Arlesey Lake

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Mark
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Re: Arlesey Lake

Post by Mark »

Yes, thanks for sharing that Mike. :thumb:
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Moley
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Re: Arlesey Lake

Post by Moley »

I believe the latest Perchfishers Book ' The Biggest Fish of All' has a few pages devoted to this very subject. Pages 22-24 to be exact, in the section - Arlesey Lake and Dick Walker.

The section contains some evocative B&W photographs of RW with Stoney and Frank Guttfield, the Old Lake and a recent shot, in colour, of the 'landscaped' Arlesey Lake taken in 2009...so it still existed then!

The new owners apparently don't want any fishing there for the present!

I hope this is some help?

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Re: Arlesey Lake

Post by Sandgroper »

I used to spend a lot of time are Arlesey Lake though except when I was fishing for eels it was never very productive for me. I generally fished the stump swim and and would arrive on Friday evening and leave on Sunday morning. Here is a picture of the place, probably taken from the stump swim. I apologise for the quality, but the picture was taken around 50 years ago.

Image
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The Sweetcorn Kid
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Re: Arlesey Lake

Post by The Sweetcorn Kid »

Thanks Sandgroper... :Wink:
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Mark
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Re: Arlesey Lake

Post by Mark »

I love these old pictures, thank you Sandgroper.
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Re: Arlesey Lake

Post by Harry H »

The Sweetcorn Kid wrote:Image

Image
Well there's a turn up for the books.
I can remember watching an episode of Total Fishing with Matt Hayes interviewing Peter Stone and he quoted this common myth.
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Re: Arlesey Lake

Post by Tinca »

Used to fish here in the early seventies trying to track down the elusive carp, having a modicum of success on free-lined luncheon meat as I recall. Never did track down a biggie but (after he event) found out some of the specie boys had a few up to mid twenties on the mythical bait of the time..sweetcorn!
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Re: Arlesey Lake

Post by Sandgroper »

Mike Wilson wrote: Thu Sep 15, 2011 6:37 pm Gents

Also for those that have it can I refer you to 'Successful Angling' by Walker, Taylor, Falkus and Buller [1977] page 57 Para 15.6 where the authors say [and I quote] ......" The Arlesey bomb, though not invented by RW., was redesigned and popularised by him in the early 1950s..................etc.,etc.,"

Mike
Wow, I am well behind time on this one, but perhaps I can add a little to the thread. It is possible that at the time they were first made, Dick did believe that he had invented the Arlesey Bomb but, as it has been said, the first did not have a swivel incorporated in the design. Probably the first time the term "Arlesey Bomb" was mentioned was when Alan Brown saw a mould in Dick's shed and asked Dick what it was. Dick told him that it was a mould for the "Arlesey Bomb". Alan was interested and asked Dick when he was going to make some but at the time, being as he was so busy, Dick couldn't give an answer on that one so Alan asked if he could take the mould and make some for him. Dick told him to carry on. The next day during his school lunch time, Alan set about melting lead and pouring it into the mould. It was a great success and Alan had a nice shiny Arlesey bomb as a reward for his efforts. Alan was excited and impatient so he ran the mould under a tap to cool it and then poured another bomb which resulted in an explosion. Although he was frightened, Alan poured another into the now dry mould and was rewarded with another "Bomb". Deciding the danger was passed, Alan again cooled the mould in water, poured another bomb and had another explosion. That was enough for him and he never made any more at that time. Initially the bomb had a hole through the centre of it which was created by a bit of galvanised wire being put into the mould at the time of casting. The swivel was incorporated at a later date.
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Mike Wilson
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Re: Arlesey Lake

Post by Mike Wilson »

Sandgroper.
Your right, I seem to remember Dick saying he originally had a hole down the centre prior to adding a swivel. Water [even a cold mould] and lead do not mix. Being a toolmaker by trade we learned very early on.
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Re: Arlesey Lake

Post by Sandgroper »

Mike Wilson wrote: Tue Jul 11, 2017 11:41 am Sandgroper.
Your right, I seem to remember Dick saying he originally had a hole down the centre prior to adding a swivel. Water [even a cold mould] and lead do not mix. Being a toolmaker by trade we learned very early on.
Mike
I just had a look through my documents and found the story of the Arlesey Bomb in Alan Brown's own words. The story and much more is printed in my book, "Our Days with Dick". This is how Alan told it.


Did he cast those himself?

There is a story there; I walked into the workshop one night and there was a hexagonal metal block on the bench. You need to relate this to the way this came about. It came about through the discovery that he had made when he had caught two or three perch over at Arlesey over 2-3lbs. When he first approached those perch at Arlesey, he knew they were in a deep trench about 60, 70, 80 yards out from the bank. You have got to remember, in those days, with cane rods, that was a long way to cast especially when the only leads on the market were pierced bullets and coffin leads, which did not have the aerodynamics to get to that distance. Obviously he had the advantage of a fixed spool reel and Mk IV Carp Rod, which was an advantage that most people didn’t have, but, Dick, being Dick, knew that he needed a more aerodynamic lead to give him the distance he needed to achieve to reach these perch. So, there was this hexagonal metal block and it was split in half, there was the tail end of a bomb one end and the blunt end at the other with a hole through its centre. I asked him what it was and he told me it was a mould to make the Arlesey bomb. It was probably the first time anybody had ever used the words Arlesey bomb. I asked him when he was going to do them but he told me that he didn’t know and that he was too busy that night. Something that I didn’t realise was, that when I was left alone in the workshop for much of an evening, Dick was in the house writing articles and, I think, books and such. So in between he kept coming in and out of the hut (Shed/workshop) and he told me that he didn’t don’t know when he would be able to make some but it probably wouldn’t be for two or three nights at least, so I said ‘Do you think I can have a go during my lunch hour from school’? ‘Yes’ he said, ‘You can take it home’. I never asked him anything about it I just thought it was a simply a matter of pouring lead into the mould. This was before the swivel was incorporated in the Arlesey bomb and so a piece of galvanised wire was pushed through the hole. When the lead had set, you just pulled the galvanised wire out and you had a hole which allowed the bomb to slide along the line and be topped at a split shot. In effect it was an elongated bullet rather like an air ship in shape but without
a swivel of course. I took the thing home with me that evening and
couldn’t wait for the next lunchtime to come round so that I could begin the production of Arlesey bombs. I hadn’t asked anything about the procedure and I remember I getting a bean can and some lead strip. In those days we had fires in the winter and so I put the tin on the fire with a pair of pliers and put some of the lead in it. It seemed to take
forever for the lead to melt but suddenly - it was molten! There was
an orifice in the top of the mould to pour the lead in to, so I poured it in and, of course, the thing got dammed hot! Being impatient I put it under the tap and a beautiful shiny lead came out, it was absolutely fantastic, perfect shape, nice hole and lovely and shiny. Greatly encouraged I put the mould back together again, replaced the tin on the fire, pushed the wire through mould, poured the lead into the orifice and it exploded - throwing the molten lead all over the room! Some of the cushions were smouldering, it looked like they had been hit with a shotgun, I’d got pits on my face, though mainly on my forehead thankfully. Although I was quite frightened I thought I would have another go, so I put the mould back together and repeated the procedure and it was fine. No problem at all. Beautiful lead came out, just like the first one; I put it under the tap again and of course next time I poured the lead it exploded again. By this time I was frightened enough to leave it alone.

So you actually cast the first Arlesey Bomb

I can truthfully say I cast the first Arlesey bomb without any doubt, but to be honest I was probably lucky not to have seriously damaged my eyes or at least heavily marked my face during that little episode.

What did Dick say when you told him?

I don’t think I ever owned up to it quite frankly. The next thing that
happened was the inclusion of a swivel into the bomb. When we made
them at a later date it was a quick and simple thing to put a piece of wire down into a bomb with a swivel attached, of course it still acted as a bomb, still had the same aerodynamics but it didn’t twist the line up. It behaved better.

While the basic idea of the Arlesey Bomb had already been published, Alan is right in as much as he cast the first "Arlesey Bomb", Dick was the first to call the ledger weight by that name.

Further to that story I am trying to find out if Arlesey Lake has been filled in and I have asked Simon Walker (one of Disk's twin boys) to have a look for me at some time.
Eagles may soar but I will never get sucked into a jet engine.

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