Saturday 23 February 2013

Old Ooks

There's a movement in angling towards using really old gear, ancient cane rods, antiquated reels, sitting on wicker creels and generally turning the back on the modern and efficient. Well, for all you traditional anglers out there, ere's something you don't ave in your Ogden's 'Redbreast' Flake tin and probably never will unless you buy them from me...






 
Old ooks...

Now I don't mean these were the kinds of ooks used by Dick Walker, no, these are older than that. I don't even mean they were the kinds of ooks used by that 17th Century geezer, Walton, no, they are older even than im.

What I'm talking about and showing to all you disciples of the cane, is really bloody old ooks and the kinds of ooks used by the grandmother of all anglers, Dame Juliana Berners, born 1338, because these are nothing less than Medieval ooks for Medieval fisherpeople.

I found these ooks on the Thames Foreshore in London about twenty years ago in a previous life as a Mudlark. They are not at all common, let me tell you. Such fragile iron things as ooks are preserved by the oxygen free conditions of the famous and miraculous Thames mud for alf a millenium, they eventually wash out and once exposed to the air, rot to nothing in a week. That's ow I know their age because the deposits they washed out of were 14th -15th Century ones producing other more easily dateable items like coins and buckles.

All ave spade ends — there was no such thing as an eyed ook then. The long one is a worm ook probably for flounder, the wide gape pattern which is about the size of a modern size 2 is probably a salmon ook because the river ad enormous runs of that fish in the middle ages, but the smallest is a mystery. Its very short shank and in-turned point puts me in mind of a modern circle ook and I reckon that's more or less what it is — a longline ook.

Interesting ain't they? You couldn't use them though, they'd not land a roach in the state they're in now, but you could look at them and wonder how little things ave really changed in five undred years because brand new they'd still work as well as any ook you could buy in a shop today.

I'm selling them on Ebay if you're interested?

Lots of watchers but no bids as of yet — they'll go for a few quid though, for sure, but make me an offer, I'll strike the listing and sell them offline.

As for droppin' me H's...

As a Cockney... just like old ooks... don't ave a use for em!




9 comments:

  1. Like it Jeff, wide gape, long shank and angled, Korda ain't so ground breaking....but alas I must keep the terminal end as modern as possible.

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  2. You can see that one being made, can't you? Length of wire, hammer one end flat against an anvil, cut a barb, sharpen it up and bend it around a nail!

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  3. Hi Jeff, just to say the hooks arrived today. Thanks for the speedy delivery

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    1. Hah! I'm so glad they went to an angler and not some disinterested butterfly collector of curious artefacts. Just don't use them for intended purpose and they'll last you years!

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  4. Steve in Colorado2 March 2013 at 22:02

    I still think they could have been made into nice flies for my antique rod... ;)

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    1. So are you 'Neffylimbs' Steve? If so, nice message. lol!

      If not, what I've just asked will take some explaining!

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    2. Steve in Colorado10 March 2013 at 20:16

      Neffylimbs I am, my eBay question was the result of a large rum 'n' coke and a twisted sense of humor...

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  5. Probably horrifying to any historians out there, but I would have wanted to catch a fish with one of them there 'ooks.

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    1. I reckon the worm hook could have handled a gudgeon, the best would have been the J hook which was out of the mud only a few days and that might have taken a point.

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