nostalgia...

[OldBoy]

I sometimes look on this web site, normally a bit banal about how to.... etc

But found this small insight into possibly one of the best angling series ever broadcast: 

https://www.carpology.net/article/features/an-interview-with-hugh-miles/

 

 

[Roughtor]

I'm really interested in the history of carp angling and angling in general ..

 

One of the best books I have read regarding nostalgia is by Mike Winter ,who is Skeffs / Mark Walsinghams mentor, the book is called Along Fisherman's paths ,it's all about his ( mikes ) angling journey, and the beginning of the Devon Carp Catchers club ,and the Golden scale club..its one of my favourite books now,especially as I've fished some of these old pools ..

 

[Serenity]

Along Fisherman's Paths is a nice read. Sadly, Mike Winter passed away some years back. He was one of the original winter carp fishing pioneers.  

[Roughtor]

Gerry Savage ,also a noted winter pioneer ,his famous Carp in the snow pic ,and 100 doubles in a season on PYM,also a follower of the early HNV theory ,Fred Wilton etc. 

 

( I fished a couple of times with Gerry ,he passed on the LP...B ,philosophy which I still use to this day )

 

 

[salokcinnodrog]

I do love the nostalgia of 'older' anglers. I've already read Hutchy The Golden Years and it seemed from that, other books, and my memories, fishing was so much simpler

[OldBoy]

15 hours ago, salokcinnodrog said:

I do love the nostalgia of 'older' anglers. I've already read Hutchy The Golden Years and it seemed from that, other books, and my memories, fishing was so much simpler

Other Hutchy books I have:  'The Carp Strikes Back' - fantastic read, and also 'Carp Then and Now'.

Yes. fishing  was certainly much more simple back in the day, tackle has obviously moved on so much, social media as with all aspects of life has changed things in so many ways too.

If people can imagine a time when carp anglers were very rare on the banks and smaller lakes were not actually brown puddles, then carp were introduced at first mainly for match anglers, sadly other species were muscled out of their enviroment and we all know the rest.

I have adapted to the new scene, don't do nights anymore and just fish for my enjoyment of being on the bank now, still experimenting on new ideas which suits me fine 👍

[OldBoy]

If anyone is interested, a few more old skool reads:

Quest for Carp - Jack Hilton

Carp Fever - Kevin Maddocks

Big Water Carp - Jim Gibbinson

Rob Maylins trio of books (guess they are old skool now?)

The Rod Hutchinson Chris Yates Legacy - complitaion of Carp World interviews

Casting at the Sun  - Chris Yates

A very interesting read, not really carp related but an insight into the old days - Fantastic Feeder Fishing by Archie Braddock

[Serenity]

It is curious that so many folk are interested in the history of carp fishing and yet the most important event of all – the introduction of the species into England – is not public knowledge.

 

[salokcinnodrog]

5 hours ago, Serenity said:

It is curious that so many folk are interested in the history of carp fishing and yet the most important event of all – the introduction of the species into England – is not public knowledge.

 

It is believed that carp were introduced into Britain by the Romans, however it was monks who introduced them heavily in around the 1400's, as Catholics were not to eat meat on Fridays, so stew ponds were stocked with fish.

[ouchthathurt]

22 hours ago, OldBoy said:

Rob Maylins trio of books (guess they are old skool now?)

I suppose you could argue that Terry Hearns first book, in pursuit of the largest and Dave Lanes obsession with carp are creeping into old school territory now? After all, they are documenting famous waters from the early 90s, nigh on 30yrs now! Where has the time gone? 

[OldBoy]

22 hours ago, Serenity said:

It is curious that so many folk are interested in the history of carp fishing and yet the most important event of all – the introduction of the species into England – is not public knowledge.

 

A bit more info:

https://www.carpology.net/article/features/the-carp-part-2-the-invasion-of-england/

16 hours ago, salokcinnodrog said:

It is believed that carp were introduced into Britain by the Romans, however it was monks who introduced them heavily in around the 1400's, as Catholics were not to eat meat on Fridays, so stew ponds were stocked with fish.

As salokcinnodrog said 👍

[Roughtor]

Apparently, as said above ,as Roman armies travelled they needed to be fed ,and brought carp with then to stock ,grow on and harvest ..

 

The famous Pant y Lynn, lake high up in the mountains ,still have wild carp ,maybe with the significant danubian notch ..

 

Here in the westcountry I found a small pool ,and caught a carp that had all the hereditary features of small wildies ,including that notch, it was unlike any feral carp I'd caught previously..it also fought like the devil incarnate !

[OldBoy]

On 23/07/2025 at 16:44, Roughtor said:

The famous Pant y Lynn, lake high up in the mountains ,still have wild carp ,maybe with the significant danubian notch ..

Here in the westcountry I found a small pool ,and caught a carp that had all the hereditary features of small wildies ,including that notch, it was unlike any feral carp I'd caught previously..it also fought like the devil incarnate !

Roughtor,

Not sure what the 'danubian notch' is?

I get to Kernow twice a year, mainly to chill from stuff, last time I found a small lake rammed with smallish carp, lovely time catching on floaters and only one fishing there, obviously not wildies but long lean and so hard fighting and no mouth damage 👍

Good to fish somewhere with no bivvie city and carp idiots 😃

[salokcinnodrog]

1 hour ago, OldBoy said:

Roughtor,

Not sure what the 'danubian notch' is?

I get to Kernow twice a year, mainly to chill from stuff, last time I found a small lake rammed with smallish carp, lovely time catching on floaters and only one fishing there, obviously not wildies but long lean and so hard fighting and no mouth damage 👍

Good to fish somewhere with no bivvie city and carp idiots 😃

Feral carp reverting towards the original wildie type have what is referred to as a Danubian Notch. However true wildies don't have it. I think it is like the straight head to the body, whereas bred carp have a slight dip.

[OldBoy]

Ah, see what you mean now 👍

Even the Leney Carp originally came from Holland, I believe, and used to be predominat in Horseshoe Lake in the 90's, now sadly long gone, they were lovely looking fish and one of the reasons I used to make a silly amount of miles to fish for them. 🙂

[salokcinnodrog]

2 hours ago, OldBoy said:

Ah, see what you mean now 👍

Even the Leney Carp originally came from Holland, I believe, and used to be predominat in Horseshoe Lake in the 90's, now sadly long gone, they were lovely looking fish and one of the reasons I used to make a silly amount of miles to fish for them. 🙂

I have a Leney from Redmire that as a baby made its way to Norfolk. 

The excessively successful spawning of the Redmire fish, with other originals, many of the netted fish were sold off to various buyers across the country.

[OldBoy]

Lovely looking Leney, they were deff something special 👍

[Roughtor]

I used to fish a fantastic little complex ,it was rumoured to have been stocked by Surrey trout farm /Donald leney..

Anyway I got in contact with Chris Ball ( RIP)  ,who a member of my family got to know,and asked about this place ,'was there any recorded stocking from Mr Leney '..he couldn't help me ,and said Chris Yates might know as he had the stocking records ,turns out Mark Walsingham had them due to ,at the time the Bernithian Court was being sorted out ,Redmire..and there was no mention of that stocking ..The original owner was said to have mentioned that's where his Carp came from in the mid to lake 70s ..

 

I was fortunate to have done very well on this place ,multiple captures and repeats,and kept lots of 35mm self takes. 

Now it's been sadly sold and turned into yet another grim tourist venue ,known as Stone Rush,if you look at the aerial view on maps ,the bigger first lake in the valley ,the last 'orrid'lodge by the inflo ,was my favourite swim ..all the fish did look like Redmire fish ...who knows..?

Edited 14 hours ago by Roughtor

[salokcinnodrog]

1 hour ago, Roughtor said:

I used to fish a fantastic little complex ,it was rumoured to have been stocked by Surrey trout farm /Donald leney..

Anyway I got in contact with Chris Ball ( RIP)  ,who a member of my family got to know,and asked about this place ,'was there any recorded stocking from Mr Leney '..he couldn't help me ,and said Chris Yates might know as he had the stocking records ,turns out Mark Walsingham had them due to ,at the time the Bernithian Court was being sorted out ,Redmire..and there was no mention of that stocking ..The original owner was said to have mentioned that's where his Carp came from in the mid to lake 70s ..

 

I was fortunate to have done very well on this place ,multiple captures and repeats,and kept lots of 35mm self takes. 

Now it's been sadly sold and turned into yet another grim tourist venue ,known as Stone Rush,if you look at the aerial view on maps ,the bigger first lake in the valley ,the last 'orrid'lodge by the inflo ,was my favourite swim ..all the fish did look like Redmire fish ...who knows..?

There were quite a few waters stocked with fish purchased from the Redmire spawning explosion in the 70's and early 80's.  I don't think any of the fish did as well as the original Redmire stocked fish which was a very good year, but they did have the looks.

[OldBoy]

Sadly, I suspect no true Leneys now exist.... I still have this 'romantic' notion that there are still undiscoverd / ultra private waters where they do tho 🙂 

I used to correspond 'email' years ago with a bloke who actually knew Chris Yates and he mentioned the Leney stock records, it started with my mention of a certain surrey water who Yates had 'guested' on and he lived near the place and knew nothing about it, probably mentioned the place on here but a deff no no for visits or fishing tho now!

[emmcee]

1 hour ago, OldBoy said:

Sadly, I suspect no true Leneys now exist.... I still have this 'romantic' notion that there are still undiscoverd / ultra private waters where they do tho 🙂 

I used to correspond 'email' years ago with a bloke who actually knew Chris Yates and he mentioned the Leney stock records, it started with my mention of a certain surrey water who Yates had 'guested' on and he lived near the place and knew nothing about it, probably mentioned the place on here but a deff no no for visits or fishing tho now!

There are certainly some still around.

My old syndicate lake had 4 known originals in it when I fished there, all from an original stocking of Leney's. As far as I'm aware they are all still in there, I stopped fishing there 5 yrs ago but I still chat to mates on there and the usual one was caught last year and the most sought after one came out this spring. Some members had been on there years trying to catch one but luckily for me my second fish from the lake was one and the most sort after one at that when I fished there. I had it in 2017 and it was 50yrs old then. It wasn't caught last year but made an appearance this spring so still going strong at 58yrs old. 

Another lake that may well hold some original Leney's is Frensham ponds. 

[salokcinnodrog]

23 minutes ago, emmcee said:

There are certainly some still around.

My old syndicate lake had 4 known originals in it when I fished there, all from an original stocking of Leney's. As far as I'm aware they are all still in there, I stopped fishing there 5 yrs ago but I still chat to mates on there and the usual one was caught last year and the most sought after one came out this spring. Some members had been on there years trying to catch one but luckily for me my second fish from the lake was one and the most sort after one at that when I fished there. I had it in 2017 and it was 50yrs old then. It wasn't caught last year but made an appearance this spring so still going strong at 58yrs old. 

Another lake that may well hold some original Leney's is Frensham ponds. 

I was trying to think of the name of Frensham Ponds, that's the subject of Chris Ball's chapter in Big Carp, I'll Let you Be in my Dreams. He had gotten the stocking records from Chris Yates. Sadly hit by a fish kill after a stocking of new fish. 

[OldBoy]

@emmcee. lovely looking fish, glad there are still some around 👍.

@salokcinnodrog Frensham ponds still on a Farnham angling club ticket, sadly as you say had a massive fish kill and tbh the big lake is now just unfishable, even if you wanted to in summer as rammed with swimmers and tourists. 

Used to be a lake near there many years ago that was an old skool venue tho, think Andy Little used to fish there??

[Roughtor]

Also ,if you travel into the hallowed county/country on the old A30 ,that's along Jeff Rowes ,old night club ,you will see a string of deep quarries ,some of which were stocked by Peter Mohan ,CAA  and Cypry the Carp Author ,some of those quarries held fish from his time distributing carp all around that area .. wether age and predation killed those remaining fish off,I don't know...however ,unbelievable as it is ,my long term fishing mate at the time ,bought and lives in ex quarry managers house,right next to a deep pit ,and that does hold decent History fish ,although its margins are steep and the depths still have remains of tools and crib hut..

 

It's fascinating history ,I can confirm also that there are still places around that hold those special Leneys  ,100%...