The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Dave Burr wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 9:03 am Great nostalgia Bob, I hope you get a bite next time

I remember a mate crossing the green pipe over the river and using a black 'chrysalis' to catch a decent roach. Such pipe crossing was dissuaded by judicious use of railings and barbed wire and the opposite bank was definitely out of bounds, but we all gave it a go. Nobody else caught anything and the chrysalis was abandoned as a one-off. That was about 1965 or 66, their use reappeared as casters a few years later.

That's it Dave, rebranding. A pint of casters is much easier to ask for than a pint of chrysalisesssssiss.

River/Canal Trust:-

""Benny Ashurst
Next in our top ten greatest anglers series is the maestro, Benny Ashurst. Some may never have heard of him, but for the match anglers of the 1960s and 1970s Benny was the man who all but invented sinking casters.""

Yep Moleys got it I'm sure. In his book, Benny, by then a maggot breeder, relates how he used to give all the chrysalis to a Miller friend of his who kept poultry as a sideline. He observed how the hens became preoccupied with the casters mixed into their feed. Benny also had a partner in the business, an angler too who enjoyed much success using them. This prompted Benny to go over to using them and he claimed to be the first angler to develop the method of keeping casters in the sinking state for any length of time.

In Yorkshire, when I first started fishing in the late sixties and into the early seventies, the name " Husks", was commonly used, especially by the older chaps.
The name casters, came to be used more and more and apart from a previous post, I haven't anyone use the name "Husks" for many years.

Fredline wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 9:29 am

Dave Burr wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 9:03 am Great nostalgia Bob, I hope you get a bite next time

I remember a mate crossing the green pipe over the river and using a black 'chrysalis' to catch a decent roach. Such pipe crossing was dissuaded by judicious use of railings and barbed wire and the opposite bank was definitely out of bounds, but we all gave it a go. Nobody else caught anything and the chrysalis was abandoned as a one-off. That was about 1965 or 66, their use reappeared as casters a few years later.

That's it Dave, rebranding. A pint of casters is much easier to ask for than a pint of chrysalisesssssiss.

Very true

Benny Ashurst used (or even designed) the "stick" float to accommodate the slow sinking bait - caster.

Olly wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 4:14 pm Benny Ashurst used (or even designed) the "stick" float to accommodate the slow sinking bait - caster.

Yes Benny designed it, he was looking for a float that, fished on a tight line to the far shelf of a canal, would tilt slowly in unison with the caster. He used at first a porcupine quill with balsa glued on the sharp end and sanded to shape. Then he hit on the idea of the heavy cane base and balsa tip.

Thank you very much for all your replies they were most informative and in general agreement.

I have been in contact with an old friend of mine from Leamington who used to work with Bill Norris and asked him the same question. His reply was most interesting and confirmed most of what we had gathered. He did however add some very interesting information about how they did produce the perfect caster and how most of the breeders use a short cut that producers an inferior bait.

I attach an extract of his reply to me:-

Benny Ashurst is generally credited with popularising the use and production of the caster and originally it was devised as a bait for canal roach, then, as now generally attracting a better stamp of fish. Of course it rapidly became "the" bait on the Trent, for the then predominate roach, used in conjunction with a stick float and there were no greater proponents of the style than Benny and Kevin Ashurst.

I think we first started selling them c 1966/7 and quickly learned how to keep them in good condition for a few days at least. The trick was and is, to use a lot of maggots and to riddle them very regularly.....every 3 hours if possible. They will all be white/light gold and wrapped in a damp cloth and fridged for a few hours will become an even gold to light red colour. Placed in airtight plastic containers and opened every day for just a minute or two they will keep for up to a week, albeit darkening in colour.

Therein lies the rub. Using this method you are keeping them alive by allowing them to breathe. Placing them in plastic bags or worse still the modern method of vacuum sealing them, does the obvious....it kills them. The vacuum sealed jobs will keep for ages in an apparent good condition, but as soon as opened will "go off" very rapidly. The white ones will turn grey within an hour and all will be soft, not like the crunchy skinned beauties of our youth!! It's why tackle dealers who sell these abominations tell you to put them straight in water!!

Lanes in Coventry use the traditional method and their casters are stored as I said and then put in an airtight bag at the point of sale. They are superb bait and they sell huge quantities.

I get from casters from them as sadly my local shop Baileys uses the vac pac method.
The terminology is simple. As you say casters originated "up North" and when a maggot pupated they were said to have "cast", we would have said "turned". Cast is apt don't you think, as in the form of having a hard shell or a mould for shaping something?

Yep - constant riddling - the boy in the shops job!

A pint of "turner's" please. Nah it doesn't work. Casters it is.