The Golden Age Of Canal Angling

Watched a good fishing film lately, why not talk about it in here.
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OldTackle
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Re: The Golden Age Of Canal Angling

Post by OldTackle »

Thank you for this. Nice one. But instead the 300 I would rather use the 308. At least as long you're not after a double figure carp :surrender:
< °) >>><( Christopher )><<< (° >

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Tench Dreamer
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Re: The Golden Age Of Canal Angling

Post by Tench Dreamer »

Hardy rod ? .....as JA said the Rolls Royce ...I do love canal fishing and of course he was spot on " Plumbing up " most important part of the fishing trip .. Also wonder when someone last fished the Camberwell canal ?

Thanks for posting

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Stathamender
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Re: The Golden Age Of Canal Angling

Post by Stathamender »

[quote=" Also wonder when someone last fished the Camberwell canal ?

Thanks for posting[/quote]
Probably in the 50s as a canal, most of the Grand Surrey Canal, as it was known then, was abandoned and then filled in in the 60s and made into roads. I lived in Deptford for four years in the late 70s before the Docklands development started and the last bit of the canal connecting to the Greenland Dock (London's oldest surviving dock) was still there then although the whole area was derelict apart from a pub run by a notorious (and very obnoxious) local criminal - who later died of stab wounds after an incident at a boxing match leading to a protracted round of retaliation shootings. Deptford was quite a scary place back in those days, not least with the Millwall fans who infested the area. Much of The Long Good Friday was shot round there and it was also a regular for exteriors of things like Minder. The area around that part of Deptford Lower Road (which is mentioned in the clip) is now called Surrey Quays. The Greenland Dock still survives, yuppified, and there may well be fish in there as its locked off from the Thames by another small dock.

Part of the canal and most of the Camberwell basin still survive in a new form as the lake in Burgess Park and there are certainly fish in there.

And here's what the Camberwell Basin looked like 80 years ago: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/new ... ell-n05343
Iain

What is your favourite word?
I suspect it could be “love”, despite its drawbacks in the rhyming department.
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Nobby
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Re: The Golden Age Of Canal Angling

Post by Nobby »

John Andrews is the organiser these days, of the twice annually Tackle Fair at Redditch.
He also has a blog, a website for his 'shop'...and is a member of this forum too.




http://www.andrewsofarcadia.com/

http://www.andrewsofarcadiascrapbook.blogspot.co.uk/

http://andrewsofarcadiascrapbook.blogsp ... rch?q=fair

You can't put a value on John's work...his blog was the inspiration for my own with its images of long forgotten fishing tackle. He once posted a few words about R G Edwards, of Black Seal fame ( ish) and I had one of those 'Eureka!' moments as I thought it'll all be forgotten soon if someone doesn't start assembling something........

Over the next 3 years I amassed something like 16GB of tackle images .....and I've barely scratched the surface.....and may even get some of them on the blog before I die. :shocked:

At least I have someone else to blame........ :Hat:

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Stathamender
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Re: The Golden Age Of Canal Angling

Post by Stathamender »

I'm rather sceptical about claims for Golden Ages (other than The Golden Age of Rock and Roll) and certainly my memories of canal fishing in the 50s and 60s on canals like the Leeds and Liverpool and the Lancaster are a little less than golden. I'd make a claim that there's a plausible case to be made that we are living in one of the best eras for canal fishing right now: pollution is much less than it was, access probably easier, many canals were in a bad state back then and some at least have now been restored and there's a wider variety of fish to be had (who caught carp in canals in the 50s?). Maybe it was a Golden Age back then because of the people who did the fishing: Billy Lane, Fred Foster, Ivan Marks and the rest of the Leicester gang, the Ashursts pere et fils etc, etc.

Anyway it's off to either the Chesterfield or the Earl Fitzwilliam for me tomorrow.
Iain

What is your favourite word?
I suspect it could be “love”, despite its drawbacks in the rhyming department.
Björn Ulvaeus

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Tench Dreamer
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Re: The Golden Age Of Canal Angling

Post by Tench Dreamer »

Im inclined to agree . I ve talked to friends who fished the grand Union in west London in the 50s . Regents in East London in the 50s and East Midlands in the same period ... It was great fun , but waters were dirty and fish small ... Tackle scarce . Compared to today the rod bending side of commercials ...its a different league ...But its people's history and and personal stories ( we all have some of sorts ) and they are worth weight in rose tinted gold ... The canals are much cleaner now . I love em personally

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