I can't believe that you never mentioned the development of the humble creel to the fantastic boxes that you were both sat on. Everything to hand these days.
I used to shallow fish at Cuttle mill in the late 1970's, I used to take the cork bit off an old style perch float with a number four shot top and bottom, very crude but caught my first 10 pound carp with it.
What you were talking about with carp hooks…they were long shank trout hooks with an angled bend put half way down the shank. They flipped and dug in when you got a take, we’re devastatingly effective and were actually called “ bent hooks”. Of course all hooks have a bend but this term meant a sharp angle change in the shank. They worked so well like anything too successful they were banned, mainly because they were said to twist in the mouth and cause damage. That was hugely exaggerated. Now curved shank hooks make similar angles.
With pole floats i think the diamond shaped floats are the only ones that haven't changed over time as modern ones look just the same as a set of them that I got in the 90's which I still own and use today nearly 30 years later
i credit myself too the floating cork float bolt rig for mugging carp in reeds on floating pole . the idea was we had too use a float and be under surface so biro tube through swivel glued in and i greased the hookling apart from the last inch and that won me lots of club matches on pole back in day. after a year the club banded it saying the cork wasnt a float lol madness
We had the Coil Feeder down here at places like Viaduct, a 'refined' Emstat. Loved it with Sillybait. I still have 2 Boss/Daiwa Rollers, I found them on the Huntspill when I was 15 or 16, actually I still use them at certain times, like an extra roller for edge fishing, or as a rest for my landing net handle. I still use shiny B611x's, probably still using them from bulk load I used in the 90s.
Not sure how early we are talking about shallow fishing but i remember mid to late 90s someone taking white acres apart fishing pellet shallow and blasting pellets. Absolutely destroyed everyone.
i remember the somo floats which werent as well known as chiantis cause des favoured chiantis but somos were equally as good with more stability with a slightly more bulbous body
I've still got some of those! (And original Chianti's - the natural wood ones before they went blue) I used to whip the eyes with .06 mono to make them last. I loved those floats and used them a lot.
I can still hear my late dad laughing his b@ll@cks off as a carp took me on multiple laps of a lake down Devon, suffice to say the first time using white hydro was a steep learning curve 😂
I’m not sure about side pullers as anytime I’ve trashed a top kit usually caused by foul hooking one in the side the break occurs just above the reinforced bit. Pete Upperton doesn’t use them.
what about the information / instruction which is available today do you think coverage of all types of fishing could be attributed to the popularity of your videos
I think "inventions" tend to come from other disciplines you guys are so focussed on carp puddle that some " innovations " are just actually what other types of anglers just do. Shallow fishing has always been a thing , river dane Andy, trotting , holding back , lifting the bait, light rigs, no weights, stick float. It has been ADAPTED not necessarily invented. Great chats though
