ARTHUR’S ARCHIVE
Historian Keith travels back in time to take a look at the Bedfordshire water that gave its name to an iconic leger weight
“A pear-shaped weight with a swivel in the thin end”
FISHING the bomb is a common technique these days, but it all started at Arlesey Lake more than 70 years ago.
The Bedfordshire clay pit was dug to satisfy demand for Britain’s brick-making industry. What brought it to prominence, though, was big perch, notably those caught by Dick Walker from 1950 onwards.
Arlesey was deep, possibly over 50ft in places, and to catch his big perch Dick cast a long way to find the deepest water. At the time, weights were flat, coffin-shaped types designed to hold bottom in fast water; drilled bullets – spherical weights that would roll or be used to weight big floats; and pear weights, shaped like the fruit. Walker found that using these made his rigs twist, causing tangles. He solved this by using a pear-shaped weight with a swivel in the thin end, christening it the Arlesey Bomb!
Legend has it that he invented the weight, but in truth he borrowed the idea. Without him popularising it, though, we may never have been able to buy one.
He caught some massive bags of huge perch from the lake, fish to well over 4lb, which were massive for the time. But, as with many populations of the species around the country, they suffered from a perch disease, first noticed on London’s King George Reservoirs in the mid1960s. It spread throughout the country and, for a while, big perch were very scarce.
It took until the 1990s before they returned... but they did so with a vengeance and nowadays there are countless ‘fours’, a few ‘fives’ and even the occasional six-pounder reported.
As for Arlesey Lake, it still exists but is unrecognisable from Walker’s era. It’s been backfilled, and although there is still water on the site, it’s like claiming a new housing development is still a cinema.
As for today’s giant perch, cherish them while they’re here, because nothing lasts forever.