The Forgotten Classics

Peter Waller

I have just two policies in lure fishing, the first being to try anything new, at least once. The second policy is quite simple, if it works then why mend it? Put another way, if it works and I don’t loose it, why retire a perfectly good lure? On top of that I have an aversion to paying for, and loosing, mega priced American plugs when a spoon, spinner or a classical, older style plug will deliver the goods. Not that I don’t indulge my plastic on an occasional new plug. There is a risk that prospective lure anglers could be discouraged by apparently high prices. No need to be deterred, there are plenty of classics out there at a reasonable price.

I no longer have my first ever lure, but I remember it well. A fabulous and fascinating creation, covered in scratches, beautifully engraved and with bright red glass eyes and with a vivid red, wool covered and very rusty hook, a trigger for a child’s imagination. It was a Norwich Spoon that belonged to my Great Grandfather, meaning that it was pretty ancient when I received it, nearly fifty years ago. As a matter of interest, I have a book, published in the nineteenth century, which illustrates a Norwich spoon rigged as mine was. The book goes into some detail, explaining what an efficient method spinning was when used in and around the Norfolk capital. That was despite the thick, flax lines of the time, the crude traces, poker like rods and inefficient reels of the day! That lure was never to catch for me, although, by the battle scars, it had tempted many a fine pike in its day. The old line didn’t live up to my expectations; the lure was quickly lost, after my first, frantic attempts at casting, in John Wilson territory, namely the River Wensum at Taverham. Being a sentimental old git I bought a replacement from Harris Angling’s classic lure collection. The design might be old, but it catches. Fished sink and draw style, a technique that’s fashionable again, it can still pull the ladies.

As a nine year old, the seed had been cast, Grandfather’s lures and the new, wonder line of the time, nylon monofilament, were mine. A magic box containing Wagtails, Colorados, Vibros, Kidneys, a Holroyd Smith and a handful of unidentifiable spoons, all became my pride and joy. A Colorado was to catch my first ever pike; but I was soon to discover that a good, elongated, Jim Vincent style spoon could out fish most spinners any day of the week. Whilst I have used the generic term of a ‘Vincent’ spoon, some of my aged spoons probably predate the great man himself. Jim Vincent, by the way, is one of the ‘ legends’ of Broadland piking, a forerunner of Dennis Pye and the unassuming Derrick Amies, probably the greatest pike fisherman of all time, the only U.K. angler with two forties to his credit. Vincent developed his elongated spoon from an American Indian wooden pike bait. Could that, in its self, be the forerunner of the American Plugs that are now accepted as modern?

On the right day, the Holroyd Smith, a spinner still being marketed by Allcocks in the 1950’s, in reality being a big mackerel type spinner, can hold its own, especially in flowing rivers. What some odd types call real fishing. It still catches, some sixty or more years since it was first sold commercially. But why shouldn’t it catch? Used with a tail mounted soft plastic worm, it is in reality, a very modern bit of kit.

When all else fails my handful of assorted Vincent type spoons come out. One, especially, has a darting, undulating, tempting action.   On an eighteen-year-old girl that action would pull the fellows from miles around. I dread loosing it, but that day will come. I don’t recollect when I first bought a Landa Pikko, but here was an available, hip-swinging alternative if ever I saw one. It almost talks to the pike, and it was replaceable in the event of loss, and loose ‘em I did, but what a lure!  Sadly, so I’m told, no longer available. The previous supplier, Masterline, is now offering a modern version of the old classic, the Efgeeco Piker, as an alternative. Sorry Masterline, the old Piker caught, but I never thought it was in the same league as the Pikko. Regretfully, working the new Piker versus the Pikko, on alternative casts, has not altered that opinion. Methinks the ultra high gloss might be spooking the pike.  Another factor is the colour. My new Masterline jobby is a copper lure; my Pikkos are brass. It’s the old colour thing rearing its head. Most of the waters that I fish hold bream, a brassy coloured fish, now, there’s a clue.

No mention of plugs yet; now, there’s an unfashionable state of affairs. It’s a strange quirk that spinners and spoons are considered to be old fashioned as opposed to plugs, which are modern. I was going to say ‘the truth of the matter is’, which, in government minister speak, means ‘I am about to lie through my back teeth’, so I won’t. The fact of the matter is that the Creek Chub Pikie, that that Gord Burton called his boat after, plus the small matter of a Welsh record pike being caught on one, was around in the 1930’s.  So, what’s old fashioned then? For the modern angler, spinners and spoons are not an everyday option. It’s a crying shame! You can jerk them, twitch them, sink and draw them, walk the dog with them, eat an ice cream, slow retrieves, fast and even extremely fast ones, let them fall back, catch on the drop, surface, sub surface, bottom bouncing, stir your coffee, rush retrieve, it’s a creative tool that is vastly overlooked. One technique that I have mastered with a spoon is being able to cast it, duck and drake style, under overhanging trees and branches. Plugs have beaten me on that one. There is not much that you can do with a plug that can’t be done with a good spoon. But quality plugs are great, a joy to fish with. I deeply regret that my classic Pfleugers and Heddons of the sixties were nicked some years ago. But, for me, a spoon can out fish a plug. How can I prove that, for heavens sakes? On my type of waters, the Broads and Rivers of Norfolk and Suffolk and North Essex, I can work a plug for thirty minutes or an hour, for nothing. On goes a spoon and out comes a pike. Okay, so sometimes it works the other way around, but it is less likely.  A recent trip to Bath saw me on the river at Bathampton, what scored? You guessed it, my Pikko!  Nothing huge, but in a weir pool, a ten pounder, the biggest of many, was a demon fighter!  My plugs, apart from the classic Big S, might just as well have stayed at home. The big plug may well act as a trigger, infact I’m sure it does, but, on tough waters it is the smaller plugs that lands the fish, simply because there is so little for the pike to be able to spit out, or so my theory goes. Back in the sixties, when many of us first looked on the pike as a sport fish, it was ABU gear, with the Swedish and American influence that dominated. Their’s was the driving and innovative force of the time. Soft-bodied lures are nothing new; my soft rubber ABU ‘Cello’ plugs are still delivering, devastatingly effective for jack bashing during the summer, even after a quarter of a century! One thing about them is that they survive a mauling far better than their modern day equivalent.

When did spinner baits hit the headlines? ABU had a spinner bait called, if I remember correctly, the ‘Combi’. It was a 60’s perch puller supreme. Linked to an Abumatic reel with a six-foot baitcaster, class fishing. Another classic, and it is still available, is the Voblex 8. It cost just 17.5 pence back when Oulton Broad was the national perch Klondike and four pounders were almost, but not quite, suicidal. Now, costing nearly four pounds itself, it can still hold its own with our stripy friends.  But, regretfully, not on Oulton Broad where the chance of another perch record is remote in the extreme. As for pike, a one-time personal best of many years standing, an eighteen pounder, a summer caught fish, came to a silver Voblex. I stress silver because both copper and brass were none starters for perch.

But back to ABU, the all time classic, a pattern that has been copied by every man and their dog, from Woolworths upwards! The ABU Toby, a real fish catching classic, but for me, only in the 18gm silver model. Presumably the weight effects the action, even if the various weights are identical in shape. It’s been around a long time, but does it really deserve the almost legendary status that it held for so many years? It is not a versatile lure. When pike are slashing indiscriminately at fry then it can be a winner. On two occasions a Toby has given me more than twenty pike in a day. But countless have been the times when a Toby has blanked and other lures have done the business. In the right place and at the right time, a Toby, like a plug, can be devastating.

The aged kidney spoon was rarely an effective spoon, well worth forgetting. But other geriatric lures, some still in production, like the Ondex 6, are overlooked and ignored. But as I said, if it works, why replace it? Many of my lures do tend to be ‘older style’. If they don’t catch, then it is the Big Tackle Box in the Sky that gorges the luckless failures. More likely they will gather dust, reminding me that they might just catch, if I were to give them just one more chance.

I fish for one simple reason, to enjoy myself, to catch fish at a reasonable rate. The straight answer is that I fish to catch, so if a lure doesn’t want to go to that big tackle box then it must deliver. Bugger fashion; sod the age, if it catches then it gets used. My idea of failure is an hour without a fish. My lures, both ancient and modern, plus having easy access to the Broads, allows me, on most days, to succeed within that criteria. But oh dear, not always! I recently, for the first and last time, fished a pike match on the fens. Five hours, stuck hard up against a bush, piking for just one follow! It was a pairs match, with ten feet between each team, great company, lousy fishing. Not my style at all. Some of you might say ‘useless angler, should have been able to adapt’. Maybe you’re right!

Back to fishing for enjoyment; Spooning with the big old girls, that’s more like it, lovely! As for you lot, if you’re still there, still awake, as always, Tight Lines!

Previously published in PIKE AND PREDATORS.