Simple Match Fishing Forum

this is a tough one as there are so many legends of the River
Benny and Kevin ,Frank Barlow, John Dean , John Allerton , Pete Warren , Wayne Swinscoe, Pete Palmer , Johnny Moult , Don Slaymaker, Roy Toulson , Johnny Toulson ,Dave Thomas , Tony Scott ,to name a few .

Brilliant question John. Your list of candidates will take some beating, and for me it would be probably the calmest fella I ever saw fish. Spent a couple of years walking the banks of the big Burton opens in the 70's, trying to learn from the cracks, and I must admit, the one who always seemed to stand out for me was our forums very own, Tony Scott. He always looked so comfortable fishing any peg, any method, and never seemed to mind answering a question or two.

yes Paul I would agree with that .Tony is a hard man to beat.

My dad the great steff johansen fished with slaymaker , swinscoe tony scott.

A guy called Ron Stacey was pretty good at Burton. It has been said that some of the cracks sought him out for info when fishing the opens there. Mick Lees was another.





If I had to chose one, it would be John Dean.

Spot on Arch I missed Ron Stacey one of the best stick float anglers I've ever seen

Long before I ever fished the Trent (being a southerner although I did love it and made regular trips in the 80's) I was captivated by a Match Fishing article on Johnny Moult.

The guy carried all his shot mixed in a tin, had no idea whether his battered stick was shotted with 6's or 4's, was using gear that was old and yet he managed to catch shed loads. What a contrast to today where having all the latest gear is seen by many as a pre requisite.

He seemingly just knew what and when to adjust his approach to catch anything in his swim. Have no idea if he was better than the other esteemed guys in the list, just wish I could have watched him in action.

John Dean for me too

Couple of stories I remember about John Dean: one day he was catching roach pretty much every cast on the Trent in a match fishing a stick in about 6 foot of water when he shallowed up to 3 foot, cast in, had a decent chub, reset the float to 6 foot and carried on catching roach. Someone watching said, "How did you know?". "I just sensed it was there", replied John. The second tale was also on the Trent on a high dirty river in winter and no-one was catching, including John. Many around him had packed up figuring that if he couldn't catch then what chance did they have. John stuck it out on the feeder and in the last few minutes of the match had a small roach and a 7lb carp, winning the match. By then he was virtually on his own.

Long before I ever fished the Trent (being a southerner although I did love it and made regular trips in the 80's) I was captivated by a Match Fishing article on Johnny Moult.

The guy carried all his shot mixed in a tin, had no idea whether his battered stick was shotted with 6's or 4's, was using gear that was old and yet he managed to catch shed loads. What a contrast to today where having all the latest gear is seen by many as a pre requisite.

He seemingly just knew what and when to adjust his approach to catch anything in his swim. Have no idea if he was better than the other esteemed guys in the list, just wish I could have watched him in action.

I too remember that article and I'm so glad you've now confirmed it. For years I've not been able to remember where I read it, so thank you for solving the mystery.

That aside, I too was captivated by this character called John Moult. The article depicted him as someone whose technique appeared to be at odds with the rest of the match scene at that time. Being from the North West, I was never going to encounter him myself, but I have always remembered that article - even if I couldn't remember the name of the magazine it was in!

Interesting views, the late Robin Tooth and myself used to fish a stretch of the River Trent on the DRAC permit, - can't quite put my fingerr on the name but the waord Newton springs to mind. It was the opposite bank to where most fished and a real good walk but you had the stretch to yourself. We fished with John Moult on several occasions. He probably did more pleasure fishing than match fishing.
In those days he had a wooden box with one of the sides missing and never always arrived at his peg with all his kit as some came out of this box. He also made his own floats - I would like to say they were a joy to see but they weren't. He hardly ever shaped them, he often used square wagglers that were in dire need of paint!
His hooks and shot were "big 'uns and little 'uns." every time I saw him, which was quite a few, he fished this square waggler really deep and was always changing baits which no other 'Trentmen' of the day did. He would used both maggot and caster and often put a pinkie or two on claiming it was all food to fish, - who can argue with that or who can argue with his catches. He was a real nice guy too and I know Robin and myself felt privileged to even talk to him.

I also drew a short distance below Benny when he has "his best ever win" in the Trent Angling Championships donkeys of years ago.

Atch suggest Ron Stacey was a top Trent angler and I could'nt agree more.

I drew by TS (Kingfisher) lots of times at Trent Lock and we always had a good battle as he will possibly vouch for if he sees this!

Several of the names are very different types of Trent angler.

John Dean was the best in my book but the likes of Kevin, Benny, Ivan, Billy Lane, Johnny Rolfe, Ted Stokes and does anyone remember the 'tare man' Mac Willis from Newark?

Sounds like Kings Newton to me?

I'm pretty sure the article about Johnny Moult is in Coarse Angler, late 70s; I have got it somewhere but in a mess at the moment researching the Likely Lads. One of his favourite floats was a porcupine quill with a hairgrip roughly bound to it with a bit of lead wire, fished bottom end only.

Sounds like Kings Newton to me?

Pete, your spot on there; I think the old memory is slowing up. Went there for years, perfect flow for roach. John always opted to fish the bottom end swim where it widened a bit.
This all started at Attenborough when John won a big match next to Robin. The pegs were very close and John had 10 lbs or so of roach and Robin had a big 7. We asked him why he fed very little and he simply said that with the pegs so close he ony fed for the first half hour or so, Robin did the rest for him! It was priceless.
We fished at King's Newton for years; I think most thought John had packed up altogether but he hadn't - real nice chap as well.

I was captivated by a Match Fishing article on Johnny Moult.

Pretty sure I posted a pickie of J M in the 'All our yesterdays' section a year or two ago.........

I'm pretty sure the article about Johnny Moult is in Coarse Angler, late 70s; I have got it somewhere but in a mess at the moment researching the Likely Lads. One of his favourite floats was a porcupine quill with a hairgrip roughly bound to it with a bit of lead wire, fished bottom end only. 

Would be great if you had a spare moment at some future stage and were able to copy and post that. I, and a few others here would be appreciative. Wish I had kept my old copies of that mag!

I'm having a look..... may be a while!

The good news is I know which magazines it's in Coarse Angler July/August/September 84, the bad news is I only have August. I had the lot but gave them away 20 years ago and have re-acquired a few.

Third page

Interesting!
The Trent & Mersey Canal match referred to under the list of floats was the Staffordshire Canal Championships fished by over 300 anglers. The draw was at Weston Village Hall and the match was pegged from above Weston to Aston spanning quite a few over 300 pegs. I fished that match where he won the Staffs Champs by a tree halfway across the cut with 10 lb or thereabouts of caster roach. I fished that match and the following year when I drew the very same peg that John won off, - needless to say I did crap!!!!
The Stoke City AA Staffordshire Championships may well be the oldest match in the match calendar, I fished the Centenary match which was on the Shropshire Union Canal sometime in the later 60's.

If I remember right John thought he had booked in on the River Trent somewhere when he won the Staffs Canal Champs on the Trent and Mersey Canal!!!

The Staffs Canal Champs and the Shropshire Canal Champs often used to swap venues. Stoke had two very long stretches of the T&M and the SU Canal in those days.