As most of you know, my wife Mrs. Grouse is English so to make sure my boy grows up with the proper sense of his English roots, I bought Henry a copy of Bernard Venables Mr. Crabtree Goes Fishing.

Of course, I've enjoyed reading this much more than Henry has, part of that is probably that we are still stating his age in months instead of years, but hey it's good to start reading to them at the earliest age, so may as well read something about fishing right? That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Anyway, being errrr, well, near 40, some of the techniques and tackle used in the book both predate me and/or they are different techniques than the men who thought me how to fish ever used.

So here's a couple of questions I have from the book:

- Plugs - In the chapter on plugging for pike, there's a picture of a row of plugs and Venables writes in the text that they are all English plugs. OK, the plug on the far left looks just like a Flatfish which is a classic plug made by Heddon in the USA and I still fish with them, in fact.

What type of plug is shown in the picture and does it predate the Heddon Flatfish? Or was Heddon an English company (or have some relationship to one) and they set up shop in the US at a later time?

- In the chapter where Mr. Crabtree takes Peter to the Hampshire Avon to fish the Royalty Fishery. Mr. Crabtree uses a specialized casting technique that was specifically developed for fishing cross-river as apparently must be done on the Avon. Sorry, I don't have the book in front of me, I can't remember if he names the technique.

So two questions. Is the "Royalty Fishery" still in existence and in the same place on the Avon as it was in Mr. Crabtree's day?

Secondly, what is the casting technique he details and was it largely rendered obsolete with the coming of monofilimant lines and modern casting or spinning reels?

Anyway, a brilliant book and I'm sure the boy either is or will enjoy it tremendously.

Grouse

Hi Grouse
The Royalty remains one of the most popular and prolific Barbel fisheries in England, although amazingly The Hampshire Avon in it's lower reaches does contain more than one species! In 1937 a Trent angler named FWK Wallis travelled to fish the Christchurch area and soon caught a 14lb6oz Barbel which equalled the record at the time. Wallis angled in the Nottingham style ie long trotting with an 'Avon' rod, the most famous example being The Wallis Wizard and a centrepin exactly as B.V. described in Mr Crabtree and elsewhere. His technique of casting a line directly from the spinning drum of the 'pin became universally know as the Wallis cast. As if that was not enough he also held the record for Chub twice, once in 1903 and again ten years later, all without the use of halibut pellets.
cheers Craig

although the way Bernard Venables describes the wallis cast (although i think he called it the Avon cast in the books) ,makes for almost impossible exicution ,its still alive and well and even getting a bit of a Renaissance due too the re-occurrence of the centrepin phenomenon and re-found popularity over the last few years.

Greetings Gentlemen,
As always the devil is in the detail, the Wallis cast instructions that B.V. provided are probably the most practical that you will find anywhere but take note of the illustrations. The 'pin is set up to be used with a right hand wind and most vintage centrepins were manufactured to be used in this way. I took all my instructions from Mr Crabtree and I can cast from the drum quite effectively but having said that I have a Carbon 11' Avon rod for Mullet fishing which is does not perform a Wallis cast at all. The action of a split cane Avon rod is entirely different to it's modern equivalent so perhaps this alongside practice might be of key importance when attempting to use traditional methods.
Grouse
I think to completely safeguard your offspring's heritage you should purchase a complete set of Bernard Venables' 'Lets Go Fishing with Mr Cherry and Jim' books ASAP, I know they are expensive but it's always better to be safe than sorry!
cheers Craig

Guys thanks for the replies.

More specifically, was the main advantage to the Wallis cast that it provided a way to cast farther by better overcoming the resistance of the old centerpin reels?

Or was there something about the trajectory of the cast that allowed for a longer cast, but a softer or quieter landing when fishing cross-river as apparently is required by the spooky fish in that area?

Mr. Crabtree explains what cast to use, but what I'm wondering is why was that casting technique advantageous? And is that advantage only related to maximizing the functional aspects of the gear available at the time (cane rod/centerpin reel) such that there is no need for the technique with a modern rod and spinning or casting reel?

Grouse

I have heard it said, not entirely tongue in cheek, that Mr Crabtree isn't old hat, he's pretty up to date. For example

• He's big on the seasonality of the target species
• He prefers plug fishing for pike to spinning and both to using bait
• He uses The Method to catch a carp
• He's a keen and competent chalk stream dry fly fisher
• He uses sporting methods to catch a barbel

I still enjoy a browse from time to time, specially while drinking a beer ...

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"In wine there is wisdom. In beer there is strength. In water there is bacteria." - German proverb
JH based near Southampton

The Crabtree and the Mr Cherry series of books inspired my childhood , Yes the Royalty is still there and as popular as ever I was in Christchurch at easter and enjoyed a walk along it and gazed longingly at the parlour pool, I was also able to fritter some hard earned away in Davis fishing tackle which is a few hundred yards away. Have you seen the size of the perch in the glass case in that shop....

heres a link to the Royalty web site ,,,

http://www.royaltyfishery.com/

Grouse, to make a long cast you need to get the centrepin reel spinning in a controlled way at the same time as the terminal tackle flies out, and then to brake it as the terminal tackle lands, to prevent an over-run or birdsnest, hence the jocular nickname of the Right Honourable Member for Wolverhampton who posts on here.

It's a difficult but learnable technique.

A centre pin reel is a joy to use on a fast flowing river in the winter with float gear, and as somone said above there's a revival in their use in the UK. If you are not expert enough to learn the Wallis cast (or simply can't be ar5ed to) then some modern float rods have 2 or 3 rings positioned close to the butt such that you can take loops of line from between the rings and hold them in your left hand - then just release the loops as the tackle flies out. Using this method it's possible to cast plenty far enough to catch fish on medium size rivers like the Itchen or Test. But the Avon at the Royalty Fishery is quite a wide river.

__________________
"In wine there is wisdom. In beer there is strength. In water there is bacteria." - German proverb
JH based near Southampton

Last year, 16th of June (openning day) Richard W and I spent a very early morning on a local pond, armed with split cane and centre pins in true Crabtree style, it takes me right back to my childhood! The book is truely a masterpiece whatever age you are! See those little red eyes? Magical........roll on the glorious 16th....

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Duncan

The method that JohnH describes is known as a Nottingham cast and is absolutly fine until you are required to cast any sort of real distance, that is when you wish you had learned to Wallis/Avon cast. I don't think it's as difficult as the Pendulum cast that Beach anglers use and interestingly the motivation to learn both techniques is the same. Also the suggestion that tackle options was limited is correct as I'm certain the Wallis cast significantly predates the invention of Illingworth's Threadline reel.
cheers Craig