Fairham Brook...happy days

[TrentFisher]

Bernie's 74 recent post "Where it all began" got me thinking of Fairham Brook which runs through the large housing estate called Clifton in Nottingham.

Clifton is where I grew up and in the 60'S and finally cutting my ties with the estate in 1979.At the age of eight I caught my first fish a minnow using a 6ft solid glass rod and awful reel,from that moment I realised there were wonderful creatures living in this little brook,it wasn't until I was ten or eleven I started to fish in ernest and this little waterway was to give endless hours of pleasure.

In the early days I caught lots and I mean lots of minnows with the odd dace on a really good day,this never put me off as I saw older anglers catch roach and chub which looked huge.....one day so would I .

When I started senior school , Fairham Comprehensive,where the brook flowed past,I met three fellow fisher-boys Dave,Rob and Dave,they all had fished the brook at some point.Two of their Dad's also fished and this was to be turning point in mine and their fortunes in futures fishing trips.

One of the Dave's Dad's started catching Roach to over a 1lb using cheese fished in the slack areas which there were many as the brook had many bends,we all followed his lead and we all caught some very nice roach,we were finally catching "proper fish".....

Then one day around 1973 disaster struck large diggers moved in and without warning they ripped up the banks and started dredging the brook,the place looked void of life and the following two seasons we never fished the brook.

Then one day Dave's Dad annouced the fish were back,he has spotted some dace so we decided to take a closer look and we were not disappointed,we were now better fisher-boys and we applied our knowledge to take great catches of dace ,roach and chub,the latter still holds a great memory for me.....

the day was overcast as I settled in to a difficult swin at the bottom of a steep bank and was overhung with hawthorn trees, I was fishing casters and running the float under the trees,first the roach moved in the average size being 12 ounces then the rod took a sharpe curve,this was no roach it was one of the larger chub,the fight was exciting as it tried to reach the cover of underwater roots but finally the prize was to mine and what a prize,just a little over 3lbs and a beautiful deep bronze colour ,it is still today the chub I remember the most ,,,,very happy days.

I hope your memories are as happy.

[AndyPop]

Lovely description of your intro to the piscatorial delights. Fairham Brook is a great little water to fish & I've had half a dozen trips to it last season, mainly to the stretch that backs onto Silverdale. Always manage a few small chub up to 1lb and the odd roach & stripey. Although I'm not a local by birth I do remember being on my very early teens fishing it as far down as the railway bridge south of Ruddington and being suprised how many chub you could see in the clear water. It was classic stalk, one fish and move on to the next swim, which we would do until we got back to the middle of Gotham Moor. Halogen days!

[TrentFisher]

I mainly fished from the road bridge at the bottom of Clifton( near the Cliton All Whites football ground) and the stretch which runs at the back of Fairham school up to what we called the pig farm pegs)
One method that paid dividends was to find a fairly long run before a bend and trot these gradually building the swim up ,this was great for catching the dace until the roach arrived,the chub were always in low numbers back then,I nearly always fished caster to try and avoid the shoals of minnows,in the earlier days of fishing the brook it nearly always had some colour,in later years it became clearer .

I had a cousin who lived in Ruddington and I would fish the stretch in that area but never as good as the one closer to home.

A smashing place to fish at times I would rather fish there than on the Trent at Clifton Grove and that is saying something as that was a cracking venue in the 70's you could I say I was spoilt fo choice!

[James]

My first fish came to me from fairham brook in the sixties a bit further upstream ,near Keyworth where i was brought up.
I do remember it very clearly, it was a Minnow on a bent pin Honest!.But what i started on was Stone loach with a net lifting large stones they would swim straight in to the net.It use to get hit by polusion now and again but miraculously it always came back to life.What a beautiful brook and a fabulous area to grow up in.

[TrentFisher]

This brook kept me out of trouble for sure and was responsiable for what the outside world could offer in the way of wildlife and not just fishing,a mate a school was involved with the bird club and they would put nets out close to the brook and the variety of birds was wonderful,I missed more bites than I care to remember watching the water voles as they went about their business.

[AndyPop]

Here's one for your memories Trentfisher.... just the other week with the water levels high and my favourite stretch of the river Soar having a dual-carriageway built over it I decided to have a walk down to Fairham Brook on Gotham Moor. Armed only with some crusty bread, a simple 2-swan link leger ..... well I think the photos say the rest!

[TrentFisher]

now those pictures certainly take me back in time......and it only feels like yesterday.
A nice result from a special little brook
Thank you for the time you have taken to post them.

[Portland_Jon]

I have read and re-read this thread over the years whilst remembering the many happy trips I had to the magic brook in the early 80's. I grew up in Bunny and the brook was just across the field from home. In 1980 aged 9 I would accompany my friend on dace fishing trips then received a rod and reel for my 10th birthday in November. Armed with my new rod and a slice of bread I set up across the field. It was a frosty, bright autumn day that I vividly remember forty years later. I had one float, some shot and a couple of hooks. I squeezed on some bread and swung it under the overhanging bush on the opposite side 8' away and let it drift downstream. Twenty yards downstream my float disappeared beneath the water and I struck into the fish that changed my life. When I landed it it was the biggest fish that I had ever seen, a beautiful chub that I said at the time was 3lb but in reality it could have been any size because I was just ten years old and had no idea of weight. From then on I spent every spare hour fishing the brook with worms dug from the garden or if we were lucky one of our dads would pick up maggots from Archie Ridley's tackle shop in The Meadows. I moved to Keyworth in 84 and the brook was utterly destroyed when the diggers appeared. I never fished it again but am heading home in September to revisit my childhood haunts. Hopefully I can find a few fish after nearly four decades. Great memories.

Jon aged 50½.

[StefanDuma]

I too fished Fairham Brook in the early 1960's. Moved to Clifton Estate from Sneinton in the mid 1950's and ended up at "Fairham Comp" A mate took me fishing and that was it I was hooked. Usually the odd Dace occasional chub plus the very rare brown trout on a maggot.

I moved on to Clifton Grove not knowing that previous anglers included Coxon, Bailey and Bendigo. Mainly gudgeon with the odd roach. Also fished "rubber land" looking out for the bailiffs. Happy days and great memories.