Another old picture

midgydug

Cracking photo. Probably more than some beats get for their season now. An old ghillie told me, in the spring a train would leave every day for London with boxes of Springers.

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Jockiescott

· #3 · 13 d ago

midgydug said:
Cracking photo. Probably more than some beats get for their season now. An old ghillie told me, in the spring a train would leave every day for London with boxes of Springers.

Was it like pheasant shooting back then I wonder?

You got to keep a brace and the beat owner sold the rest? Or could you keep your entire catch if you wanted?

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charlieH

· #4 · 13 d ago

Jockiescott said:
Was it like pheasant shooting back then I wonder?

You got to keep a brace and the beat owner sold the rest? Or could you keep your entire catch if you wanted?

If you rented a beat the fish caught were yours to do with as you chose and it was quite normal for people to sell some or most of their catch.

I don’t have the book to hand as I’m writing this from the river bank (and yes, I have had a fish this morning!) but I think it was Ashley-Cooper who commented that it made better economic sense to take a good beat because although the rent would be a bit higher, you could expect to catch significantly more fish and thus had a better chance of defraying your outlay.

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gwelsher

Discussion Starter · #5 · 13 d ago

charlieH said:
If you rented a beat the fish caught were yours to do with as you chose and it was quite normal for people to sell some or most of their catch.

I don’t have the book to hand as I’m writing this from the river bank (and yes, I have had a fish this morning!) but I think it was Ashley-Cooper who commented that it made better economic sense to take a good beat because although the rent would be a bit higher, you could expect to catch significantly more fish and thus had a better chance of defraying your outlay.

I know guys who had the Junction pool in October going back to the old days. At the end of each day they would get a local van to take the fish to the station for the overnight train to Billingsgate. Many a year they covered their fishing costs, not the drink costs though

Bit different now. 6 guys on Junction this week hadn't caught a fish by Wednesday night

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Loxie

· #6 · 12 d ago

In the 1970's my father was invited to the Helmsdale. All of the fish went to Billingsgate. It was standard practice.

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Andrew B

· #7 · 12 d ago

Loxie said:
In the 1970's my father was invited to the Helmsdale. All of the fish went to Billingsgate. It was standard practice.

Enough to go round Loxie wasn’t there? The stuff I hear on the river bank about the anglers of yesteryear causing the current stocks by their kill rate is just illogical to me🤔

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Andrew B

· #8 · 12 d ago

charlieH said:
If you rented a beat the fish caught were yours to do with as you chose and it was quite normal for people to sell some or most of their catch.

I don’t have the book to hand as I’m writing this from the river bank (and yes, I have had a fish this morning!) but I think it was Ashley-Cooper who commented that it made better economic sense to take a good beat because although the rent would be a bit higher, you could expect to catch significantly more fish and thus had a better chance of defraying your outlay.

The only thing that I would ever disagree with was the killing of the coloured salmon for the simple fact that they not good eating and it wasn’t necessary.
I’m sure everyone has read stories about the ghillies saying that the nets and the taking of Salmon was needed back then to avoid over cutting on the reds?

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