Memories Of An 'outsider'

A Memory of Twickenham.

I was born in Colindale in 1937. My memories of Twickenham are of a piscatorial nature.
I took up angling aged 10 or 11, a friend and I decided to have a go on 'The River', we had fished the Grand Union Canal and river Gade at Watford and we fancied a change. We managed to get to Richmond using the north London line from Brondesbury which we reached by bus. It was all very strange, we had no idea the river was tidal but after trying a few spots we ended up by Petersham Meadows and caught a few fish, we were hooked.
In summertime we would cycle, all the way around the North Circular from the intersection with A5 at Staples Corner and once at the river we would end up anywhere between Richmond and the weir at Teddington, we would take our swimming trunks along with us in case the fishing wasn't too good, we would frequently be shouted out by the crews of pleasure boats as they thought we were in the way. As for pollution, what's pollution?
We then discovered the other side, the Middlesex side, in particular the part close to Orleans Park and Hammerton's ferry. Here is a set of concrete steps and mooring for many private craft. In the autumn and winter months when the river was flowing fast this mooring area formed a large eddy which made the fishing much easier. The steps would get quite crowded and we would hope to get there at daybreak having caught the No. 27 from Richmond and trudged the length of Orleans Rd. It was only at this one spot, and during winter, that I ever saw Bream on the tidal Thames, not huge but weighing in at up to 2lbs.
I joined the army aged 15 so gave up fishing for a while although I did resume in 1959. I was courting my future wife who lived in Teddington, I took her fishing one summer day just downstream of Hammerton's Ferry where she kicked over my tin of maggots, and REFUSED to help me get them back into the tin! I forgave her, she never took to fishing but we are still together.
I should be interested to know if fishing still takes place along the tidal stretch, I suspect one needs all sorts of expensive licences etc? In my day we just turned up and fished. Now we live in Somerset, we don't get much opportunity to see 'The River'.
Jack Luxon