Angling in Leeds

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Sun 10 Jun, 2012 12:15 pm

Not Leeds fishing but I thought this may still be of interest. In John Mayhall's 'Annals of Yorkshire from the earliest period to the present time' volume III covering 1866-1874 it reports for June 10 (today's date) in 1873:-"A sturgeon, measuring 7 feet in length, was caught in the Ouse, a few miles below Goole."I wonder how often sturgeon are caught there now? I would suspect never! Nice size fish though.

somme1916 · Post by **somme1916** » Sun 10 Jun, 2012 12:24 pm

Leodian wrote: Not Leeds fishing but I thought this may still be of interest. In John Mayhall's 'Annals of Yorkshire from the earliest period to the present time' volume III covering 1866-1874 it reports for June 10 (today's date) in 1873:-"A sturgeon, measuring 7 feet in length, was caught in the Ouse, a few miles below Goole."I wonder how often sturgeon are caught there now? I would suspect never! Nice size fish though. How big ? (stretching arms out ever wider)......must have had dodgy tape measures back then unless the "optimistic angler" theme prevailed even that early ! (might be where it all started).

book · Post by **book** » Sun 10 Jun, 2012 4:14 pm

On the 25th Sept 1933, on the White Mill stretch of the River Towey, Carmarthenshire, Mr A.L. Allen was fishing for sea-trout when he hooked and, after what must have been a stupendous battle, landed a Royal Sturgeon of 388lb. It was 9ft 2in long and had a girth of 59in.Taken from a British Angling web site

somme1916 · Post by **somme1916** » Sun 10 Jun, 2012 4:50 pm

book wrote: On the 25th Sept 1933, on the White Mill stretch of the River Towey, Carmarthenshire, Mr A.L. Allen was fishing for sea-trout when he hooked and, after what must have been a stupendous battle, landed a Royal Sturgeon of 388lb. It was 9ft 2in long and had a girth of 59in.Taken from a British Angling web site Need a lot o' chips to go with that.Twice size of me...................!

book · Post by **book** » Sun 10 Jun, 2012 5:10 pm

Makes you wonder though, fresh water fishing, you would not normally use more than double strength 5lb line so pulling in a monster like that with trout tackle beggars belief.

grumpytramp · Post by **grumpytramp** » Sun 10 Jun, 2012 10:25 pm

Leodian wrote: I wonder how often sturgeon are caught there now? I would suspect never! Nice size fish though. I understand that they are very rarely caught in British waters these days Leodian wrote: Not Leeds fishing but I thought this may still be of interest. In John Mayhall's 'Annals of Yorkshire from the earliest period to the present time' volume III covering 1866-1874 it reports for June 10 (today's date) in 1873:-"A sturgeon, measuring 7 feet in length, was caught in the Ouse, a few miles below Goole." Oddly this rang a bell ....... and reminded me of the Strugeon carcass that so fascinated me as child in Doncaster Museum which I thought had been caught in the Don (which in my childhood was a glorified open sewer).A little judicial googling and I have a tenuous (actually very tenuous connection) with Leeds ;-)The sturgeon in question was caught on the Wharfe at Tadcaster. According to the Yorkshire Post of 5th July 1884: Quote: Tadcaster - Sturgeon in the Wharfe. On Tuesday afternoon a fine sturgeon, measuring 7 feet 3 inches in length and 3 feet 7 inches in girth, and weighing upwards of 12 stone, was caught by Mr Fielden's fisherman (Wm Atkinson) in the River Wharfe, near Kirkby. The fish was subsequently secured for the night by a rope, and was conveyed to Grimston Park on Wednesday morning. It is said to be one of the finest specimens of the genus (accipenser) yet caught in this district. Source: http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Sturgen2.htmThe Leeds connection can be found in another reference taken from March 2007 Newsletter of the Hull Natural History Society: Quote: Very few specimens are even in museum collections but at Doncaster Museum there are two 19th century Yorkshire specimens, one from Stutton Mill on the Cock Beck, a tributary of the river Wharfe near Tadcaster, and a mighty 9ft specimen caught at Barnby Dun on the river Don below Doncaster. Source: http://www.hullnats.org.uk/Newsletters/ ... 12.htmThat is the same Cock Beck that rises about Barnbow!

stutterdog · Post by **stutterdog** » Fri 31 Aug, 2012 10:12 am

book wrote: Makes you wonder though, fresh water fishing, you would not normally use more than double strength 5lb line so pulling in a monster like that with trout tackle beggars belief. Took my 2 grandsons up to Roundhay Pk,Waterloo lake for a few hours fishing a couple of days ago.They are just learning and didn't catch anything.I managed to pull in a creature I have never caught before,a freshwater mussel! It was quite a surprise.On looking on t'internet for information about them it told me they are an endangered species due to pollution and the one I landed would have probably contained a pearl! I did thow it back in unopened you'll no doubt be glad to hear! I'll try to put a photo up if I can ....................Not able to upload ,file size too big?

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Fri 31 Aug, 2012 11:20 am

stutterdog wrote: book wrote: Makes you wonder though, fresh water fishing, you would not normally use more than double strength 5lb line so pulling in a monster like that with trout tackle beggars belief. Took my 2 grandsons up to Roundhay Pk,Waterloo lake for a few hours fishing a couple of days ago.They are just learning and didn't catch anything.I managed to pull in a creature I have never caught before,a freshwater mussel! It was quite a surprise.On looking on t'internet for information about them it told me they are an endangered species due to pollution and the one I landed would have probably contained a pearl! I did thow it back in unopened you'll no doubt be glad to hear! I'll try to put a photo up if I can ....................Not able to upload ,file size too big? Now that you mention it stutterdog about fresh water mussels they did seem to be much more commonly seen, but that will be quite a number of years back now. The only place that I've seen any in recent years was in the stream that runs out of Harewood lake, particularly in the area at a small bridge near an approach lane to Weardley, but thinking about it I've seen far fewer there in the last few years. In normal flow there is a shingle area next to the River Wharfe next to Ox Close Wood (near East Keswick) where I used to regularly see broken mussel shells but I rarely spot even those nowadays.

stutterdog · Post by **stutterdog** » Fri 31 Aug, 2012 12:39 pm

Leodian wrote: stutterdog wrote: book wrote: Makes you wonder though, fresh water fishing, you would not normally use more than double strength 5lb line so pulling in a monster like that with trout tackle beggars belief. Took my 2 grandsons up to Roundhay Pk,Waterloo lake for a few hours fishing a couple of days ago.They are just learning and didn't catch anything.I managed to pull in a creature I have never caught before,a freshwater mussel! It was quite a surprise.On looking on t'internet for information about them it told me they are an endangered species due to pollution and the one I landed would have probably contained a pearl! I did thow it back in unopened you'll no doubt be glad to hear! I'll try to put a photo up if I can ....................Not able to upload ,file size too big? Now that you mention it stutterdog about fresh water mussels they did seem to be much more commonly seen, but that will be quite a number of years back now. The only place that I've seen any in recent years was in the stream that runs out of Harewood lake, particularly in the area at a small bridge near an approach lane to Weardley, but thinking about it I've seen far fewer there in the last few years. In normal flow there is a shingle area next to the River Wharfe next to Ox Close Wood (near East Keswick) where I used to regularly see broken mussel shells but I rarely spot even those nowadays. Hello Leodian,On the internet it says they are in decline in some areas and there are gangs,particularly in Scotland who will decimate the mussel population on a river in a very short time.They look for pearls and these can fetch high prices.So if you've seen broken shells its possible that someone has been looking for pearls.They live up to 100years and grow very slowly.The one I pulled out of Waterloo Lake must have been about 40yrs old as it was 5insx3ins. There are heavy fines for opening a mussel. Up to £10,000 in Scotland!Don't know what the penalty is here but nobody has ever been procecuted in UK!

stutterdog · Post by **stutterdog** » Fri 31 Aug, 2012 12:44 pm

stutterdog wrote: Leodian wrote: stutterdog wrote: book wrote: Makes you wonder though, fresh water fishing, you would not normally use more than double strength 5lb line so pulling in a monster like that with trout tackle beggars belief. Took my 2 grandsons up to Roundhay Pk,Waterloo lake for a few hours fishing a couple of days ago.They are just learning and didn't catch anything.I managed to pull in a creature I have never caught before,a freshwater mussel! It was quite a surprise.On looking on t'internet for information about them it told me they are an endangered species due to pollution and the one I landed would have probably contained a pearl! I did thow it back in unopened you'll no doubt be glad to hear! I'll try to put a photo up if I can ....................Not able to upload ,file size too big? Now that you mention it stutterdog about fresh water mussels they did seem to be much more commonly seen, but that will be quite a number of years back now. The only place that I've seen any in recent years was in the stream that runs out of Harewood lake, particularly in the area at a small bridge near an approach lane to Weardley, but thinking about it I've seen far fewer there in the last few years. In normal flow there is a shingle area next to the River Wharfe next to Ox Close Wood (near East Keswick) where I used to regularly see broken mussel shells but I rarely spot even those nowadays. Hello Leodian,On the internet it says they are in decline in some areas and there are gangs,particularly in Scotland who will decimate the mussel population on a river in a very short time.They look for pearls and these can fetch high prices.So if you've seen broken shells its possible that someone has been looking for pearls.They live up to 100years and grow very slowly.The one I pulled out of Waterloo Lake must have been about 40yrs old as it was 5insx3ins. There are heavy fines for opening a mussel. Up to £10,000 in Scotland!Don't know what the penalty is here but nobody has ever been procecuted in UK! Incidently,I once caught a crayfish in Waterloo Lake,also Trout, so it must be very clean water there.