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Tag Archives: english

A tale of two rivers – film

08 Thursday Dec 2016

Posted by The tuesday swim in Fallon's Angler quarterly, Photography and video

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

english, films, fishing, great, norfolk, ouse, rivers, wensum

Producing films about angling is a challenge. One, there is always the task of catching fish for the camera, but there is a more complex challenge. How does one represent angling and create an engaging narrative when the act of fishing in realtime is generally a slow one? As a format film is not the ideal way to represent angling unless the editing and narrative has a pace that holds an audience. Literature on the other hand has always led the way when it comes to capturing the nuances in angling, the reader reads, imagines and considers the prose, the pace it set by the reader, literature is more personal and intimate unlike film. Film is an end interpretation created generally by a collective of people, the result is often diluted.

In my opinion, angling film makers fall into a few traps, the all-action – lets make fishing exciting and the slo-mo style with elevating music, the later can be visually stunning but leaves the viewer slightly detached, engagement surely is the answer? The writer must be the key to the film.  This year I made three film on angling, far from perfect on many levels, some fundamental mistakes were made on all, but looking to the future I am working with Fallons Angler and those I can trust who write well, (I really think writing is the key) I hope to put together some short films in 2017 that will captivate both the angler and non-angler.

 

Fennel’s Journals…Wild or ‘Feral’ Carp edition.

30 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by The tuesday swim in Carp, Reading

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

angling, british, carp, english, fennel, feral, fishing, hudson, journal, nigel, traditional, wild

My father fished mainly for black bream off the Sussex coast in the 1940’s and 50’s from his boat ‘Vulture’. I always thought the boat was more of an excuse for my father to hang out on the beach and watch young ladies pass by rather than a serious fishing vessel. In more extreme summer showers (just like this year) Vulture could accommodate a canvas pup tent, where upon pipe smoking and general tackle sorting would take place amongst friends. I now own that pup tent and have used it for many camping trips and was my prime over night fishing shelter for my carp fishing obsession as a teen in the eighties. The old sea tackle was sadly disposed of a few years ago in the local dump, (when I found out I went bloody mad) an old army haversack bag containing wooden line winders, floats, two Penn multipliers, three boat rods, a wooden centre pin and some old round pipe tobacco tins with hooks and lead weight, nothing of any great value but it was something that I wanted to keep. Now it has been thrown out in one of my fathers clear outs, hoarder he is not!

My father fished for the table and once married with a young family the piscator seemed to fade away. We have never spent a minutes fishing together, for my quest to angle was to admire and then put back, my father did not understand this but on one occasion we did share an angling moment and that was when the Passion for Angling series was broadcast on the BBC, in the early 1990’s. We both admired the way nature was captured on film and of course the fish being caught, I loved the old and new approach to angling demonstrated by Chris Yates and Bob James, respectively. But, I always remembered what my father said to me half way through the TV series, when we were having a catch up on the phone, he said “I stopped watching it because I thought the two presenters were too twee and the narration quite naff!” “Great Scott!” I exclaimed but I could see his point, it’s not everyone’s taste. Since the first broadcast A Passion for Angling has  become quiet a cult series and generally considered to have not been surpassed in quality or in the way it captures the essence of angling. By chance I ended up chatting to Chris Yates in the pub a few months back and asked him about taking part in a new television series perhaps another APFA, his reply…”never, no, fishing and filming do not bode well!” So there you have it A Passion for Angling II will not be  produced with Chris Yates. I digress…

Last year I was pointed in the direct of quite an interesting fellow, Nigel ‘Fennel’ Hudson at the Priory and his new website. Nigel or ‘Fennel’ had started writing at an early age under the encouragement from Chris Yates and over the years has created a quarterly publication that are now available to buy online. While looking at Fennels website and the images a haunting word kept coming back to me in my father’s voice ‘looks a bit twee to me.’ I was a little put off.

When written well, traditional angling writing by the likes of BB, for example is the type of literature that I can read again and again but with ‘traditional’ angling becoming more popular there is a trend for copy cat style scribblings that at best is a poor reproduction and at worst annoying and at times quite cringe worthy. So with Fennels Journal I stayed off until now, just in case of disappointment but then I saw ‘The Wild Carp’ edition!

I’m fascinated with anything to do with ‘wild’ or ‘feral’ carp at present an antidote to the current carping and commercial bagging up scene, so I decided to take the plunge and ordered a copy. Order made, and three days later a signed copy with a pleasant short letter arrived on my doorstep. After a quick flick through I could immediately see this was a labour of love, printed on high quality paper with high quality images. Straight away I had to read the first article chronicling the introduction of the ‘feral’ carp to Britain by the Romans and the subsequent stories of how these carp stayed and survived in the stew ponds over the next two millenia. The writing flows un-hurried without overly romanticising each point and the research is thorough,  from the first sentence I was thinking, this lad can write, its informative and very refreshing.  As the journal moves from the history to his own personal stories and then the stories of like-minded anglers who encounter the ‘wild’ carp the journey draws the reader into the mystery and rarity of these carp. Towards the end there is an interesting interview with an angler on the wild carp of the Danube that leaves the reader hypnotised by the size and beauty of these feral creatures. The photographs are still a little staged at times but I can live with those, the shot of the large Danube Wild carp is stunning. I shall order some of the back copies but for now I would recommend you get a copy of the Wild Carp Edition especially if you like catching the odd one yourself…

June 16th 2012. Wild carp & high winds.

16 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by The tuesday swim in Carp

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

ambidex, aspindale, cane, carp, delux, english, fishing, latch, rod, slater, split, traditional, wild

Although I do dabble throughout the closed season, the 16th June is still a special date for any traditional angler, and there is no other species that epitomises  traditional angling than a good wildie.

Today I was travelling ‘heavy’ as I was taking two rods, a Mark IV Avon with a Ambidex Mark 6 loaded with 8lb line and a James Aspindale Carp Delux with an old Slater latch from around a hundred years ago, loaded with 10lb line.

It was not an early start but it was my way of showing some respect to the closed season, so from about half past Saturday Live I arrived at a rather small and I am afraid to say secretive pond in the south east of England. From the start I saw signs of wild carp (as this water seems to only contains them) high in the water searching for food. How wild these creatures are, I do not know but they certainly take on the classic torpedo shape, large heads, small bodies and big tails. The size in this lake does not exceed 10lb and to be honest I’ve not seen one over 7lb but this is not the point, they are so beautiful, an antidote to ‘Heather the Leather’ and ‘Fat Lady’, wild carp are exquisite…

The final few hours were spent with the old Aspindale rod and Slater Latch, bread cast out into the lilies, a slurp, a splash and then a clitter clatter of an old centre pin reel as line streamed out…

Old fishing tackle shops…

16 Friday Sep 2011

Posted by The tuesday swim in Tackle

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

angling, cuckfield, efgeeco, english, fishing, floats, middy, old, penfolds, shop, shops, tackle, traditional, ultra

Penfolds of Cuckfield in West Sussex was my place of wonder towards the end of the late seventies and throughout the eighties. After an up hill bike ride of about four miles I arrived, breathless and excited, just as if I was going fishing.

As I recall the front of the shop would have been no more than ten feet wide including the entrance. The exterior was painted gloss black with a hand painted sign, ‘Penfolds’. The window was covered in a layer of yellow celluloid gel to protect the display of angling items and packaging from the effects of the sun.

To enter, a slightly stiff door had to be given a hard push to engage a brass bell, which would in turn alert the waiting staff. Once through the door a waft of maggots, waxed canvas and old oak drawers filled my senses (long before the smells of tutti fruiti boillies and halibut pellets). I was immediately thrown into a magical world of fishing tackle, spools of Perlon, rows of floats, shelves stacked high with boxes of reels, piles of Efgecco bait boxes in the corner, spilling out of a large cardboard box and small wooden drawers filled with hidden angling paraphernalia.

The shop, like the frontage was about ten feet wide with a counter running all the way along the left hand side to the rear, the interior was always quite dark even on a bright summers day. The far end was dedicated to shooting and equestrian related items, this enhanced the smell with fresh cut leather and ointments. Along the narrow corridor on the right was a selection of wall mounted display cabinets full of floats ordered into categories; balsa’s, porcupine quills, waggler’s, chubbers, wind beaters, avon’s and lignum sticks produced by makers such as Ultra and Middy.  Between the float displays were racks of rods, not the huge selections that you would expect in a modern tackle shop but no more than about twenty rods from thick glass float rods to the ultra thin and expensive new carbon creations.

One Saturday morning I was taken by my father who used to sea fish, (he had a boat on Brighton beach in the 1950’s) where he purchased my first new rod for my tenth birthday, a 11ft Shakespeare ‘Strike’ float rod, made of glass and as thick as a rolling-pin! I think this was the only time I ever ventured in the shop with an adult; Penfold’s was strictly a place for myself and my angling peers.

The long counter was made of a dark hardwood with a glass top that allowed a display of angling accessories, more floats, swim feeders, weights, pike gaff’s and scales.  The custodians stood behind the counter framed by a montage of more tackle including cheap penknife’s hanging from display cards, canvas fishing bags and keep nets dangling from the ceiling. The elderly grey haired couple both dressed in sandy brown shop overalls would stand to attention awaiting my meagre order of bits and bobs.

Also behind the counter, on the wall was a series of matching hardwood drawers, none of which were labelled but if a request for something unusual, a Mitchell bail arm spring or a spare rod ring, a bee-line would be made to the correct drawer and the said item would be found and placed on the counter. If the item was correct then it would be tallied up with a pencil on a brown paper bag. Many times I would have to put items back as the tally became too much for my limited pocket-money.

There were bigger, more ‘modern’ angling shops near by but as a shy youngster and novice angler, Penfolds was the place to go for good friendly advice.

Recently I drove down the high street and to my surprise Penfold’s still exists on the opposite side of the street in a larger premises that is now just a country and equestrian clothes shop, the Penfold’s of old has all but gone.

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Off to the marshes #hackneymarshes
I’ve been here before but this is reassuringly familiar, an antidote to the boutique homogenous lifestyle that is rife in our city. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
Watersmeet- Our current winter film set on the Hampshire Avon with @adamchetwood @kgparr link in my bio. Where to next? #anglingfilms #chubfishing
Watersmeet - Chub fishing on the Hampshire Avon, our new film for winter #hampshireavon #hampshireavonfishing #chub #fallonsangler #fishingfilms #winterfishing link in bio
A reunion on the Hampshire Avon. Our new film for Fallons Angler ready to view in time for Christmas. Friends, pints, and fishing #chubfishing #chub #fishingfilms #fallonsangler #hampshireavon
Surely it’s time for a perch?
Epping forest #eppingforest
The fading light plays a strong roll on us at this time of year. The Witching Hour film available to view, link in bio. #embracethedarkness
Next week I travel to France and begin filming a life in Normandy over one year. A man whos footprint on the planet has the lightest touch, where his life and the natural world sit side by side. #dustthefilm …
The Witching Hour our new film launching at midday today 15th October link in bio #fishingfilms #fallonsangler
Last week we spread my parents ashes on the South Downs. In life they were inseparable, so we did the honourable thing and mixed their ashes with our own hands, returned them to the chalk on the Sussex Downs at a geographical point between birth, life and death.
The Prince of Peace is dead, thank you for the musical and spiritual journey of my life. 1940-2022 #pharoahsanders
A quick over nighter by the river and under the stars with @fallonsangler_magazine for a new film. Packing light - bedroll, camera, drone and a Katsu Curry Pot Noodle or two. Film out in a fortnight. In the meantime please order our new issue of Fallons Angler capturing the bewitching hour. #autumnequinox #fallonsangler #fishingfilms #canonuk
Norway, reassuringly boring with some hidden surprises #norway #oslo #snorway

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