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01 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by The tuesday swim in General

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Barbour, hand, international, jacket, macqueen, old, out, second, steve, waxed, worn

With all this rain at the moment it is good to have a good waterproof jacket, as an angler it is essential along with a wide-brimmed hat (the only way you can keep the rain off, still be able the hear your surroundings and keep you hands free to cast a rod and line).

The Barbour jacket has been the standard outdoor jacket for generations, it’s a true waterproof, breathable and  thorn-proof garment but it has one other added feature. Year after year a Barbour changes its personality normally reflecting on the previous seasons severity of weather, its a barometer of outdoor life.

My ‘regular’ Barbour is an International (that’s not me by the way) which I have owned for at least fifteen years, I have been flung off my motorbike in it, had the wettest Scottish days out in it and spent the hottest summer days lying on it. You can apply a revitalising dressing, Barbour supply a tin which reinstate the smell of a newly bought jacket but just like any beauty product, they never promise your youthful looks again, at best they may hold off the rigours of life…temporarilly. These dressings tend to trap any detritus in the preservation process and as these jackets can never be washed properly, years on year they get better as each page of weather is preserved literally into its fabric (this could be my imagination but I am sure they also get heavier?).

So as the years pass and your jacket gets patched and waxed there comes a time when the rain just can’t be held off anymore and a replacement is inevitable, so a new jacket comes on board but what of the old? Ebay, charity shop, no! My Barbour’s of past (also including a Hardy’s wading waxed jacket) remain hung up in the hallway like books all with stories to tell and all with tattered covers.

One such story was a shabby old Eskdale that I obtained after a  close friend had died almost ten years ago now. Les worked for an architectural salvage company at St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch in the East end, when requested, reluctantly (like any good architectural salvage type) Les would put on the trusty old Barbour to protect his more dapper wear underneath (the jacket was ripped and three sizes too big) and go in search of old dirty cast iron radiators or sift through Victorian railings out in the rain. I sometimes wear it as an homage, its way to big for me too but it has memories and in the top left pocket is his business card.

Now one thing that I have noticed living in between the fashion hotspots of Dalston, Shoreditch, London Fields and dare I now say Lower Clapton, every skinny jean wearing wot-sit is kitted out in a Barbour International! Why? It seems a recent campaign has made everyone want to be Steve McQueen, well it could be worse but now I have the dilemma of looking like an East London fashionista, the other issue is the price and availability a  good second-hand one is bloody expensive and as scarce as hens teeth…damm you McQueen!

So, for one more year, the needle and thread has come out, some more wax dressing applied and my International shall be embalmed in one more season and take on the new season, hopefully with a new chapter…and hopefully on the Lea.

Jack Hargreaves, dry fly fishing on the Wiltshire Nadder.

17 Saturday Sep 2011

Posted by The tuesday swim in General fishing

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

adder, brown, cane, club, dace, dry, fishing, fly, flylite, grayling, hargreaves, jack, milward, nadder, of, out, rod, snake, split, teffont, town, trout

Many years back I dated a young lady near the town of Tisbury in Wiltshire, conveniently her father, a retired colonel was a member of his local fishing club on the River Nadder.

After a few visits to Wiltshire, approval was finally given to join him for a day’s fly fishing as a guest on the Nadder run by the Teffont Fishing Club.

Armed with my Millward Flylite split cane rod and a selection of dry flies bought from Farlow’s of Pall Mall the previous day, we set off in search of brown’s and grayling. That day local knowledge prevailed and the colonel caught several trout and graying, eventually I managed to hook a lone lady, thankfully my dry-fly fishing skills didn’t let me down that day. Walking back that evening the colonel told me about the history of this little twisting stream, looking back now, I forget most of the detail but one thing I always remember was the name, Nadder, a name given after the adder snake common in the Wiltshire district. The shape of the adder similar to that of the river, with its twists and turns. True? maybe, maybe not but I like the tale.

Here we have Jack Hargreaves dry-fly fishing on the Nadder delivered in his own unique gentle manner and hooking a rather fine dace.

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Dropped in tonight to see the magnificent Balcombe Lake, Spent many nights here as a teenager mainly catching bream.
Fallons Angler 21 has arrived, the creative guns are blasting for 22 and 23, for me though the cameras have laid relatively dormant over the last year, but slowly we are picking up pace, plenty of new films organised and ready to shoot including this one ‘Wildie’ which includes an author and conservationist, a farmer, a musician and a load of feral carp, wrapped in a stunning landscape. #wildcarp #feralcarp
#local
Down by the River today #sussex #cuckmere #chubbing
TBH we’ve spent most of the day by the fire
Part of my cultural apprenticeship, thank you #ripchickcorea
Just when you turn a corner...#saveleamarshes
Thinking about the merits of moving to a derelict house in Sussex #littletollerbooks #greenmanofhoram
I’ve been aware of this kit bag all of my life, it went on family camping trips in the seventies but I only understood what it was about ten years ago. It’s a great thing #raf
Good to be out filming today. Covid compliant
Pleasingly grey today
You know 2020...
Sanctum #hackneymarshes
Keep it in the family- Back cover for the forthcoming issue of Fallon’s Angler by Lucy Merriman

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