| MARK HODSON | |
An angler since he can remember, Mark Hodson almost literally lives, eats and breathes fishing. A match angler in his youth, fishing for the junior Starlets, he turned to the dark side and joined the ‘floppy hat’ brigade in his college years. He worked in the tackle trade for ten years, on a part time or full time basis at Chaplains, one of Birmingham’s busiest tackle shops and managed the specialist department there for two years. He now fishes just for fun, although the ‘floppy specialist hat’ still dominates his angling, his writing concentrates on getting the maximum enjoyment from your angling and trying something different from the norm. |
| A GUIDE TO FISHING SECURITY – Part 2 More prevention – personalise it! Thieves mostly steal tackle to sell, so if you take the time to personalise your gear then not only do you make it less desirable to thieves in the first place but you stand a greater chance of recovering it should you have it stolen. There are many ways of personalising your gear and here are just a few I’ve used in the past.
Luggage can be personalised by the way of embroidery or badges, if either are removed you can tell where the stitching has been, it is obvious. I have a set of Trakker carp luggage that the nice man who owns Trakker got his machinists to personalise for me whilst I worked in the tackle trade. Now I know that this is a little self indulgent and egotistical but would anyone buy luggage with someone else’s name on it? Very unlikely. Anything metal can be engraved or have your postcode or name scratched into it. If you have one of those Dremmel multi-tools or something similar put it good use. Permanent marker pen can be used to mark up anything else, such as tackle boxes, bait boxes, stoves, rod tubes, even small items such as bait needles, lures, mini boxes, float tubes, catapults, etc. Small items only need your initials on them, and it saves on arguments when your fishing companions ‘borrow’ items which end up never being returned. Rods can have your name painted on them, a quick coat of varnish after is all takes to seal it their for eternity, again if its removed it is obvious. In years gone by when hand built custom rods were the rage nearly everyone had their names on the their rods, it would be nice if tackle shops offered the service for off the shelf gear as well. Even my nets have their rims or spreader blocks marked up with my initials or postcode.
If you can’t stand the thought of defacing your tackle then get an Ultra Violet pen and use that. UV pens can be obtained for free through most large Police Stations or your local crime prevention officer. Every piece of untraceable or suspected stolen property that comes into our station gets checked under a UV light or for identifying marks, if it’s marked you’ll get it back, if not it will end up at auction. Vehicles Its quite simple when it comes to vehicles; if you leave your tackle in a motor on display and out of your sight then be prepared to lose it. It takes about four seconds for a practiced thief to smash a window and drag your gear out and into a waiting car. A vehicle gets broken into about every 30 seconds in the UK, though you’ll be pleased to hear the figure is getting better, probably be about every 45 seconds next year (there you go, you’ll all sleep safe in your beds now!). No car park is secure, CCTV makes no difference to the crime rate on car parks as they just cover their faces and use false plates on their motors. Just don’t leave your gear unattended in the first place and you won’t have a problem. Tackle thieves target car parks where anglers park, this also includes pub car parks where we go for a drink after or where pre match draws are held, also caf  When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission, which supports our community.
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