Yes but is the pre war period what we're discussing? I thought the discussion was centered around the 60s give or take a decade? Obviously if we stretch back to the depression years things will look differently.
Back to the sixties, the nostalgic Oliver Kite.
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Yes but is the pre war period what we're discussing? I thought the discussion was centered around the 60s give or take a decade? Obviously if we stretch back to the depression years things will look differently.
''grayling fly fishing with intermissions for homemade wine, tea and fruitcake may seem a little too home counties to some of the bcuk membership but as contrast to total recall of comrades cut down as they went forth from the trenches i'll not begrudge them their brief moment in the sunlit uplands''
The above may have been the experiences of the officer classes of whom many begrudged what they considered the ''lower classes'' from fishing the same waters, regardless that many of those ''lower classes'' had also fought in the war as well. ''grayling fly fishing with intermissions for homemade wine, tea and fruitcake'' was not a familiar scenario to my father who also saw active service in the war. After the war he and thousands like him returned to the same conditions they were in before the war, abject poverty. On his return he was a rag and bone man and hawker, anything to make a few quid to feed the family. Our first ''fixed'' home was an abandoned prisoner of war camp which folks who had nothing took over to live in. My father despised the class system with a vengeance, a system that could judge and condemn a person the second they opened their mouth just because of their accent and not their achievements.
I started fishing in the 60s with my father and have seen plenty of changes. Back then salmon anglers would often throw coarse fish on the bank to die and rot it they caught any such was their disdain for coarse angling, that action was encouraged by the ghillies, I would not call such people gentlemen myself. Take the river wye for example on the welsh border, back then it was mostly an exclusive salmon fishery (''exclusive'' being a key word in the class system) and it was harder to get permission to coarse fish it. My father fished it anyway wherever he pleased with me tagging along behind him, he reckoned he had made enough of a sacrifice during the war to allow him to freely fish the rivers in the land he had defended and saw comrades and friends die for.
The above may have been the experiences of the officer classes of whom many begrudged what they considered the ''lower classes'' from fishing the same waters, regardless that many of those ''lower classes'' had also fought in the war as well. ''grayling fly fishing with intermissions for homemade wine, tea and fruitcake'' was not a familiar scenario to my father who also saw active service in the war. After the war he and thousands like him returned to the same conditions they were in before the war, abject poverty. On his return he was a rag and bone man and hawker, anything to make a few quid to feed the family. Our first ''fixed'' home was an abandoned prisoner of war camp which folks who had nothing took over to live in. My father despised the class system with a vengeance, a system that could judge and condemn a person the second they opened their mouth just because of their accent and not their achievements.
I started fishing in the 60s with my father and have seen plenty of changes. Back then salmon anglers would often throw coarse fish on the bank to die and rot it they caught any such was their disdain for coarse angling, that action was encouraged by the ghillies, I would not call such people gentlemen myself. Take the river wye for example on the welsh border, back then it was mostly an exclusive salmon fishery (''exclusive'' being a key word in the class system) and it was harder to get permission to coarse fish it. My father fished it anyway wherever he pleased with me tagging along behind him, he reckoned he had made enough of a sacrifice during the war to allow him to freely fish the rivers in the land he had defended and saw comrades and friends die for.
Some good honest truths spoken here.
The one thing that hasn't changed for the better is the availability of housing. In the 60s, my parents, on an ordinary wage, could save the deposit for a house in a couple of months. These days, they would be struggling to do that in 5 years of scrimping and saving in the same area.
However, access to land for walking is greater than ever before, the class system is greatly eliminated and we can travel almost anywhere.
The one thing that hasn't changed for the better is the availability of housing. In the 60s, my parents, on an ordinary wage, could save the deposit for a house in a couple of months. These days, they would be struggling to do that in 5 years of scrimping and saving in the same area.
However, access to land for walking is greater than ever before, the class system is greatly eliminated and we can travel almost anywhere.
In an attempt to lighten this thread allow me to take issue with the assertion that successful deployment of dry fly atop a trouts nose as distinct from one dragged up from the depths on a sunken nymph are equal achievements. They are not and Im confident that if you ask a fisherman of any class he/she will confirm such. The only thing the methods have in common is the fish supper to be enjoyed if successful.
K
K
When I was young I experimented with oldfashioned fishing equipment.
Silk lines, gut, bamboo/split cane rods, hooks made from carbon steel.
I did it for a couple of years, for fun.
All I can say is that it was much more challenging, as the equipment was more fragile and less forgiving.
It was much more a "sport" to catch trout and any other fish.
Also the equipment needed much more care before and after each fishing trip.
I used technology pre-WW1.
Today, after two weeks of intensive, daily sea fishing, all I do is to put the rods with mounted reels in the shower for a few minutes.
I service the reels myself about once every two years. Also change the lines then.
Silk lines, gut, bamboo/split cane rods, hooks made from carbon steel.
I did it for a couple of years, for fun.
All I can say is that it was much more challenging, as the equipment was more fragile and less forgiving.
It was much more a "sport" to catch trout and any other fish.
Also the equipment needed much more care before and after each fishing trip.
I used technology pre-WW1.
Today, after two weeks of intensive, daily sea fishing, all I do is to put the rods with mounted reels in the shower for a few minutes.
I service the reels myself about once every two years. Also change the lines then.
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How about a simple river cane rod (cut yourself) with no reel sewing thread for line? We still do it here for panfish and occasionally a lunker size catfish or bass (largemouth bass being a trophy fish here)
As for the intensive sea fishing, I also do a freshwater rinse of my modern equipment every time I finish, as well as a good cleaning and re-spool the line every year; but the reels rarely last more than 2 years before the aluminum spools corrode and the stainless steel bits rust.
the one area in which things were better in the 60s here in england is the fish stocks in the rivers. Back then you could watch salmon jump all day long, nowadays you could sit by the river for a month and not see a salmon leap. Eels have dramatically declined, stick a worm or maggot on in the 60s and you could be plaqued by bootlaces, in recent times I have sat for hours dangling a worm and not had a nibble from an eel. Shad once run up the river severn in their thousands in may but they are now just resigned to memory due to their decline. You used to get big shoals of minnows in the shallows which I haven't seen for ages, every now and then they would come out of the water in a great shower as other fish feasted on them. The river wye was once famed for it's big shoals of very large dace and chub, they too have declined. One fish that declined but has made a comeback is the perch.
"The 50s and 60s were the golden age for muscle cars for ordinary people."
and DIY souping up standard motors - remember Hot Car magazine?
My Ford Popular, £6 from a rural garage, had: a Ford 8 head so needed 4*petrol lol, a bananas exhaust into a straight-through "silencer", a converted downdraught SU carb from a Rover, reversed 15" VW wheels on the back which also widened the track, 13" wheels on the front = many a disappointed Mini Cooper driver...
and DIY souping up standard motors - remember Hot Car magazine?
My Ford Popular, £6 from a rural garage, had: a Ford 8 head so needed 4*petrol lol, a bananas exhaust into a straight-through "silencer", a converted downdraught SU carb from a Rover, reversed 15" VW wheels on the back which also widened the track, 13" wheels on the front = many a disappointed Mini Cooper driver...
No, never tried the Huck Finn technique. Dad taught me with a glassfibre rod and reel in mid 60's.
You are so right about modern reels.
I still have a couple of ABU Ambassadeurs 5000 series from late 60' and early 70'. Used them for pretty heavy duty fishing for cod and mackerel, something they were not designed for. All I have done is to replace the bronze bearings. The reels are Made in Sweden, and before they started using ball bearings. No rust, no oxidation.
I bought two ABU Ambassadeur 10 000i about 10 years ago, for cod fishing. Made in China. Had so much problems with them that I returned them to the headquarters in Sweden, that refurbished them, send them back with a large box of spare parts for free.
As my fishing trops cost close to USD 10K each time for myself and son, I just could not risk reel failure, so I bought Okuma Solterra 50L. Took every one completely apart, polished all metal parts, lubricated, changed some screws to stainless steel.
Quality ? POS, but lasts quite well. Have now 7 of them that work. I need a Level Wind, plus a reel with a strong brake, hence choosing Okuma.
I bought 8 so I have plenty of spare ones in case of breakage. I can not get spare parts, too complicated to buy and import.
So far I have broken one beyond repair, the frame snapped when I cought a longline with my gear.
Rods do not last either. The reel seats ( plastic or Aluminium) get loose from the rod, and rotate. Solution - 2 S/s screws through the reel seat.
Problem 2: The (so called S/s) rings and line followers rust where they are covered with the thread and lacquer. Then they snap off.
I just use discarded Spiderline and nail polish to fix new ones on.
I have 6 rods I use, all POS Chinese, but nice brands like Penn.
Quality is not what it used to be. I still have my old rods, 40+ year old. Even one Boron fibre rod, the high tech before Carbon fibre!
All in perfect condition.
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Indeed... nymph fishing is considerably more difficult to do well and somewhat more effective when done well. Skues was right and Halford was an idiot. You did say lighten, right?
Now I've looked at the Thickipedia entry for it, it turns out it's the Aussies who call them redfins not the 'merkins. Irony? It's like Goldy and Bronzy, only made of iron. 
Now I've looked at the Thickipedia entry for it, it turns out it's the Aussies who call them redfins not the 'merkins. Irony? It's like Goldy and Bronzy, only made of iron.
LOL. I've just looked them up by the taxonomical name you provided. Nice looking fish and a good size too! We don't have those over here; our "perch" aren't true perch but rathe we have several species of bream and sunfish called perch (ours get confusing even among ourselves as we have several species and they all have different names in different regions)
They're wonderful things - some of the most accessible fish, caught by almost every youngster introduced to fishing in the UK, small perch can be very easy to catch. Conversely, large perch can be some of the wiliest, most tackle shy fish which swim. Bernard Venables, the author and illustrator of Mr. Crabtree Goes Fishing (if you've not seen it, it's well worth it for precisely the nostalgia this thread alludes to), if you do a Google image search for his name you get this as the first link:
Indeed, the Perch is the first fish most youngsters catch in Sweden too!
And it is a delicious one, small or large!
And it is a delicious one, small or large!
And one of the bream or sunfish we call perch is also one of the first fish kids catch here as well.
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