A meeting with a special bloke while Breaming on the Thames.

[Rotrax]

My wife and I moved to what was then Berkshire, soon becoming Oxfordshire due to boundary changes, in 1971. Dead keen to explore the local waters I fished the Thames just by Radley College. In fact, I parked my Morris Minor pick up in the College grounds and walked down. It would have been late September 1971 IIRC.

I set up a running ledger, chucked out a bit of bread based groundbait in a lovely looking swim and cast into the midst of it. Two hours later, one small roach, hardly a touch. Evening was falling and visibility was reducing when a bloke came along with a bicycle and a bit of fishing gear. He had been fishing a couple of hundred yards downstream from me.

We chewed the fat for a few minutes and I discovered he had had a few large Bream and a Chub. He asked me why I had cHosen that swim. Upon hearing my reply, he gave me a bit of advice I have never forgotten.

"No good fishing where there are no fish. This swim has always looked great, but has never fished well. Spend a bit of time finding feeding fish. It gets easy then. The Bream round 'ere roll on the surface if they are feeding or about to feed, so watch out for that. Good luck, young man, I'm off 'ome!"

And he pedalled away.

Years later I saw Matt Hayes fishing TV programme and discovered it was Peter Stone.

What a lovely guy!

[Mark]

What a lovely encounter and story to tell.

[Caractacus Potts]

Nice !

[Ian.R.McDonald]

The true greats are very often the nicest as well

[Pallenpool]

Wonderful simply wonderful.

[Shropshire Lad]

Peter Stone a well loved angler from the golden era, what a lovely memory.

[TrentFisher]

Your a lucky man.

I have only seen Peter on film and read his article and books but he comes across as fisherman wanting to share his knowledge in friendly manner.

I always remember an article in the Angling Times where he explain a capture of two sizeable bream.He had located the patrol route and ambushed them using simple float tackle at close range.It felt as you were holding the rod!

Thank you for sharing I was back reading that article again back in the 70's .

All the best
Nige.

[Santiago]

His book on fishing the Thames is a great read. It's a shame he never managed to catch a double figure Thames barbel. If he fished today he'd catch one easily!

[Ambidexman]

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Peter Stone at one of the early Collectors Register Tackle Fairs in Redditch (1998).

I asked him if he remembered the catch of bream he made that appeared on the front cover of my 1967 edition of the B.A.A. Handbook. He described the catch to me telling me it was his first ever big catch of bream. The catch was made in the early 1960's and totalled 60lb from Kings Weir Pool, Wolvercote, Oxford. Peter wrote the detail on the inside of the handbook which he then signed.

A true gentleman and a memory that will stay with me forever.

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[Moley]

Peter was a good enough friend for this Fatty to share his pies and slurping tea with.

Our path's crossed over the years at various Specimen Themed meetings, with Peter seeking out Fatty to continue/update our discussions mostly about taking coarse fish on the fly, a shared fascination. Peter went on to catch a very large Bream from Farmoor.....the Mole, for it is he, didn't.

Often at these meetings the ultra keenos would become a little too strident/demanding for a gentle soul like him, so we would escape to my car for some tea and pies or cake, put on some classical music, until we both felt restored enough to go back in, as he didn't want to let down his audience.

Personally this Fatty liked Peter as he was always kind. Not a trait greatly in evidence in the present day specimen scene judging by the comments in other social media sites.....not this one though thank God!

As ever,.......

Moley