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Re: Memories

Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 10:01 pm
by DaveM
Gord wrote:hi md the stretch i used to fish was from alperton to park royal did you ever fish the two willows near alperton bridge or a still better swim called the hole in the wall, all these memories take me back to a time you could jump on your bike and disappear for a day on a great fishing adventure it was at the time anyway since those days i have fished in russia,italy,france to name a few but i still think of those days on the cut
I know the swims well Gord! The GUC can be the most idyllic scenery in parts Mark and in others,
it felt like you were fishing in the middle of an industrial wasteland and it was in these latter areas that I've had days that will stay with me the closest, there just seemed an abundance of fish as unnatural as the surroundings.
The canal felt alive, not just a utility as it was originally designed and had as many fish in as any natural river i had or have ever fished! What I really liked about it was it was very 'responsive' if you were willing to put the work in, not everyone's cup of tea, but to me and many others was roach heaven.
As a young whipper snapper, one closed season, I once walked from King's Cross to Greenford and then caught the tube back! I don't know how many miles that is, but I wouldn't do it now!

Re: Memories

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 12:51 am
by Mark
The Grand Union Canal runs through the heart of Leicester as well as the rural parts of the shire, some really beautiful canal scenery in the shires. As kids we sailed down it in our make shift rafts, learned to swim in it and spent many a happy hour fishing it and all we had was a bottle of water and some jam sandwiches to last us the day, heaven it was. It's a shame that most kids now in Leicestershire don't even know it's there.

Re: Memories

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 6:21 am
by Avocet
Caught my first fish at the Ladbroke Grove stretch in the late fifties, used to fish from there to Little Venice.As a toddler we used to catch a train out to Little Britain, after fishing the cut, this place used to seem like heaven. Memories!!!

Re: Memories

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 8:03 am
by MGs
Avocet wrote:Caught my first fish at the Ladbroke Grove stretch in the late fifties, used to fish from there to Little Venice.As a toddler we used to catch a train out to Little Britain, after fishing the cut, this place used to seem like heaven. Memories!!!
Memories indeed. Having fished Little Britain as a kid and more recently, it still retains some of its charm. The canal at this point, although not visible runs up the eastern side of the lake and Farlows. I fished this stretch and the feeder channel between Little Britain and the canal (used to transport the gravel - had a good head of crucians, now out of bounds). This stretch of the canal is pretty rural, given its location.

Re: Memories

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 8:51 am
by Maggot's Dad
Mark wrote:All those lovely memories. :Hat:

Surely it deserves it full name being written chaps, the Grand Union Canal. GUC sound so ghastly for such beautiful stretches of canal.
"Morning Mark", :Hat:

..... I agree, I don't particulary like the abbreviation as well, but then again, to me I grew up with it being the "Cut".

Re: Memories

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 9:16 am
by MGs
It was always just "The Canal" to us, being the only one accessible to lads on bikes. Then further identified by the section in question, The Shovel, Swan and Bottle, The Packet boat (strange how even as kids we picked out locations by pub names)

Re: Memories

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 9:35 am
by Maggot's Dad
Gord wrote:hi md the stretch i used to fish was from alperton to park royal did you ever fish the two willows near alperton bridge or a still better swim called the hole in the wall, all these memories take me back to a time you could jump on your bike and disappear for a day on a great fishing adventure it was at the time anyway since those days i have fished in russia,italy,france to name a few but i still think of those days on the cut
"Morning Gord" :Hat:

I have a very vague recollection of the willows but definately remember fishing the "Hole in the wall" with a pal who still lives close by.
Quite frequently as the "Hole in the wall" was quite often occupied, we would bike back to the other side of Horsenden Hill to fish the playing fields stretch by the Greenford Road. I had a little favourite spot which always held some 1lb+ Roach and it was little! Along this stretch it was generally quite well kept and trimmed by the council, but there were a few small blackthorn bushes which always remained untouched right on the bankside and were generally home to either a Blackbird or a Mistle Thrush. My favourite bush also had quite a thicket of bramble growing through it and where the brambles had overgrown it, they hung out into the "Cut". This was the only bush that overhung the water by any reasonable distance (close to 4 feet) and was a natural shady refuge for the fish in that area. I had to frequently make use of my weed hook to trim them back at the point where they entered the water. By feeding little pieces of flake I could soon "get the Roach going" and usually had a good bag from this tiny spot.
Even with the subsurface brambles cut, it was still quite usual to end up spending time trying to untangle and retrieve my tackle from the far edges of the bush, you only needed to be a bit too close when the flow direction changed and that was it!

Re: Memories

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 9:42 am
by Julian
Some great memories relayed on this thread chaps :Hat:

Re: Memories

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 10:22 am
by TraditionalAngling
As a twelve year old fished the G U at Greenford by the Black Horse pub by Glaxo. At one time was run by a Ferris family who had three young girls that use to and come and watch me fish and one was Pam Ferris the tv actress.The only rod I had then and still have is a Milbro 7ft 2pce glass spinning rod and a Mitchell 300 and a folding canvas seat plus a ex-army small racksack.The rod was my general purpose rod till I could afford anything else.

Re: Memories

Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 10:32 am
by Maggot's Dad
Mark wrote:The Grand Union Canal runs through the heart of Leicester as well as the rural parts of the shire, some really beautiful canal scenery in the shires. As kids we sailed down it in our make shift rafts, learned to swim in it and spent many a happy hour fishing it and all we had was a bottle of water and some jam sandwiches to last us the day, heaven it was. It's a shame that most kids now in Leicestershire don't even know it's there.
"Morning Mark", :Hat:

....... you couldn't do that at this end of the "Cut" as in the factory loading bays, it was frequently coated in a slick of oil from the barges and you could possibly have walked from bank to bank on the bikeframes and bedsteads in some areas! In the 60's quite a lot of the industrial areas in the West London area were starting their decline and as they fell further into disuse they soon became dumping grounds. That's what finally happened to the "Quaker Oats" arm, the last time I visited, it had a double mattress semi-submerged right in the middle of it.
It was'nt all as bad as that, but providing you stayed clear of those areas you could still enjoy the best of it.
We were fortunate in the West London area (not London as you might think but still very agricultural), as the industrial areas were a few miles apart but as you got closer to the City beyond Greenford, the "Cut" became more enclosed and got filthier, even so, there were still fish to be caught right in the middle of Paddington!