A 2-piece plus handle brown hollow glass Avon rod of indeterminate name. It had lost an inch or two from the butt section, which was wound with my dad's electricians tape so it still just about fitted in the handle without wobbling. It was also missing a couple of rings, which hardly mattered since the lake I fished for the first year or more only held perch (which averaged about 6oz) and a very few tench. The reel was an Intrepid New Deluxe with the garish red torpedo handle and anti-reverse lever. Bought from my schoolfriend, Mark, for a whole English pound.
And what line! It was ancient, thick and sprang off in tight coils, like a slinky - all ten yards of it! It wasn't until I changed it for some 6lb Sylcast that I got my first bite, the inch-wide perch bob eventually pulling under, the over-enthusiastic strike dragging the alarmed perch out of its element, right over my head and onto the grassy bank behind.
The smell of it, the look and feel of the scaly thing -all a-bristle - and the sheer
life animating the beautiful creature...and that was the moment that began it all. In't fishing brilliant!
