fish in Yorkshire much. I spent my days on the Trent, Witham, Welland and the Fen drains. Mainly match fishing but many happy hours pleasure fishing ! A fair amount of my fishing was in the Winter as well (especially on the dreaded Canals !!!). I agree the rivers are now a lot cleaner and the fish stocks seem to be thriving, but the Trent was better when there was a permanent tinge and the Power Stations were operating.
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Post by jerseyman on Dec 21, 2014 20:42:12 GMT
I sense a great reluctance for anyone to disagree with 3x2. Got to agree on the calder, but as for the rest of the Yorks rivers, i never struggled catching small fish[gudgeon/tommies etc] and would always find someone catching dace or chub, barbel i agree were strange secretive things that only lived at Topcliffe or the lower wharfe, there were even only a few small ones at Cowthorpe in them days. I personally feel, that with the exception of the calder, and to an extent the lower aire, the Yorks Rivers have really taken a battering from all angles and whilst they may be "cleaner" and have some big fish, the bread and butter fishing is only just seeing a recovery in some areas over the last 2-3 yrs. This is purely based on my now infrequent visits, so i understand some may be critical, but i would point out that the middle /upper aire is a shadow of the 80's, the middle wharfe is just showing small signs of recovery, and the middle nidd isn't as good as it used to be.As for the middle ure, its hard if not impossible to find a chub below Newby Hall, until you get to Boro. All the above were my basic go to Stretches for 20yrs,and on and off since and they don't seem to be as good as they use to be.
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Post by Spudgun on Dec 21, 2014 22:02:25 GMT
Don't know , only 45 so not got as many years in as some of our more expierienced members, plus my early angling years were on what you lot consider the wrong side of the hill. Grew up in Oldham fishing mainly still waters, the local canals, the Rochdale canal near where I lived and the narrow canal at Uppermill/Greenfield, With the odd dabble in the river Tame for the trout and course fish lower down when the canal was off. Used to go with my dad and his mates but after my parents divorced when I was 6 I had to teach myself , probably explains a lot of my errors today but had loads of great days with roach and perch on the canal and pike sessions with mates at Ogden res at Newhey, took a 12lb home one year as a teenager and left the head in a bucket thinking the flies would strip it with maggots and I would have a pike skull for my bedroom but next doors cat got into it while it was rancid and poisoned itself , got my tanned for that one when my mum found out but she didn't tell the neighbours. At the time the narrow canal was un navigable, from lock to lock you used to be able to pick your target fish and whenever it was quiet we used to have half hour gudgeon matches, the canal was carpeted with them. Good few overgrown stretches on it too, especially in the middle of Greenfield, where the match lads would be pole fishing a pinkie on a 1/2 pond bottom to buy a bite I used to go all out with a small worm on a 12 at dead bottom and hope my two or three chub and bream would beat a netful of bits.
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Post by crofton blade on Dec 21, 2014 22:35:52 GMT
I had a 'golden era' in the later 60's,70's and 80's though I didn't fish in Yorkshire much. I spent my days on the Trent, Witham, Welland and the Fen drains. Mainly match fishing but many happy hours pleasure fishing ! A fair amount of my fishing was in the Winter as well (especially on the dreaded Canals !!!). I agree the rivers are now a lot cleaner and the fish stocks seem to be thriving, but the Trent was better when there was a permanent tinge and the Power Stations were operating. Likewise for me- must be because we are from the south end of the region- Derbyshire in my case. The places we used to love are actually much worse now than they were in the 60s and 70s. The Welland and Witham are just not fished now- weeded up and not many fish, abandoned by both anglers and the EA. The fen drains such as the Middle Level are hardly fished too, well compared with the olden days they aren't, except for pike and the odd bream angler. That's the trade off I guess- these places were popular and well looked after because of the S.Yorks and Derbys anglers leasing them and fishing them because we had so few other places to fish. Local rivers like the Don, Dearne and Rother were grossly polluted. I had to travel up to the Wharfe for my first barbel. Good points about the Calder, I only moved up here in 1995 so missed the days of the Calder (and Don) being rainbow coloured and full of froth, although I have plenty of people reminding me of that. So lucky that its now back from the dead and on my doorstep.
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Post by crofton blade on Dec 29, 2014 15:00:08 GMT
After reading on the forum of one of the match lads paying £350 for a new fishing suit I got to thinking about what I wear, or rather used to wear for matches. Can you believe I spent most of the seventies wearing a light blue factory boiler suit (hand me down) and a black donkey jacket, with safety pins instead of buttons, which had fallen off. Topped off with a woolly hat and plastic green visor. Back then the donkey jacket was the height of fashion, well it was in Chesterfield anyway (some would say that it still is!), and most had NCB (National Coal Board) written on the back. I've improved my attire a little since then- the donkey jacket was retired a few years ago- but can't bring myself to pay top money for a suit just for fishing.
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Post by suggsy on Dec 29, 2014 15:14:24 GMT
Bradford city fans still wear em ..lol ...I'm with u rich ...only fishing clothes I have is wot my mate gives me and that's only cos he.s sponsored by daiwa ...and wot I've got cheap off evil bay ...
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