My First Rod

Blunderer · May 9, 2007

My first rod was a birthday present in 1979. It was a white, solid glass fibre, 5.5 foot spring little thing. And I loved it. I used to go perch fishing in millponds and it was perfect for getting in holes in the bushes and into tight swims. In retrospect it was my first stalking rod! I could feel every bounce of every fish on it.
A year or two later I got a 12ft match rod. But compared to my first rod it felt stiff, heavy and awkward. I carried on using my little white rod regardless.

Unfortunately, my rod was destined to sleep with the fishes together when a mate ont he opposite bank hooked my tackle and hauled the whole thing into a lodge. I was devastated.

I never loved a rod more than that first rod, which served me well for years.

Can you remember yours?

John Adair · May 9, 2007

It sounds like we had the same rod except I've still got mine, a little Daiwa, out in the garage. (It's not been used since about 1979 though!)

It wasn't my first rod though - that was a green solid glass 9ft jobbie from the long-gone fishing shop in York Rd in Ilford. Coupled with an Intrepid Black Prince with a wonky bail arm, this was the outfit I used to blank at venues all over Essex! A few years later, I bought a hollow glass Shakespeare match rod, which was three feet longer and half a pound lighter, but it never really caught my imagination the same way.

Wolfman Woody · May 9, 2007

I still have my son's first rod although he hasn't been fishing since he was 15. It is a Daiwa Ivan Marks match rod of 11ft.

Still in good condition.....

The Monk · May 9, 2007

My first rod was a garden cane with a bobbin for a reel and elastic bands for eyes, but I caught with it though, my first rod proper was a built cane fly rod, then a greenheart 3 piece and a tank ariel for piking

Dicky (Angling Trust PAC) · May 9, 2007

Like Monk my first rod was a garden cane with a Wilco (Woolworths) hook to nylon tied on to the end. I used it for a couple of years to catch record-shaking gudgeon and small sergeants on the Great Ouse.

My first 'proper' rod was a float/ leger rod I bought from many months of saved pocket money in a tackle shop in Bedford. It was a cumbersome 11ft job with the screw fitting for swing or quiver. Despite the weight it served me well and landed many barbel and chub from the Teme.

I'm sure I still have it somewhere but it hasn't seen service for 15 years or so.

Blunderer · May 10, 2007

Before the aforementioned rod wa bought I was already obsessed with fish and the underwater world.

After we found a dead stickleback in the pond near his house, we made a wooden raft and tied onto the bottom of it a piece of cotton with a bent pin attached. We hooked a garden worm on it and set it sailing on a voyage accross the lake.

Two hours later when it landed again, it contained nothing.

Needless to say, we hooked the ex-stickleback onto the pin and took it him to claim glory from his Mum.

The Bone Collector · May 10, 2007

Bamboo cane with a piece of nylon, upgraded to a tank Ariel with a very through through through through quadruple action.

The Monk · May 10, 2007

I used to have a bamboo roach pole, it was an horrible thing, everytime you got a decent fish on it it would bend at the top and you used to have to put it under the kettle and sraighten it up again, my tank ariel was really heavy and made an excelent weapon

Alan Tyler · May 10, 2007

There's poles and poles when it comes to bamboo! In the late'60 there was a flood of Japanese 4-piece 20' loach poles (oops, solly!) which are probably what you had - a half-pounder bent them round in a quarter-circle! Still great fun, though,a nd I have happy memories of a bag of Laleham roach on mine.
Then there were the pukka ones; Peeks with paper thin brass ferrules, and Sowerbutts with butts of bored-out mahogany(!) - these were "proper stiff" until the very tip, and wouldn't have dared take on a set!

Alan Tyler · May 10, 2007

I hated my first rod; eight feet of ash, I think; a tank aerial would have felt like a fairy wand by comparison. Then one of those Jap combinations, that made a 5' spinning rod (useless) or an 8' fly rod - surprisingly good as a fly rod but not much use on the Grand Union Canal.
Once I finally got five whole, green pounds to spend, I was torn between a pretty, but heavy, Dawson's Sabina in dark split cane, or a Martin James hollow glass rod. I chose wrong, and I'm still playing around with 'orrible bits of bamboo.

yoggy · May 10, 2007

I cannot even remember the name of my first rod. What I do remember however apart from I needed both hands to hold it was the awful colour....bright gold!. The reel I used with it was an old Black Prince. That wasn`t much better either. It made a terrible noise!!!. But when you`re 10 years old.....who cares.

Gav Barbus · May 10, 2007

My first rod was bought on holiday in north wales it was about six foot and could be bent double the hooks were large and the rudd were not so stupid I fished all week of a little boat with me bro and we caught nowt as I remember but it sure was a cracking week watching monsters (bream and carp )drift under the boat.

John H Member of THE C.S.G.. & The A.T. · May 11, 2007

My first rod was an old solid cane (garden type) 3 pc rod that I had swapped for an almost round rugby ball.
I bought my first maggots (a seething wet mass) from old Fred Alexander's pet shop in lower Kirkgate, Wakefield. He grunted did I want them wet or dry? Not having a clue what he meant I finished up with wet!
My first fish was a roach of about 4-6oz from the Half Moon near Heath Common, Wakefield.

Peter Bishop · May 11, 2007

Mine was a Palace B made by Forshaws of Liverpool 10.5 ft long, solid cane with a fibreglass tip. Still have it and used it last year with the Little Kraka centre pin I got with it in 1962. Caught several roach and skimmers with it so they still work.
Pure nostalgia of course.

Macca_EFC · May 11, 2007

not sure what the actual name of the rod was, it might not have even had one but it was a 5 and half foot, luminous green shakespeare one, probably cost about ?8.99 with a reel fully loaded with line, it was the simplest reel no drag to worry about. Reel died a long time ago but i think the rod is still in the shed, great little rod for perch and roach and it even landed my very first pike, double maggot fished below a driftbeater on a pretty choppy canal....some fantastic times had with that rod, though i wouldn't swap my sentient power float for one these days lol

mark norris (ACA) · May 12, 2007

my first rod was a 3 piecc solid cane ( looked like garden canes joined with bits of old copper tube)which someone swapped in my dads barbers shop for a haircut. My first proper was an Edgar Sealey nu-float,11ft. ,3 peice split cane. Still got it and still straight as a poker

My First Rod

Blunderer

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John Adair

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Wolfman Woody

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The Monk

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Dicky (Angling Trust PAC)

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Blunderer

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The Bone Collector

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The Monk

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Alan Tyler

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Alan Tyler

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yoggy

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Gav Barbus

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John H Member of THE C.S.G.. & The A.T.

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Peter Bishop

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Macca_EFC

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mark norris (ACA)

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