Old wildfowling TV film

[islandgun]

13 hours ago, marsh man said:

You are no longer allowed to catch Ells around here and I believe that apply around the Fens as well , although one bloke was allowed to carry on catching Ells on the Fens but I think he have now packed it in due to the shortage of the specie .

We once had some blokes who came over from Holland and stayed in a house boat on the estuary to catch Ells  , when they had enough they took them back to Holland in tanks on the back of a lorry , they used long nets that were in a tube and the Ells. were caught when they couldn't get out of the end , also some of the locals used long lines that were tied from one marking post in the channel to the next one , plus the wicker basket traps .

Do you get the Cucumber fish up your way ?

Cucumber smelt ?  havnt seen one here but caught the odd one drifting for herring in the Blackwater, bizarre how a fish should smell like a vegetable. The dutch boys would have had fyke nets, The fykes i used were larger than usual, D shaped with two leaders, i would stretch the leaders across a creek at low water, sometimes i got lucky, but most times it would have a few hundred shore crabs

 

[marsh man]

6 hours ago, islandgun said:

Cucumber smelt ?  havnt seen one here but caught the odd one drifting for herring in the Blackwater, bizarre how a fish should smell like a vegetable. The dutch boys would have had fyke nets, The fykes i used were larger than usual, D shaped with two leaders, i would stretch the leaders across a creek at low water, sometimes i got lucky, but most times it would have a few hundred shore crabs

 

They look very much like the Dutch guys used , they would block the drains that cross the estuary so when the tide started to ebb the Ells had to come down the drains to reach open water .

Yes you are right , the Cucumber fish is the Smelt , they would nigh on swim on the surface as you could see the ripples when you tried to catch them , another flat fish the old boys used to catch were the mud butts , these were very similar to a Dab , the only difference was they smelt of mud , to catch them they would have a long pole with a upturned rake on the end so they would stab the mud and now and again they would spear a Butt .

When we first took on our boat shed in the 60s they were only allocated to people to keep gun punts in , they could easily keep two punts and our big one was 21ft long , they had a cabin the width of the shed that had a loft above it , laying in the loft were a load of rusty relics from the past , they included Ell picks , Mud butt heads , old push poles , old ropes ( that could have been used to take the recoil from a punt gun ) and one or two rollers from the old mangles , these were used on the slipway to winch the boats up on a low tide , we were only teenagers at the time and didn't want all the bit and pieces that were stowed up in that loft and I think they all got dumped , I now dread to think what some of that old stuff would have been worth this day and age , not only in money but also a part of history that we will now only see in a museum . 

[islandgun]

3 hours ago, marsh man said:

They look very much like the Dutch guys used , they would block the drains that cross the estuary so when the tide started to ebb the Ells had to come down the drains to reach open water .

Yes you are right , the Cucumber fish is the Smelt , they would nigh on swim on the surface as you could see the ripples when you tried to catch them , another flat fish the old boys used to catch were the mud butts , these were very similar to a Dab , the only difference was they smelt of mud , to catch them they would have a long pole with a upturned rake on the end so they would stab the mud and now and again they would spear a Butt .

When we first took on our boat shed in the 60s they were only allocated to people to keep gun punts in , they could easily keep two punts and our big one was 21ft long , they had a cabin the width of the shed that had a loft above it , laying in the loft were a load of rusty relics from the past , they included Ell picks , Mud butt heads , old push poles , old ropes ( that could have been used to take the recoil from a punt gun ) and one or two rollers from the old mangles , these were used on the slipway to winch the boats up on a low tide , we were only teenagers at the time and didn't want all the bit and pieces that were stowed up in that loft and I think they all got dumped , I now dread to think what some of that old stuff would have been worth this day and age , not only in money but also a part of history that we will now only see in a museum . 

Sounds like an Aladdins cave,  I still remember when looking around the netmakers in  Lowestoft as a lad, hanging on hooks were some very old oilskins [like the Cromer lifeboat crew wore when it started]  knee length with a boat neck, not the plastic stuff we were given,  nice to have one of those now..😉

[Big Al]

I love old gems like that, although they always make me feel I was born 50 years too late.

[dodgy dave]

On 16/08/2019 at 08:20, islandgun said:

Cheers MM , Im still reading wildfowlers and poachers but will look it out, My great uncle that drowned was an eel fisherman at Heybridge Basin. on the Blackwater, and i spent a lot of my youth , fyke netting for eels in the dykes, drifting for herring, or winkling there. [even a bit of fowling] I also lived in Wisbech and then N Norfolk where I had a lugworm/bait business, so i have some strong ties to the area and films like that bring on the memories

were in wisbech you live ole pale

[dodgy dave]

horace friends warehouse is still there they turned it into flats  the name board is still up  says horace friends fur and feather merchants .marshman i used to go welking out that way with a guy called gary witicker he lived on the house right on the harbour i think the local sailing club keep there gear in there  did you know gary

[Fatcatsplat]

On 16/08/2019 at 21:07, islandgun said:

I always fancied being a costermonger [the posh name for a whelk stall] and i bet your grandad made a good living on the front. did he jelly eels for the cockneys..😉

Costermonger sold fruit and veg - Just googled it to check i had it right and coster was an old variety of apple!

From a cockney who can't stand whelks or jellied eels!

[islandgun]

1 hour ago, Fatcatsplat said:

Costermonger sold fruit and veg - Just googled it to check i had it right and coster was an old variety of apple!

From a cockney who can't stand whelks or jellied eels!

wood yer adam and eve it !  wot no eels ? 

https://www.anglotopia.net/british-history/british-empire/brit-language-victorian-costermongers-spoke-back-slang/

4 hours ago, dodgy dave said:

horace friends warehouse is still there they turned it into flats  the name board is still up  says horace friends fur and feather merchants .marshman i used to go welking out that way with a guy called gary witicker he lived on the house right on the harbour i think the local sailing club keep there gear in there  did you know gary

I knew a Gary Witicker [Wit] at  Brancaster staithe, helped on his whelk boat a few times, best memory of him was we had both been in the jolly sailor on a lunch time session and i took him for a dentist appointment, he didnt feel a thing,  his crew and my best mate has become a quite famous artist [dave greenhall]. Gary dug bait for me on occasion

[dodgy dave]

yes he liked the jolly sailor and my home made wine his drinking pal was a fella we called bins did you know him do you know if he is still alive yea when he had agood haul of whelks he would take them to wells to be boiler i remember when he drunk a pint half would be dripping of his beard 

[marsh man]

6 hours ago, dodgy dave said:

horace friends warehouse is still there they turned it into flats  the name board is still up  says horace friends fur and feather merchants .marshman i used to go welking out that way with a guy called gary witicker he lived on the house right on the harbour i think the local sailing club keep there gear in there  did you know gary

I had totally forgot about Horace Friend until a few years ago when I had a bus ride to Wisbeach and there on the side of a big warehouse was his name in big White letters , in the 60s , him and another firm were always advertising in the Shooting Times for Jay wings , Starling wings , duck and game feathers , our old game keeper would never miss a trick when it came to earning a few bob and would often send a batch of wings and feathers up to Friends the feather merchants , when we altered the old game larder a few years ago to comply with the new hygine regulations we had to do away with the old wooden cabinet we used to lay the game on and replace it with a stainless steel one that came out of the tea rooms , inside the drawer of the old one was a pile of delivery tags with Horace Friend name and address on them , these would have been used to put on the sack when they were dropped off at the railway station in the village , also in the drawer were ones for Leadenhall market to send the wildfowl that were caught in the duck decoy that was up and running for commercial use .

Now nobody wants the feathers , Rabbit skins or even a Fox skin , in fact now you would have to pay somebody to dispose them , my how times have changed .

[dodgy dave]

yeu he would never give you the right money he would say the were only second class he would find some fault .i never saw a punt gun in wisbech museum you must be thinking of the bank gun they had there the same sort off thing but shorter barrels fix it on the bank

[islandgun]

2 hours ago, dodgy dave said:

yes he liked the jolly sailor and my home made wine his drinking pal was a fella we called bins did you know him do you know if he is still alive yea when he had agood haul of whelks he would take them to wells to be boiler i remember when he drunk a pint half would be dripping of his beard 

jeez , i do remember the name Bins. I stayed in a caravan across the road from the jolly. the owner was a whelk man always started every sentence with rrplus, was thet him ? I was there about late 70's..

[dodgy dave]

yea that was him about same time and all... him and gary always used to slobber there beer down there beards

[SuperGoose75]

Really enjoyed watching that again! I love them old films. I felt privileged to have had a pint in that old  pub that's full of character. 

There is a photo of ''Herbie''  with a 4bore and some pinks in front of his cottage in a book. Alistair Mitchell's (Goose Shooting) possibly! Or one of Phil Grays books' who incidentally was/is  of the same type of Fenman as Ernie James. 

Edited October 8, 2019 by SuperGoose75

[Manish]

Its true that not many places remain like that in the UK. I live in Norfolk and love the fact that once you get off the track beaten or otherwise its a better world. People engage with each other and are genuine with no hidden agenda. I'm glad I live in the fens and I'll be happy to die there. Its one of them places you get or you dont.

 

Loved the film BTW

Edited October 26, 2019 by Manish