The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

If anyone knows John Andrews perhaps they could follow up on his scrapbook post of May last year
here: http://www.andrewsofarcadiascrapbook.bl ... -town.html
- there is a catalogue out there!
(I did leave him a message a few months ago, but he is a very busy chap!)

Just picked up a 1937-38 Allcocks guide and it has a Fields rubber stamp on the front cover with J.B.Kohn listed as the proprietor. That makes Kohn and Fields one and the same I guess

I restored a Fields rod the details of which are here....

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=7336&hilit=scrape+or+strip

I asked this before, most of these MK1V type carp rods are 10 foot in length but this one is 11, has anyone else seen an 11 foot version. The writing on mine reads...777, Carp De Luxe, Special, 11ft, Built for B.P.Burke. it also has the gold Fields label. The first two 7's are crossed like a French 7. The base of the handle by the butt has a doughnut finish in the cork..does that denote anything? I would love to hear if anyone else has seen these 11 foot rods at all. Reedling.

Recently restored Fields three piece 10ft-6in. The original low Bells Life rings were totally shot so I replaced them with the nearest size and type I could find which are chrome open bridge rings and agatine lined butt and tip rings to match. Whipping colour is Gudebrod Garnet No206 and varnished directly which is as near to the original as I could get. The original ferrules are fine and complete with their stoppers.
It actually measures 10ft-8in overall and has a fairly light full through action, similar in action to an Allcocks Lucky Strike so not a big fish rod but it will be nice for perch and silvers..
Interesting to note the wrapped cork handle is done in two separate halves, it was probably easier to put it on in two sheets with the handle being tapered at both ends.
The Label reads "Fields Fishing Tackle" Prop'r J B Kohn. 20A Highgate Road. Kentish Town. London NW5.

Wal.

Hi all
I'm new to the forum and would like to say hello.
I know this is an historic thread but I stumbled on it whilst searching for my boyhood address, I actually lived above Fields fishing tackle as a boy from 1959 to about 1968 when they pulled the building down to make way for a new fire station.
I still own a fields hand made cane rod that my father gave me around 1965 and also have a wooded winch that bares the Fields name and have a lot of memories of the shop and it's owners.
My father taught me to fish on the Parliament hill Fields ponds and I spent my formative years fishing Hampered Heath, I now live in Oulton Broad Suffolk.
I'm a collector of antique fishing tackle, a fisherman (pike and Chub specialist) and obsessed Koi keeper and koi forum moderator.
Sorry for the long introduction, hopefully I can bring something to your forum and tap into the extensive knowledge that is already here.

Hi Steve and welcome - nice to see another ex "Kentish Towner" here. I too started my angling at "Parli Hill Fields" and enjoyed many happy hours trying unsucessfully to catch something bigger than a 3" roach - happy days....

Dokterhoo wrote:Hi Steve and welcome - nice to see another ex "Kentish Towner" here. I too started my angling at "Parli Hill Fields" and enjoyed many happy hours trying unsucessfully to catch something bigger than a 3" roach - happy days....

Hi Dokterhoo
Know what you mean, all I ever caught were small Perch until their demise in the late 60s, I did manage to catch a nice tench around 1.5lb from the swimming pond on the Heath whilst night fishing it in 1975.
Sadly the fishing on the Heath ponds went into decline after a huge rain storm, the ponds were originally gravity reservoirs for London and they all flooded into one another from that day on I never caught another fish there.
Did you know (another useless piece of information coming up) that the Heath car park at the bottom of Donkeys Hill where the fair was held was in fact a plague burial ground, a bit unnerving considering it was high ground alongside the reservoir.
My favourite pond was the Red Arches as kids we spent many a day trying to find Dick Turpins alleged hideout cave, not sure where that story originated as far as I'm aware Dick Turpin was never associated with the area.
Sorry, I've gone a tad off topic........back to the Fields fishing tackle rods.

Living above Fields fishing tackle shop ment our entrance hall also served to connect the shop wth the rod building workshop at the shops rear.
I can recall an elderly gentleman working in the back room this I presume was J B Kohn senior, I believe it was his son who managed the front shop.

Any chance of pictures of the Fields rod and winch, Steve59? A native Cricklewoodentop would love to see what he (I) missed out on thanks to the glacial moraine between the Brent and the Fleet... I did cycle over occasionally, but with tackle and bait on, it was easier/more worthwhile to hack up Hanger hill to get to Richmond.

Vole wrote:Any chance of pictures of the Fields rod and winch, Steve59? A native Cricklewoodentop would love to see what he (I) missed out on thanks to the glacial moraine between the Brent and the Fleet... I did cycle over occasionally, but with tackle and bait on, it was easier/more worthwhile to hack up Hanger hill to get to Richmond.

Hi Vole
I'll dig the rod out later and try to post a photo but if the photo needs resizing I doubt I'll have much success I'm a complete numpty with tech, the reel is not in my display so must still be in my loft from when I moved in 12 years ago, another job I need to sort out one day soon.
I spent a weekend fishing the Thames at Richmond not far from the ice skating rink when I was about 14, we'd caught quite a net full on the Saturday but come Sunday morning they'd all disappeared, we checked the net for holes but it was sound so couldn't work out how they'd escaped.
Later that day we got chatting with the river police who laughed at our bewilderment, apparently the tide had risen above our net overnight and the fish had simply swam out then by morning the tide had receded leaving us to look very stupid.