Sunday 4 August 2013

The Crucian Carp

When I was younger I was a keen fisherman. I fished in the hard fished small farm ponds and canals of the North-West of England. There are two books that I remember helped me get into fishing. The first was first published in 1950 as a Puffin Picture Book - Fish and Fishing by Bernard Venables. This was a basic introduction to the fish, tackle and methods used in coarse fishing. Below is a page from the book - taken from a full set of pages HERE

The image shows several of the different type of Carp. My favourite was the Crucian Carp. Although these do not have the avid following that the other carp do, nor do they attain the same weights, they are a beautiful fish. I always threw the fish back in after catching them.


The second book was World Class Match Fishing by Kevin Ashurst. This described in detail Ashurst's methods for winning highly competitive match fishing contests on rivers and canals.  I had no interest in match fishing, but from Ashurst I learnt how to make my own floats from peacock quill, copper wire and balsa wood. I spent hours perfecting my own set of floats, complete with a colour coding scheme for the lead shot that they needed to be perfectly set in the water. Unfortunately, I find I don't call on my float making skills too much these days.