past freshwater memorys.

[geejayy]

hi everyone, sorry if this bores you but i'm fed up and bored myself this morning, so i thought i'd share my old memorys of fishing the test based around some old piccys i've got.

After i left school in the test valley i worked for quite some time as a general dogs body to a local waterkeeper, which fortunately gave me access to fish some of the river test dureing the winter when the fly fishers had given up.
This would have been from about 1982 onward and i knew very little of freshwater fishing but had a go anyway with some old tackle cobbled together from dads old kit.

off i would set when ever the need arose , armed with an old glass fibre rod, a little intrepid reel and knowing little of the finer points of fresh water angling usually an avon trotter, bulk shotted and a size 12 or 14 hook .

this is the pool where i'd most often fish,



this being where a small ditch (opposite) would meet with a carrier stream of about 25ft wide , the pool itsself was approx 4 1/2- 5 ft deep, i know coz i'd often fill my chest waders up here while doing the summer weed cuts.
it was as good a spot as any to have a go and there was a good variety of fish to be had if you could get away from all those damn trout.





the dace , grayling and roach were abundant but just occasionally i'd catch the odd little perch.

it took some time though before i got the hang of catching the pike though.
this was my first.


just a little jack of about 5 lb caught on a sml 12g toby, but i went on to catch loads more to about 16lb on rod n line either on large lures or a twitched/spun deadbait.
the best session of many being an october evening fishing the beats below the 'ram' hatches , i had parked near there and wandered down stream fishing every likely spot till i got to the estate boundry then back up again with just 1 little 2lb jack for my efforts which was good enough but i had to have one last go on a deep corner near where i'd started as i had seen a large pike basking in that swim while i was working in the early afternoon .
so i worked my toby through the corner and the pike followed but wouldnt take .
so i changed tactics to sink/draw a dead bait , that worked and after a frantic battle i'd landed a 10lber on my little spinning rod,
but as i had been playing this one a larger shaddow had been following it so out went the dead bait for another twitch through.
but no joy so after a few casts i left it still on the bottom and had a quiet smoke , just as my fag had burnt away i got a take , struck and was battleing another pike, eventually landing it to find i'd got a bp at 15lb+.

several years later the headkeepers sons were getting well into fishing and they had had a day out down the lake ,( a small trout lake on the estate that was leased to a syndicate, ) primearily a trout lake but there was a good head of coarse fish with carp growing on for restocking in there.
no one had fished it much for years other than with the fly.
well the boys had a feild day , planned as a general days fishing for the roach, perch dace and the odd gudgeon i was told turned hectic when the carp unexpectedly came out to play.
and so the for the following weekend and a few more a small team of us turned out to enjoy the sport.
tactics were crude , just float fishing a double maggot or sweet corn did the biz with fish from 5- 10lb regularly getting hooked.
but they soon became wise and the next season wouldn't be fooled



It was while working here that my boss introduced me to the noble art of fly fishing , i was back on the estate at this time in 1988, under a new head keeper and as he said- as you're here you aught to learn to cast a fly.
and so with 1/2 an hours tuition on a quiet bit of river i was left to work it out for myself. and had caught, after thrashing about for about 4 hours , catching 332 rosebay willow herbs , 100 stinging nettles, 5 willow trees and 3 barbed wire fences, my 1st trout on the fly .
as 'Greenheart' says this is arguably the purest form of fishing there is, nothing better than stalking quietly up the river bank looking for a single specific fish that is riseing or looks like it may be tempted, selecting an appropriate fly , an accurate cast, have i fooled him? will he take it?
that was the buzz,
but often frustrateing when they wouldn't play the game.


well as the years went by with the river being just outside my door and working there for most of the week , sometimes by it, sometimes in it(not always planned ) prehaps i took the fishing for granted but my interest in fishing the river lessened as my interest in beer and women grew.

and eventually my circumstances changed and i thought it best at the time to move away from where i belong.

i've not fished a river since i moved, perhaps because i did so much of it back then, but my first choice , as always is still sea angling but thats another story for another night when i'm bored and can't sleep...........

[Rob M]

Thats a great story mate, I've just sat with my cup of tea and read all of it. I'm sure if you fished a river the old 'spark' would come back

Rob

[fishypaul]

enjoyable read geejayy , i will try to dig out some of my old pics and do the same

[BaggieRich]

Fantastic read mate. You should get back a do a bit more on the Test. Bring the memorys flooding back...

[pingu]

cracking little report there gordon really enjoyed it

[baitmaster]

totally agree great read

tightlines

kevin

[Greenheart]

Great read Gord, brings back memories of my formative fishing years (Nowhere as grand as the Test though. I've only been lucky enough to fish it once) That looks like everyone's dream job mate.

[Mik]

What an opportunity you had there. We only had an efluant plant or an acid bath in the steel works and we couldnt fish either of those.

My memories of the river was bouncing a worm down the Afon LLwyd in Cwmbran. A rod and reel from Woolies, A hook and a couple of shot.

Cracking read. Well done.