Percy Wadham’s floats…

Tags

Alfred Barnes, Celluloid, DAM, Fishing, floats, Isle of Wight, Percy Wadham, Tackle Manufacturer

At a minute past the hour of 9am the letter box closed with a resounding clap and dull thud on the mat as a small brown package arrived from Drovers Way, Worcester.

Within the neatly constructed brown package 5 DAM floats and 4 Percy Wadham celluliod floats lay, securely placed in a purpose made foam carrier for their safe transit. These vintage floats from the the swinging 60’s are sought after by the traditional angler along with the prised Harcork floats that seem to always fetch a premium.

Percy Wadham was an innovator in tackle, based from Newport on the Isle of Wight, his celluloid floats were made by a local gentleman by the name of Alfred Barnes and strangely enough that is were these floats made there way to, Barnes in South West London.

Unfortunately with a tide registering 6.2m between Barnes Bridge and Hammersmith Bridge there will be no fishing. Interesting enough having engaged with a local builder in conversation earlier today he reported that as a child he would fish from the steps just up from the Ship in Mortlake for bream. Having never fished this mark it is now on my list to fish once this continued rain stops and the river flow drops back to a sensible level.

I remember as a young boy turning my nose up at these celluloid floats in preference to those made of cork, balsa, reed and cane but now these iconic floats have made a comeback.

Peter Stone’s own Ledgerstrike 600, sells for £361.11

Tags

Chapmans, Ledgerstrike, Peter Stone, Split Cane Rod, thames

The well respected coarse fisher Peter Stone features heavily at the moment as does the enigmatic Chris Yates when it comes to books and tackle sold on a well know online auction site.

Having tracked several Peter Stone fishing books and The Lost Diary by Chris Yates it is apparent that these modern classics are highly sort after. Whilst watching several titles over the last few days I noticed the listing for a rod formally owned by Peter Stone fetch the sum of £361.11. This split cane rod made by Chapman’s, a Peter Stone Ledgerstrike 600 was earmarked to fetch much more due to its provenance but only reached a £100 premium to the normal Chapman 500/550 that seem to crop up with regularity. To own a rod that has passed through the hands of this legendary fisherman should surely have fetched more. This rod was made by Chapman’s of Ware, you can find the full specification of this rod on their website.

With such awful weather it is clear that the fishing fraternity are sitting at home looking at tackle and other angling related items on the internet as some are trading at a premium. Allcocks Gazette floats selling for in excess of £75, a set of 60’s celluloid floats for £25 and if you are after a copy of a The Lost Diary be prepared to part with £45 for an unsigned 1st Edition and for a signed one you could double that.

There have been a few gems that seem to have been overlooked, a fine Sharpes spilt cane 7’6″spinning rod that only received one bid, fortunately that was mine as this will make a fine spinning rod for some Thames perch fishing.

The weather is set to change and a cold snap is forecast so with a few dry cold days on the cards a bit of river fishing may resume.

A Chris Clemes Fly Reel and Cadno Silk Line…

Tags

Cadno, Chris Clemes, Fly Fishing, Silk Lines, Split Cane

As the rush hour traffic settled and red tail lights started to move off into the distance I managed to find a parking space outside the Half Moon pub in Putney where I was to meet the enigmatic and charming Chris Clemes. Highly respected for his cane fly rods and hand made reel this quietly spoken and knowledgable young South African is passionate about his trade.

We discussed his recent visit back home, the first for three years and that during his visit there was it seemed little time to fish. I could sense a level of unease and a keenness to get back on the water, like Chris it has been a frustrating winter with weather conditions that have kept us indoors and not on the river bank.

Chris showed me or rather presented to me a 3 piece Symphony cane rod that he was just about to send off to the US. In a bespoke made wooden case was one of his beautiful cane rods of honey coloured cane with red and black whippings, the cane impregnated and everything about it delicate. In his eyes I could see the passion for what he does, a slight smile because every rod made gives him that sense of pride. His rods are not just rods they are tools of the trade of traditional fly fishing.

On the table was a leather reel case, within it one of his hand crafted Maestro fly reels, made like a precision watch. This one was spooled with a Cadno Silk Fly Line #3 in ivory silk, the air soon smelt of linseed oil and bees wax. The line was silky smooth and supple but was in need of a coating of wax if it was to be fished to its optimum. He showed me one that was boxed and ready for shipping this was much stiffer to the touch and the odour quite pungent.

Cadno Silk Lines are made by Stuart Tod out of his workshop in Ceciliford, Trellech in Monmouthshire. This is true artisanal production with some amazing processes in the production of these fine silk lines. I’ll write up in more detail on these lines next month.

The reason for our meeting was for Chris to give me the line and reel to test . The set up of this #3 line and his reel on a vintage 7ft #3 cane rod. Unfortunately the weather this weekend does’t look that promising but hopefully I will be able to get out to a stream or at least the common to try out over the weekend.

I’ll hopefully write up my test next week, in the mean time check out the links below to Chris Clemes and Cadno Silk Fly Lines.

https://www.chrisclemes.co.uk
https://www.cadnosilklines.com

Snatched and snagged

Tags

Barnes, Beverley Brook, Chub, floats, Found, Jack Frost, pike, Richmond Park

Jack Frost had left his calling card across the South-West from the Chiltern Hills to the South Downs.

Across the acid grasslands of Barnes Common the frost lay thick and even covering the grasses and gorse with delicate crystals. In the hollows the mist hung close to the ground. I took advantage of an early school run to head onto Richmond Park to observe the sugar dusting of frost by Beverley Brook as it twists its way via Robinhood Gate up towards Roehampton Gate and our to the back of Sheen.

The sky was made up of soft pale blue and lilac with a softness to the light, the trees silhouetted in by the soft morning sun as the myriad of crystals sparkled a soft Sheen as far as the eye could see.
The water of the brook ran crystal clear and the run off from the hills turned into the river with pace.

I looked under the bridge to see if I could see a chub, there by a hawthorn a dark shadow edge out from the bank and back again but the usual shoal of dace were not to be seen.

Two fishing floats found on the high tide

After a brief walk I headed back to the Thames to observe the morning mist lift over the Fullers Brewery. On many occasions last year after a high tide lost floats could be found on the high water mark, recently none had been found except for today five were found all very close together. Two were chubber style floats, one branded Kingfisher, another a small yellow bubble float or controller,the top section of a reed waggler that can be shortened and used for trotting and finally a small black and yellow pike float.

It was interesting to find these all within a few yards of each other two of them being inches apart. Were these lost floats the result of a tussle with a record fish, a snatch from Esox or just the result of a snag – we will never know but it is worth the thought.

A second glance…

Tags

Charity, Float Winder, Rosewood, Vintage

Found in a charity shop in South-West London.

Having had time to visit the local market and buy some food for the weekend on my return home I dropped by one of the charity shops to have a browse. One upside to living in a reasonably affluent area is that the cast offs and clutter is usually of high quality, some clothes have never been worn, housewares never used and antiques and vintage items that the stylist of Homes & Garden or World Of Interiors would love to get their hands on and use as props. I have to say a good many items in my home have come from this shop. Today there were fine Willow Pattern plates, serving dishes and some wonderful silverware however on second glance on a shelf I spotted a rosewood float winder with two celluloid floats attached, how could I resist, I couldn’t so it was purchased for less than a couple of pints of beer.

Rain, rain go away…

Tags

Floods, Lower Sunbury, River Thames, Swan Upping

The weekend passed by all too quickly, it rained all weekend and after a brief respite this morning the heavens opened up again.

I had to visit my good friend Nick who lives in Green Street in Lower Sunbury, a riverside hamlet formally known as Sunbury Village with its architecture of Georgian Houses and Victorian terraced villas that sit between Hampton and Shepperton. Sunbury dates back as far as the Bronze Age as it is know for the Sunbury hoard. Lower Sunbury is also known as the location of the annual Swan Upping where two livery companies mark the swans in the Upper Thames.

After such torrential and continued rain the river is in full flow and over the past few weeks flooding the meadows and parkland. Today was no exception as the river levels remained high, flooding The Lawns and gardens that back onto the river. The Cut, a small lane off the Lower Sunbury Road was still under inches of floodwater so there would be no chance of any fishing until the river level drops back.

With such a rainy start to 2014 I have not ventured to the river to do any fishing and the forecast is that it won’t change for a week or so.

Found on a street corner…

Graphics from a travellers quest

A vintage travel case bearing graphics from a byegone age.

A discarded vintage leather case bearing some vinatge travel labels

As I prepare for my travels to Poland for work this week I had to go to the cleaners to pick up my shirts. Battling my way through the elements I notice a discarded leather sofa on a street corner, there earlier in the day was a mountain of discarded Christmas trees. The sofa was a brown button back Chesterfield, modern and not an original and missing the base cushions, there between the rain-sodden rolled arms was a battered vintage leather case, on close inspection it was covered in gummed labels bearing the resorts and destinations it had been transported to. Sadly having been left out in the rain it was in a bad state and the labels were beginning to perish.

How could anyone throw out this companion to the traveler, the countless miles to had travelled and the hands it had passed through. As I stood there in the rain I decided to save this cast off. As I picked it up it literally fell apart in my hand, understandably this is why it was cast aside. However my appreciation of the graphics of the old travel labels made me continue to rescue it even if to just document the images. With my passion for all things vintage I then had an idea, how do I preserve it? late last night I placed the case in an environment that wouldn’t dry it too fast but enough that by morning the labels may dry out enough to photograph. There were labels from Milano,Austria,Switzerland,Yugoslavia and Munich, I just wonder what stories this case could tell of its ‘Grand Tour’.

I was pleased with my first ‘lost, discarded and found ‘ item of 2014. All I need to do now is up-cycle this mass of leather and vintage graphics into something to give it a new life, so there you have it, a project for this new year. I’ll keep in informed.

Return of the eggs….

Tags

Anon, Ceramic, Eggs, Found, Lost, Rainham, River Thames

On the fifth day of the new year it rained as it did on the sixth. The weather forecast was again for heavy rain and the Environment Agency had its flood warnings in force. We watched on television the storms batter the Cornish Coast. Lives have been lost, homes flooded and it is set to continue.

The River Thames sees some high tides, locally covering the tow path and flooding low-lying areas. In the summer we would be fishing for roach it had deterred me from walking the river bank. However I can report that a ceramic egg by the artist Anon has been found at Rainham Riverside.

Early this morning I checked the inbox of my computer, amongst the usual deluge of emails was an email from a gentleman who had found an egg. Clearly he had researched his find and followed a thread to my blog. What does amaze me is that these ceramic eggs placed in the Thames some 21 months ago are still within the tidal Thames Estuary and being found, I find this staggering but the Thames has a habit of capturing history and you never quite know when it will reveal its secrets.

I can imagine more will be found….

Happy New Year it’s 2014

Tags

Caganer, Catalan, New Year, Rain

Under grey clouds the rain continues to fall in an unrelenting way, for it has been raining all night and all day. For sure a wet start to 2014.

I had plans to venture to the river to fish but this can now only be a dream, with high winds and driving rain only the fool hardy would embark on any such sport today.

We saw in the new year in with friends from distant continents and warmer climes. We celebrated in Catalan style, enjoying the finest jamón ibérico, cheeses, cooked meats and fine wines. As midnight approach we counted down the midnight hour by consuming a grape on every chime and dropped a gold ring into a champaign glass in a time honoured tradition. What was an intriguing part of the evening festivities was the Catalan tradition of the beating a log and a Caganer figurine of a fellow squatting with his breaches half down, yes, bizarrely pooping. The name ‘El Caganer’ translates as ‘the crapper’. Traditionally these figures depict a peasant wearing a traditional Catalan red cap known as the ‘barretina’ showing a bear backside. These figures seem to originate from as far back as the late 17th-early 18th century.

Well, may I wish you all a Happy New Year and tight lines.