Letter: Rod, line and carp

Sir: May I join Christopher Bosanquet (Letters, 27 August) in expressing pleasure at Andrew Brown's article 'Carp fisherman hooked on cane rods and semolina', and the accompanying photograph (26 August).

As regards the start of fishing for carp with rod and line, many years ago John Bickerdyke, in his book Angling for Coarse Fish, mentioned that 'the largest rod-caught carp was taken from Mapperley Reservoir in 1930 by Mr A. Buckley'.

Going farther back, one reads in Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler, Chapter IX (referring to pastes used for fishing for carp): '. . . which, that you may the better beguile this crafty fish, should be thrown into the pond or place in which you fish for him, some hours, or longer, before you undertake your trial of skill with the angle-rod . . .'

Yours faithfully,

PHILIP WRIGHT

Norwood Green, Middlesex