Kim Milsom

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I must admit to a tiny smirk as I saw him putting a pole together. I weren’t smirking when I weighed 4lb odd and he’d nearly 7lb. Tail firmly between legs time and Dick gave me a bo#####ng as well.

After the experience, I bet it made you a better angler at the time though Mick.........As my Dad used to say "Character building son...."

 

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I used to see a girl that lived on the nearby notorious Rotton Park Road and we used to watch the hookers on the street from her bedroom window.

Was all this happening when you was playing Monopoly with her Steve?

 

[tipitinmick]

After the experience, I bet it made you a better angler at the time though Mick.........As my Dad used to say "Character building son...."

It wasn’t long after that we were using poles on our beloved Worsborough reservoir Mark. To the amusement of the locals. Within a couple of years most match anglers had adopted the pole to catch the skimmers and bream on the reservoir. Like you say pal. Ray and Kim were well ahead of their time.

 

[Dave Spence]

I used to see a girl that lived on the nearby notorious Rotton Park Road and we used to watch the hookers on the street from her bedroom window.

How much did she charge you to look out of her window mate

 

[tipitinmick]

How much did she charge you to look out of her window mate

Steve was in the window Dave.

 

[Dave]

Some do say that some do pay just to talk - so I was told

 

[SeanB]

Red light district ? Sounds like a potential MD match venue does that.

At least you could guarantee everyone would catch something

 

[G0zzer2]

The article explains why Kim packed up match fishing. I did a feature with him on the Regents Canal and was seriously, seriously impressed - I don't think he missed a bite, and he was like a well-oiled machine. He wasn't popular with a lot of the England squad because he was wasn't a heavy drinker and didn't indulge in small talk. His main interest was team matchfishing.

I also fished several times with Ray Mumford, who has been mentioned. He was indeed way ahead of his time, but he wasn't a team man - he thought he knew best and wouldn't be swayed on that. However a feature I did with Ray on a lake near London remains in my mind because he set out so clearly the technique behind feeding a swim. So in his way he was a genius at working out what was going on under the surface.

Kevin Ashurst once told me about a match - The King of the Colebrook - where Ray was gently playing his big roach to the net while others were swinging them in and laughing at Ray. But Ray carried on doing it his way. At the end, Kevin said, Ray won the match! So I think he admired Ray a little. Ray was beaten up several years ago when he was residing in a care home I believe, and later died. He stayed at my house once, with his wife, Brigitte. He didn;t say much, but he could be very funny.

 

[Total]

The article explains why Kim packed up match fishing. I did a feature with him on the Regents Canal and was seriously, seriously impressed - I don't think he missed a bite, and he was like a well-oiled machine. He wasn't popular with a lot of the England squad because he was wasn't a heavy drinker and didn't indulge in small talk. His main interest was team matchfishing.

I also fished several times with Ray Mumford, who has been mentioned. He was indeed way ahead of his time, but he wasn't a team man - he thought he knew best and wouldn't be swayed on that. However a feature I did with Ray on a lake near London remains in my mind because he set out so clearly the technique behind feeding a swim. So in his way he was a genius at working out what was going on under the surface.

Kevin Ashurst once told me about a match - The King of the Colebrook - where Ray was gently playing his big roach to the net while others were swinging them in and laughing at Ray. But Ray carried on doing it his way. At the end, Kevin said, Ray won the match! So I think he admired Ray a little. Ray was beaten up several years ago when he was residing in a care home I believe, and later died. He stayed at my house once, with his wife, Brigitte. He didn;t say much, but he could be very funny.

In the same series Mac and most of this seems to tally up with the knowledge I'd gained about Ray........Thank you for filling in a few extra things about Ray in your post above...

Ray Mumford | Canal & River Trust

 

[Flathead]

I was once pegged next to Ray Mumford on the Thames at Donnington Bridge in Oxford.

As I had a measure he asked me to draw some lines on the back of his hand of the size limit for bleak (Thames match rules included size limits in those days). Ironically I was ahead of him for a while on bleak…..but then he started fishing a waggler in the middle and caught some clonking roach

He finished well ahead of me but we had some banter during the match!

good angler all round

 

[Dave Spence]

At least you could guarantee everyone would catch something

You can’t weigh in crabs, can you?

 

[SeanB]

I'd have to or I'd have bugger all to weigh in

 

[smiffy]

Fished against Kim Milsom on several occasions when he was part of the Essex County set up. Probably the smoothest and most elegant angler I ever saw. Very single minded and always after the tiniest bit of info he could get.
Many people probably don’t know but he was just as good at catching bonus fish as points fish. Put him on a few Bream on the Cam and he would have them.
Im still in touch with one or two of the old Essex Squad but they don’t seem to know why he packed in. I think it was a number of different things like , not fitting in with the England squad and with some of the Essex lads ( some of them did like a night out). Seeing the direction matchfishing was going, he was very much team oriented.

Fished against Ray on a couple of occasions, silstar pole qualifiers if I remember rightly. Long after everybody had gone internal he was still sitting there, in his shirt and tie, with a crook on the end of his pole. The move to commercials had been made and, to be honest, he looked lost. Very much a fish out of water and put him on a par with me
I remember him coming round collecting leftover bait after the “all out”. I felt a bit sad

 

[RMNDIL]

Superb angler. Really superb. Would glean any smallest bit of info - from anyone. Shame it didn't always work both ways and shame he was a bit of a 'miserable' so-and-so at times. Not the best loser.

 

[MarkW]

I encounter both Milsom and Ray Mumford. Ray was wary at first but fished a couple of opens I ran down in Dorser, winning one with 920 roach in 5 hours. I had a bad draw and watched him, learnt a lot, and he was always friendly after that. One to respect even if occasionally he rubbed people up the wrong way.

In the mid 80s I fished around a dozen opens on Longleat before the carp stocking. On one match me and a Southampton guy drew either side of Milsom who managed to draw a shoal of roach into range on the waggler and had 9lb for 2nd, with me and the Soton guy getting the crumbs, around 3lb each. Four weeks later and just a few pegs along on the top lake we again drew either side of Milsom, but it was much colder and we (me and the Soton guy) went for the slow approach on a little groundbait feeder, both eventually catching in the last couple of hours to finish 1st (me) with 12lb and 2nd (the Soton guy) with 11lb, Milsom failing to find anything and blanking. Milsom had to weigh in and dropped the Soton guy's catch out of the weigh net from 5ft above the water (Milsom was grumpy to say the least) at which point the Soton guy said if did that again he was going in after them....