FL02 PDF (212pp) - Page 179



In Search Of Monster Carp
R
ob: Hi everyone. It’s
the second week of
June, and once again
I am out on my travels, this time going
down to see a great
old friend of mine, Lee Jackson, a fantastic ambassador for the sport. Lee’s
been around since the year dot really,
but he is one of those guys who keeps
cropping up with big fish, year after
year. His enthusiasm for the sport
never dies, and that’s one of the reasons it makes him such a great
ambassador as I say, but other than
that, he’s just an all-round, really nice
guy, and just about everyone who
knows him would say the same thing.
Anyway, I have come down today to
do sort of a life history of Lee’s fishing.
I really wanted to go back in time to
see where it all started for Lee, and
made arrangements with him about a
month ago now for today, a couple of
days after the traditional 16th June
start of the season.
The news in the carp world this
week includes the capture of Heather
out of the Car Park Lake at 51lb. Lee
has just told me that my old mate
Steve Allcott has had the Fat Lady out
of the Cambridge water too, so well
done mate; I’m really pleased for you
– I wonder what’s next for you. The
Conningbrook fish has been out
apparently so Lee tells me, to a fella
called Topper, at 64lb, and John McAllister ended his closed season campaign for the Royal Forty with a capture at just over 45lb, so that’s another
notch in John’s ever expanding belt.
Well, I think I have waffled on enough,
so I’m going to pass you over to Lee
now, and he is going to take us back
to the day he was born, because
apparently that’s when he started
carp fishing, and I am sure that you
will enjoy reading about it all just as
much as I am going to enjoy sitting
here listening to him. I just want to
thank him very much for inviting me
along today; it’s a real privilege Lee,
so thanks buddy.
Lee: Hello Rob, it’s nice to have you
here, and thanks for that introduction.
I’ve been fishing since Noah was
around; I’m off the Ark, and they only
allowed two animals on there – Pete
Springate and me. Basically my fishing started at a real early age. I lived
at New Cross in South East London
and out in our back garden we had
what originally was an old bomb shelter, and after the war, I caved in the
roof and filled it up with water, and
that was our garden pond. I can
remember probably way back to
when I was about two or three years
old, having a fascination for looking in
pea-green water to see if I could see
any fish. I would spend hours out
there, and my mum or dad would drag
(Top) 24lb 12oz Horton Kirby, Feb
1972.
(Left) Gazing into the pond.
me in to feed me, but I just spent
hours and hours by that pond, just
staring into the depths. As I got a little
bit older, and found my feet a little bit,
it progressed to the fishing net over at
Blackheath ponds or in the Surrey
canal for sticklebacks or newts or
anything you could catch. In the
school holidays it was a boys’ adventure; you used to go down on your
bikes and have a little ride round;
there was a bumpy bit they used to
call Cowboy Land, so we used to play
silly buggers round there for two
hours, get fed up with that, and then
get the nets out in the pond. My dad
wasn’t ever a fisherman, but having
said that, he never held me back. He
was a keen footballer; he used to
encourage me to play football, and if I
wanted to go fishing, he would take
me down to the lake.
I can remember my first ever fishing trip was at Keston Ponds. We
FREE LINE 179

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