Traditionalist tendancies

 

 

It will come as a shock to the congregation of my church, where despite the theology being orthodox the culture is guitars, drumkits, bands, screens and informality to discover that there lurks within me a traditionalist gene.

Most of my fishing is done using modern tackle and methods, but every now and then I can't resist the temptation to get in touch with my "inner Chris Yates" and fish in time honoured styles with either genuinely old, or modern "faux vintage" equipment. The photo above shows some of my traditional float collection (some of which were made by me, others by float-makers who peddle their wares on the internet), lovely tactile floats made of goose quill, porcupine quill, peacock quill, sarkandas reed, cork and balsa and finished off with a few coats of yacht varnish. More resistant than a pole float by a mile, but far more pleasing to the soul!

The centrepin reel in the photo is an aluminium "night shift special", knocked up by some factory worker when his boss wasn't looking or some old chap in his shed, and has caught me fish up to around 3 pounds in weight. I've also got an old Inteprid fixed spool reel, which has manfully exerted its ancient slipping clutch to play double figure carp.

 

 

My Mitchell 300 ( purchased with my first wage packet 28 years ago) is still pressed into occasional service when fishing floaters for carp.

I own one cane rod (not the rod in these photo's- it's a carbon rod designed to "look" traditional!), and my son's first proper rod was a 9 foot cane "boy's rod" which I found on e-bay and on which he caught scores of fish up to around a pound in weight, and one of my best ever birthday presents was the ancient wicker seat basket that my wife found for me (again on the ubiquitous hi-tech car boot sale that is e-bay), and which I "brought back to life" with a couple of coats of linseed oil.

I'm not a "dyed in the wool" trad angler, or a manic "split cane fundamentalist", but if you've never tried fishing with a centrepin reel and some beautiful craftsman made quill floats, then I do feel confident in asserting that you've missed out. To feel a carp (even a small one) pull line from a centepin where the only clutch is the pressure applied by your palm is one of angling's great pleasures - why not get out there and give it a go!