j.w.martin

[Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)]

Ron, a lot of the difficulty is of course that so much has been unrecorded even if you were able to get your hands on original books & magazines.

Just think of what a historical source these threads might be in a hundred years time.

You have fished with a lot of the more recent greats & should really get your memoirs written.

Its great to see Len Arbery posting.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Nigel said:
"Its great to see Len Arbery posting"

Hear hear!

Maybe we can entice him down for a Hampshire Avon Fish-in?

 

[Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)]

or teach-in!

 

[Len Arbery]

Hi Nigel and Peter,

Thanks for the kind comments. Yes, perhaps a day on the Hampshire Avon might be made. Where & When? I'd prefer wintertime but then the weather is so 'chancy'.Of course, for a man of my stature, great sums of money will be involved....money I can ill afford!!!

Hi Ron,

Please consider this:

"I believe water snails, and fresh-water shrimps, and things like that, are the barbels' natural food. The trouble is putting them on the hook. Shrimps are tiny little things, and barbel hooks have to be pretty stout in the wire. Perhaps you could use some sticky stuff like secotine, and simply stick four or five shrimps to the hook. Snails might be tied on with fine thread. Frenchman use aniseed cakes for many types of fish, and they tie it to their hooks with thread. They call it 'La noquette'; we don't know everything about fishing in England, though we think we do.'

and:

'Some have directed to cut cheese into thin pieces and tie it to on the hook with fine silk.'

The first quote comes from H.T.Sheringham's 'Coarse Fishing', published in 1912. The second from that august tome you mentioned, no! Not the Bible! Walton's 'Compleat Angler', published over 340 years ago.

Besties, Len

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Len,

There is every chance that Ron at least will be down for a few days around Christmas, so might the 27th or 28th December be too early for you?

As Ron and Nigel well know there is a pretty good "B&B" not too far from the Avon which costs absolutely nothing for a night or two.

Alternatively, then a weekend in January or February?

Let us know, okay?

 

[Ron Troversial Clay]

Yes Len, I remember reading this stuff in my early teens.

What gets me about a lot of young anglers is that they claim to have invented everything. And when you tell them to read the old books, they heap scorn on you.

When I was a kid, not much more than 12, I read all I could about fishing. I used to get into trouble with the school library for keeping books much longer than they were allowed. I loved reading about angling in the 18th and 19th century.

You can't get the average kid of today, doing what I did over 50 years ago.

Yet along another tack, when you ask them how that cell phone they have in their hands works, they don't have a bloody clue.

Yet I can tell you how they work.

But I am digressing.

I will be spending Christmas with Peter and we will be fishing the Hants Avon.

Come and join us.

 

[Len Arbery]

Hello Peter, and Ron,

Sounds Great! 27th - 28th December it will be then. Need to talk personally to you both. How do you suggest we go about that? I'm very new to this computer lark.

Besties, Len

 

[Len Arbery]

Hi Ron,

Two main sources of research, if you don't already know, are:
1.The National Newspaper Library, in Colindale, northwest London. In this collection there are copies of almost every English fishing paper and magazine, published during the last 150 years.

2. The Library, of the British Museum, has almost every British book on angling ever published.

It's relatively straightforward to carry out research at Colindale, but you need to meet quite stringent conditions before you are allowed access to the British Museum Library, and you will have to contact the latter for their latest demands.

Hope this of some help.

Besties, Len

 

[Ron Troversial Clay]

Many thanks Len,

I wasn't aware such records exist.

I am very grateful

Best Fishes

Ron

 

[Len Arbery]

Ron,

You are most welcome.

Besties, Len

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Len,

If you have an e-mail account then drop me a line to ExpatPJ@aol.com
If not, then my phone number is on my details here on FM. Just call and leave your number (as I am in Holland until Nov. 25th) and I'll call you back.

 

[Len Arbery]

Hi Peter,

I'll try the e-mail route initially.

Besties, Len

 

[si]

thanks everyone for loads ands loads of info on j.w martin i know realise collecting his books will be expensive and a little time consumeing but it still wont put me off this tread has made even more eager

and ron do i Qualify as an old fart at 28

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Si,

"Old Fartery" is a state of mind and as such it has no direct relationship with age.

Granted that the majority of FM's "Old Farts" are actually over the age of 50 but I sincerely believe that this is more due to us being far less bothered about what others think about us, compared with the younger "Old Farts" who have yet to come out of the closet

Now, where did I put that copy of Fishing Gazette?

 

[Len Arbery]

Bob Buteux introduced me to the old Trent Otter when he sold me a copy of'My Fishing Days and Fishing Ways'. And enjoying it so much made me want more but I didn't just stop at Martin's books. Mike Harris recommended Hugh T. Sheringham and I found his books to be a sheer delight too.

If you have not yet read Martin, Sheringham, Shrubsole, Weeldon, Sullivan-Thomas, Keene, Marston, Pennell, Francis, Foster, Ffennell, not to mention Walker, BB, Fred J. Taylor, Ingham, Wheat, Stone, Hilton, Gibbinson, or any other of the great angling authors, then I envy you, for you have a great treat in front of you.

Len.

 

[Ron Troversial Clay]

So what do you think of Walton Len?

 

[Ron Troversial Clay]

By the way we on this website have a special Old Farts Association. It's quite exclusive. You have to be over 60 years to belong to it.

Ed and Graham are our most senior members.

 

[Len Arbery]

'cor; now you've put me right on-the-spot, Ron.

I've read Walton and though undoubtedly written in first-class prose, I can't honestly say it was an enjoyable read. Perhaps being just a simple, greasy-arsed engineer, I'm not sufficiently sophisticated to appreciate it. I find the ancient English text, coupled with the dialogue, twixt Piscator, Venator, and Auceps quite hard going. See, now you TOO know I AM a simpleton!

signed: The MOST Senior Old Fart. (ie. of course, discounting 'Old Breadflake Buteux'!

 

[Ron Troversial Clay]

I've always tended to think, that Walker was correct when he called Isaak Walton an plagierist and a miserable old sourpuss.

It wasn't written in first class prose at all. Just the sort of English as was spoken then.

"Marry, and I'm gladde of it: I am like to have a towardly fcholar of you. I now fee, that wythe advice and practice you wille mayke an Angler in a fhort time. Have but a lovve to it and I'll warrent you."

IW. - 1653

 

[Tss24me!]

Si,

I am a great fan of John William Martin, the Trent Otter, and his books. In my library I have nine different Martin titles:

1. Coarse Fish Angling
2. Barbel and Chub Fishing
3. Roach, Rudd & Bream Fishing In Many Waters
4. Pike and Perch Fishing
5. Practical Fishing
6. The Trent Otter's Little Angling Book
7. Days Among the Pike and Perch
8. The Nottingham Style of Float Fishing and Spinning
9. My Fishing Days and Fishing Ways

There are more than one edition of most of these titles. Like Rollingpin Boy I, too, have a first edition of The Nottingham Style, and a second!

Martin's books are keenly sought, and rightly so, and are becoming increasingly difficult, not to say expensive, to obtain.

My personal favourite is 'My Fishing Days and Fishing Ways'

Len

I have a copy of "Barbel, Chub, Roach, Rudd and Bream fishing" In one volume, by J.W. Martin "The Trent Otter" 1896. This is a rare book. If you have an interest in this, please let me know! Regards Alan! (New member.)