Like many of us I tend to be convinced life was better in the past. Looking back through ‘rose tinted glasses’ is an easy mode to slip into. As a boy I was the keenest of anglers with a real drive to learn and discover as much as I could. I was fit , single minded and slightly obsessed about catching fish. I saved up for the best tackle I could afford ( Winfield gear featuring prominently) and often swapped or attempted to improve or modify my gear.
On returning to angling some 20 to 30 years later I shouldn’t have been surprised at how tackle has changed. The many innovations that have changed fishing and made it easier in some ways are to be commended and embraced, but I have struggled to take to many sleek, modern, mass produced items of tackle. I don’t like change apparently. Well it’s just if something isn’t broken why fix it ?
As a boy I funded my fishing by delivering newspapers and channeling any other money I was given into saving for the best I could realistically obtain. This didn’t stop me pouring through the catalogues of the major tackle companies and dreaming! In the 70’s and 80’s I looked at the older fishermen with Barbour jackets, waders, Hardy rods, Mitchell reels, Abu Ambassadeurs and held on to the belief I would get these things in time. In truth not having these items never stopped me catching fish a plenty and being junior champion on a few occasions also.
Little did I know then that as an adult and parent comes additional responsibilities and costs and these days since returning to angling in earnest, it is still within a budget. When out of curiosity I began looking online for some of the type of tackle I had always coveted I arrived in the world of Ebay! Without much effort I have tracked down many of the items I had always wanted, generally at a very agreeable cost. My only difficulty has been not buying too much!
The fact is that the last generation of anglers who bought quality tackle generally recognised it as such and looked after it. Sadly when their offspring clear out their loved ones possessions ( is there anything sadder than your children not wanting or valuing your precious fishing tackle?) it has lost not just sentimental value.
I have therefore become the custodian of many items of well built and designed items of tackle that I try to cherish as their original owners did.
For less than £10 it is often possible to acquire a no nonsense general purpose spinning rod produced by for example Milbro and team it with a basic and reliable fixed spool Mitchell reel. They may not be fancy and shiny but they will be as good as anything money can buy in terms of function and durability. They have character in abundance also!
Argyll Trout Fisher 