freeline-95 - Flipbook - Page 217
ROBIN MONDAY
OLD SCHOOL
TACKLE
Like many young lads born in the early 50s, spare time was
often spent by the local rivers with homemade pond dipping
nets constructed from one of your mum’s old stockings. Catching
minnows, sticklebacks, bullheads and alike was where it all
started for me, progressing on to roach and perch with very
basic tackle of rod and line. My grandad was a great inspiration
to me, and even at the age of five, I can recall his stories of
monster pike that broke his line on the river Medway. Summer
trips to Wateringbury with him during school holidays saw my
tackle improve to a cane rod and a cheap Woolworths fixed
spool reel. Unfortunately I have no photographs from that era;
it never seemed important in those days to take a trophy shot .
Through junior school, I fished with a friend who lived up the
road from us. His dad would often take us to a small private
FR E ELINE 81