A History of Carp Fishing Revisited

A History of Carp Fishing Revisited

Kevin Clifford

A History of Carp Fishing

First published in 2011 by Sandholme Publishing Ltd Newport, East Yorkshire, HU15 2QG

ISBN 978-0-9538038-4-2

Š Kevin Clifford

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

The copyright owners will take all necessary steps to protect their rights under appropriate legislation, including offences that take place on the internet, web forums, etc.

Printed in England by Latimer Trend & Company Limited

Dedicated to my family, past and present.

I hope it repays a little the investment you made in me.

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A History of Carp Fishing

Contents

The Origins and Introduction of Carp Some Early Notable Carp Fisheries Croxby Pond & Otto Overbeck Cheshunt Reservoir Mapperley Reservoir & Albert Buckley Dagenham Lake Redmire Pool & De Nederlandsche Heidemaatschappij Billing Aquadrome Peterborough Electricity Cut Nothing New Under the Sun A History of Carp Tackle Wadhurst, Stoneham & Contemporary Times Notable Early Big Carp List

7 57 85 97 115 139 157 183 199 213 227 253 362

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A History of Carp Fishing

Preface The years slipped by after A History of Carp Fishing was published in 1992. Several individuals had been complimentary about the book after its birth, but it’s only natural that with the passage of time you see your work with eyes that have grown a little wiser and you come to realise that the child isn’t perfect. And just like Jack Nicholson in the film, As Good as it Gets, when he first kisses Helen Hunt, I was convinced that “I can do better.”

And so began another labour of love. It is true that there were difficult times as the months, and then years, drifted by. Towards the end as the confinement stretched interminably on, there were even doubts and momentary regrets – the few remaining grains of sand slipping ever faster through the fingers, with so much yet still to do. The “wild Canadian lakes and mighty Russian rivers” – those unfulfilled hopes of the first edition remained ever beyond the horizon.

Whilst this new edition is based on the original concept and some of the material is the same, a great deal of new information has been added. Where mistakes were discovered in the original they have been corrected and noted. Some chapters, such as the one on Redmire Pool, do not tread in familiar footsteps. Whilst there is always the temptation to create a work of this type that is ‘complete’ this would have resulted in more than one volume with considerable repetition from previously published books. So, for those who feel they need a complete picture, this book should be considered as no more than one part of a proud and wonderful heritage of carp fishing literature.

The “A” in the title, as many people have understood, was chosen deliberately. Judgement often runs a close race with arrogance, and who am I to value my fellow angler’s achievements.

Yet without some meat on the bone it would be poor fare that the table offered. So I can only repeat my apologies of the first edition. The book is just one man’s perception. There will, indeed, be some I have erroneously failed to mention or not given enough credit. Some may have been given more than they deserved.

My goal has been to put down on paper a comprehensive record of those early days of carp fishing, before the details are lost forever. I have also tried to entertain a little at the same time. As I pointed out in the first edition, these two often make poor bedfellows. A hard-nosed New York Times journalist once wrote that what makes a good writer of history is someone who is suspicious, so I hope any suspicions I had did not cut the heart out of the entertainment.

This book and its predecessor would have been stillborn without the efforts of its many ‘helpers’. Some have gone to considerable effort and all have given freely. With them I gladly share any approval the book finds with its readers.

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A History of Carp Fishing

Origins & Introductions Exactly when carp were first introduced into this country is uncertain although research has shown that it was considerably earlier than had previously been accepted.

Thomas Boosey in his book, Piscatorial Reminiscences and Gleanings by an Old Angler and Bibliopolist, written in 1835, states that “Carp were introduced into England in the year 15141,” whilst Patrick Chalmers, in his much later book The Angler’s England again is quite specific with the date put at 1490, though he fails to provide any sources. William Peard in his 1836 book, Practical Water-Farming, gives the view that carp were brought to these shores “probably between the 14th and 15th century, but neither the date nor the country from which it was originally

imported can be accurately determined.”

Perversely, the generally reliable Harry Cholmondeley Pennell in his excellent book, The Angler-Naturalist (1863), thought it most likely that “there seems to be every reason for believing that the common carp is an aboriginal of this country.”

One of the most widely quoted references in the past (even Peter Mohan used it in his relatively recent 1972 book2), to the introduction of carp, was Sir Richard Baker’s3, mentioned in Izaak Walton’s The Complete Angler: “Hops and Turkies, Carps and Beer Came into England all in a year.”

Despite the popularity of this quotation it requires only perfunctory investigation to realise it is nonsense

Plumpton Place. and worthless as a means of determining when carp were introduced. Walton himself states that “there was a time, about a hundred or a few more years ago, when there were no carp in England.” Since Walton’s book was first published in 1653 this would seem to set the date at about 1550. However, Walton was a consummate plagiarist4 and cribbed much of the work of one Leonard Mascall, of Plumpton Place, in Sussex. Mascall’s book was published in 1590 and titled A Booke of Fishing with Hooke and Line and all other instruments there unto belonging. Mascall, himself, has been credited many times with being accountable for the first introduction of carp into Britain, not least because his own book dedicates a “maister Mascoll of Plumsted” (usually assumed

1. The date of 1514 tallies with the claim in Leonard Mascall’s earlier book of 1590 – also repeated in other works such as the 1840 book The History of the Worthies of England by Thomas Fuller and P. Austin Nuttall.

2. Peter Mohan formed and was the secretary of the British Carp Study Group (1969 to 1990) and also the Carp Anglers’ Association, and published his book, Carp for Everyone in 1972.

3. Sir Richard Baker wrote the Chronicle of the Kings of England in 1643 whilst confined to Fleet Prison. It became very popular, running to several editions but its historical value was marred by its many inaccuracies – as demonstrated by the couplet referring to carp.

4. Apart from plagiarising much of Mascall’s work, Walton also cribbed the groundbait recipes from a book discovered in the 1950s titled The Arte of Angling. It had been published in 1577 and was written by William Samuel, vicar of Godmanchester. Samuel also states much the same as Bernes about the introduction of carp – that it was a “fish not long known in England.” However, he further points out that the shires of Buckingham and Berkshire “are well furnished with carp.” It is difficult to know how much credence can be placed on such references made by Mascall, Walton and Samuel. Copying other writers’ work seems to have been looked upon at this time as an acceptable matter, so the possibility of an erroneous statement being perpetuated through plagiarism is very likely.

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A History of Carp Fishing references to carp. He tells us that when John Pechum was made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1248, he had to provide the following for his enthronement feast: “...300 ling, 600 cod, 40 fresh salmon, 7 barrels of salt sturgeon, 600 fresh eels, 8,000 welks, 100 pike, 400 tench, 100 carp…”

Yet references prior to the Accounts and Memoranda of Sir John Howard, fail to clarify whether these carp were actually imported from the Continent or bred in England. Critically, the absence of any dated records relating to live fish, or archeological remains before the 15th century, support the claim that carp were not present in British waters before this period. Certainly, there is a clear distinction in documents before and after this point. For example, there is no mention of carp in the Roll of the Household Expenses of Richard de Swinfield (1289-1290) yet many sea and freshwater species are mentioned, including eels, bream, pike, tench, trout, salmon and minnows. The tench and pike were kept in a stew at Ledbury.

A different story, however, is told by William More, the Prior of Worcester, who kept a comprehensive journal covering his expenditure in managing his duties.

The journal provides details of the stocking and operation of his fishponds.

The period covered by the journal is 1518 to 1536, and during the early years eels were the species that were retained in the largest numbers, followed by tench.

Large numbers of small roach were also stocked but these appear to have been used mainly as food for pike production.

It wasn’t until 1531 that More first stocked carp – and even then it was only as a trial and in small numbers. Also around this time (before 1547) Henry VIII made an order for the stocking of ponds at Cornbury Park, near Oxford, with carp.

There is good reason to believe that there were connections between the Low Countries and London as regards the dissemination of many Continental ideas including fish rearing, and it is possible that the introduction and spread of carp may have come about through these contacts. It is known that a considerable distribution centre for freshwater and sea fish existed on the River Thames, substantially around Southwark, as early

as 1350. Many fishponds and wharfages were present in this location, with numerous references to the Stews (stues, stuues, stewes) in documents after that time. These ponds and wharfages supplied fish to local houses and the royal palaces across the river. Although the word ‘stew’ has a connotation with stew pond, it would appear that the Stews were notorious as the name also referred to brothels – in some instances as steam baths that doubled as brothels and consisted of houses often licensed under regulations confirmed by Act of Parliament.

Excavations in the 1990s by the Museum of London, on the south bank of the Thames near Tower Bridge, brought to light a network of medieval fishponds, sluices and watercourses (there is further evidence on the opposite, north bank of the Thames, at Trig Lane, where medieval

fish hooks and numerous fish bones were excavated). Three of these ponds were of elaborate construction, initially having timber sides but being replaced with chalk walls. One of the ponds had been lined with the broken remains of a rowing galley that was dated to 1265.

These ponds went out of use in the mid16th century, and became a rubbish dump.

Central Europe has a long history of carp culture, but is considerably predated by the Chinese. Certainly by about 450BC the Chinese scholar Fan Lai (also spelled Li or Lee) had written his manuscript –The Classic of Fish Culture – which described the design of ponds, carp breeding and their growth. However, there is some doubt that the early Chinese references should be attributed to common carp and were more probably dealing with grass carp, silver carp, big

The Making of a Stew Correspondence from carp angler Dave Ball brought to the author’s attention that John Stow’s A Survey of London contradicted Chris Currie’s proposal (that appeared in the 1st edition of A History of Carp Fishing) and which was originally published in Currie’s The Early History of the Carp and its Economic Significance in England – 1991) that “a Fleming, Frows of Flanders, was leasing The Stews at Southwark at the time of the peasants’ revolt of 1381 when his property there was attacked and wrecked.” Chris Currie referenced his statement to Helen Douglas-Irvine and her contribution to the book Victoria County History. Stow’s book was published in 1598, some 330 years before the Victoria County History began (it’s an ongoing publication) and reported that the term ‘Froes of Flaunders’ was simply a term for Flemish prostitutes – in this case those that were renting their Southwark houses from William Walworth, the Mayor of London. ‘Froes of Flaunders’ has been widely used as a term for prostitutes so we must conclude that Helen Douglas-Irvine was simply ignorant of its real meaning – as were Currie and Clifford when repeating it. Other bordellos that existed in the vicinity had ecclesiastical ownership, including properties belonging to the Bishop of Winchester and the Stratford-at-Bow Priory – the latter which now forms the site of Shakespeare’s reconstructed Globe Theatre.

Clearly the term ‘Stews’ had a dual meaning referring to both brothels and fishponds, this being affirmed by Charles E. Orser in his 2002 book Encyclopedia of Historical Archaeology with the statement: “…part of the area between Bankside and Maiden Lane became known as the Stews – referring to both the freshwater fishponds and the brothels for which the area was notorious” and in much greater detail by Henry Ansgar Kelly in Bishop, Prioress and Bawd in the Stews of Southwark (2000) from which the following quote is taken: “The 1350 grant to the Stratford nuns contains one of the earliest known references to ‘the Stews’ or ‘the Stoves’ of Southwark, and it is not clear whether the primary reference was to the ponds maintained by fishmongers – which certainly existed there at that time, as is evident from the Stratford grant.” It is worth noting that a private fishpond for the bishop’s use existed on the Stratford property in at least 1209.

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A History of Carp Fishing head carp and black carp.

In contrast, the earliest European references to common carp cultivation1 are found very much later in documents associated with Count Thiabut V of Champagne when in 1258 he stocked carp fry into his ponds at Igny-le-Jard,

and in 1227 in Austria. The foundations of a large carp breeding establishment (still in operation today) and formed by the Barons of Rosenberg (Rozmberks) in Wittingau, Bohemia, can be traced back to 1367 – the beginnings of a long and proud tradition of carp breeding that led

Above: There is evidence to believe that many new ideas came to Britain from the Low Countries (Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg), where trade and commerce was well developed by the 13th century. Joachim Beuckelaer was a Flemish painter who portrayed kitchens and fish markets – with carp invariably being represented, suggesting they were readily available at this time. The horizontal lines on the top image are caused by the splitting of the wood on which it was painted, circa 1570.

Below: Joannes Dubravius who made a great contribution to fish culture.

to a dramatic spread throughout central Europe, and ultimately thriving mainly around Czechoslovakia, Germany, Austria and Poland.

The likelihood, it would seem, is that carp were, therefore, introduced to England, possibly from the Low Countries, sometime in the late-14th or early-15th century and, certainly by the latter half of the 15th century they were being reared in this country.

By the latter part of the 1500s they were established and much sought after, and mentioned in numerous documents.

They were not at all hard to come by and records confirm they could be found in Norfolk, Suffolk, Hampshire, London, Surrey, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. In 1590, John Pyke was accused of having stolen “many and greate carpes” from the Bishop of Winchester’s fishpond at Frensham, near Farnham, in Surrey (Baker and Minchin 1948).

When the first English work extolling the virtues of keeping carp was published in 1600 – John Taverner’s Certaine Experiments concerning Fish and Fruite – it went to some lengths to recommend the famous Slovakian cleric, Joannes Dubravius2, as an authority on the subject. And treatises such as those written by Taverner (1600) and Roger

1. A form of fish farming was certainly taking place on the estates of Charlemagne, the King of the Franks, between 742 and 814, although carp is not specifically mentioned in estate documents.

2. Joannes (also Jan, Jon or Janus) Dubravius lived from 1486 to 1553 in Bohemia. He became a doctor of Canon law and between 1542 and 1553 was the Bishop of Olomouc. His famous book about fish farming (About Ponds and Fish Living Therein) was first published in 1547 in Latin, and later, in 1599, translated into English.

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A History of Carp Fishing Black Sea, the Azov Sea and the Caspian Sea).” More recently, in 1969, Professor Eugene Balon proposed that the origins of the carp were certainly from central Asia, from the area around the Caspian Sea, some 10,000 years ago. With the ending of the last Ice Age, and the resulting higher temperatures, the species colonised naturally the Black Sea area, the Aral system, eastern Asia (including China) and, about 8,000 years ago, the River Danube system.

In about AD 15 a Roman camp was founded near the mouth of the River Morava, which is a tributary of the Danube. From this camp eventually grew a large town called Carnuntum, which was an important resting place on the much used Amber Road. Balon suggests that it was from this area that carp were first transported by man throughout Europe. He further proposes that having first been transferred to Italy and, following the decline of the Roman Empire, the domestication of the species continued with the advent of Christianity, in monastery stew ponds. He further proposed that it was necessary, with the establishment of monasteries from the 6th century onwards, to have a readily available source of fish for consumption during the monks’ fasting periods, which covered more than 100 days each year.

Importantly, there has been limited factual evidence put forward by Balon, and others, on the monastic contribution to the spread of the fish across Europe

Fast Food Rules After the Norman Conquest, that began in 1066 with the Battle of Hastings, fasting days that forbade the consumption of meat increased and included Lent, Fridays and Saturdays, and even Wednesdays. After about 1200 compliance dropped away, but pressure from the church in 1563 resulted in laws being passed by Parliament that made it a criminal act to eat meat on Wednesday and Saturday without a special licence. This continued until the early 15th century – and then first the Wednesday and then the Saturday rule fell into disuse. In secular society some of these ‘meatless days’ would have coincided with days of celebration or hospitality – on such occasions fish was utilised in all its various forms, with pottages, pies and even fish blancmanges. However, the practise of fasting from meat predates the medieval church – the ritual of eating fish on Fridays was well established in some pagan cults long before it was adopted in Christian regulations.

After the publication of the first edition of this book, Fred Buller pointed out that actual ‘fasting’ arrangements were more involved than this author had suggested: “It would seem that most non-Catholics make the mistake of thinking that fast days are days when you eat nothing – not so, you can eat what you like but you must take but one meal a day. For Catholics, Fridays (and certain other days) were days of abstinence when meat (other than fish) was forbidden.”

In actual fact the situation was much more complex than Buller suggested. The rules regarding fasting changed over time, and even varied between the rich and poor and in different parts of Britain, and if you were ill.

There were rules that applied to the clergy alone – a letter written by Aelfric, the Anglo-Saxon Archbishop of York, encouraged the clergy in general to eat fish, rather than meat (which was deemed to promote carnal sins), and did not confine this to specific fasting periods. An exception was even applied in some Benedictine monasteries where special chambers (misericord) were built so that meat could be consumed on fast days.

The reality was that various monastic orders abided by different rules – 12th century Benedictine monks (175 fast days in the 15th century) ate chickens and other fowl, whilst the stricter Cistercian monks tried to root out any irregularities. The written evidence for fast-day foods demonstrate numerous, and sometimes complex anomalies – seals, porpoises and otters were not regarded as meat by some orders and beavers, because their tail was scaled and ‘fish-like’ were also allowed on fast days.

Right: This painting by Walter Dendy Sadler depicts Catholic friars fishing. The 1880 painting is titled ‘Thursday’ (sometimes also referred to as ‘Tomorrow will be Friday’). The famous painting resides in Tate Britain, Millbank, London.

Far right: This Sadler painting surfaced two years later and is titled ‘Friday’ – showing Dominican friars entertaining two Franciscan friars (on either side of the Abbot) to a fasting meal where no meat was allowed.

There are other Sadler paintings that connect friars with fishing: ‘It is Always the Largest Fish that’s Lost’ and ‘Steady, Brother, Steady’.

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A History of Carp Fishing The Culture of the Carp It is difficult to convey how, even today, the traditions of fish culture permeate every aspect of society in the countryside of the Czech Republic, in regions like Trebon. Nowadays, much of the Trebon area consists of protected National Nature Reserves of international importance – but at one time, between the 14th and 16th century, when it was at its productive fish-farming peak, its carp not only fed the burgeoning populations of South Bohemia, but were exported to Austria and Baveria.

There were, of course, many other similar areas of central Europe, particularly in Poland and Germany, where conditions were suitable, that were famed for their carp culture. Naturally, many of these fish farming regions still have strong and proud traditions that are celebrated even today.

Above: A large bronze display created by Czech sculptor Josef Nápela on a roundabout in Trebon, denoting the town’s long relationship with carp farming.

Left: Another reference to Trebon’s historical connection with carp culture – this statue from 1932 appears in the centre of the town above the entrance to a bank. The town also has a permanent exhibition about its carp farming history, and even specialist carp restaurants.

The Founders of Bohemian Carp Farming Without the wealth that the aristoractic Rožmberk, Hasburg and Schwarzenberg families provided, the construction of the South Bohemian ponds could never have taken place. However, the practicalities fell upon men who had the knowledge of pond construction and fish breeding, such as Vilém of Pernštejn, Mikuláš Rutard and Vaclav Horak.

Štìpánek Netolický (1460-1539) (Josef Štìpánek de Netolice)

Jakub Krčín (1535-1604) (Jakub Krčín of Jelčany and Sedlčany)

Josef Šusta (1835-1914)

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A History of Carp Fishing carp and the tench, for the minute scales which exist, mingled in patches, amongst the immense scales of the carp, resemble very greatly those of the tench. It is called in Germany ‘Spiegel-karpfe’ or ‘mirrorcarp’, the blotches with large scales being regarded as mirrors. This mule is, I believe, sometimes found in Lancashire.”

The name of Frank Buckland has already been mentioned on several occasions in this chapter. Francis Trevelyan Buckland was a huge influence on all fishery matters (both freshwater and sea) during the late 1800s. He had a consuming interest in fish culture and the acclimatising in the United Kingdom of animals from foreign lands; he was a leading light in the formation of the Acclimatisation Society of the United Kingdom in 1860, obviously proceeding the Natural Fish Culture Association in their endeavours by 22 years. The idea to utilise and benefit from foreign animals was not confined to the British shores though – this enthusiasm for new introductions swept many countries in the second half of the 19th century.

The interest in ‘German carp’ was also taken up in America with great vigour.

The first carp were brought back to America from Reinfield, in Germany, by Mr Julias A. Poppe in 1872 as a private enterprise. He started with 83 fish, of sizes between six and 36 inches, but lost most of them during the journey. He arrived at his home in Sonoma Valley, in California, with just the five smallest alive. Nevertheless, the following year his six-inch fish had grown to 16 inches and produced 3,000 offspring.

Poppe’s success spurred the newlyformed California Fish Commission into their own project and they imported 88 small carp from Japan. Then, after a series of failures, the United States Fish Commission employed Rudolph Hessell, a German experienced in carp culture, to import carp from Bremen in Germany in 1877. He arrived back from the trip with 227 mirror and leather carp and 118 common scaled carp. From this initial breeding stock carp were ultimately spread throughout the USA. By 1888, L.B. Logan in his book Practical Carp Culture was able to claim that “no less than 500,000 different persons” had been supplied with carp to breed.

The American carp culture ‘fad’ didn’t

Below: The initial American enthusiasm for the farming of carp resulted in its own specialist monthly journal that was published for several years.

Below middle: Soon Americans were enthusiastically fishing for carp. In this photograph from 1892 “Uncle Swain Finch and Aunt Sarah fish their carp pond at Milldale Ranch, near Arnold, Custer County, Nebraska.”

Bottom: America’s disillusionment with the carp set in within 20 years and they have generally been considered vermin ever since. This photograph is circa 1910.

last for much more that about ten years before it started to fizzle out with some acrimony, with many of those who had invested their savings in the enterprise claiming it had been a disaster. By the

turn of the century that enthusiasm had turned to animosity, and in 1904 the American Fisheries Society reported that they had been: “conducting experiments for the extermination of carp as a

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A History of Carp Fishing Rats war effort After Donald Leney moved out of Rats Castle it was occupied, in 1939, by an enginneer by the name of Robert Lochner. During the War he was part of a team that invented a de-gaussing girdle, a sort of skirt that fitted around the hulls of ships that was energised with an electrical current, countering the damage being done by mines in the North Atlantic. In 1943 Lochner was put in charge of a team, by Winston Churchill, to try and develop a portable, floating harbour that would allow the D-Day invasion of Europe to succeed, without the need to fight for the heavily defended ports. Lochner developed his idea, subsequently named the Mulberry Harbour, using a rubber lilo after experimenting with it in one of the Surrey Trout Farm ponds behind his house. On the 23th July 1944 Churchill visited the Harbours and stated “This miraculous port has played and will continue to play a most important part in the liberation of Europe.”

As a reward for his idea of the Mulberry Harbour, Lochner was awarded the sum of £5,000 (worth about £250,000 today), and a plaque on the wall of Rats Castle commemorates his achievements.

products, at this age, would have been considered less than satisfactory and were therefore expendable.

The small carp obtained by The Surrey Trout Farm from Holland were comprised substantially of mirrors and leathers, although there were a number of common scaled carp amongst them.

Donald Leney in later years became a bit confused on this point. In 1975 he wrote to the author that “The Dutch Galician carp were all leathers and mirrors, but never all-scaled.” A year later this became “almost all their young stocks were mirrors and leathers, only a very few allscalers ever resulted.” Finally, in 1978 he contradicted himself again writing,

Below: Donald Leney, of the Surrey Trout Farm, delivering one of his many thousands of stockings of the famous Dutch Heidemaatschappij carp in the UK, between the years of 1924 and 1956. The strange looking roofs belong to an oast house. These buildings were originally used for drying hops and are often still found in the main hop growing areas of south-east England, such as Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire. Many oasts have been converted for residential use.

“one thing I am positive about – that only mirrors and leathers were ever sent to Redmire, for the Dutch farm only bred that type and from what I can remember I never saw “all-scalers” amongst the yearlings or 2-year-olds when I went to select them each winter before bringing them back myself.” This should not be taken as criticism of a man whose influence did much to shape the destiny of carp fishing in this country. Memories become hazy, especially in later life, and Donald Leney was 78-years old when he made the last statement. Obtaining factual information from any individual, after a long period of time has elapsed, is fraught with difficulty.

Much evidence (including a number of early photographs) obtained by the author from various Dutch authorities does clearly show that common carp (“all-scalers”), were being produced on the Dutch carp farm at Emst. Some of the strongest evidence that commonscaled carp were amongst those that Leney supplied were two letters – one from Richard Walker, written to the angling press in June 1953, regarding the stocking of Arlesey Lake with 1,000 king carp from The Surrey Trout Farm.

It clearly makes the point that carp with common-type scaling formed a significant part of the consignment. A similar letter from Sidney Bradbury, the

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A History of Carp Fishing Brewing to breeding MacDonald Frank Leney was born in 1901 at Kearsney Manor, in Dover.

His father Frederick was a master brewer, owning the Phoenix Brewery at Wateringbury that had been established in 1843. MacDonald grew up in affluent surroundings, and was educated at Eton and New College, Oxford. Interestingly, one of Leney’s teachers at Oxford University had been Julian Huxley, the famous evolutionary biologist and secretary of the Zoological Society.

The first mention of Donald Leney in the Minute Book of the Surrey Trout Farm and United Fisheries Ltd appears on the 21st December 1923 when he became a shareholder at the AGM. By 1927 Donald Leney and Colonel Walter Churchill Hale (Donald Leney’s uncle and financial backer), with Fred Stevens (Leney’s mentor), had become the sole directors of the company. In 1936 MacDonald Frank Leney officially changed his name by deed poll to Donald Frank Leney, and in that same year Leney and Stevens became the sole directors of the business. Stevens died in January 1965 with Donald Leney continuing until October 1986 when he, too, passed away.

Above: Donald Leney holding Tina, his son Michael’s Jack Russell. Michael’s first dog, it cost him 30 shillings.

Left: Donald Leney releasing another batch of his king carp. His name became synonymous with these Dutch imported carp such that they became known as “Leney carp” throughout the carp fishing world.

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A History of Carp Fishing

Some Early Notable Fisheries Successful carp fishing has always been dependent upon the availability of a prolific fishery, so the structure of this book has been laid out in such a way as to hopefully demonstrate how developments in carp fishing has, until more recent years, taken place in a series of spasmodic advances on specific waters. History only shows us what has been remembered or recorded, so often influential events have slipped by like fleeting images on a dark night.

Ever since the time when carp were first introduced into this country there must have been those who contrived their capture. Many of them went about their quest in isolation, the feats of others have faded with the passage of time. Some received notoriety in angling books and periodicals – although angling magazines did not become readily available until just before the turn of the century. One of the first, and certainly the longest running, was The Fishing Gazette which began life on the 26th April, 1877. Slightly earlier, and possibly the first solely dedicated to the sport, was The Fisherman’s Magazine & Review in 1864. The Angler’s Journal followed in 1883, Fishing in 1886, Angling and Club

Gossip in 1892, The Northern Angler in 1894 and The Angler’s News on the 1st September, 1900.

So many periodicals have come and gone, and the stories of great battles, of tremendous feats in those distant times, lie dormant in dark attics and on dusty shelves. But some remain to stir the soul and fire the spirit. If we puff away the

Black Park Lake.

cobwebs and settlement of years, and turn the ragged brown and brittle pages; if we settle into the seductive embrace of an old, familiar armchair in front of a log fire of dancing flames and, with a glass of fine wine to hand, we can drift back to those bygone times.

Give your imagination free rein and taste the excitement as Sir Robert

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A History of Carp Fishing A list of early carp caught from Dagenham Lake Month

Year

Weight

Captor

Bait

27 October

1943

16lb 12oz (mirror)

H. Evans

(1)

14 July

1944

14lb (m)

Harry J. Grief

17 June

1945

10lb 2oz (m)

Fred E. Bull

2 July

1945

13lb 8oz (m)

H. Evans

23 July

1945

10lb 1oz (m)

A. Monk

1 August

1945

10lb 3oz (m)

Sidney Bradbury

13 August

1945

9lb (m)

16 August

1945

8lb 1oz (common)

R. Dick

16 June

1946

14lb 11½oz.

R. Dick

17 June

1946

13lb 5oz (m)

F. Bull

29 June

1946

10lb 12oz (m)

A. Archibold

5 July

1946

22lb (leather)

A.G. Horwood

maggot (2)

7 July

1946

23lb (m)

Frank Scott

flake (3)

6 September

1947

16lb 12oz (leather)

A. Wisland

1 October

1947

25lb 9oz (m)

George Draper

16 June

1948

11lb 3½oz (m)

L. Bidgeway

19 June

1948

15lb 4oz (m)

H.E. Davis

19 June

1948

14lb 12oz (m)

G. Austin

29 June

1948

18lb 4oz (c)

H.A. Poole

30 June

1948

16lb 4oz (m)

George Draper

3 July

1948

18lb 6oz (m)

J. Stephens

5 July

1948

16lb 7oz (m)

George Draper

24 August

1948

20lb 2oz (leather)

Harry J. Grief

flake

11 September

1948

20lb 6oz (m)

George Draper

breadpaste

14 September

1948

21lb 15oz (c)

Len R. Singer

breadpaste

27 September

1948

11lb 7oz (m)

W. Chivers

1 August

1949

20lb 2oz (c)

F.C. Steward

small red worm (5)

22 September

1949

11lb 6oz (m)

Len R. Singer

breadpaste

25 June

1950

11lb 0½oz (c)

H. Thompson

26 June

1950

15lb 4oz (m)

H.A. Poole

27 June

1950

25lb 12oz (c)

Harry J. Grief

27 June

1950

15lb 6oz (m)

G. Banham

July

1950

15lb 6oz

C. Thompson

23 July

1950

15lb 14oz (m)

C. Stephens

28 July

1950

13lb 12oz (m)

C. Stephens

30 July

1950

21lb 14oz (c)

Reg. G. Devonish

12 August

1950

14lb 6½oz (m)

George Draper

breadpaste (4)

flake (6)

“bunch of garden worms” breadflake (7)

Notes: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Story in BB’s Fisherman’s Bedside Book.

Dimensions were 28½in. x 28½in. The fish was set up by a taxidermist.

Dimensions were 30¼in. x 28in. The fish was set up by a taxidermist.

Dimensions were 33½in. x 30in. The fish was set up by a taxidermist. Caught at 3am, not weighed until 8 hours later.

Caught on 4½lb line.

Using float tackle at 9.30pm.

Caught in an all-night competition. The largest ever caught in a match at the time.

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A History of Carp Fishing

Redmire & De Nederlandsche Heidemaatschappij The influence of Redmire Pool and what happened there in the development of carp fishing cannot be overstated. For a quarter of a century, from 1951 until the end of the Jack Hilton period in 1975, Redmire was at the forefront in the evolution of carp fishing methodology. The Pool’s history, magnetism, huge fish and reports of monsters drew many of the innovators of carp fishing and they developed, honed and perfected many original ideas there. For these reasons Len Arbery and Kevin Clifford wrote their book, Redmire Pool, published in 1984. This chapter is, therefore, mainly written as an adjunct to that book and the plethora of material that has come into the public domain since Bob Richards’ fateful visit in 1951. It will attempt to ‘set the record straight’ on certain points in the previously published material, and provide new information about the early days of Redmire and the precise history of the famous but much misunderstood ‘Leney’ carp.

One problem when writing a book of this type, containing a lot of factual information, is trying to verify that what you are told and have read, is correct. The preparation of Redmire Pool confirmed many things to its authors – people sometimes embellish the truth; with the passage of time they very often forget, or make mistakes – and so the authors got a few details wrong in that book. Some of the errors are not that important although it is always preferable, with a book of that nature, to be factually correct – whilst others are matters of substance.

For instance, whilst researching the book, the author checked the Meteorological Office’s weather records for Ross-on-Wye, on Wednesday, the 3rd October, 1951 – the day Bob Richards Above: Bob Richards at Redmire Pool caught his record fish, and noted it was foggy and overcast. a few days after he caught his record After the book was published he managed to get hold of Bob carp in October 1951.

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A History of Carp Fishing about in boats above your bait?’ Well, I have hooked carp at midday on a sunny Whit Tuesday, amid the boats and despite the trains. The real problems of catching the carp at Billing are the age-old ones of location and persuading the fish to take your bait when you have found them.”

Forthright views, but what evidence can Peter produce to substantiate his claims? Shall we let him tell, for the first time, the story of his huge Billing carp?

“I arrived at about 4pm. The sun was shining and a moderate north-easterly breeze was blowing. To be quite honest I had no idea where to fish, as I had not seen any tendency for the fish to show in a particular area this season. Two trips round the lake and no sign of carp left me in a quandary.

Thinking back over the years I remembered seeing carp in two areas very occasionally, and so I picked a swim where I could cast to both spots.

One of these required a 40 yard cast, at 45 degrees to my left, and the other a maximum cast straight out in front.

By now the clouds had gathered and a storm was imminent, so I positioned my brolly and was arranging my tackle when the storm broke at about 5.45pm.

Cowering under my shelter I set up three rods and just lobbed out two of them, using flake as bait, and left the other handy should it be needed. The rain gradually eased off and stopped altogether at about 8pm. This gave me an opportunity to catapult a number of pieces of flake, encased in groundbait, to my left-hand swim. I then made-up a quantity of cheese-paste and began catapulting small balls of this into my second swim. It was whilst this was happening that I noticed a small patch of bubbles appear about 10 yards from the bank, at about 45 degrees to my right.

I picked up my spare rod and baited the hook with a large lobworm. I walked along the bank until I was opposite the bubbles and attempted to cast it out, freelined. Unfortunately, I could not quite reach. I then tried encasing the worm in a ball of mud, but due to the storm the mud was too wet. Feeling in my pocket I found a two-swanshot link leger and I attached this to my end tackle. I cast again, well past the bubbles, and drew the bait back then let it settle directly amongst them. I walked back to my

Top: The British Carp Study Group held many of their AGMs at Billing Aquadrome and fished the Willow Tree Lake. Very few carp were ever caught at these event and this photograph shows a Group member in March 1970.

Lower: Northampton Specimen Group member, Pete Chillingsworth, with his ‘Double Diamond’ 34-pounder that was weighed on the Aquadrome’s toilet scales.

swim, paying line out, and placed the rod in a rod rest with the tip pointing upwards to stop the line fouling the bankside rushes.

I had just started to bait up my other rod when it happened! The rod baited with the worm shot forward and jammed the butt ring against the rod rest. The clutch started singing as my hand reached forward. I struck and hit

something solid which I expected to rush off across the lake. However, after taking only two or three yards of line it stopped and thrashed on the surface. My initial estimate was that it weighed about 12lb and I bent into the fish expecting it to come in fairly easily. No effect. It just continued to wallow where it was. I gradually gained about three yards when the fish began to kite towards a gap in

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A History of Carp Fishing

A History of Early Carp Tackle The history of carp rods really begins in about 1947 when Dick Walker was 29 years old. Prior to that time Walker subsequently claimed there were no commercially made rods that fulfilled all the requirements necessary to land big carp1. Walker was at that time using either a Hardy’s Wallis Avon rod, or an Allcock’s Wallis Wizard, (or both2), for his carp fishing. These were three-piece, 11ft rods with the top and middle sections of split-cane and the bottom sections

of whole cane. It was an excellent design, put forward by Frederick William Knowles Wallis3 for float fishing on the Hampshire Avon for barbel, but it really wasn’t powerful enough for large carp4.

Newly produced, it cost some £2 16s – an average weekly wage at the time when Walker first started fishing for carp in about 1934.

It must be said that the following sequence of events regarding the development of ‘Walker’s carp rods’,

Dick Walker’s Mk III (top) and his Mk IV. The reel is the Mitchell presented to Dick in 1953.

and the actual events themselves, are surrounded in some little controversy and conflicting interpretation amongst aficionados and those who have a personal interest. Inevitably, when you dig deeply into past events you will find individuals who remember ‘the facts’ quite differently. People often forget, or become confused after a substantial passage of time; sometimes they ‘massage’ the facts into how they would prefer the events to be remembered;

1. It would be incorrect to state that rods did not exist which could perform satisfactorily most of the functions of a purpose-made carp rod. For example, Hardy Bros, produced the 10ft. ‘J.J.H.’ No.l and No.2 spinning rods which were more than adequate for general carp fishing. A more powerful type could be found in Hardy’s 10½ft.

‘Super Decantelle’ bait-casting rod.

2. Walker wrote in his first letter to BB in January, 1947 (published in Confession of a Carp Fisher) that he used a Wallis Wizard for his carp fishing. However, in the early-1950s, writing in Angling Times about the development of the Mk IV he stated that he was using a Wallis Avon in 1947. Years later, again in Angling Times, in 1977, Walker reverted to stating it was a Wallis Wizard. They were, nevertheless, similar rods made by different companies (The Wallis Avon was produced by Hardy and the Wizard was from S. Allcock & Co.).

3. The famous F.W.K. Wallis, innovator and captor of many specimen fish, particularly from the Hampshire Avon and River Trent, was born in 1862, the son of William Wallis who built up a substantial lace business (Britannia Mills in Nottingham) between 1906 and the 1930s. F.W.K. is renowned for his angling achievements, many of his historic catches coming from The Hampshire Avon after the horrendous decline of his local River Trent through pollution. However, the family business must take some of the blame in this respect, although Frederick’s elder brother, Enoch, became the M.D. after their father. After manufacture, lace required bleaching and dyeing, and the Wallis factory was situated in Bennett Street at Long Easton, its waste discharging into the adjacent Erewash Canal, that fed downstream to the River Trent.

4. BB used and recommended the Allcock’s Wallis Wizard right up until Walker presented him with a Mk IV in June, 1951, writing in 1951 that the Wallis Wizard “was a very powerful weapon.”

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A History of Carp Fishing

concept, of course, was the resistance of the ratchet or the risk of overruns. This appeared prior to Maurice Ingham’s first correspondence with Dick Walker, which took place the following month. Shortly afterwards, Dick constructed another primitive affair from an Ever Ready cycle lamp. A flat brass strip was bolted to the casing that held the battery, the top of which had been removed. This brass strip touched another strip that comprised the contacts, a circuit was made and the bulb lit. Pushing the fishing line between the contacts broke the circuit, which then reconnected when the line was pulled clear with a bite. A refined version of this Top left: Possibly the first published description of a bite alarm, that used the line to keep two electric contacts apart, appeared in The Angler’s News in 1952 and was designed by J.D. Markham, of Ripley. Walker had also experimented with a similar concept in the early 1950s.

Top right: This was Maurice Ingham’s first home-made bite alarm using the same concept as the one described by Mr Markham. Several of the features show a remarkable similarity.

Middle: Walker’s conceptual jump to use the line to pull the contacts together was revolutionary. This sketch from a letter written to Gerry Berth-Jones in September 1952 shows the idea in its early development stages.

Left: A staged photograph at Hitchin showing an early Walker buzzer that held the line between two contacts.

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A History of Carp Fishing Left: Another variation on a theme – this idea for simple home-made electric bite alarm was proposed by Leslie Burton in 1954.

Below: Although many other silk manufacturing countries, such as Italy, Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Egypt, India, Japan and China attempted to produce silkworm gut, it is a fact that Murcia, in south-eastern Spain, had the virtual monopoly. The image shows one of the Spanish facilities in the early part of the 20th century.

situation, his ego, but above everything else, his insatiable desire to find an answer to a problem, conspired to make him the greatest innovator angling has ever seen.

Nowadays, nylon monofilament line, and its derivatives, is taken so much for granted that few anglers would know what to do if supplies ceased. But it was only after the Second World War that its impact on British anglers really took effect, when it very quickly replaced the earlier alternatives.

If we go back a long time we find that the trace, or that portion of line that was attached to the hook, was made of horsehair. It was cheap and readily obtainable, and several strands could be twisted together to increase the breaking strain. Horsehair continued to be used until well into the 19th century – Francis Francis writes of its use in his 1867 work A Book on Angling. However, another substance was also used widely during this period that had first become popular during the 18th century. It was known, at that time, as Indian weed, Indian grass, grass-worm or sea-grass and was thought to be of vegetable origin, being produced from jute. Perhaps it was at one time but an investigation carried out at Kew Gardens, in 1864, showed, what was then thought to be Indian weed, to be the product of the silk glands of the Chinese silkworm. One of the first published references to silkworm gut was in 1724, in James Saunders book The

Compleat Fisherman, although Courtney Williams, in his book Angling Diversions, states that “the first mention of silkworm gut being sold in Great Britain was in 1722, in an advertisement issued by William Browne, the London tackle dealer.”

Silk gut first arrived in this country from China and Japan, in sections some 4½in. length, and was longer and finer than that which was later, almost exclusively, imported from Spain and, to a far lesser extent, Italy. The quality of the silkworm gut varied greatly and the Spanish product was graded into natural selecta, perfect gut requiring no further work; selecta, good quality which could be improved by softening and removing small defects by polishing (mazantining); natural superior, good second quality which could not be improved manually; superior, second quality that could be improved by mazantining; and estriada, much of which had small flaws (the Spanish word for fluted, or grooved).

The virtual Spanish monopoly in silkworm gut production was centred around the town of Murcia, in the south-east region of that country. For many miles around the city itself, the Huerta peasants found employment in cultivating the silkworm for its silk or its gut, the proportion of each dependent upon the rise and fall of demand.

Another type of gut, made from the intestine of animals, usually sheep

but sometimes cats, was also widely used from about the mid-17th century onwards. An alternative natural product that was also adapted to produce fishing line was flax, with single strands combined together to form ‘plaited silk’ or ‘twisted flax’.

There were attempts to produce a synthetic filament as early as 1664

by Robert Cooke and, later, in 1884, Hilaire de Chardonnett did manage to form an artificial silk from nitrocellulose. However, it wasn’t until 1908 when Jagut (a Japanese gut substitute sometimes called jay-gut, gum-line or demos), came onto the British market and offered a viable synthetic alternative.

It didn’t find universal approval though, for the famous tackle suppliers, Hardy Bros., felt obliged in 1925 to state that it was an inferior product to the best quality silkworm gut – although they were prepared to supply it due to its substantially lower price. Conversely, the Pilot Gut Company, who supplied much of the British tackle trade with silkworm gut from Spain, believed that well-produced Jagut1 was “a very good substitute” and they took a financial share in one of the largest companies that manufactured it in Japan.

1. Jagut was manufactured by dissolving the silworm’s cocoon of silk in a hot solution of fine grade animal glue and an extract of seaweed. It was then extruded in various diameters. The ratio giving the greatest strength was found to be 85% silk and 15% glue.

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A History of Carp Fishing later Peter Webb’s season included four 30-pounders with the best weighing 31lb 12oz.

Despite the secrecy engendered by those who ran the 12-strong Bracken syndicate (which prevails today), whispers and rumours filtered out via friends. It is known that several carp fishing luminaries have fished the lake over the years – and apart from those already mentioned, some others included Cliff Glenton, Roger Smith, Tom Mintram and Chris Tarrant.

In 1954, one of the few female carp anglers at the time, Kathleen Holmes, had an ambition to catch a double-figure carp. The following season, and by then married to successful carp angler Dave Steuart, (who subsequently wrote the How to Catch Them – Carp book) she achieved her ambition in fine style with a fish of 12lb 12oz. She went on to catch, as did her husband, many notable carp and, by 1960, she had landed 30 over 10lb, a remarkable, and certainly unmatched, achievement for a woman at that time. One of the waters they fished during this period was the City of London Piscatorial Society’s Horton Pool, which was also frequented by John Goddard and Cliff Glenton. The Pool’s inhabitants,

Above: Each year the Bracken Lake syndicate produced a summary of captures made by the members; sometimes these were compared to previous annual returns.

Above: Her ambition fulfilled – Kay Steuart with her 12¾lb carp.

Right: Kay Steuart and May Berth-Jones were the two most accomplished female carp anglers of the 1950s. These multiple catches of double-figure carp from Horton Pool demonstrate Kay’s proficency as one of the most successful carpers of that period – regardless of gender.

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A History of Carp Fishing The carp thrived in their new home and grew well – and as they did they attracted an ever increasing number of purposeful carp anglers; a situation that was being replicated at many other venues in the country around the same time.

By the early 1970s Fletchers Pond had become established as one of the best carp waters in the Midlands. Membership became restricted and the ‘friendship’ of a member, who could arrange a guest visit, was highly desirable. The 4-acre gravel pit was fished long and hard by northern carp specialists such as Baz Varney, Dave Booth (he caught a 21-pounder in 1968), Shaun Harrison, Alan Hart, Mike Benwell, Reg Norgrove, Nick Mossop, Rod Walker, Charlie Corbett, Rod Hutchinson, Bob Ford, Kevin Roberts and George Sharman.

Ashlea Pool or, as it was known in the past, Station Pool, is a small, fairly shallow, weedy gravel pit of about an acre in size, located a few miles south of Cirencester in the heart of Gloucestershire’s Cotswolds.

Its exact position is on the eastern side of South Cerney village next to what was a railway station.

The South Cerney Angling Club was formed by just seven anglers in 1936 when they took over the fishing at the Pool. It was leased by the Club from the Great Western Railway Company at a cost of £2 10s per year.

Carp were stocked some little time after the Second World War and remained largely unmolested, but first came to public notice when a news report appeared in Angling Times that T.E. Arthur had managed to extract one weighing exactly 20lb from the thick lilies, using floating crust and 20lb line, in early October 1961.

Keith Griffiths had a job delivering and selling fruit and vegetables to shops in the Cirencester area, around this time.

For a while he had been selling bags of potatoes to a chap called Les Gillman who, it turned out, was the secretary of the South Cerney A.C. After a time they found they had a common interest in angling. Keith mentioned his passion for carp fishing and in 1962 Les offered to try and get permission for Keith, and a friend, to fish at Station Pool, which at that time was reserved for members of the Club’s committee. Keith remembers that Les Gillman initially gave him permission to have a look at the Pool and “the next day I was in Cirencester very early and had

Below: Local angler Paul Stenson with a fish that became the target for those that were fortunate enough to have access to Fletchers Pond – on this occassion in 1972 ‘Lumpy’ weighed 26lb.

Right: It’s not what you know, it’s who you know, was never more true when a ‘desperate carp angler’ is after access to a restricted membership fishery!

Bottom: An early image of the South Cerney A.C. headquarters which was little more than a hut, situated not far from Ashlea on the banks of Bradley’s Lake.

my work finished by lunch time. I drove the lorry the 45 miles to South Cerney as quickly as I could. Les had told me the Pool was next to the old railway station and I soon found it behind the platform.

The Pool was covered in lily pads, apart from a small area in the centre. After slowly creeping around most of the lake I found some carp in one corner. Throwing in some bread crusts it wasn’t long before they started to feed on them. Before long others had been attracted and I was amazed at their size, several of which must have been in the 25lb region.

I was desperate to fish the Pool and so kept pestering Les and, eventually, permission was granted. Unfortunately, on the first weekend Tony Sutlow, my friend, was unable to accompany me so I decided to go alone.

The carp were exactly where I had found them previously, in the corner, and I gently threw some free offerings of crust in followed by my hook bait. It wasn’t too long before it was taken and I was involved in a tremendous battle with a large carp. After about 15 minutes I slipped the net under what was to be my first 20-pounder. Full of excitement, I packed up and went home to phone Tony and

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A History of Carp Fishing Other nearby flashes holding carp stocks, such as Crabmill, Moston and Fodens (The Moat), all gained popularity in the 1970s. Fodens Flash (belonging to the Sandbach company that manufactured Fodens diesel trucks), was perhaps the least known, having comparably low carp stocks (that were alleged to consist in the early-1970s of about 20 carp, of which about six were over 20lb).

The 6-acre Crabmill Flash was brought to widespread attention by the author’s catches in 1974 but a few carp had been caught earlier by members of Wheelock Angling Society1, including a 13½lb common, landed by J.S. Whitmarch in September 1968. In truth little serious carp angling had taken place before at Crabmill (except by Liverpool’s Tom Ratcliffe), until the venue’s identity (via the author’s catches) leaked out – local anglers’ attention being mainly directed towards Big Moor at that time.

With their ‘open membership’ Wheelock’s Crabmill attracted many carpers – a few of those that tasted early success were Paul Roberts, Roy Bailey, Fred Sykes, Chris Bowman (who was the first person to catch three 20s in succession from the fishery), Geoff Cartright, Pete Evans, Joe Bertram, Pete Dumbill, Eric Green, Bernie Loftus, Pete Barker, Eric Edwards and Sid Boulter.

1. The club was formed in 1948 when it was named Wheelock Anglers, after renting Crabmill Flash from Mr Young, the owner of Crabmill Farm at Warmington.

In 1954 a decision was made to rename the club Wheelock Angling Society. Three years later the secretary ordered 250 4-inch carp from Donald Leney’s Surrey Trout Farm. They were released on the 30th Novermber 1957.

Left: Moston Flash produced some large carp to at least 27lb, but by the time this photograph was taken in the winter of 1974, the fishery was becoming overstocked with carp through successful breeding. The photo shows the author and Ken Ryder (right) with the sort of catch that could be made on sweetcorn in just a few hours. It was at the time controlled by Elworth A.S. who took a very dim view of Ryder and Clifford fishing there as guests of the owner. Threats of damage to car tyres were made at one point by a well-known member!

Left below: Clifford and Ryder again, but this time at the nearby Crabmill Flash in 1973. This fishery produced bigger averagesized carp but was overshadowed by Big Moor.

Below: The author with the one-night catch he made at Crabmill Flash in 1974.

Left: Fred Sykes with a brace of Crabmill carp weighing 22lb 8oz and 17lb 9oz. Fred’s goal of a 20lb carp was finally achieved in August 1977 after considerable effort at Crabmill – 23 trips of 300 miles (many of them ‘overnighters’ whilst working during the days). The carp were caught on particle-sized fishmeal baits.

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