Much-travelled Cheshire rod John Leigh shares fond memories
1. CLASSIC BOOKS I was not raised in a fishing family. I lived in Broadheath, Altrincham, by the Bridgewater Canal. My neighbour, George Ollier, was a coarse fisher and took me to stillwaters and the River Dane. When I was eight, he gave me three books: a 1934 Hardy Anglers’ Guide, Mr Crabtree Goes Fishing and Roderick Haig Brown’s A River Never Sleeps. I loved the Hardy Guide, its colour pictures of salmon flies as well as rods, reels and all things fishing. Much later, I became a collector and now own about 100 Guides and many gut-eyed flies.
2. FIRST REEL My dad bought me my first reel, a Le Omnia Super fixed-spool reel; the line always seemed to get tangled around the drag adjuster. I joined Altrincham Anglers as a junior and with rod strapped to the crossbar and wicker basket on my back, I'd cycle miles down the lanes and distinctly remember Mobberley brickworks where I fished for tench, roach and rudd — happy days. Aged ten, I remember fishing the canal on a Sunday afternoon and catching five perch on the same lobworm. I also remember happy holidays in Colwyn Bay, fishing off the pier with a hand line, catching dabs, whiting, mackerel and, of course, crabs.
3. SEV ENTIES SALMON AND TROUT In May 1975, I fished the Association water on the Spey at Grantown, and in September I returned to
catch my first salmon, 9lb, from the Old Bridge Pool on a worm, followed by a 14-pounder on my last cast on Friday night. During that week, I watched an angler wielding a very long rod; my first encounter with fly-fishing. In the mid-1970s, stillwater trout fishing took off with Bob Church, Arthur Cove and Richard Walker to the fore. I read widely and learned much from Cove’s book My Way with Trout.
4. MEMORIES OF THE SPEY Around 1982, I fished on Grantown AA water. While I waited to buy a ticket from Mortimer’s tackle-shop, a chap called Henry Ewer entered saying some of his party had failed to show and fishing was available on Castle Grant 2 for £30 per day. I could only afford two days and fished on Friday and Saturday. The gillie was Eric Robb, an amazing caster. The next year, Henry invited us again, and to t
