Quest for Carp by Jack Hilton

[Davyr]

Wey Navigation 1963.jpg

1st carp! Aug 65.jpg

Photos as requested!

[Mark]

What lovely pictures Davyr thank you for sharing them with us. :thumb:

I can remember as I kid fishing our local canal, we had many a good day there.

[The Sweetcorn Kid]

Brilliant, thanks for posting. :thumb:

[Snape]

I had that keepnet!

[Weyfarer]

I've still got one of those keepnets!!

DavyR, is that the lock cutting next to the Yvonne Arnoud theatre at Guildford?

[J.T]

Brilliant pictures Davyr, thanks for sharing.

[Davyr]

DavyR, is that the lock cutting next to the Yvonne Arnoud theatre at Guildford?

Yes, that's the one - my first fish on rod and line came from there in 1963, but instead of the perch I'd hoped for, it was a minnow! Followed, I might say, by many more before I finally caught a perch...

[Gary Bills]

Just magical!

[Weyfarer]

DavyR, is that the lock cutting next to the Yvonne Arnoud theatre at Guildford?

Yes, that's the one - my first fish on rod and line came from there in 1963, but instead of the perch I'd hoped for, it was a minnow! Followed, I might say, by many more before I finally caught a perch...

So far so good. On my way home from school I would walk down Rosemary Alley, across the Shalford road by Bice Bellair's ballet school, past the waterworks and thence to where you are pictured fishing. Year would be late 50s so we don't overlap. But....what school did you go to, mine was Holy Trinity at the bottom of Pewley Hill.

[Davyr]

But....what school did you go to, mine was Holy Trinity at the bottom of Pewley Hill.

I lived (and went to primary school) in West Norwood, in South-East London! After two unsuccessful fishing trips on the Thames at Chertsey and Hampton Court, my Dad (who wasn't an angler) asked a work colleague (who was) for advice, and he suggested trying the Wey.

Dad had an old motorbike and sidecar combination, so we all piled in (Dad on the bike, Grandad on the pillion, Gran in the back and Mum and I squashed in the front of the sidecar) and headed off down the A3 for the first of many trips to Guildford.

I used to fish while the others had a picnic on the grassy area between the river and the canalised stretch. It was some time before I felt confident enough to cross the grass and fish proper running water and even longer before I progressed from minnows and dace to the chub that lurked under the trees on the opposite bank.

Happy days!