Old favourites

I am talking tackle here fella's, more particularly ''my'' tackle. Amongst the huge armoury of gear I have amassed over the years, it never ceases to amaze me that when I am at a loose end I am given to checking over the tackle. Often finding myself handling the same three or four rod's and reel's, and reveling in the joy they have given me over the years, and the battles those old warriors have endured .

In an age when tackle is constantly evolving I find it odd that my old gear can evoke such a warm glow even when stood beside some of the latest cutting edge gear. I can't be alone can I? Surely some of the veterans on here can relate to where I'm coming from, it can't just all be sentiment or nostalgia, can it?

Its the nostalgia of those memories that are very important. Why not fluff about with your old gear. Sometimes when I am supposed to be tidying the garden I find I often slip into my tackle shed and have a fiddle.

AND SOMETIMES I FIND AN ITEM OF TACKLE I HAD FORGOTTEN ABOUT!!!

Good memories come back sometimes.
I can't say any of my rods or reels are favourites, at the time I used them they were favourite but not now.
My only reason I have every rod or reel I have ever bought is the simple reason that I bought them, to sell any would be for a pittance of what they cost and that would not sit well with me.

I have several pike rods but an old home made up cono flex 2.5 lb tc fibre glass job circa 1980 is still the one that gives me the most pleasure overall.

john step said:

Sometimes when I am supposed to be tidying the garden I find I often slip into my tackle shed and have a fiddle.

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......not much anybody can add to that !

Yes, I love to sort through and handle my old stuff: play with it, in other words!
It's surprising how many smaller items turn up that had been forgotten or set aside, but are now relevant to my current fishing exploits.

I'm loathe to part with gear, unless it's particularly valuable/desireable second hand and I don't particularly like it. However, at the same time, I don't really get emotionally attached to old kit. It certainly doesn't see water unless I don't have a better tool for a particular situation.

I find it very difficult to get attached to old fishing tackle it just a tool that when it as done its job is put away and forgotten about and replaced by something new.
I have shed full of unused, unloved tackle that clutters up the place that will end up like tackle as in the past sold at a car boot sale.

I don't keep stuff, if it I ain't using it I get rid of it, either give it away or sell it. I can't abide loads of useless clutter. I must admit sometimes it comes back to haunt me when I suddenly have a new need for it.

Derek,

I love the old tackle, I get huge pleasure from using it and catching on it.

Carbon rods are superb, but hold no special appeal for me, I much prefere the Splitcane rods I made whilst still at school.

Yes; some of the rods have sets in them, but it does not seem to affect the performance and the enjoyment I get from using the old tackle.

As for reels, I really like my centrepins, but the old fixed spool are dreadful the Mitchell 300s being the best of the lot.

ABUs I class as modern !!

Bob

I love the old stuff, problem is I binked it or lost it all over the years. Lovely cork floats lost, cane rods broken or lost; left the tip section on a bank once. Did that with a cane fly rod that belonged to my great aunt, it would be 100 years old now. All the little bits, old split shot tins that you could never open etc. All gone. Wish I had looked after or kept all of it. Playing Sir Lancelot with cane rods with my brother did not help or walking along and not holding the rod up so it caught on the ground and broke, the ignorance of youth.
So, I have to buy it again now which I use occasionally. Found some very old cork floats which I use, a bit battered but wonderful to see them popping down the river again, nothing quite looks the same-cane rods, yes, a bit heavy sometimes but nice to have something sticking out from the reeds that looks like a rod, not an antenna on the space shuttle. And I love the way they sort of flop back into shape, not spring back with a forceful jerk.
Not so keen on the old reels though, I think technology has improved them but plastic, fiber glass, carbon against cork, quill and cane, not so sure about. Sometimes the old favorites stay favorites-I never liked nylon shirts and socks either.
Just picked up an old cane rod for next to nothing in perfect nick, been sitting on my living room wall for the last seven days, its a Rembrandt in my eyes. Every now and then I cant help an admiring glance. I have a pile of plastic rods in the hall way, I keep walking past them-might send them to the Tate Modern to go alongside that a pile of bricks. now theres a thought, I wonder if they would sell for millions.

I removed my rose tinted glasses when it came to fishing tackle. Give me modern over old any day.

steve2 said:

I removed my rose tinted glasses when it came to fishing tackle. Give me modern over old any day.

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In pure performance terms, I agree but aesthetically I love the look & feel of vintage tackle.

I like a mix of new and a few old items of tackle. I find a lot of rods made in the mid 80's to 2000 are of a high standard and are up there (or even better) than the top shelf rods of today.
Reels wise, unless were talking centrepins I think the old fix spools etc are way behind the modern ones.
I like the looks of old floats but if i'm honest i'd much prefer to use modern ones.

How does using old tackle, Cane Rods/cr@p reels for example, fit with others when Fish welfare is concerned? Landing and returning fish as quickly and safely as possible being two. I find it hard to believe that older gear is better, but i don't know if, as far as Rods go, fish welfare suffers Fixed spool reels from yesteryear, most if not all were, in my opinion pretty rubbish

ken more said:

How does using old tackle, Cane Rods/cr@p reels for example, fit with others when Fish welfare is concerned? Landing and returning fish as quickly and safely as possible being two. I find it hard to believe that older gear is better, but i don't know if, as far as Rods go, fish welfare suffers Fixed spool reels from yesteryear, most if not all were, in my opinion pretty rubbish

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Maybe a good point with reels but cane rods it could be argued played fish better but I doubt there's much in it to make much difference. Some old types of gear, definitely, landing nets, keep nets, hooks.
I don't know what others opinions are but certainly a point worth considering that I have never heard raised before..

Never had any favourite gear only gear that will do the job I need doing on a particular water or method, only ever paid a lot for stuff that I needed when I couldn't find anything cheaper

They are just tools to me and I don't get attached to them although after handling binka's long rod yesterday and feeling how light it was I can understand how besides the action and obvious strength it has how the lightness would be an advantage when a rod has to be held in the hand all day so that sort of justifies the cost and maybe if I had paid more for my gear I might have become fonder of some of it.

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markg said:

Some old types of gear, definitely, landing nets, keep nets, hooks.

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Agree on the nets but not sure about the hooks, old knotted nets were awful compared to modern stuff almost as rough as some of the women I have woken up with in my younger years on the hooks maybe barbless would be considered more fish friendly and possibly for smaller fish they are but for larger stuff not so sure although I am now using micro barbed which I feel are a good compromise.

thecrow said:

after handling binka's long rod yesterday and feeling how light it was I can understand how besides the action and obvious strength it has how the lightness would be an advantage when a rod has to be held in the hand all day so that sort of justifies the cost and maybe if I had paid more for my gear I might have become fonder of some of it.

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If it was the rod I think it might be, it's heavy when compared to a 15' Acolyte. Pretty much any rod is heavy compared to an Acolyte.

ken more said:

How does using old tackle, Cane Rods/cr@p reels for example, fit with others when Fish welfare is concerned? Landing and returning fish as quickly and safely as possible being two. I find it hard to believe that older gear is better, but i don't know if, as far as Rods go, fish welfare suffers Fixed spool reels from yesteryear, most if not all were, in my opinion pretty rubbish

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I really don't see where Fish Welfare comes into the use of Cane Rods and cr@p reels ?

Having used what some would consider ancient tackle all my life (like its owner),where does the use of said tackle hinder Fish Care.

You see far more inadequate anglers using modern tackle, especially at commercial fisheries, I go to a Café at one of those fisheries regularly and shudder at the ineptitude of many of the anglers.

And don't get me started on the Wednesday Matches and the Weigh In performance which is the opposite of every thing I have ever considered in terms of fish care.

Old and cr@p reels may well be beyond deemed " OLD ", but have nothing what so ever to do with the care of fish, as they are simply tools to catch fish, using exactly the same line , hooks, landing nets and mats that you would use with modern tackle.

Could it be the some people equate old tackle with not so modern Fish Care practices, that would be far form the truth, as most of the anglers who use this type of tackle are more than competent and the last thing they would do is harm the captures.

Some of my cane rods are modern examples of the art of splitcane making, far more powerful that modern carbon rods, the Mitchell 300 reels are good as many of the modern counterpart, if it is time in playing a fish on vintage tackle that worries some angler, that is down to the expertise of the angler.

Having landed many " Specimen " fish whilst using traditional tackle, then placing the modern landing net mesh which on traditional arms onto a modern Unhooking mat, the care the fish receives is exactly the same as a fish caught on modern tackle.

Look to the capabilities of the angler, not the fishing tackle he uses !!

Bob

Landing 'em safely and landing 'em quickly are not the same thing, and in these days of carp rods that could tear the jaws off a cod, the non-overlap is probably widening. Balanced tackle with a bit of give to it, and some practice at "conning" two- and three-pound chub and bream out on #24s to 12oz line, do wonders for the confidence and can be gained from ancient OR modern tackle...

Cane is usually first out of the quiver for me, often all I put in the quiver, I just like playing fish on cane (it's more complex than that, but this is neither the time nor place), but I still have my Taperflash, and a home-ringed rod on a part-built Shakespeare glass blank, Uncle's old Anon-Shaw glass rod that he broke and mended with an araldited lump of cane, and a few others that seldom/never get to the bankside, but still set adrift a raft of memories when I rootle around in the loft and "tidy" them.