The Piscatorial Raconteurs & Friends – Signs Of Spring In The Depths Of Winter

Correspondence From The Woodcutters Arms, 4th February

Good morning, Chas…

Yes, there were a couple of pubs out the back of Hadlow which we’ve sadly lost over the years. The Three Squirrels in Ashes lane and the one I think you are talking about was The Artichoke, just up the lane from the Hamptons Estate… Both were cracking pubs but I particularly enjoyed using The Artichoke, often doing so after fishing on the river Bourne or at Oxenhoath Lake with Kev when we lived in Hadlow village. Dad would often join me for a pint or two. In fact, it was unusual if he didn’t! 

Occasionally we’d end up in Plaxtol for a pint in The Golding Hop, Rorty Crankle, or Paper Makers Arms and, of course, there was and still is The Kentish Rifleman on the way back! We were blessed with a choice of pubs back then. 

When I was growing up in Hadlow we had The Harrow, The Albion, The Blacksmith’s Arms, The Prince of Wales, The Rose & Crown and The Rose Revived and it had two more before my time: The Crown and The Greyhound.

Is it any wonder that I grew up liking an ale or three?…and of course I had the perfect mentor in dad, who rarely missed a pint of an evening after work. Bless him, he was always great company to share a drink with…the laughs we had will never be forgotten. 

When we moved over to mid-Kent, he and Uncle Pat would often drive out to our previous cottage in Egerton on a summer’s eve to have a ‘scnifter’ as he put it, with me in one of my many locals. Fortunately we are still blessed with many great pubs in this rural backwater and to a degree it’s like a return to my youth…

My favourite haunt over here is The Queens Head: a proper country pub with a farming, shooting and fishing clientele to match, complete with worn Barbours, muddy wellies and lots of dogs, no piped music or fruit machines and a roaring fire in the inglenook. Rob and Penny, the owners, are very proud of the quality of their ale and ambience of the establishment. It’s high up on the Greensand Way, fairly close to where we live with views across The Weald and a wonderful choice of Goachers, Tonbridge and Musket ales. You are always welcome to join me!

Take care, speak soon, best, Rob

R.B.T. – Winter 2025

Keeping An Eye On Proceedings

February’s Miscellany

Solithar, On Fishing – ‘For wonder-ment, attraction, curiosity and revelry were my very first tools in this wonderful trade, a trade usually involving offering my morsels of bait to certain inhabitants of the watery realms, in exchange for moments and hours of bliss‘ continue reading

Carl Hier, Avian Anglers – ‘Herons are sociable birds when nesting, invariably in tree-top sites called heronries, some of which have been occupied for decades. The majority of nests are usually at least twenty-five metres above the ground’ continue reading

Paul Adams, Sounds Of Silence ‘‘When I venture out, tracks in the snow will betray these neighbours but sightings are rare. Occasionally a deer may be moving in the valley bottom but snow cover will mask their disturbance of fallen branches and dried leaves‘ continue reading

This Editions Features & Articles

Guest Articles

Paul Huxtable, Knight Heron

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Paul Huxtable – A Dream Of Tench ‘Alan’s worm had been snaffled by something muscular and quite a stand-off ensued; the Boys Own rules of engagement were applied in a no nonsense fashion and pretty soon a bemused tench was on the bank being admired. A different outcome might have transpired had the tackle been less robust!‘ continue reading

Knight Heron, The Lost Folk Of The East Angles: Vol 2 – ‘Uncle Wilfred had a lifelong fascination with the history and wild places of his adopted county of Norfolk. He would spend his time tramping paths rarely trod, at all hours of the day and night, poking his inquisitive nose into every copse and dell he encountered in his meanderings‘ continue reading

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The Raconteurs Articles

Martin James MBE, David Craine, Carl Hier, Paul Adams, R.B.Traditional, Jeremy Croxall & Earthing The Current

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Paul Adams – North Country Flies by T.E.Pritt ‘Further alienating the dry-fly purist are three short chapters at the end of the book: ‘Bustard Fishing and Minnow Spinning’, ‘Upstream Worm Fishing’ and ‘Creeper and Stone-Fly Fishing’. As Pritt explains: “[T]he bustard is a large moth, white or brown”and the author describes a large, heavily dressed fly fished at night, the only dry fly included in the book‘ continue reading

David Craine – An Autumn River Visit Remembered ‘Now the trap was set, it was just a case of a waiting game. Who would be the first to weaken; would it be me, itching to try another swim, or would it be a wily chub, itching to sample my Spam hookbait? I settled down, comfor-table with my own company, plus the company of the avian varieties above my head and in the surrounding trees’ continue reading

Martin James MBE – Fishes The River Wye & Hampshire Avon ‘Today I was going back down memory lane, as I put together a Richard Walker Mk IV Avon rod, matched with a 1953 Mitchell 300 reel, still working perfectly after all those years, and the spool filled with 6lbs BS Gamma line. I then tied on a Pallatrax size 4 barbless hook using a Palomar knot, pinched on an LG shot and finally impaling a thumb-sized piece of crust on the hook‘ continue reading

Earthing The Current – Midwinter ‘None holds any allure for me now, despite a couple of half-hearted forays and their inevitable blanks. Instead, I look ahead to a time when the opaque lifelessness of what I see before me will be flushed through, carrying my disappointment away with it. Winter storms are a constant reminder of the power of nature’ continue reading

R.B.Traditional – An Appointment With Mr. James ‘A firm strike was met by equally firm resistance as the old cane hooped round and the centre-pin played its merry tune. The pool held some formidable snags left by floods long since passed and thus it was imperative that I kept the fish up in the water and away from their grip. Standing up and keeping the rod held high proved to be the correct course of action as within a few minutes of too-ing and fro-ing, another lovely chub was immersed in the net‘ continue reading

Jeremy Croxall – A Change of Direction (Mutatio Directo) ‘As to the other noble inhabitants of our rivers, I have always had a predilection for pike, a species I have not hunted in earnest, yet they have fascinated me for as long as I can remember. I’ve caught a couple by mistake when lure fishing for perch, although I’ve never resolutely pitted my wits against these worthy apex predators’ continue reading

David Craine – Late Season Days On The River Ribble With Martin James MBE ‘This time I knew the way and in no time we were driving down the bumpy track to Martin’s hut where I parked the car and we unloaded the tackle. Martin was out of the car and into the hut straight away. He had been talking about tea on the way and it was my bet that he was already putting the kettle on. Graham and I donned our warm fishing clothing, leaned our rods and nets against the fence where the sheep in the meadow seemed to be taking a lot of interest in our antics‘ continue reading