When I was young

[Old fisher]

I was borne 2 years after the last world war ended. At aged about 5 or 6 I remember we still had ration books. There was very little money about or things to buy if you did have a few spare coppers. My father would not throw things away but mended or adapted anything that broke or would no longer fit its purpose. I for instance had my older brothers outgrown long trousers cut down for me as short ones. My dad also used to resole our shoes. Where is this going you may well ask. Well, I believe my fathers attitude rubbed off onto me. I started fishing when I was 8 years old and was given old tackle and learned to fish with it. When I left school and started to buy my own rods and reels I looked after every item and repaired every piece that I could, and any rod or reel I could afford to buy I looked after as my dad always did with the things as a family we owned. Today, that kind of thinking seems for most people to have gone and now as anglers we always keep updating to the latest items of tackle as soon as it appears in magazines etc. I still have my old split cane rods and Mitchell reels and these come with me on occasions to the lake. They still work for their intended purpose. When we all get older nostalgia starts to creep in and we start to look back and remember the things we owned in long years past, and then many of us start to collecting the items we once had. Now though paying more money than new items now cost. Is that progress ? Perhaps if we all started to keep and repair the items the world might not become such a polluted place full of landfill rubbish or plastic filled oceans. I actually enjoy repairing old rods and reels and that I believe was down to my father. What do others think about keeping up with the latest gear?

 

[David Rogers 3]

I can think of quite a few non-fishing items I've bought in the last couple of years whose quality is considerably lower than identical examples from 5-10 years ago that have worn out. There seems to be a deliberate policy amongst manufacturers of maintaining prices by cutting quality and hoping nobody is going to notice. Eventually, people are going to realise what is going on and then we might see a return to buying older secondhand, better made and more dependable goods (especially with the current rapid rise in the cost of living). Like you, I'm still using my Mitchell reels from the 1970s and they're still going strong, whereas one or two bought more recently (not cheap ones, either) have quickly failed. Stuff is no longer made to last.

 

[John Aston]

Well, I was born only four years later than Old Fisher , and I have hardly a hint of nostalgia for my early days fishing. I started thrashing around some cane horror when I was 7 or 8 , and whenever birthdays / Christmas arrived , and wages and salary years later , I upgraded my gear and didn't give a second thought to the old stuff ,which was replaced by something better . Old gear was sold ,given away or thrown away without a second thought .

My gear now - without any exception - is light years better than the gear I used as a kid and young man . From hooks (sharp!) to lines ( thin, strong and no memory ) to reels ( compare a Mitchell 300 with a new Shimano or Daiwa and weep ) , nets (big and fish friendly ) and rods . Rods especially - why anybody would prefer to use cane or glass instead of carbon is beyond me , except out of sentiment . That's fine , I retain and very occasionally use a Match Aerial my mum bought me in 1968 (even though my Okuma is far better) and I cherish (and dare not use ) the self cocking antenna floats my late fishing mentor Len Grayson made me in 1966 (he also lent me his name for forum purposes) .

Modern stuff is cheap and usually excellent . My beck fishing fly rod cost me less than £60 and it is utterly brilliant , and (inflation adjusted) cost about 15 % of the price of my first carbon rod in 1978 .

Nostalgia ain't all it used to be....

 

[no-one in particular]

I am not nostalgic at all for any of my past fishing gear. I like buying it as a hobby, I enjoy doing it up if necessary and selling it on when required and make a profit. I think some of it was very well made and still does a good job so, I use some of it to fish with. I enjoy seeing how it still performs and make comparisons with my modern gear. And a lot of it I still get very cheap, look in the right places and I can pick up some real bargains. The rod and reel I used last time cost me about £15 and it performed perfectly and I caught and landed a nice chub of about 4lb. Its just another whole side of angling apart from anything else that I get a lot of enjoyment from. I am not trying to prove a point of any sort, just what I enjoy, if I can impart that to anyone else and they enjoy it as well then that is no harm done.

 

[Old fisher]

I am not nostalgic at all for any of my past fishing gear. I like buying it as a hobby, I enjoy doing it up if necessary and selling it on when required and make a profit. I think some of it was very well made and still does a good job so, I use some of it to fish with. I enjoy seeing how it still performs and make comparisons with my modern gear. And a lot of it I still get very cheap, look in the right places and I can pick up some real bargains. The rod and reel I used last time cost me about £15 and it performed perfectly and I caught and landed a nice chub of about 4lb. Its just another whole side of angling apart from anything else that I get a lot of enjoyment from. I am not trying to prove a point of any sort, just what I enjoy, if I can impart that to anyone else and they enjoy it as well then that is no harm done.

I totally agree with all you say. I have edited what I said originally as I had replied accidentally to your message.

 

[Old fisher]

Well, I was born only four years later than Old Fisher , and I have hardly a hint of nostalgia for my early days fishing. I started thrashing around some cane horror when I was 7 or 8 , and whenever birthdays / Christmas arrived , and wages and salary years later , I upgraded my gear and didn't give a second thought to the old stuff ,which was replaced by something better . Old gear was sold ,given away or thrown away without a second thought .

My gear now - without any exception - is light years better than the gear I used as a kid and young man . From hooks (sharp!) to lines ( thin, strong and no memory ) to reels ( compare a Mitchell 300 with a new Shimano or Daiwa and weep ) , nets (big and fish friendly ) and rods . Rods especially - why anybody would prefer to use cane or glass instead of carbon is beyond me , except out of sentiment . That's fine , I retain and very occasionally use a Match Aerial my mum bought me in 1968 (even though my Okuma is far better) and I cherish (and dare not use ) the self cocking antenna floats my late fishing mentor Len Grayson made me in 1966 (he also lent me his name for forum purposes) .

Modern stuff is cheap and usually excellent . My beck fishing fly rod cost me less than £60 and it is utterly brilliant , and (inflation adjusted) cost about 15 % of the price of my first carbon rod in 1978 .

Nostalgia ain't all it used to be....

Yes I understand, but does that thinking cause more waist put into the environment The tackle may be cheap but it is all throw away isn't it ?

 

[no-one in particular]

I totally accept what you say but does that not add to the environmental impact we are all having

Certainly, something that to me is a good by product of it all but, it is not my main reason, just an added plus. I would happily go completely bio degradable fishing but not many would.

 

[John Aston]

Yes I understand, but does that thinking cause more waist put into the environment The tackle may be cheap but it is all throw away isn't it ?

I've only thrown away poor , outdated and obsolete tackle . For at least 20 years it has been far , far harder to buy bad gear than it was when I was a child . Hence I discard far less now than ever before.

 

[no-one in particular]

I've only thrown away poor , outdated and obsolete tackle . For at least 20 years it has been far , far harder to buy bad gear than it was when I was a child . Hence I discard far less now than ever before.

Where will it end up one day?

 

[Old fisher]

Certainly, something that to me is a good by product of it all but, it is not my main reason, just an added plus. I would happily go completely bio degradable fishing but not many would.

Hi Mark. Thanks for the reply. I will add to my original post that most of the time I use modern tackle. I've got Greys Aircurve rods Daiwa carbon rods Shimano Baitrunners Daiwa Emblem Br 25a reels, rod pods, sets of electric bite alarms and everything modern as well. But I don't feel the need to throw the old kit away. The thing with the older reels etc. is that most are repairable quite easily. I've had many carp on both carbon and cane rods but on most occasions catching them on the cane is more enjoyable. The one drawback with cane is they will not cast a 4oz lead a hundred and fifty yards, but the feel they have in the hand bending all the way down the handle is quite something and I've had commons up to 32lbs on canes and 30lbs on carbon fishing close to snags when hook and hold tactics were needed. In the past I've fished with friends who have used one or more of my split cane rods and two of them actually made the remarks that sometime they would like to get their own cane rod.

 

[sam vimes]

I don't assume that new and/or more expensive is automatically better. I know full well it is often not the case. It's a fairly lazy assumption to suggest that everyone buying a new item will always believe it to be superior to whatever came before. However, elevating everything old to a status it doesn't deserve, simply because it is old, is equally nonsensical.

The inability to maintain or repair modern products is a sign of the times. However, many modern items are rarely made to be repairable in the longer term. No one in their right mind is going to spend almost as much on a repair as an item is worth or costs to replace. However, most anglers I know will repair tackle where it's possible to do so. Most don't throw a rod away because of a damaged ring, not unless the rod was really cheap to start with. It's a similar story with reels. If parts are actually available and can be bought and fitted for a fraction of the price to replace the reel, people will do it. However, parts often aren't available. When they are, they can be eyewateringly expensive. Adding the expense of paying someone that knows what they're doing to effect the repair sees costs rising dramatically. If the reel cost fifty quid five years back, and is going to cost thirty five quid (postage, materials and labour), most would just buy a new reel.

 

[mikench]

Generally as consumerism has been promoted and adopted to the detriment of the planet , many items are designed and built to have a finite and short lifespan. Many of those items did not exist in the halcyon days of the OP and those of a similar vintage including me. I am thinking of phones, computers, tablets, audio equipment, white goods and many others. Other items like cars are different and infinitely superior in every way to the rubbish made 40 and 50 years ago. They are safer and ,generally, built to last. Who remembers cross ply tyres and drum brakes.

I cannot really comment on fishing tackle except to say having only started coarse fishing 5 years ago , I deliberately set about buying older rods of the 90's and Noughties such as Normark, Amorphous Whiskers, Shimano Antares, Hardy and a few others. Their build quality is on a par with new rods and they compare as well in action and fitness for purpose as any. I do have many newer rods too but no old reels. In truth anything with rotors , gears, water ingress and mechanical use will fail and / or wear out. I possess some 40 year old audio gear( Thorens, Linn, Mission etc) which betters most made today and remain much in demand. High end stuff today even has valves.

Nobody needed designer clothes and accessories 50 years ago made for peanuts and sold for silly prices to the gullible. If I wanted a quality watch I wouldn't buy one from a clothes designer or perfume manufacturer .

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.

 

[no-one in particular]

bbb

Hi Mark. Thanks for the reply. I will add to my original post that most of the time I use modern tackle. I've got Greys Aircurve rods Daiwa carbon rods Shimano Baitrunners Daiwa Emblem Br 25a reels, rod pods, sets of electric bite alarms and everything modern as well. But I don't feel the need to throw the old kit away. The thing with the older reels etc. is that most are repairable quite easily. I've had many carp on both carbon and cane rods but on most occasions catching them on the cane is more enjoyable. The one drawback with cane is they will not cast a 4oz lead a hundred and fifty yards, but the feel they have in the hand bending all the way down the handle is quite something and I've had commons up to 32lbs on canes and 30lbs on carbon fishing close to snags when hook and hold tactics were needed. In the past I've fished with friends who have used one or more of my split cane rods and two of them actually made the remarks that sometime they would like to get their own cane rod.

Its all about horses for courses, if I find something works and works well then that is all I need to know, other considerations are costs and aesthetics, if they tick boxes it's a plus. I don't despise modern gear, not at all although the environmental issue is something to consider. Most of my fishing these days is general pleasure, not likely to catch anything over 5 or 6lb. It wouldn't suit any kind of specialized fishing and I wouldn't try to make it.

 

[markcw]

I am not nostalgic at all for any of my past fishing gear. I like buying it as a hobby, I enjoy doing it up if necessary and selling it on when required and make a profit. I think some of it was very well made and still does a good job so, I use some of it to fish with. I enjoy seeing how it still performs and make comparisons with my modern gear. And a lot of it I still get very cheap, look in the right places and I can pick up some real bargains. The rod and reel I used last time cost me about £15 and it performed perfectly and I caught and landed a nice chub of about 4lb. Its just another whole side of angling apart from anything else that I get a lot of enjoyment from. I am not trying to prove a point of any sort, just what I enjoy, if I can impart that to anyone else and they enjoy it as well then that is no harm done.

I have picked some bagains up in these antique and collectors warehouses ,where the sellers have little units all over the place .
The two main ones I use in the North West are Dagfields near Nantwich and Bygone Times near Wrightington . I tried Botany Bay on the banks of Leeds Liverpool canal , I wasn't impressed with that one .
Two good bargains I got were.
1) A Daiwa seatbox ( similar style to the Shakespeare abs box,)
In it were bits and bobs,a couple of reels that Argos sold and lo and behold a Mitchell 410 with 3 spools in Mitchell spool cases .
The price £20.
I gave the Argos reels away, sold the box for £20 and the reel for £40.

2) I saw a rod that was marked as Daiwa rod and reel.
The rod was a fibreglass one,
The reel was a C.A.P Mitchell. I can't remember the number .
I gave the rod to a junior angler ,
Sold the reel £30
Price of rod and reel .... £10

 

[Old fisher]

I don't assume that new and/or more expensive is automatically better. I know full well it is often not the case. It's a fairly lazy assumption to suggest that everyone buying a new item will always believe it to be superior to whatever came before. However, elevating everything old to a status it doesn't deserve, simply because it is old, is equally nonsensical.

The inability to maintain or repair modern products is a sign of the times. However, many modern items are rarely made to be repairable in the longer term. No one in their right mind is going to spend almost as much on a repair as an item is worth or costs to replace. However, most anglers I know will repair tackle where it's possible to do so. Most don't throw a rod away because of a damaged ring, not unless the rod was really cheap to start with. It's a similar story with reels. If parts are actually available and can be bought and fitted for a fraction of the price to replace the reel, people will do it. However, parts often aren't available. When they are, they can be eyewateringly expensive. Adding the expense of paying someone that knows what they're doing to effect the repair sees costs rising dramatically. If the reel cost fifty quid five years back, and is going to cost thirty five quid (postage, materials and labour), most would just buy a new reel.

Hi. I am just really trying to find out why we are all (me included) throwing away so many items in life. Surely we must all try to reduce our throw away items by re using some of the items. It seems it is a very hard thing to do as whenever I go fishing there are so many items of fishing related things in the reeds, bushes or floating in the water and people say they get rid of old rods and reels but where do they all go to.

 

[steve2]

With most of my fishing days behind me and years of experience I would say that no new tackle would catch me more than the older stuff I have in the shed.

In years to come time, all the tackle we all now own will no matter how modern it is now will end up unwanted in a land fill site. But vintage tackle from the past will still have a value with collectors.

 

[no-one in particular]

Hi. I am just really trying to find out why we are all (me included) throwing away so many items in life. Surely we must all try to reduce our throw away items by re using some of the items. It seems it is a very hard thing to do as whenever I go fishing there are so many items of fishing related things in the reeds, bushes or floating in the water and people say they get rid of old rods and reels but where do they all go to.

I see enough old rods and reels on skips, I rescue them if they are any good. I had a whole box of 15unused lures once, good ones as well, not cheap, about 3 beach-casters, two excellent class 1 boats rods that only needed new tip rings, about 4 carp rods of very good qulaity, several other bits and bobs, a few reels. It is all sitting in my collection. House clearance places is where a lot of it ends up and if it doesn't get sold I am sure it ends up on tips.
This stuff must last 500 years and I am sure pretty much most of it will end up on a landfill somewhere in its life where it will break down and end up as particles in the land or sea.

 

[no-one in particular]

Where will it end up one day?

 

[David Gane]

Trends come and go. It's in their definition. I was reflecting just yesterday on how it will only now be a few short years before we are all looking back on things like diesel engines with a mixture of horror and nostalgia. I think it will be the same with consumerism, which is what you are describing here. We simply won't have the resources or raw materials to continue as we do now now and climate change will force us to reconsider everything we do do. People will still have new technology, but they will expect to repair again rather than replace and the "throw-away" mentality will become socially unacceptable.

What I think worries me more is the high level of selfishness that has crept into the world. So many people refuse to do things that are in the common good because they are not prepared to compromise over what they want and take, and so many others are always ready to take up the slack left by someone else's altruism. Short-term, these people actually gain advantage from what they do, and as they live in the "here and now" there is little incentive for them to change. It actually makes me feel very pessimistic for the future of the planet.

 

[mikench]

Whilst I have little sentiment for the latest groups of protesters blocking roads and annoying everybody including me, I reluctantly accept that their cause is at least brought to our attention and whilst I do not condone their tactics, I am forced to admit that a letter to the powers that be from " Disgruntled " of Tonbridge Wells will have nothing like the impact. I worry about electric vehicles and where all the electricity to power them is going to come from and at what cost to the environment.