1960'S HEROES

[John Harding]

Good afternoon everyone, it's a while since I last posted on the forum, unfortunately I have only been able to go fishing on two occasions during the last twelve months as I have had to look after my wife. Exactly twelve months ago she had a fall on our stairs which resulted in a very nasty break just above her knee, that resulted in six weeks in hospital and she still has ongoing mobility problems from that. Then more recently she has had another three week spell in hospital and is still recovering from that problem as well, so consequentially no fishing for John and probably not for the foreseeable future either.

I have though kept following the forum and enjoyed the various topics that constantly come up. Also I have had plenty of time to watch plenty of fishing videos on You Tube and recently I have watched and listened to a couple which I found very interesting. The first one is a Jack Hargreaves film, no doubt a lot of you will have seen it, but if you haven't I would thoroughly recommend it. The film features a host of famous anglers from the golden era of the 1960's (Dick Walker, Fred J. Taylor, Peter Stone, Peter Wheat, Owen Wentworth amongst others) Each angler is paired with a junior and they have a little fishing competition. I won't spoil the content for you but I think one highlight is the achievement and the delight of a young girl who caught a really good fish. I can not see a link to click on for the film but if you type in or copy and paste the following into either Google or the You Tube search box the film will come up :- Jack Hargreaves organises a children’s competition with many famous fishermen of the 1960's I wonder how many of the youngsters carried on fishing, hopefully they are still with us as they will be in their 70's by now.

The other You Tube item I watched, or rather listened to, was the account of the capture of his record carp by Dick Walker. The one aspect of his account which made me chuckle was the mishap they had with the car during the journey to Redmire, I don't think they would receive the same response these days. Again if you type in or copy and paste the following into Google or the You Tube search box it should come up :
Richard Walker on Redmire Pool's Clarissa

I have also had plenty of time (to much time !!) to follow the various auction sites and I have succumbed a few times and the rod and reel collection has expanded a bit like my waist line, I will try and put a couple of posts up in the near future regarding some of the items.

Hope you can all enjoy this spell of weather we are having, but do take care in the very hot temperatures, perhaps early morning or late evening is the safest time to do a bit of angling.

Regards,
John

[Harry H]

Hope things start looking up for your wife and yourself soon
I've seen the Jack Hargreaves film and I'll give the other suggestion a go

[Paul F]

Thank you for sharing this info, I hope your wife makes a full recovery soon, and you are able to get some fishing in.

[Jeremy Croxall]

Hope things improve for your wife John, injuries like that are not only debilitating but cause mental stress too, not only for the injured but carers too.
I do hope your wife makes a full recovery and life gets back to normal in due course..I look forward to seeing what treasures you've acquired during your angling down time

[John Harding]

Harry, Paul, Jeremy,

Thank you all for very kind words, I’m sure we will get there and I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will be able to get back to the bank side towards the end of the autumn.

Regards,
John

[Dave Burr]

It must be a very trying time for both your good lady and yourself John. Things will improve and pretty soo it will all be just a memory. I strongly suggest you try to find somebody to look after your wife for a few hours whilst you pop out for a few necessary hours of respite time, somewhere next to water and with a rod in your hand would complete the effect. It really does help,

[Kev D]

I send good wishes to you and your wife and thank you for recommending yhe Jack Hargreaves film.
I remember seeing it a long time ago but it was a pleasure to watch it again. This time l took more note of the tackle used . The little girl peeling line off her fixed spool and the lad doing the same with his drum reel kind of blows the growing myth that a free spinning centre pin is the only tool for "proper" trotting .
I noticed too that one centre pin reel was set up with the line off the top of the spool.
As for the girl's expressions when she landed the pike ; priceless!
I had a smile on my face all the way through the film

[John Harding]

Dave & Kev,

Thank you both for your kind words and Dave your suggestion is what I actually did on the occasions I went fishing, my wife’s sister stayed with her while me and my brother in law went out for a few hours, we will hopefully be able to do that again soon.

Regards,
John

[Lea Dweller]

So pleased that you got out fishing John, I hope that your wife's condition improves and you can fish more often!

[John Harding]

Thank you Ted,

Regards,
John