Home Features Diaries Richard Walker Letter to Keith Robinson

Richard Walker Letter to Keith Robinson

June 6, 2006

Richard Walker Letter to Keith Robinson

This letter was written to FishingMagic member Keith Robinson in about 1967. Keith has given me permission to reproduce this letter in image form so you can see the hand writing and the diagrams. The quality of the images is reduced as they have been scanned from photocopies (click on the images for an enlarged view). I have typed the letter too, so that it can be read more easily. Note that the letter was hand written without the benefit of being able to edit and delete mistakes as we go along as we can so easily in this day of computers and word processing software.

The subject is reservoir trout fishing. Over to Dick.

11 Bearton Avenue
Hitchin

Dear Keith,

I don’t know how useful previous fly-fishing experience is. I’ve been fly fishing on rivers for 40 years, but this reservoir fishing is so different that I’ve had to unlearn a lot. Some things like fly tying and line joining help a lot, but the rest of it is new.

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This may be the reason why I can’t cast very far. If I fix up a heavy sinking line and fish in a gentle favourable breeze, I can cast about 35 yards. With a floating line this comes down to about 30 yards. I’m not joking, if you can do 45 yards consistently you shouldn’t have any difficulty in beating the regular tournament experts, and I’d love to see it done.

I think the bird sanctuary situation is very bad; they’ve taken in the south west bank of Savages Creek as well as the bays. Weed there may be but not in the first month of the season; but weed or no weed they’ve taken out about 20% of the fishing space. I know bloody well that if I reduce the cutting width of the lawnmowers I make and put up the price 33 1/3 %, I’d damn soon have the Prices and Incomes Board on my tail, and

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even if I didn’t, I shouldn’t have many customers left.

The points you list about Grafham are all very sound ones, but I think that if we get a representative body formed, it would be best to tackle one thing at a time, the early start being the most important. My attitude is that few object to the price of £ 1 a day, if we get a full day for our money, but in practice we don’t even get started at 9 am owing to the delay in issuing tickets. I also object to £ 40 a season; who can get there 40 times a year? They’d take more money at £ 30. I would have had a season ticket at £ 30 but not at £ 40.

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(These comments are interesting in the light that a single day at Grafham today costs £ 17.00! – RC)

We shan’t get any grant. The government (Labour at the time – RC) is anti-angling, though they won’t risk losing votes by admitting it. (Nothing changes). They’re engaged on a drive to turn anglers off waters to make room for other water sports.

I did tell you how to attach fly-line to monofil, didn’t I? In case I didn’t, here’s how.Bore a hole in the end of the fly line with a pin. Heat the head of the pin in a match flame, this stops the hole closing up when you pull the pin out. The hole comes out of the side of the fly-line about