It was one of those phone calls you don’t forget.
“Dad…they said I shouldn’t tell you because it might spoil your holiday!”
“Tell me what?”
“Samantha said I should tell you!”
“Tell me what?”
“It’s nothing to worry about!”
“Tell me WHAT?”
“Your shed’s been broken into. All your fishing tackle’s been stolen; sorry!
Well, there it was. I was away for a short holiday with some friends and my lifelong collection of fishing tackle had been pinched in the middle of the night. I tried not to let it spoil my holiday but my thoughts were often wandering back to what had gone missing. Had they taken the whole lot? What about all the old stuff in the corner of the shed, the Bruce & Walker Flyer, my Abu 507 – my lucky fishing cap?
When I got back home I went up the garden to check things out. My heart fell as I looked in the shed; it all seemed to have gone. The few things left strewn about the floor just old bits and pieces; wicker basket, target board, an old collapsible landing net, a solitary waggler stop, I was crestfallen. Jonny, my son, had contacted the police straightaway, but they were already on their way; that night five sheds in the village had been targeted and the thieves had got away with power tools, garden equipment, bronze statues and fishing tackle.
When I told angling buddies what had happened they treated me like I’d just suffered a bereavement. All, and I mean all, offered to loan me fishing tackle which was a heart-warming gesture, but somehow I didn’t feel much like going.
The police were excellent, dealing with everything swiftly. They provided me with a free shed alarm and a small pot of DNA-smart water, which identifies property and is a significant aid to capture and conviction of criminals; the wife and I spent Sunday marking mowers, strimmers, garden furniture and tools with it.
I checked out my insurance policy; it was with a reputable high street firm, but you never know. It appeared that I was covered for up to £2,000 for theft from buildings within my premises, so armed with my crime number I rang them to make my claim. Young Craig answered and everything seemed to be going well until I said it would be about £1,600 and he said that he couldn’t authorise claims over a thousand pounds, I would be contacted by a loss assessor. Later that afternoon he phoned me and arranged to send my some forms to fill in.
I take form-filling seriously, but the level of detail requested knocked me for six. First column, ITEM full description inc make/model – fair enough. Followed by Who Purchased; Gift Y/N? From whom? Name and address of retail supplier or purchaser of gift (with the added note that – If items lost include a gift, please obtain a confirmation letter from the person who gave you the gift and obtain the receipt if possible). Date Purchased; Cost; supporting documents; photos Y/N; and finally how much you’re claiming. It was a daunting form.
I had itemised thirty-eight separate pieces of fishing tackle, not including hooks, line, leads, swingers, floats, feeders, shot, beads, rod-rests and sidewinders etc. My latest additions turned out to be the easiest. A quick email to the internet based companies from whom I had bought the tackle and a few days later I had copy invoices for stuff acquired up to three years ago (Thank you Eric’s Angling and Poingdestres). The older stuff was going to be more difficult; I would need photographs.
I checked through my folders of fishing photographs and was dismayed to discover how little my tackle featured. They were mostly trophy shots with only trees and grass in the background. The pictures I had taken attempting to capture the moment with sunsets, or torrential rain had rod tips but no reels and no maker’s names. Eventually I scraped together two or three which would have to do. Then I came to the vintage stuff. The Bruce & Walker 13’ Flyer, the Mordex Merlin centrepin, the Intrepid Elite, and the Abu 507, some of which were bought pre-decimalisation.
A search through my collection of prints from way back brought back some great memories. Pictures from venues I hadn’t been to for twenty-five years, before my hair began to recede and change colour. There was one particular favourite of mine. It’s from a family holiday of me fishing with my daughter (now 30); in the background my mother-in-law is walking Jonny (now 27) towards us. Samantha is holding my Bruce & Walker Flyer attached to the Abu, brilliant! By the way, they didn’t nick the wicker basket!
The others I compiled are of me in Ireland (River Woodford, top left) with the centre-pin; another soggy day in Ireland showing a couple of nice roach and my Shakespeare holdall, and finally almost being blown off L. Iniscarra, making rude gestures whilst hiding behind my, now missing, umbrella.
I scanned some bank statements, copied some email order confirmations and eventually got my list together. The whole operation had taken me eight days. (I had become a bit distracted by having to fill in another insurance claim form when I was smacked from behind at a junction [I won’t mention the gender of the driver!] and the rear of my car was damaged. Such is the disaster movie that is my life!)
I emailed it to the loss assessor Sunday night hoping for the best. On Monday morning he’d approved the lot; no questions asked and put me in touch with Angling Direct who they had appointed to deal with my claim. I contacted them on Monday afternoon not really knowing what to expect. Eventually, I spoke to Matt, who put me at my ease. Obviously they couldn’t replace everything exactly but he offered suitable replacements wherever possible. There were a couple of things that I didn’t actually want identical replacements. My Korum De-luxe accessory chair had actually proved too heavy and I wanted the lightweight version, no problem said Matt. Similarly my Korum Carry-All was cumbersome and I wanted a Rucksack style. However, the vintage tackle was a problem but he just valued it and said that I could have tackle up to that assessment. The basic premise of insurance is that you should be no ‘better off’ following the claim, and obviously you’re not going to lose a Wychwood barbel rod and have it replaced by a Harrison Torrix Twin Tip.
I called in at Angling Direct a couple of days later feeling like a small child entering a sweet shop. It was my own version of ‘Supermarket Sweep’ without a time limit. First the rods, all slightly upgraded from my original spec. The reels were pretty much an exact replacement as was the luggage. I seemed to have got everything I wanted except line, hooks and floats etc when Steve said that because they couldn’t replace he vintage stuff I had another £600 to get through, which came as quite a shock:
“Did you need another rod?” he prompted, helpfully. I did have a 2.5lb tc Dragon Carp rod that I did a bit of piking with, so I replaced that with a Grey’s Prodigy 2.5 carp rod and another Shimano reel (what do you mean? Seemed fair to me), but still had another £420 to go. After several trips around the huge store picking up more hooks, reel cases and bank sticks I had pretty much everything replaced. It was almost at the end before I realised I’d almost forgotten to get a plummet!
It’s a very strange feeling looking at my new tackle. Although it’s all lovely, I’m not attached to any of it yet. There are no shared memories, no special days; I expect that’s to come, I suppose they’re all virgins at the moment; I’ll have to be gentle with them.
Although I’ve got absolutely everything I need for the moment I’m wondering what is happening to my old stuff? Car boot sales and eBay are the most likely place they’ll be. Good fishing tackle seems to hold its value on eBay; a quick enquiry found quite a few rods for ‘collection only’ and ‘cash on collection’, these have got to be a bit dodgy, surely?
And finally, I renewed my rod licence, which was a painless affair after speaking with Andrew and Joanne at the environment agency – many thanks.
And my lucky fishing cap turned up in the back of my car!
