The Big Steal

This is a dedicated thread for discussing article: The Big Steal

Nicely written piece, I think the insurance companies hope you give up the claim before you've started with all that form filling.

Glad you've got your lucky cap still!!

as a teenager i was fishing the local cannal and had this lad walk over and ask me to help him sort out a major birds nest on his tackle. after sorting it out he decided to pack up and about 15 mins later i got snapped up so i opened my seat box up to find my woden float box and weight box had both vanished.
when i got hom i phoned the police and reported the theft, the lad that stole was a local face and i knew his name though until that day i had never spoken to him. the police did pay him a visit and didnt even manage to find his fishing tackle let alone my tackle. my dads friend knew a reporter on the local rag and he did a small story about my loss.
about a month later i entered an open match on the cannal and was really chuffed to find the organiser knew about my loss and out of the sweepstake money they went down the local tackle shop and brought me a real nice wooden box with 2 compartments with a selection of floats and hooks and i won my section with the top prize of a dedicated wiegth box containing single dispensers of every size from dust shot to ssg, the only down side was 1 month later they banned lead shot.
the way the guys who organised the matchg treated me gave me back my faith in human nature and i still have both wooden boxes in my rucksack 25 years later.

my wife wanted me to store my tackle in the garage when she moved in with me but there is no way i would ever let it live outside of the house as lots of my gear is well over 30 years old and in no way could it ever be replaced. i still have optonic bite alarms that i paid for with weeekend work when i was 14 and have yet to find an alarm that is worth me getting rid of my optonics. though the wife thinks im mad i think if my tackle was stolen i would prob act in the same way as if a close family member had passed away fishing was my first passion and i have not missed a season since i was 5 years old.

Every anglers nightmare - glad you got sorted

But as you say no memories attached to the gear

That special time when you'd saved enogu for a certain rod as a kid, or buying a new reels after much research

FishingMagic said:

This is a dedicated thread for discussing article: The Big Steal

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What a timely reminder. I am going to photo my treasured items.

This happened to me and all my insurers wanted was a detailed list from which they decided if you were to be approved. I had all of it in my head and didn't need receipts.

Than god my Youngs of Harrow rod, my only real heirloom, was indoors.

All my new, shiny tackle is stored indoors now, with full approval from SWMBO. Perhaps I over-reacted to the daunting form but I didn't want to give the insurers any opportunity to say no.
I assume the bespoke 'tackle' insurers ask for an inventory of valuable tackle items before they quote, some people's tackle must be worth thousands!

I went fishing with my new feeder rods yesterday, I've only managed to get new line on to two of the reels so far! Blickling Lake, cold, wife had a good day with small roach and a few skimmers to nearly a pound. I had fewer (as usual) but finished with a five pound bream, so I'm happy that they're lucky rods.

Andy

Good point about becoming attached to some of the gear. I have nowhere near the amount of tackle I used to have but definitely have my favourites.

Well written piece.

A friend had all of his fishing tackle taken from his shed, twice in about two months. You'd have thought he would have learned after the first theft.

I once lost everything that was in the boot of a car I had stolen. Fortunately it was a courtesy car whilst my car was being repaired. Had my car been stolen the fishing tackle would not have been covered as it was an estate and the policy stated any valuables had to be locked away i.e. in the boot etc, not the open back of an estate, even if covered up.

Every fishermans nightmare!!!! For this crime, I could fully justify chopping the hands off the thieving b@stards.

The piddly sentence metered out to criminals these days pales into insignificance whne you consider the hollow, empty, sick feeling - not to mention depression felt after having your private life riflled through by some scumbag!

chav professor said:

Every fishermans nightmare!!!! For this crime, I could fully justify chopping the hands off the thieving b@stards.

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And your such a sweet gentle young man, Christian.
The twice broken into friend was 'Cooperman' To make matters worse he never ever locked his shed.
Mind living amongst fellow millionaires he probably thought he deed not bother

Tackle theft is big now all over the country, its easy to sell on as there is always some scum willing to buy without asking questions as long as the price is right. i had all of my tackle stolen some years ago from my garage, the police turned up but didnt to my mate as his was stolen from a shed not attatched to the house, nobody was caught for either theft. another friend of mine whos tackle is always top of the range stuff had his stuff stolen at knifepoint earlier this year, there was cctv of the scum that did it but the quality was to poor to be of any use, as someone said earlier best to photograph all your tackle, you never know.

As Andy says I hink the worst thing about these thefts is when they take something that has no real monetary value, but which means a lot to you and is irreplacable. I had all my tackle nicked in the late 80's and I still think wistfully about a couple of the rods that were taken.

I'm glad it all worked out Andy.

Hi Andy, a good article which reminds us all of the dangers of having out beloved tackle stolen.
They always suggest photographing all your gear, I did it once, laid it all out in the garden, but was wary of anyone seeing it all layed out in full view, (not wanting to temp anyone) the assessor would then likely want to know why I had gone to all the trouble of photographing it. Not sure you can win, but a very good idea all the same.
It's amazing all the bits and pieces you end up accumulating over a lifetime of fishing, never in a million years would you be able to remember them all.
I remember fishing the river at Rother Valley country Park, quietly settled, but noticing youths fishing opposite below me. I went for a short walk to explore above me, as soon as I turned my back on my peg one of them was making his way over a footbridge to where I had been sitting. Thinking nothing of it until I was returning back and as soon as he saw me turned round and headed back as quick as he could. I soon realised he was thinking of helping himself to some of my gear if he could.
It's a shame you can't be too trusting nowadays.
Safe fishing everyone

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