A personal take on tackle development

[Shimmer45]

took up fishing at around 11 or 12 as i had out grown "collecting things" so a copy of improve your course fishing with a free float box and argos rod kit and a while later got a argo quiver rod. Like alot my age got into carping in the mid to late 90's.
had to make do with budget gear but made do.
These days i like purchasing and using the kit i could afford back then (so early powermesh carbon etc).
after becoming bemused with the modern scene last couple of years (unless you can pile in KG and KG of bait and spent aeons on the bank you dont fit on some lakes) so went back to smaller ponds and swapped one of the carbons for a GF rod and michell 300 and attempting to stalk my quarry.
not been that successful but its more in touch with why i started.

APFA + Chris Yates videos and Stu Harris books and film show that you can change your tack and still get success and enjoyment (if you measure success by catching) you just need the right waters and mindset which using different tackle brings out

[Liphook]

Well said Shimmer

[Kev D]

Family lore has it that l started fishing aged four. I doubt l took much of an active part in proceedings but do recall my Dad taking me on Sunday afternoons to our local mill stream. I think it was an excuse for him to escape after a week spent working in London and Saturdays spend fulfilling household duties.
The rod consisted of the two bottom sections of an old bamboo rod that had belonged to Grand-dad , the eyes being held on with thick rubbery insulating tape. The tip section was a garden cane into which Dad had inventively hammered a series of staples for eyes. I remember the line was six pound- "in case we get a big one "- and the reel a tiny plastic ELO drum. Floats were ancient ,what l now know to be ,Harcork things or homemade from corks and matchsticks.
Hooks were always size 8 to nylon and ,along with split shot in metal tins ,came from a hardware shop called Robert Dias that sold nails by the handful and smelt of creosote.
Dias are still in business but their nails are now sold in packets of ten and asking for fishing tackle or even creosote would probably have the counter staff reaching for the panic button.
Surprisingly we caught fish ; dollops of flour paste resulted in roach and worms ,the inevitable perch.
We had another water ,an old farm pond surrounded by a new housing estate, within walking distance too. The same tackle and crude tactics produced the odd small but very educated carp and results were less than reliable until a kindly elderly angler gave us some of his maggots one day. This discovery of a new bait marked progress for me and also coincided with Dad deciding that l could be trusted to fish on my own. In any case there were usually a few other lads and their fathers about to keep an eye on me.
Next step was a blue ,six foot solid glass rod bought for 17/6 fom a proper tackle shop . There came a succession of Truspin and Intrepid reels ,a couple of which were bought new . None lasted long. We fished obsessively after school and in the holidays and killed a lot of bail arms .
Unaffected ,possibly ignorant, of the wisdom of Walker and the rising specimen hunter ethos we fished 2 and a half pound line straight through with tiny quills and though we only caught tiddlers most of the time we also learned how to play bigger fish . Some of those lessens were hard but l think have stood me in good stead over the years since.
Joining the local Club came next and this meant relying on Dad again as juniors were not allowed to fish alone. He bought himself a 14 ft match rod and would hurl out a huge ball of paste before settling into deck chair with a newspaper while l amused myself catchig stunted roach in the margins. I don't remember him catching a single fish and in hindsight l don't think he wanted to!
I now suspect that he wasn't keen on messing about with bait much because it wasn't until he retired many years later and embraced fly fishing that he displayed any enthusiasm and skill as an angler.
Around 1970 l was presented with a Sealey float rod. I was a weedy 12 year old and eleven feet of split cane was a bit much for me to wield to be honest. This didn't bother me for long as after landing a half pound carplet from a Club lake the tip snapped on the next cast! Still, the truncated remains saw a lot of use and abuse for pike and light sea fishing in the ensuing years.
Then came a ,l think , a Daiwa possibly, hollow glass rod. It was black with brown whipping and coupled with more rubbish Intrepids it saw a lot of use.
After leaving school and starting work what was left from my first pay packet ,after paying Mum housekeeping, was just enough for a Mitchell 324 complete with spare spool. I now had a reasonable general purpose glass rod and the old shortened cane rod for the heavy work. Add to that outfit a Mitchell 300 from a friend and that's as modern as l got. Apart from a brief flirtation with a horrid John Wilson Avon Quiver that is.
l had always appreciated old items of tackle for their aesthetics and the ghosts that travel with them but maybe the disillusionment l felt with the junky John Wilson thing cemented my future path.
Slowly l regressed to gathering and using even more "Traditional" tackle. I say regressed but as far as the pleasure fishing now affords me it has proved a big step forward.
And l still fish the same little mill-stream that my Dad took me to on those far off Sunday afternoons.

[Nobby]

Funny thing the John Wilson Avon/Quiver. Copied by every other rod maker, yet each succeeding version of the rod by the originators got worse and worse.

I wish that Robert Dyas stores still smelled like that...or that you could still by creasote!

[Kev D]

Funny thing the John Wilson Avon/Quiver. Copied by every other rod maker, yet each succeeding version of the rod by the originators got worse and worse.

I wish that Robert Dyas stores still smelled like that...or that you could still by creasote!

Thank you Nobby. Usually upon whispering my opinion of the JW AQ l'm made to feel like a stake-bound Heretic.

[Mole-Patrol]

When I was sure that we were moving out to France I sold off all my shooting equipment and put the money into buying the type of fishing tackle that I thought that I would need out here. One of the rods I bought was a John Wilson Avon / Quiver Travel Rod and it has been taken all over France with us in our camping-car. I won't have a bad word said about it. One of the cheapest rods I have bought from new and one of the nicest to use.

[Marmelade]

When I was sure that we were moving out to France I sold off all my shooting equipment and put the money into buying the type of fishing tackle that I thought that I would need out here. One of the rods I bought was a John Wilson Avon / Quiver Travel Rod and it has been taken all over France with us in our camping-car. I won't have a bad word said about it. One of the cheapest rods I have bought from new and one of the nicest to use.

Yes, I secretly think he made some of the best rods ever. I have his XTM float rod which is a dream, and one of the original Ryobi Masterline carp rods. At 11ft 1.3/4lb tc it`s the most beautiful green with brown whippings, I love it. I doubt I can find another.

[Marmelade]

I started out at 12/13 with Arlesey bombs tied to 5lb line and ridden miles to select trout rivers. I tried the local trout stream but bullies roamed those areas and I was left bloodied. After I showed a real interest I was introduced to Derek who took me to a private pond and showed me basically how to fish a waggler. He took me to the Trent once too which was exciting. His parting gift was a Sundridge match rod, a chunky thing. I took it to various places but had interest in carp after seeing them and reading all the classics from the library. I snapped the tip of the Sundridge by accident and that became the carp rod. I hooked into the first beasty and the rod was so stiff, the hook pulled. Gentler trys resulted in my first big carp at 5.3/4lb and 3lb on the same day. I was elated. Parents never bought me a single item of kit, never have and when I was 15 they took against me after I acquired a Silstar Powerwind and Shimano baitrunner from a friend and his dad for about 25 pounds of car washing money. Evil mum made me sell them before I even got to use them and stopped me going to the lake as I was "getting into it too much". I returned at age 20 when I had a job and went down to Derby on the train to buy some Normark Cyprio rods and small baitrunners. I then went back to my dream lake and caught my dream carp. I never got along with those rods. 2.1/4lb tc and very long handles, pokey. I just knew a Rod Hutchinson Dream Maker would be better, never got one though.

[Kev D]

Gentlemen l must appologise. For while my inadvertent mention of a modern rod in the form of a JWAQ may have been excusable within the context of my post it has led to content teetering on a forbidden subject.
Namely discussion of cough 'bon rods.
I am ashamed

[Marmelade]

Gentlemen l must appologise. For while my inadvertent mention of a modern rod in the form of a JWAQ may have been excusable within the context of my post it has led to content teetering on a forbidden subject.
Namely discussion of cough 'bon rods.
I am ashamed

We forgive you. In my small mind, it`s not what it`s made of but how it looks and feels. I`m happy with newish retro. C is found all over the galaxy, and can be a diamond, so it`s not natural to cry over natural, unless it`s ugly.