The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Agree very much with MightyMaggot. Gibbinson's 1968 book was released at a pivotal moment in carp-fishing evolution. A lot of the Walker School advice still applied, thankfully, but the very first "new" baits were just appearing on the scene, such as sausagemeat and catfoods/dogfoods. It was also an era when fishing at night offered a good chance of being totally alone. Happy days indeed...

My carp fishing was in the mid-seventies, when the waters I fished were gin clear and you could see fish in fairly deep water taking the bait! I had three rods I made from Gerry Savage blanks, and Heron bite indicators. I still have the Herons but the rods split around the ferrules. Bait was generally bread or luncheon meat, or lobworm, and a big innovation then was low-water salmon hooks. Happy days.

In 1971 in north-west Kent 8lb maxima was the go-to mono. Mind you, on most gravel pits there, hardly a snag could be found to question such light lines. Plus carp seldom grew above c25 pounds, so that helped too. With hindsight, the practice of burying the hook deeply within a large lump of paste, combined with the elasticity of mono, meant that trying to set the hook at long range resulted in far too many missed 'runs'. One winces at the the memory! What catches could have been made with (light) braid and side-hooking....

Pre 80s down here it Kent I started with two 9ft 1lb swingtip rods on 8lb line. Then we stepped up to using 8lb-10lb Maxima, rods were 1 1/2 TC 10ft glass or cane, on the Heron bite alarms.

I remember fishing Priory Park Lake in Southend and local anglers going off to fetch their mates to look at the strange fishermen with two identical rods.

And the park keeper ( complete with peaked cap) "suggesting" I should stop fishing from the island