River Ant

[stumpy]

We often pass the houseboats on our way up to Dilham, late last year there was a guy hauling a huge pike out. We stopped the next day and asked how big - 14lb!

[Malcolm Withell]

Many thanks for that. So I need fairly fine tackle but something still strong enough to keep fish out of the weed. I've read of pike grabbing fish on the way in so I'd better look out for that and keep a pike rod set up. Should be interesting, anyway. I'll look forward to it.

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[Guest Jayfire]

2 hours ago, Malcolm Withell said:

So I need fairly fine tackle

Oh God, please somebody restrain me 

[Malcolm Withell]

Meaning?

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[JennyMorgan]

51 minutes ago, Malcolm Withell said:

Meaning?

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Don't worry, he's our resident 'innuendo man', he means well and just occasionally he's very funny! 

[Malcolm Withell]

Whose fine tackle does he prefer?

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[unclemike]

18 minutes ago, Malcolm Withell said:

Whose fine tackle does he prefer?

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don't ask its better not to know

[vanessan]

11 hours ago, Malcolm Withell said:

Meaning?

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You’ll get used to our Jayfire, he just can’t resist it! Make allowances for him at present, he’s such a happy bunny with his own boat. 😁

[Guest Jayfire]

No offense ever intended Malcolm, I'm just pleased as punch JM said I was occasionally very funny. I'll not let that one drop 

[JennyMorgan]

10 hours ago, Malcolm Withell said:

Whose fine tackle does he prefer?

I suspect that he'd claim that his is the finest!

That aside, where weed is prevalent, I generally use four pound breaking strain when float fishing and six when feeder fishing. As for pike, something of an addiction, I don't recommend a 'sleeper rod' approach. For a kick-off I'd lure fish if a pike comes into my swim at this time of the year, using a thirty pound braid, that should cope with any weed.

This might well be Jayfire's chosen brand!

[Timbo]

7 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

This might well be Jayfire's chosen brand!

 

No, but it is mine! I was lucky enough to inherit my great grandfather's fishing tackle. He was one of the first professional match anglers. After the Great War his injuries were so severe he was unable to work and instead earned a living competing in angling matches and placing side bets on the outcome. As a schoolboy, it was my father's responsibility to escort the old boy to angling matches and tourneys, carrying his tackle, all over Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and down to Norfolk as the old boy's war wounds meant he was unable to carry his own equipment.

Much of his fishing tackle was either made specifically for him (his rods are hand made split cane made by Archer & Son Doncaster and balanced to his disability), home made to his design (floats, idle backs or rod rests, ledger weights, swing tips etc) or were given to him to endorse, as was the case with his fishing reels.

Even though he was a Yorkshireman, he was an exponent of the Nottingham method of angling, very fine lines and free running reels. I still favour my great grandfather's centrepin reels which were presented to him by Allcocks over any other type of reel. Although I have his 1890's Nottingham Mahogany, Walnut and brass reel, his original 1920's Coxon Aerial both in working order, it is his 1930's Allcock three inch wide drum Aerial that I use the most. I think I must have spent more time as a kid 'dry' or practise casting in the back field than I did actually fishing. Consequently, I can drop light tackle accurately some forty to fifty yards away. My other reel of choice is also a bit of antique these days. It's my Dad's 1970's Abu Garci 540 Mk1. A beautiful reel and now that I'm 'lame handed' like my great grandfather, the closed faced reel is something I really appreciate in windy conditions, although a 3lb line is the maximum it will take.  

[JennyMorgan]

I have a Hardy Silex that was made for my Gt Grandfather and adapted for float fishing, the finger grips being fitted to his fingers, the engineering incredibly fine, such was the service offered by the likes of Hardy, Farlows & Allcocks for example. As for his Coxon, likewise tailor made, it had for the drum a lignum vitae core rather than the usual metal work. Gt Grandfather wanted a reel for beach casting (!) and salmon fishing and it was deemed that the wood core would not distort under the pressure of line being wound on under some loading. I still use it for pike fishing but it is now looking rather the worse for wear although it still spins perfectly. I don't know how far the old boy was able to cast off the beach, the drum is not that big! His fourteen foot long, green heart rod is an awesome tool that weighs many pounds if not stones, I used it once and only once.  He must have been a tough old begger, he also had made a double built, split cane salmon rod with a steel core and that too weighs the proverbial ton. On the other hand hand his float rod is a delicate tool, floppy as hell now and effectively unusable. Even a gentle strike sees the tip drop a foot or more!

[JennyMorgan]

16 hours ago, Timbo said:

Dad's 1970's Abu Garci 540 Mk1

Although I've been a keen ABU man for 60 odd years I'm not familiar with the 540. I started with an early 505, graduated to a 1044 some twenty years ago which I still use. More recently I bought a modern 506 mk 2 and am over the moon with it, especially as it will handle lines up to 10lbs albeit I rarely top 6 lbs unless piking. Granted that it's not Swedish made it is still a well thought out tool so if Timbo wants to use heavier lines then I'd happily recommend this one:

https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/abu-garcia-506-mkii-reel

Re our respective Great Grandfathers, mine was not a matchman, indeed he apparently despised them, claiming that with their fine tackle they'd ruin Broads fishing. GG's idea of bream tackle, passed onto my father, was to use 10lb line, size 6 hooks, paternoster booms (sea fishing style) and one ounce coffin leads. Hypocritical old fellow then went roach fishing with Nottingham style gear although he regarded a size ten as small therefore that's what he used. 

Personally I'm a great fan of the Nottingham style but a forty yard cast off my centrepin is ten yards further than I can comfortably manage, even with a gale blasting from astern.

 

[Vaughan]

20 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

Personally I'm a great fan of the Nottingham style but a forty yard cast off my centrepin is ten yards further than I can comfortably manage, even with a gale blasting from astern.

Best results I've seen were from a Thunderflash, tied to a brick . . . .    

[marshman]

We used to use those tied on bamboos to shift coypus out of their holes in the banks - although you had to be quick!!

[webntweb]

I still use my 506 occasionally.

I have been trying to find out when it was first manufactured as memory says I bought if for a Broads trip in either 1964 or 66, but I can't find any reference to it before the 70s.

I think I paid either £24 or £25 for it from a mail order catalogue - a lot of money in those days.

[JennyMorgan]

5 hours ago, webntweb said:

I think I paid either £24 or £25 for it from a mail order catalogue - a lot of money in those days.

Catalogue prices back in the day were famously inflated, lots of commission for the agents, like my mum-in-law to be, for whom it was a little earner. I bought a camera from her, silly me, I paid well over the odds!

[Upcycler]

I do like fishing on the broads and when I'm tiddler bashing which takes me back to my teens, I sometimes think it would be nice to catch a carp. I understand they are few and far between in the broads but you can catch them in canals, so I have wondered why it's not a regular fish to catch on the north side of the broads.

[Malcolm Withell]

Interesting about the closed face reels. I never got one but my father had a Shakespeare equivalent which I found the other day. It's hardly used, and I was wondering about bringing it to Wayford Bridge in October. I also have a couple of centrepins which I love using although they are strictly close-range weapons for me. You can't beat the control you have when playing a fish, particularly when bringing it to the net, as you can let line off as you pull the fish in.

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[JennyMorgan]

13 hours ago, Upcycler said:

I have wondered why it's not a regular fish to catch on the north side of the broads.

Because it's akin to finding a needle in a haystack! A few good ones are caught every year, both North & South, by those in the know.

[JennyMorgan]

10 hours ago, Malcolm Withell said:

my father had a Shakespeare equivalent which I found the other day. It's hardly used

Ideal for E-Bay, collectors sometimes pay silly money for old reels in hardly used condition. I wonder why it is hardly used? 

Joking apart, I'm sure that you could have a lot of fun tiddler snatching with you Dad's reel.

It's a good area for a mobile approach too, especially with a lure rod and going after pike and perch especially.

I rather envy you your holiday.  

[webntweb]

45 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

Because it's akin to finding a needle in a haystack! A few good ones are caught every year, both North & South, by those in the know.

We were drifting at slack water on the first bend below Postwick Viaduct close to the Postwick Bank, looking down into very clear water, and to our surprise a large carp swam slowly past. It must have been well into double figures.

[Hylander]

Much to hubby's annoyance,  one year while staying at Watersedge in Potter Heigham, he asked me to watch the rods while he nipped inside.    He had not been gone 30 seconds when one of the rods whipped across me and I had to grab it quickly from going in the river.     Just my luck it was a carp as big as a dinner plate.   I kept yelling for him to come out quickly and eventually he returned and landed the best carp he had ever caught.    He must have sat there for days before this happened with absolutely not a bite.   Typical.

 

 

[Malcolm Withell]

I've never caught perch on a lure but have caught pike on plugs - ages ago. I removed the chain first... I have various lures sitting around in drawers and tackle boxes so I'd better sort them out.

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[SteveO]

I had a couple of perch on a Mepps pattern spinner in Salhouse broad a couple of weeks ago. Not big fish but good sport. Just make sure you use barbless trebles, for the sake of the fish.