Len Arbery's Traditional Landing Nets

Traditional landing nets large and small.
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Nigel Rainton
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Re: Len Arbery's Traditional Landing Nets

Post by Nigel Rainton »

Great post. It's always good to put this stuff into writing for posterity. Thanks :-)

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Barbulus
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Re: Len Arbery's Traditional Landing Nets

Post by Barbulus »

Great post and great photos ! Enjoyed that !

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The Sweetcorn Kid
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Re: Len Arbery's Traditional Landing Nets

Post by The Sweetcorn Kid »

A marvellous post, well done Len and Mark.

Oh, and the net (John's) is is still very much in service. I have it at the moment. Here is a recent Redmire carp nestled among the mesh.

Image
SK
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LuckyLuca
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Re: Len Arbery's Traditional Landing Nets

Post by LuckyLuca »

What a great thread!
Fantastic history and pictures, thank you Len!
I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
I felt the earth beneath my feet
Sat by the river and it made me complete.

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Len Arbery
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Re: Len Arbery's Traditional Landing Nets

Post by Len Arbery »

Sorry for the delay in reply - been away with CatMaster Tours, fishing the Ebro/Segre rivers, in Spain.

Thanks once more for the kind comments.

Hello S K,

Thanks for the picture of John Carver's net, glad to learn it is still performing well; as are other nets of mine - biggest recent carp I'm aware of being a previously unknown 46lb 8oz mirror! (Publicity restrictions preventing me providing any further details. Sorry.)

And well done on your recent Redmire fish.

Besties,

Len.

Hugo Curgudgeon

Re: Len Arbery's Traditional Landing Nets

Post by Hugo Curgudgeon »

Brilliant stuff! Many thanks.

Regards,

Hugo

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Len Arbery
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Re: Len Arbery's Traditional Landing Nets

Post by Len Arbery »

Hello All,

Another detail pertaining to B.James & Son nets has come to mind that may be of interest.

Some of these nets were originally supplied with alloy spreaders; the two I know of personally were Bill Quinlan's and Cliff Glenton's. (Cliff took over the James' shop in Northfield Avenue, Ealing; and was also a noted carp fisher in his own right; later becoming the President of Ruislip Angling Club, and largely responsible for their water, Savay, becoming the renowned carp water it ultimately did.)

The pics below are of the actual spreader supplied with Bill Quinlan's B. James net.

Image

Image

Image

Besties,

Len.

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Len Arbery
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Re: Len Arbery's Traditional Landing Nets

Post by Len Arbery »

Hello All,

In answer to some queries, more info. on B. James' Landing Nets:

The original cane arms on these came in at least two standard lengths; 30inch and 36inch. The original handles (personally measured) being 5 foot, plus or minus a couple of inches.

I've seen two colours of whippings; black and maroon/red, you know, the usual later B. James rod whippings colour.

Detail of Bill Quinlan and Jack Hilton's B. James landing nets. NB. the brass loops are 'crosswise' on Jack's (black whipping), and 'edgewise' on Bill's, which I copied faithfully as original.

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Perhaps, it would also be of interest to see further pictures of the landing nets owned by these iconic anglers:

Bill's held by Greg Fletcher.

Image

And Jack's.

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Blocks; Jack's on the left.

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Handles; Bill's top. Some early carp anglers, such as Bill, Jack, Alec Lewis & Bill Keal, inscribed their carp successes on their handles, as seen here. The spreaders shown are replacements made by me, the oak centres being fashioned from Redmire's original dam rail. (Tufnol as originally made is now difficult, if not impossible to obtain, the stuff generally available now is a substitute, the latter used on Bill's.

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Spreaders: L - R: My replacement for Bill's; the B.James original; and a solid oak example recently created for Chris Ball, with wood from Redmire's original dam rail.

Image

This spreader, having chamfered edges, is I suggest, not standard B. James.

Image



Besties,

Len.

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Champ
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Re: Len Arbery's Traditional Landing Nets

Post by Champ »

Mark wrote:Thanks for all this historic info Len. :Hat:
Yes indeed.Fascinating information.Many thanks Len :Hat: again.

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The Sweetcorn Kid
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Re: Len Arbery's Traditional Landing Nets

Post by The Sweetcorn Kid »

Superb Len, thanks very much for posting such jewels!!
SK
The Compleat Tangler

“Imagination is the real magic that exists in this world. Look inwards to see outwards. And capture it in writing.”

Nigel 'Fennel' Hudson



Click here for my Youtube Channel...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeoyLH ... 5H4u8sTDgA

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