Thomas Turner
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Peter Orchard, the truly brilliant riverkeeper at Longford Estates on the Hampshire Avon, put into words what I have long been fretting about. “You know, John, I think coarse fishing as we used to know it as kids will be gone in twenty years if someone doesn’t do something about it. The magic that we knew back in the Sixties and Seventies is fading fast as carp fishing behind otter-proof fences takes complete hold. Older fishers all remember Passion For Angling, the TV series that inspired a generation to be bold, and imaginative and to fish blue sky tactics but younger ones haven’t even heard of it. Mortimer and Whitehouse are doing a lot to make fishing more varied but that work needs to be built upon and fast!” More from Peter soon but let’s consider his words.
I’d suggest that the heyday of coarse fishing in this country fell roughly between the years 1950 and 1990. That was when Walker and Venables were revolutionising the coarse scene with a mix of inspiration, aspiration and information. New tackle and increased mobility and affluence combined to allow anglers far more access to big fish and the means to catch them. Think about the writers of that period. Walker, Taylor, Guttfield, Stone, Buller, Hilton, the list is inexhaustible. Coarse fishing was exploding with ideas and excitement. Mystery and magic surged through it as young anglers, like me then, were driven to explore both geographically and piscatorially. We all burned to master new skills and beef up big fish lists but jeopardy still reigned supreme. We half knew what we were doing but this was the age of carp fishing with potatoes for bait and much of what we did was driven by hunches, tinged with luck, good and bad. My own mentor between 1972 and 1977 was John Wilson and he personified the brave new world of coarse fishing that was built trial and error and exploration but always based on putting watercraft and fish first. They were truly thrilling times as we pursued every species in its due season with every method then known to fishing.
THE COARSE SCENE TODAY
1.75 carp in action on a mid twenty pike
1990 to the present day and coarse fishing has a new face. Self hooking rigs have made the capture of big fish of every species far, far more simple..even crucian carp. Carp, carp and more carp. Big fish located behind fences designed to keep the wild world out. The internet and a plethora of stereotyped approaches followed slavishly by many. River fishing skills forgotten and still water skills restricted to the bare but efficient minimum.
BUT! I’m not here to moan. There are many of us still out there that want fishing sessions that are hands on, engaging, all action and untrammelled by Colditz like walls of wire. We are overlooked by the commercial fishing machine that grinds out endless carp waters for bottomless profits. It’s easy to feel alone, isolated in the soulless angling scene coarse has become. But there are plenty of us out there. We just don’t always have a voice. Peter Orchard again! “ Here at Longford I still have over fifty cracking river anglers in the syndicate. They tend to be older fishers, they remember “Passion” and Crabtree and revere the lessons and the style those angling mediums taught. That does not mean they live in the past, fossilised in The Age of Walker. They watch the modern scene and take from it what they want and what they can profitably use…boilies a perfect example. But also at Longford we have young anglers who might be in the carp syndicates but are still aware of the joys of river fishing, moving water that demands a different approach. We need to show these comparative kids that there is so much out there, outside the bivvy!”
CONJURING MAGIC-MY MISSION
So this is where I’m aiming this series of blogs, at coarse anglers who want to put the mystery and excitement back into catching fish. I’m on a mission, if you like. Fishing for good fish, (and what fish is bad?), has been at the heart of my life, the core of my existence since 1962 or even earlier when I think about it. I’ll be talking straight fishing approaches, some harking back half a century but many with a modern twist that I like to think makes them ultra relevant to your fishing today. Much of what I’ll say over the coming months is based on my guiding life, days when I strive to give anglers a great time and make them see the endless possibilities coarse fishing presents.
I’m well aware that what I suggest won’t be for everyone and how and where you fish is entirely up to you but if some of you take the concepts on board and try a few out, I’ll be happy. Any (positive) feedback will be treasured and might lead to a really productive dialogue, I hope. We might really do something significant together.
THE THOMAS TURNER CLASSIC+ RANGE
A battery of TT rods ready to roll
It’s some sort of magic synchronicity that this mission of mine has coincided with the advent of the Thomas Turner Classic+ rod range, now on the market. There are some rods that demand you go fishing and I have been lucky enough to sample pretty well most of the models in the past year.
TT rods in autumn action
I genuinely think they are superb and do the sort of jobs I am talking about with wondrous aplomb. They remind me of the classic Hardy Marksman rods a generation ago that I was proud to be involved with back then. These rods though, thanks to rod god Dave Coster are better. I think so anyway, so if you are in the market, at least have a think. As for me, these are the rods that will last me for however many seasons I might have left in me!
TT rods in autumn action
Carp caught with Thomas Turner Classic+13ft float rod
That’s the scene set. My burning desire to set coarse fishing on a thrills road once again. Next time I’ll be straight in with my Barbel approaches that truly have changed life around for many of us down on the Wye!!! And it’s on this rough, tough, demanding river that the Thomas Turner Classic+ Avon, float and tip rods have performed with grace, ease and efficiency.
The post CONJURING UP COARSE MAGIC – THE BIG FISH SCENE FIFTY YEARS BACK appeared first on Thomas Turner Fishing Antiques.
Continue reading...
I’d suggest that the heyday of coarse fishing in this country fell roughly between the years 1950 and 1990. That was when Walker and Venables were revolutionising the coarse scene with a mix of inspiration, aspiration and information. New tackle and increased mobility and affluence combined to allow anglers far more access to big fish and the means to catch them. Think about the writers of that period. Walker, Taylor, Guttfield, Stone, Buller, Hilton, the list is inexhaustible. Coarse fishing was exploding with ideas and excitement. Mystery and magic surged through it as young anglers, like me then, were driven to explore both geographically and piscatorially. We all burned to master new skills and beef up big fish lists but jeopardy still reigned supreme. We half knew what we were doing but this was the age of carp fishing with potatoes for bait and much of what we did was driven by hunches, tinged with luck, good and bad. My own mentor between 1972 and 1977 was John Wilson and he personified the brave new world of coarse fishing that was built trial and error and exploration but always based on putting watercraft and fish first. They were truly thrilling times as we pursued every species in its due season with every method then known to fishing.
THE COARSE SCENE TODAY
1.75 carp in action on a mid twenty pike
1990 to the present day and coarse fishing has a new face. Self hooking rigs have made the capture of big fish of every species far, far more simple..even crucian carp. Carp, carp and more carp. Big fish located behind fences designed to keep the wild world out. The internet and a plethora of stereotyped approaches followed slavishly by many. River fishing skills forgotten and still water skills restricted to the bare but efficient minimum.
BUT! I’m not here to moan. There are many of us still out there that want fishing sessions that are hands on, engaging, all action and untrammelled by Colditz like walls of wire. We are overlooked by the commercial fishing machine that grinds out endless carp waters for bottomless profits. It’s easy to feel alone, isolated in the soulless angling scene coarse has become. But there are plenty of us out there. We just don’t always have a voice. Peter Orchard again! “ Here at Longford I still have over fifty cracking river anglers in the syndicate. They tend to be older fishers, they remember “Passion” and Crabtree and revere the lessons and the style those angling mediums taught. That does not mean they live in the past, fossilised in The Age of Walker. They watch the modern scene and take from it what they want and what they can profitably use…boilies a perfect example. But also at Longford we have young anglers who might be in the carp syndicates but are still aware of the joys of river fishing, moving water that demands a different approach. We need to show these comparative kids that there is so much out there, outside the bivvy!”
CONJURING MAGIC-MY MISSION
So this is where I’m aiming this series of blogs, at coarse anglers who want to put the mystery and excitement back into catching fish. I’m on a mission, if you like. Fishing for good fish, (and what fish is bad?), has been at the heart of my life, the core of my existence since 1962 or even earlier when I think about it. I’ll be talking straight fishing approaches, some harking back half a century but many with a modern twist that I like to think makes them ultra relevant to your fishing today. Much of what I’ll say over the coming months is based on my guiding life, days when I strive to give anglers a great time and make them see the endless possibilities coarse fishing presents.
I’m well aware that what I suggest won’t be for everyone and how and where you fish is entirely up to you but if some of you take the concepts on board and try a few out, I’ll be happy. Any (positive) feedback will be treasured and might lead to a really productive dialogue, I hope. We might really do something significant together.
THE THOMAS TURNER CLASSIC+ RANGE
A battery of TT rods ready to roll
It’s some sort of magic synchronicity that this mission of mine has coincided with the advent of the Thomas Turner Classic+ rod range, now on the market. There are some rods that demand you go fishing and I have been lucky enough to sample pretty well most of the models in the past year.
TT rods in autumn action
I genuinely think they are superb and do the sort of jobs I am talking about with wondrous aplomb. They remind me of the classic Hardy Marksman rods a generation ago that I was proud to be involved with back then. These rods though, thanks to rod god Dave Coster are better. I think so anyway, so if you are in the market, at least have a think. As for me, these are the rods that will last me for however many seasons I might have left in me!
TT rods in autumn action
Carp caught with Thomas Turner Classic+13ft float rod
That’s the scene set. My burning desire to set coarse fishing on a thrills road once again. Next time I’ll be straight in with my Barbel approaches that truly have changed life around for many of us down on the Wye!!! And it’s on this rough, tough, demanding river that the Thomas Turner Classic+ Avon, float and tip rods have performed with grace, ease and efficiency.
The post CONJURING UP COARSE MAGIC – THE BIG FISH SCENE FIFTY YEARS BACK appeared first on Thomas Turner Fishing Antiques.
Continue reading...