The John Kerr Rods - Carp Society museum update
The John Kerr Rods.
Early December 2024 saw me travelling to Liverpool Street to fulfil a promise to long term Carp angler John Kerr to meet up and collect some items he had kindly donated to the Society museum. Some while ago John had contacted the Society to explain he was soon to leave England to live in Cambodia, he had a Mark 4 Split Cane Avon and Mark 4 Split Cane Carp rod he had hand made himself from kits when he was a teenager, well over 60 years ago! Did we know what he should do with the rods?
After a brief conversation about the Carp Society Museum at Horseshoe, John kindly agreed to donate them for display there. During the conversations that followed John explained to me that as a teenager he frequently wrote to Richard Walker about rod construction and other Carp fishing matters. This included the fact, that I had once previously heard about, that Dick Walker had suggested that split cane rods would be improved if the ‘butt ring’ was strengthened by being whipped with copper wire. Although aware of this I had never before seen it carried out. Imagine my delight, when peeling back the rod bag in the middle of the main concourse of Liverpool Street Station I could clearly see a ‘butt ring’ finely whipped in copper wire! The rods, along with the full history and photos will be on display in the museum by the end of February 2025.
Carp fishing over many years holds many happy memories for me. Sitting and talking with John in the hugely busy Liverpool Street Station about Carp fishing 50/60 years ago was for me certainly one of them, even if we did have to pause frequently for a tannoy announcement about train arrivals and departures, and to interrupt a very helpful guy stood eating his lunch to take photos for us! Included with this initial write up is a photo of John and I at Liverpool Street, and a lovely photo of John as a teenager, over 60 years ago, at ‘Little Aston Hall’ with a double figure Mirror Carp landed on floating crust on the Mark 4 Carp Rod.
Derek Stritton.
