SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Remembers catching gudgeon, 'Tommy' Ruffe and crayfish fishing in Roundhay Park Lake before they drained and refilled it?

John Croggy wrote: Remembers catching gudgeon, 'Tommy' Ruffe and crayfish fishing in Roundhay Park Lake before they drained and refilled it? Had some nice roach and perch out in the 70's.

Does any fishing still go on there nowadays? Other than small kids trying to snare minnows with those little nets on canes?I briefly took up fishing in the mid-80's (primarily because a mate was always going) and went a few times to Roundhay, catching the odd tiddler.

I used to fish there regularly in the 60's and 70's. The junior Leeds angling match was held there for years. I remember my first year there and I caught a 3/4 ounce gudgeon and won a prize.It was usually hard to catch more than a few fish there. The best I caught was a 10 oz roach, fishing on the far side, well away from the boat launch.I was fishing there one evening and a group of Borstal boys from Shadwell walked past with a couple of guards. They stopped to chat and moved on quickly. When I arrived home (on my bicycle) after the long ride back to East End Park, the cops had called at my house with my "wallet". I always used to keep spare hooks and sinkers in a wallet in my tackle tin. The bad lads had nicked it ! How good were the cops in those days?

Hi Geelong, I'm glad someone remembers the little gudgeon. I used to catch them and ruffe on the dam wall under the tree in the middle in the '60s.. I had some nice roach and perch there too. Yes the police were a lot better then than they are now and we could do with the borstal back!! I imagine it's warmer in Australia at the moment than it is here.

As I said in my earlier post we used to get some nice perch and roach fishing on the far side of the lake close to the fence that stretched across the lake. On odd occasions I would leger, leaving the rod in my rod rests. On more than one occasion I have seen the rod bent nearly double in the rest only for the line to break when striking. Other anglers also had similar experiences when legering and, for want of a better answer, we put it down to large eels taking the bait. I hope this doesn't sound like a fisherman's tale.I remember the reformatory lads Geelong, we used to play them at football on their pitch by the Ring Road. Has it stopped raining out there yet? We've been getting some pictures of severe flooding on the TV.

Johnny39 wrote: As I said in my earlier post we used to get some nice perch and roach fishing on the far side of the lake close to the fence that stretched across the lake. On odd occasions I would leger, leaving the rod in my rod rests. On more than one occasion I have seen the rod bent nearly double in the rest only for the line to break when striking. Other anglers also had similar experiences when legering and, for want of a better answer, we put it down to large eels taking the bait. I hope this doesn't sound like a fisherman's tale.I remember the reformatory lads Geelong, we used to play them at football on their pitch by the Ring Road. Has it stopped raining out there yet? We've been getting some pictures of severe flooding on the TV. Hello Johnny39, It hasn't been raining mate its been snowing! It started melting last Fi. and it's all gone now. It has been 6-8 ins deep around Leeds for the last 10 days! It was quite bad for a few days and caused chaos on the roads Back in the mid 70's I fished the large lake at Roundhay Park. I once caught 6 small Brown Trout in the top corner ,near the watefall/overflow. I think they had only just been put in as stockfish

Hi everyone,I used to fish at Roundhay Park in the 1950's and 60's. It was possible to fish on both lakes. I remember the Leeds Amalgamation Juvenile Match being fished there, for the first time, around 1960 because I won it two years in succession. Previously, it was fished on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Kirkstall and the 'draw' for pegs was made in the Whitbread's Brewery Yard. I had to go to the old Angler's Club on Beckett Street to the presentation nights. The trophy was about about 2' 6" tall and was ancient and 'worn out' with polishing. The winner held the trophy for a year but was given a small trophy, to keep, as a momento. The winner also received a new fishing rod. In those days, there were around 200+ young anglers who took part in the Juvenile Match. From memory, I think that there were two Age Groups e.g. under 12's category, and 13 to 16 category, because I once came second in the younger category at Kirkstall. I caught one roach which weighed 3 ozs, most people never had a bite.Leeds Amalgamation gave up the rights to fish Roundhay Park and it is now 'free fishing'. For those who are interested, here are some recent links about fishing at Roundhay Park:http://leedsdasa.proboards.com/index.cg ... d=17037Ian    

I used to go fishing at Roundhay Park when I was a kid in the early 1950s. I recall there always seemed to be lots of people fishing all around the large lake. I think the small lake was mainly used by young children using a small net to catch very small fish.As to the fishing in the large lake my memories are vague now but I seem to recall that perch were often caught by the better (usually adult) fishermen/women. Women used to go fishing despite it probably being considered a man's pastime. As a kid I used to go with my mum to fish the River Wharfe at Boston Spa and around Tadcaster (Mucky Hole downriver of Tadcaster was a popular site if I recall the name right).

stutterdog wrote: Johnny39 wrote: As I said in my earlier post we used to get some nice perch and roach fishing on the far side of the lake close to the fence that stretched across the lake. On odd occasions I would leger, leaving the rod in my rod rests. On more than one occasion I have seen the rod bent nearly double in the rest only for the line to break when striking. Other anglers also had similar experiences when legering and, for want of a better answer, we put it down to large eels taking the bait. I hope this doesn't sound like a fisherman's tale.I remember the reformatory lads Geelong, we used to play them at football on their pitch by the Ring Road. Has it stopped raining out there yet? We've been getting some pictures of severe flooding on the TV. Hello Johnny39, It hasn't been raining mate its been snowing! It started melting last Fi. and it's all gone now. It has been 6-8 ins deep around Leeds for the last 10 days! It was quite bad for a few days and caused chaos on the roads Back in the mid 70's I fished the large lake at Roundhay Park. I once caught 6 small Brown Trout in the top corner ,near the watefall/overflow. I think they had only just been put in as stockfish Sorry "stutterdog" but my comment about the rain was aimed at "Geelong" out in Oz. They have had some really heavy rain out there. The snow was pretty bad here on the East Coast but like you say has all but gone now apart from on the Moors and Wolds. Remember the country saying - while ever it lies in the ditches there's always chance of some more.I remember them putting the trout into the lake, they were a blinking nuisance. I remember in the mid-70's, when we had those two good summers, the fish all seemed to congregate down by the waterfall end. I guess it must have been a shortage of oxygen in the water.