Do you dislike any of your gear?

binka · Feb 6, 2016

A bit of an odd question really but we've all bought a pup at some time or another.

For me I have a Fox specimen float rod that bottoms out quicker than your wallet in a hooky casino and two fox reels that make me feel like I'm gyrating when I reel in!

All consigned to the cupboard that no one talks about.

Things I have made friends with after previously disliking are my Korum brolly which no longer collapses on me in the middle of playing a fish and my Reuben Heaton Lieweight MKII's which seem to have settled down after a long period of practical uselessness and absolute refusal to zero.

TFG waterproof boots which were about as waterproof as a pair of flip flops also found the bin early.

Anyone got any pups of their own lurking in a dark corner or anything you've managed to make friends with?

Chefster · Feb 6, 2016

I bought a Daiwa tournament 400 seatbox,croc of $hite!!!No adjustment ,legs kept slipping,all threads kept stripping,was glad to see the back of it,deffo my worst ever angling purchase,and quite an expensive mistake

tigger · Feb 6, 2016

binka said:
TFG waterproof boots which were about as waterproof as a pair of flip flops also found the bin early.

Anyone got any pups of their own lurking in a dark corner or anything you've managed to make friends with?

I've never heard a good word spoken about those boots....yeph, I got stung with 'em n'all, about as waterproof as a pair of crocks

mg:.

Keith M · Feb 6, 2016

My Reuben Heaton lightweight MKII Scales which wouldn't zeroise properly.

After my last set of Avon Dial Scales (which lasted for 40 odd years before they finally started to have any problems); the Reuben's just felt a little cheap and nasty and not being able to even zeroise them with any confidence I banished them to the back of the shed; as I couldn't bring myself to really trust them, and I bought a second hand set of Avons off of eBay instead.

Keith

robtherake · Feb 6, 2016

I was tempted to buy one of those Chapman's Unbreakable Margin Rods at 6m, for kerb crawlers that were too mighty for my (then) lighter float gear. Originally, I bought the 6m model, but it was so heavy and badly balanced that it gave me backache every time I used it. The Snaplock reel seat developed a fault, so I exchanged it for the 4m (13ft) model. It excels at what it does - with what they called a 24-line spiral wrap it is incredibly strong and survived a battle with a furious margin-hooked carp which was the best part of a stone, with my six year old daughter on the other end resolutely refusing to give an inch.

(Go, Holly!)

Sounds good so far, but because the thing's telescopic there are few rings on the tip section (two of them sliding into position) and the thruppeny bit line "curve" under load means that even good clutches have to give line in fits and starts. Another problem with having relatively few rings is that the line sticks to the blank as soon as it gets wet, making the casting of light floats all but impossible.

I've put it on Ebay and taken it to several boot sales but no-one wants the effin' thing at any price.

mg:

Another horrid rod is a more recent one: the 10ft Browning Commercial King waggler F1. It is, without doubt, the most useless carbon rod I've ever owned. The middle seems to start bending before the tip does, making fish control rather unpredictable, to say the least. I hate it.

Chefster · Feb 6, 2016

robtherake said:
Another horrid rod is a more recent one: the 10ft Browning Commercial King waggler F1. It is, without doubt, the most useless carbon rod I've ever owned. The middle seems to start bending before the tip does, making fish control rather unpredictable, to say the least. I hate it.

I,ve got the browning commie king 8ft tip rod and that is great for what i bought it for,short chucks on snake lakes,for F1,s and smallish carp,bends right through from the butt,handles light lines and small hooks ok as well.Gazza

robtherake · Feb 6, 2016

tigger said:
I've never heard a good word spoken about those boots....yeph, I got stung with 'em n'all, about as waterproof as a pair of crocks mg:.

...and me. Sold 'em for a fiver to an old geezer at Redcar boot sale in the finish.

---------- Post added at 21:48 ---------- Previous post was at 21:43 ----------

Chefster said:
I,ve got the browning commie king 8ft tip rod and that is great for what i bought it for,short chucks on snake lakes,for F1,s and smallish carp,bends right through from the butt,handles light lines and small hooks ok as well.Gazza

I bought one of those, too, Gaz, shortly before I got the other one. A few weeks later I won a better tip rod, so it's hardly had any use, but it's miles better than the float rod. It has to be: that level of mediocrity takes some beating. Maybe it's a bad 'un.

sam vimes · Feb 6, 2016

Reuben Heaton Lightweights. I've struggled to give them away, not that I'd wish to inflict them on anyone.

John Wilson Avon. The old green blank with sliding rings on a dodgy abbreviated duplon handle. Lots of folk seem to hold them in high regard, I hated mine.

15' Harrison GTi SU. Not a bad bit of kit by any stretch of the imagination. Unfortunately, it was a bit too valuable to hoard when I own alternatives that were lighter and I preferred.

Edgar Sealey Black Arrow 2. Did me proud as a nipper, but I'd not even contemplate using it now.

Other than that, there's bound to be the odd bit of niff naff I don't recall and a few bits from my early angling years that weren't up to much and are long gone and forgotten.

I suspect that I'm a bit more discerning now, but I also feel that it's actually quite difficult to buy complete rubbish these days.

tigger · Feb 6, 2016

robtherake said:
...and me. Sold 'em for a fiver to an old geezer at Redcar boot sale in the finish.

Rob, I sold mine on a boot sale n'all, I let 'em go for two quid...I ripped some poor sod off

.

I bought a Milo Tardis seatbox with foot rest about 9yrs ago, I think they retaied for about 800 notes and in a moment of madness I bought a brand new one off ebay for about 200 quid. I think I used it once (no effin' wonder people have trollies for 'em! ). The barsteward weighed a ton and the one time I used it I slipped as I walked down a high and steep river bank, it wrecked me back and I kicked it up and down the bank. It was well made though because it wasn't marked or damaged at all and when I sold it shortly after I more than doubled my money!

flightliner · Feb 6, 2016

Au' leon dor hooks, cant speak to lowly of em.!.

sagalout · Feb 6, 2016

Korum chairs, had the standard and the deluxe really bad for my back (admittedly me back is well bolloxed)

Chefster · Feb 6, 2016

flightliner said:
Au' leon dor hooks, cant speak to lowly of em.!.

when was that ,about 40 years ago????

S-Kippy · Feb 6, 2016

Got a few fly rods that seemed like good ideas at the time that I look at from time to time and wonder what the Hell I was thinking when I bought them. All good rods I just can't imagine what I thought I was going to do with them. Several old Shimano reels before I realised I didn't like them at all. Coarse rod wise I've offloaded the odd pup but generally I've been very happy with what I've bought.

I don't have quite so much luck with accessories. I've bought several unhooking mats that I've used once or twice and then shredded Inc that Korum mat bag thing which is neither a mat nor a bag and bloody huge to boot. Shed food I'm afraid. Ditto the rod sleeves that matched my rod quiver but totally unbalanced it.

And a huge JRC carry all that would not sit right unless it was fully loaded but when fully loaded you needed a fork lift to move the damned thing.

I cannot be doing with anything I don't like so if said item has no resale value it goes straight in the bin.

xenon · Feb 6, 2016

Fox Evolution Bivvy. F….ing pain to assemble, weighed a ton and as portable as a shopping trolley with 3 broken wheels. hopeless piece of (expensive) junk

thecrow · Feb 6, 2016

Once purchased some hooks marketed by Rod Hutchinson that were supposed to be for soft mouthed Carp, they are probably at the bottom of a Dutch lake still as that's where they went after loosing 3 fish.

bracket · Feb 6, 2016

flightliner said:
Au' leon dor hooks, cant speak to lowly of em.!.

Strange you should think so flightliner. In the past have I tied one model of Leon Dor by the thousand for Jan Porter when he ran his tackle shop. Mainly sizes 16 and 14's for feeder fishing. He could not sell them fast enough. I used them myself with no problem, powerful strong you could stop an elephant running with them. Pete.

flightliner · Feb 6, 2016

bracket said:
Strange you should think so flightliner. In the past have I tied one model of Leon Dor by the thousand for Jan Porter when he ran his tackle shop. Mainly sizes 16 and 14's for feeder fishing. He could not sell them fast enough. I used them myself with no problem, powerful strong you could stop an elephant running with them. Pete.

I was losing carp on them back in the mid eighties Pete, binned em all.Went over to Drennan super specialist and the problem ceased.
Some guys swore by them but not me.

bracket · Feb 7, 2016

flightliner said:
I was losing carp on them back in the mid eighties Pete, binned em all.Went over to Drennan super specialist and the problem ceased.
Some guys swore by them but not me.

Can't argue with that flightliner. Pete

steve2 · Feb 7, 2016

My Wilson Avon with the extension piece on feels totally unbalanced, is now somewhere at the back of the shed.
My cane and fiberglass rods, good at the time but now sold or dumped apart from 2 split cane fly rods. All have been replaced by far superior carbon.
Waterproof suits and boots that are not water proof.
Have now reached the stage where what I use is what I want to use the rest is gathering dust. Not because it’s no good I just don’t need it any more.

wanderer · Feb 7, 2016

Oh God, so much binned over the years and some redundant stuff, rods by the tens, hooks by the hundreds, line, enough to go to the moon and back, all that glitters aint gold, and the hype is sometimes, just that, tackle has to suit the user, one mans meat is another mans poison, and i can think of a pair of rods at 750 quid each that were just that for me, pulled more hooks than Warren Beatty pulled birds.

Do you dislike any of your gear?

binka

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