Bygone Times Re-visited

[AllRounder]

Thanks for posting a great read just in time for the chubbing season!

[Grumpy]

I really enjoyed that.As Allrounder wrote "just in time for the chubbing season!"

[Stour Otter]

Editorial from ANGLING, Written by anglers for anglers - May1956. Price: 1/6p
Finicky Roach From The Lea
by Dennis Gander

IN his stimulating book This Fishing, Capt. L.A. Parker says: "I don't think I have ever fished a water where roach are so difficult to catch as in the Lea." I learned my craft on that river, and still get among its roach with regularity; without a doubt the statement is perfectly true. Although as time passes my catches increase, in both quality and number, the roach are none the easier to capture. Each visit to the Hertfordshire Lea is different, even when I fish the same swim consecutively, and there is no starting where I left off, for each outing is a fresh encounter.
The Lea can hardly be called a river in the strict sense, because for most of its length it is canalized. The water is slow, seemingly lifeless, and very changeable -- as are the roach in it. Now and then they madly scramble about a handful of groundbait, but it is always the small fish. Not that big roach are scarce in the Lea. The average size is in fact good for most rivers, as local anglers will testify.
One doesn't meet many roach-fishing experts on the Lea these days, and if one does it is without exception an elderly man, of the old school. A Lea roach-pole is ever within his grasp. It is customary for an angler to use the tackle of the present day, and it is logical, but the skill has not been handed down. Yet the pole hasn't been bettered for the Lea and similar waters.
A yard of topping ran from the pole-tip to the float, enabling a swift, sure strike to be made. And what a float! Not like the submerged clothes-pegs we see today, but just a tiny porcupine quill, the top almost flush with the water's surface. Nor did the angler wait for it to plunge out of sight. A slight tremor and up flicked the pole, its top bowed to the pull of the fighting roach. Those old roach-fishers certainly developed an extra-sense about the fish. It takes years to practice watercraft on the Lea to get good results.
Lea roach are put off by frequent casting and the line being dragged through the swim. It is desirable to get over the fish; to drop in on them, as it were. The merest indication of a bite is only turned into a "catch" when the distance from pole-tip to float is ultra-short, as the pole fishermen have shown us. We may profit from their experience.
You cannot fish too fine for Lea roach. A breaking strain of 1lb, is ample if you are seeking the better fish. Some stretches of this river are favoured by roach, while others are not. Generally they are evenly distributed, big and small alike. Start with the lesser fish, then work upon and improve your tactics, all the time trying to obtain larger fish in steady quantities.
I favour a light-weight roach-pole and use camouflaged lines and fine wire hooks, the latter coloured to the shade of the bait. Laying-on is very productive, and I regard it as the best method for taking numbers of large roach. Suitably weighted tackle means that only just enough weight is used to hold against any flow which may be on -- no more, no less. If you must use a float then do so. A pea-sized piece of cork or balsa wood, a small twig, or a disc of celluloid, are all admirable indicators when laying-on. Plumb the depth at each visit and have the minimum distance from float down to weight. I seldom find that more than two ordinary lead-shot are needed.
I use a bait depositor, it is conical in shape, and made of thin zinc gauze, soldered together. A constant supply of groundbait is kept on the river bed -- of crumbs, maggots, pearl barley or hemp seed, or what-you-fancy. Make good use of a bait-depositor -- at least, give it a trail. Lastly, set a standard. Don't be content with just taking roach. Try to better the size on every outing, as the old roach-pole experts did -- and succeed.

[Dave F]

Very interesting read. I don’t think that I’ll ever fish the Lea though.

[Crucian]

Very interesting read, thanks for posting. I am renovating an old London roach pole, it is almost finished. I look forward to using it soon.

[Stour Otter]

Editorial from ANGLING, Written by anglers for anglers - January 1951. Price: 1/3d
WHICH IS THE BEST ALL-ROUND BAIT?
by "Faddist"

"But every Fish loues not each bayte alike, Although sometimes they feed vpon the same."

SO wrote John Dennys, in The Secrets of Angling in 1613. His dictum is as true now as it was then; and to select the best all-round bait is not a simple matter. It was William Senior, I believe, who made references to friendships between anglers being endangered by a split shot. Transfer the reference from split shot to baits and my point is made.
As stated in Coarse Fish Angling; Baits and Ground-baits, the effectiveness of a bait varies with the tastes and habits of different fish, in different waters, at different times and under different conditions. These considerations cannot be elaborated here; but they are well known to experienced anglers. For inexperienced anglers, straws in the wind are, the general deadliness of pastes and gentles (maggots) ... the partiality of chub for cheese ... the attractiveness of a moving bait for perch .. the effectiveness of worms in flood waters ... and the like.
The list of baits at the disposal of coarse-fishermen is surprisingly lengthy and varied, and there is no finality about it. Experimenting with unusual baits is always possible and sometimes profitable. By way of interest, a short list of the baits in more general use and some of those which are less frequently used is given below.

Baits in General Use:
Bread crust
Blood worms
Cheese
Elderberries
Flake (fragments torn from new bread)
Flies (natural and artificial)
Gentles (maggots)
Grubs (caddis, wasp and other grubs)
Hemp Seed
Live Baits (for predatory fish)
Pastes
Pearl Barley
Silk weed
Wheat (boiled)
Worms

Baits Less Frequently Used:
Asparagus berries
Bacon Fat
Beans
Beetles
Cherries
Crayfish (now illegal)
Currants, red or dried
Earwigs
Frogs
Fruit (cut and cubed)
Grasshoppers
Green Peas
Holly Berries
Macaroni
Potato
Shrimps, sea or freshwater
Slugs
Snails, freshwater and small garden
Shreds of red flannel

But these short lists do not tell the whole story. Take pastes, for example. It is not enough to speak of paste, there are dozens of them. Izaak Walton said; "...as for pastes, there are almost as many sorts as there are medicines for the toothache." How right he was. There are pastes made from bread, biscuit, honey and bread, cheese ,greaves; and there are coloured and scented pastes, in great variety, to mention but a few. As to worms, keen anglers are not satisfied to use just any old worm. They select and scour red worms, brandlings and lobs, for the hooks. Variety apart, however, there are other considerations which govern the selection of a bait, among which are the size of the bait in relation to the fish to be caught, the season, the place, and the condition of the water. The right answers to the problems presented by circumstances make the difference between either catching or not catching fish.
But to get to grips with the question which is the best all-round bait? we can at once make a short list. The final choice must be made from one of the big three, i.e. pastes, gentles (maggots) and worms. Worms, I think, must be discarded. Although they are all-purpose, all-fish, and all-time-baits worms are not, in my judgement, the best all-round bait.
Indispensable though they may be at times, there are too many occasions when other baits will prove more effective, to warrant them taking first place. We are then left with pastes and gentles (maggots), to decide between which, we must rely on a photo-finish. There may not be much to choose between the two, but risking the castigation of gentle-addicts, I consider paste is the best all-round bait. Its killing qualities apart, there is no difficulty in securing paste-bait. And the size of the bait can be adjusted instantly to any conceivable requirement. Another important point, in favour of pastes, is made by Mr L. W. Clark, in this book Angling: Coarse Fish, where he says " ... the cereal and bread baits, which are astonishingly popular and, generally speaking, account for larger fish than do insects and grubs ..."
A simple paste recipe may be useful, for those who do not use this bait, and they are legion. Remove the crust from a slice of bread, then place the crumb in a piece of clean white cloth and dip it into the water you are about to fish. Squeeze out the water and knead the paste, in the cloth, to the consistency required (N.B. not too moist).
Despite the fancy pastes, plain-bread paste will, as a rule, prove effective, it being necessary only to modulate the size of the bait, to suit the size of the hook being used, and the fish for which one is angling. You may need a pin-head of paste, a piece the size of a hazel nut, or exceptionally, a piece even larger than this.
As to gentles (maggots), their widespread, all-season popularity amongst match fishermen underlines their effectiveness. You can breed gentles, but wise anglers buy them. Incidentally, gentles should be kept in either clean sand, barley meal, or fine bran, and not in sawdust, which is liable to give them a taint that may repel fish.
Paste is then my nomination, as the best all-round bait for coarse-fishing. If I am wrong readers of ANGLING will no doubt disagree, by way of constructive criticism.

[Lea Dweller]

Editorial from ANGLING, Written by anglers for anglers - May1956. Price: 1/6p
Finicky Roach From The Lea
by Dennis Gander

IN his stimulating book This Fishing, Capt. L.A. Parker says: "I don't think I have ever fished a water where roach are so difficult to catch as in the Lea." I learned my craft on that river, and still get among its roach with regularity; without a doubt the statement is perfectly true. Although as time passes my catches increase, in both quality and number, the roach are none the easier to capture. Each visit to the Hertfordshire Lea is different, even when I fish the same swim consecutively, and there is no starting where I left off, for each outing is a fresh encounter.
The Lea can hardly be called a river in the strict sense, because for most of its length it is canalized. The water is slow, seemingly lifeless, and very changeable -- as are the roach in it. Now and then they madly scramble about a handful of groundbait, but it is always the small fish. Not that big roach are scarce in the Lea. The average size is in fact good for most rivers, as local anglers will testify.
One doesn't meet many roach-fishing experts on the Lea these days, and if one does it is without exception an elderly man, of the old school. A Lea roach-pole is ever within his grasp. It is customary for an angler to use the tackle of the present day, and it is logical, but the skill has not been handed down. Yet the pole hasn't been bettered for the Lea and similar waters.
A yard of topping ran from the pole-tip to the float, enabling a swift, sure strike to be made. And what a float! Not like the submerged clothes-pegs we see today, but just a tiny porcupine quill, the top almost flush with the water's surface. Nor did the angler wait for it to plunge out of sight. A slight tremor and up flicked the pole, its top bowed to the pull of the fighting roach. Those old roach-fishers certainly developed an extra-sense about the fish. It takes years to practice watercraft on the Lea to get good results.
Lea roach are put off by frequent casting and the line being dragged through the swim. It is desirable to get over the fish; to drop in on them, as it were. The merest indication of a bite is only turned into a "catch" when the distance from pole-tip to float is ultra-short, as the pole fishermen have shown us. We may profit from their experience.
You cannot fish too fine for Lea roach. A breaking strain of 1lb, is ample if you are seeking the better fish. Some stretches of this river are favoured by roach, while others are not. Generally they are evenly distributed, big and small alike. Start with the lesser fish, then work upon and improve your tactics, all the time trying to obtain larger fish in steady quantities.
I favour a light-weight roach-pole and use camouflaged lines and fine wire hooks, the latter coloured to the shade of the bait. Laying-on is very productive, and I regard it as the best method for taking numbers of large roach. Suitably weighted tackle means that only just enough weight is used to hold against any flow which may be on -- no more, no less. If you must use a float then do so. A pea-sized piece of cork or balsa wood, a small twig, or a disc of celluloid, are all admirable indicators when laying-on. Plumb the depth at each visit and have the minimum distance from float down to weight. I seldom find that more than two ordinary lead-shot are needed.
I use a bait depositor, it is conical in shape, and made of thin zinc gauze, soldered together. A constant supply of groundbait is kept on the river bed -- of crumbs, maggots, pearl barley or hemp seed, or what-you-fancy. Make good use of a bait-depositor -- at least, give it a trail. Lastly, set a standard. Don't be content with just taking roach. Try to better the size on every outing, as the old roach-pole experts did -- and succeed.

I missed this post first time round, but having fished the Lea with Dennis Gander, I would like to comment on Lea roach. Captain Parkers era would have seen the roach stocks in the Lea being far greater than they are now. If he thought they were hard to catch then, he would really struggle now! I enjoyed some fine roach sport in the company of Dennis, he certainly knew the Lea and also caught many big chub from it too! Despite catching chub to over 5 and half pounds (during the 1980's) myself I have never caught a big roach from the Lea. It doesn't stop me from remembering better days though!

[Stour Otter]

Editorial from ANGLING - A "COUNTRY LIFE" PUBLICATION, No.120. November, 1954. Price: 1/6d.

Barbel from the Thames ...
... written and illustrated by S. Donald Stone

AS a boy I remember borrowing angling books from the local library and being particularly fascinated by accounts by "Trent Otter" of his experiences with the barbel in the days when this fish thrived in the River Trent. Unfortunately at the time all I could do was read about the barbel, as I lived in Norfolk, a part of the country where barbel is unknown in the local rivers, and it was not until some years later that I had the opportunity to visit the Thames regularly and in due course successfully fish for barbel.

One of the first things I learnt about the barbel was that he is a capricious feeder, and it is probably this characteristic which, in the main, makes him the quarry of the lone or specialist anglers. "Blanks" are likely to occur regularly when pursuing this species, but there are occasions when the barbel will feed consistently over a period of several days, and it is then that the angler who catches this powerful fish knows that he must make the most of his opportunity before once again he is treated to the tantalizing spectacle of a barbel leaping powerfully out of his swim and returning to he water with a loud smack, but disdaining the assortment of baits that their would-be captor offers them.

Experience of the barbel in the Thames has shown me that he is very much of an early and late feeder, consequently when the word is passed around amongst myself and friends that the barbel is on, visits to the river are usually frequent but short. Dawn is not too early to arrive at the river, and invariably the best of the fishing is over by about nine, and the evening from seven until dark has usually proved the most promising time; although, during the autumn months of September and October, the barbel will sometimes feed well during the middle of the day. The same can be said of the backend of the season, and on more than one occasion I have seen good bags of barbel taken during the end of February and the beginning of March if weather conditions are not too cold. The Thames still holds a good stock of barbel, more than most anglers realize, and it is still possible to have an outing which leaves one's wrist aching and with angling memories which are not easily surpassed.

Baits for barbel are varied, the chief of when form the angler's point of view are worms, gentles and bread in its different forms. Ground-bait should be plentiful and made on the heavy side to withstand the rushing water of a typical barbel swim and not break up too soon after it is dropped in the selected spot. A stone pressed into the centre of the ground-bait ball is often advantageous in getting the offering down to where it is intended. A good mixture of ground-bait is bread and bran, to which can be added chopped worms or gentles if the angler wishes.

Hooks for barbel should not, in my opinion, be smaller then size eight and tied to a nylon trace of about five pounds. A line of about five to six pounds breaking-strain is about right for the job. Unless very long casting is involved, a centre-pin reel is just as convenient for barbel-fishing as a fixed spool type. I have caught barbel with both and not find a decided advantage with one type over the other.

A rod for barbel-fishing must have action combined with firmness. Any-thing with all the action in the tip and of light construction generally would not for very long stand up to a combination of the barbel's rushing and boring tactics as well as the strong current usually encountered in a barbel swim. At the present time I am using a three-joined rod, 11 feet long, made to my own specifications , consisting of a split-cane top and middle and a whole-cane butt carrying a 24-inch handle to get the reel well up its length. This rod combines resiliency with firmness and power, so that even a biggish fish cannot have it all his own way.

   While waiting for bites a constant alertness is necessary, as often a knock will be indicated by a lightening tap reminiscent of a dace's, and to make contact, or even stand a chance of making contact, the rod should at all times be held in the hand with the line laid between finger and thumb, an arrangement which gives the angler a very sensitive indicator and increases the chance of making contact with his quarry. When striking it is necessary to bring the tip of the rod up smartly in order to drive the hook home. The barbel has a hard mouth and a gentle little tap will not ensure permanent contact between the angler and his fish.

   When hooked, the barbel does not usually indulge in any spectacular rushing about, preferring to stay still, and giving many an inexperienced angler the impression that his line has become snagged on the bottom. However, as pressure is maintained, the fish will eventually move off powerfully, taking line with him. At this stage the singing check of the reel can sound like music to the angler's ears, unless his excitement makes him oblivious of it.

Boring is a favourite tactic of the barbel, and when this happens, side-pressure is often effective in arresting this movement and causing the fish to change his course; but no attempt should be made to rush a barbel to the net, otherwise that five pound trace mentioned earlier on will not last long, even if the fish is relatively a small one. Landing nets for barbel-fishing should have a least an eighteen-inch frame and a twenty-four-inch net, and on occasions this may seem none too big.

   I cannot, in recent years, recall having heard of The Thames yielding any barbel over ten pounds in weight, although there is no logical reason why the river should not still contain fish of this size and bigger. In these days very few anglers seem to specialize in fishing for Thames barbel, but for those who do, the sport can still be worthwhile.

[Stour Otter]

Editorial from COARSE FISHERMAN, Coarse Fishing Monthly - September 1981. Price: 60p
Throop Barbel In The Rain
by Stewart Allum

"IF YOU want to fish Throop at its best, be there when it starts to rise". It was Phil Smith of Coventry Specimen Group who gave me that piece of advice several years ago when I first visited the water. I was to remember the wisdom of his words during an unforgettable day on the fishery last summer.

As soon as I arrived on the riverbank, the weather began to worsen. The rain, already a heavy drizzle, began to thicken as the wind rose and the skies to the west grew even darker. There were few other anglers about as I headed downstream to one of my favourite barbel swims. The river was much higher than it had been the previous year due to the very wet summer, and the fish were not in the same swims as they had occupied the year before. No longer confined to the deeper pools, they had spread out more across the shallow areas. It was some time before I found a shoal of reasonable proportions. With the poor light conditions making fish-spotting difficult, I was very fortunate to find a large group of sizeable barbel with a couple of good chub actively patrolling a shallow near-bank depression in the gravel just downstream of a large weedbed. The biggest barbel looked to be about eight pounds and the biggest chub certainly well over four. My confidence was primed, I tackled up and settled into position behind some rushes just upstream of the weedbed. From this ideal position I would be able to leger directly downstream to the fish without their being able to spot me. Sweetcorn had proved a good bait the year before, so I fed in some loose grains before making my first cast, expecting some action almost immediately.

An hour later, wet and disillusioned, I was still biteless despite regular loose-feeding and careful bait presentation on a very light leger rig. I crept downstream for another look into the swim. Yes, they were still there, and my hookbait lay amongst them, completely ignored. During the next two hours I tried luncheon meat, cheese and maggots to no avail. The rain had increased to a steady downpour and I was wet through, having neglected to bring my brolly with me, like all good specimen hunters (idiots). I took a walk upstream to another swim where I had spotted just one barbel lying close to the bank. I dropped the bait on its nose but it too just ignored my offering. The river, although still clear, was now starting to rise a little. I returned to my swim, concluding that as I was already soaked, I might as well see it through to the bitter end.

From the west a faint rumble arose, growing into a terrifying roar as a huge storm quickly drew near. Within minutes it was upon me, sheets of water cascaded onto a glistening nightmare landscape as continuous peals of thunder echoed forth from the darkest clouds I have ever seen. Illuminated by flashes of lightning, I fished on it what was certainly the heaviest thunderstorm I have ever experienced.

Baiting with luncheon meat, I cast into the swim. Almost immediately there was a savage tug, the inevitable eel. Somewhat disheartened, I cast again. This time the strike was answered by a heavy thump as the rod keeled round into my first barbel of the day, a nice fish of a 5lb 6oz. My prayers had been answered. During the next hour it was continuous action as one fish followed another, oblivious to the disturbance caused by the excellent fight by each of their predecessors. At the end of this period the river had risen by over a foot and I was sitting up to my waist in water. Then the rain eased. As soon as this happened the river began to colour-fast, and debris started to come down with the flood, great mats of weed and branches which put an end to my fishing in this particular swim. By this time however, I had taken further barbel of 3lb 12oz, 6lb, 13oz, and 7lb 2oz, together with a nice chub of 3lb 11oz, unfortunately the smaller of the two I had seen, but nevertheless a good fish. Another angler who had been fishing downstream came past as I was playing the biggest barbel and helped me to net it and take some photographs. He too had taken one of 6lb 8oz at the height of the storm. As an afterthought, before packing up, I wandered back upstream to the spot where I had seen the lone barbel earlier. Having made a mental note of where the fish had been lying. I cast my bait. Within seconds the rod was nearly torn from my grasp, 4lb 10oz.

Soaked through, but in a cheerful mood, I squelched my way back across the fields, very pleased to have taken a nice catch of fish in such awful conditions.

By the way Phil, thanks for the tip.

[Grumpy]

Great article,really enjoyed it.