The one that landed Clarissa

[Nobby]

I think Ron Clay was a member on here wasn't he?

yes, for about 5 minutes I think....?

[Shaun Harrison]

Say no more

[JohnN]

I'm still puzzled about the "Ravioli" rod - I've raised this point before, but I'll raise it again in case someone can shine some light.
I first handled the rod at Bearton Avenue the year before Ravioli was caught, and then again at Arlesey Lake in November 1952. RW had inscribed the weights of his two best carp in Indian ink on the butt cane - 22lb 12oz (Dagenham) and the 44 pounder. When I next saw the "record" rod, at RW's Dunstable commemoration, there were no inscriptions on it. Removed? But why, it's part of the history of the rod? Or not the actual rod? Just asking!

[Nobby]

There's a few 'rebels' who believe Clarissa/Ravioli was caught not on a Mk.IV rod at all, but on his earlier Mk.III rod. I don't know what they base this on, but that rod must have been quite noticeable with its 28inch handle. With the fish 'weeded' so badly that it had to be freed by a submerged assistant the Mk.IV might have been totally overpowered...maybe that's their theory...?

Might it not be that RW himself removed any writing on the rod before handing it over?

[Mushy]

I love a conspiracy theory !!

[Jardine]

Hi John, glad to see the your post, your book Carp & Tench Fishing was one of my first fishing books. Are you still fishing?
I think it unlikely that anyone would have removed the Indian Ink inscriptions, as you said they would have been part of the rods history.
Might it be that with the commercial launch of the MK IV Carp, an endorsement that it had landed the record carp was to good an opportunity to let slip by?
Best regards
Jardine

[Nobby]

I don't think RW was sentimental like that. He might have thought writing the carp weights a little 'showy' in retrospect and decided to remove them. These were different times...chaps didn't show off.....

Purely a conjecture, of course.

[Davejass]

I have just re-read the chapter in No Need To Lie and he said they tackled up with the usual Mk IVs which had never failed them and { quote
ten ounces of hardened split bamboo can be made to do surprising things }
Hope this helps!

[JohnN]

Hi Jardine. Yes, still fishing - tench in the summer, pike in the winter and trout all year. I don't do as much as I used and no all nighters! I tend to enjoy trouting more than coarse, because at 82 I find humping coarse gear a bit of a fag. But I do have a couple of local ponds with carp to about 10lb that I occasionally fish with just my 1953 Mk4 Avon, Rapidex reel and floating crust. Heaven! Best wishes, John N.

[Gary Bills]

Walker used the Mk III, without doubt, for his 34lb fish in 1954. Kevin Clifford's "A History.." has the pics....and yet, in accounts to the media, Walker claimed he had used the MK IV.....Hmmmm....
Kevin's brilliant book - a masterpiece in my view, also seems to reveal that when Walker and Thomas went to Redmire in September 1952, they had two prototype B James MK IVs to test....to spot this requires a little close reading, but the evidence is there, and a pic showing Walker testing a B James from the dam... the plot thickens....or at least the speculation. Then there is the Walker-built so-called Fred Belcher rod, which Kevin now owns...this is the one MK IV, as I understand it, which can be placed in Walker's hands at Redmire with certainty, in that pics exist and the cork patterns match..
Oh my head!