The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Reading:

"Be Quiet and Go A-Angling" by BB. Lovely book. In it he talks about a Pond which was on their childhood homes' land.

BB as a child, I think, lived in here:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.36414 ... 312!8i6656

To the Northwest of this house, (which is next to All Saints Church), feasibly in the Church/Rectory grounds, is a lovely looking pond: I guess this was the pond referred to in the book. Look here:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.36493 ... a=!3m1!1e3

Zoomed in look of pond.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.36676 ... a=!3m1!1e3

Also, in the book above, he discusses a pond he owned referred to as Thorney Pond - I wonder whether this is the same as Wood Pool? He describes it as having woods by it and Blackthorns. (Probably not).

I'm now trying to track down his Uncles 3 acre pond in Oxfordshire which was resurrected by his Uncle after being drained.

I love ponds!

Mark

Looks like a lovely village and surrounding area. I think they had a BB exhibition at Lamport Hall a little while ago. I wish I had made more of an effort to visit.

Good Lord, I haven't read that book yet and so didn't realise it but he lived up the road from me (I mean literally) I lived in Brackley before moving to Wales in 1980 at the ripe old age of 8. Brackley is on the A43 which turns into the A45 which leads to Lamport.

Small world.

I've been meaning to join the BB society but I can't afford to at this present moment...times are hard. I need a lotto win.

Here's a link to a recent image of wood pool which, if I recall correctly, is somewhere off the A45.
viewtopic.php?f=25&t=14943

I don't think BB owned it, so probably not the same as the other pool you mentioned.

I'd be interested to know what you find out about the Oxfordshire pool, being my neck of the woods.

Re Oxford Pool.

I've drawn a blank. There are the following good clues however.

The pool outfall falls into the Blythie Brook - some way downstream was a mill (BB used to poach the Brook).
It was in BB's uncles house - was called Blakesay Park
It's in Oxfordshire
Blakesay Park is about 3 miles from a station

It was dry for years and BB uncle re-watered it (via it's Monk Sluice).

You would have thought with that info I could locate it.......... I can't even find Bythie Brook!

Check out the current issue of Carpworld (Jan 2016). My Historic Carp Waters feature is all about Wood Pool and how BB developed this fishery from being a neglected, disused pool into a carp haven.

Great article as always Chris..... Interested to be reminded that BB broke his walker MkIV above the ferrule! Was the rod repaired or does it now have a few inches missing?

Best wishes for 2016 squire - hope to meet up!
Skeff

Thanks Skeff... it’s an interesting point you bring up. Knowing the story of the one that got away and broke BB’s rod in the process at Wood Pool, was in the back of my mind when I first saw his Walker-built MkIV back in the mid 1980s at his home. And then later when Chris Sandford purchased the rod from Len Arbery. It is not repaired or any shorter than it should be. I can only conclude that BB must have been using a different rod when the incident happened in 1957.