When I was young

[sam vimes]

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 can't speak for anyone else, but I don't throw fishing gear away at all. However, I very rarely break anything. I very rarely batter anything into submission. I tend to buy things that last and look after them to ensure that they do. If I stop using an item, because it's replaced or circumstances change, it's either given away, sold, or hoarded. I can only recall binning two reels in about forty years. I don't recall binning any rod at all, even the odd broken one.

I'm probably not typical, and I make no claim to be a paragon. What applies to fishing gear doesn't necessarily apply to the rest of my life. A make do and mend philosophy is simply not possible in the face of modern manufacturing. However, consumerism is part of the modern world. Only when items become prohibitively expensive, and/or spares become inexpensive and widely available, will a great deal change. I rather think it will happen eventually. The make do and mend philosophy will eventually return to the world of consumer goods. How long that takes is anyone's guess. It's not likely to change as long as repairing items is less cost effective than buying new.

My career was in the repair of electronic items. I ended up disillusioned with it when it went from actually repairing things to replacing whole boards/units. Paying a tech to actually repair something just wasn't cost effective. Neither was training the individual to the required level to be capable of doing such a repair. I ended up as an expensive anachronism in a job I ended up hating.

 

[The bad one]

To the question about repairing stuff, I’m the son of an engineer! Does it really need any further explanation?
I was taught to think, work things out and be creative.
Something very lacking in a lot of modern-day so-called Anglers.

A “GOOD” rod or real will always be a good item of tackle and do the job it was made for no matter how old it is. What it won’t do if its 1.75lb TC rod for instance, is cast a 4 oz lead into the next country.
Nope, you need some sort of ugly stick of 3.50 lb and above to do that and in the nostalgic days they just weren’t made. A 1.75 TC old rod will cast comfortably 60 + yard and as accurately as the user is. Playing fish very well and comparable to the super duper loads of money made in China modern rods.
What many anglers don’t realise or understand is there are only three types of taper to a blank - Fast, Medium and Slow tapers. All the rest are a variation of them.

 

[steve2]

I doubt very much we will go back to repairing things the costs are too great and few are being trained to fix them.
I recently watched a programme about electric cars. There are not people being trained to fix these because of the power storage it seems need to be a car mechanic trained in electrical engineering to fix them.

To the question about repairing stuff, I’m the son of an engineer! Does it really need any further explanation?
I was taught to think, work things out and be creative.
Something very lacking in a lot of modern-day so-called Anglers.

A “GOOD” rod or real will always be a good item of tackle and do the job it was made for no matter how old it is. What it won’t do if its 1.75lb TC rod for instance, is cast a 4 oz lead into the next country.
Nope, you need some sort of ugly stick of 3.50 lb and above to do that and in the nostalgic days they just weren’t made. A 1.75 TC old rod will cast comfortably 60 + yard and as accurately as the user is. Playing fish very well and comparable to the super duper loads of money made in China modern rods.
What many anglers don’t realise or understand is there are only three types of taper to a blank - Fast, Medium and Slow tapers. All the rest are a variation of them.

The only reason you need to cast into the next county with powerful tackle is because the "experts" and tackle dealers have convinced many that you need to it to catch carp. Even if your lake is only 100 yards wide and you can cast that with an ounce or less.
Give me a nice through action rod any day, a joy to use, unlike many of todays pokers.

 

[Old fisher]

bbb

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.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I don't throw fishing gear away at all. However, I very rarely break anything. I very rarely batter anything into submission. I tend to buy things that last and look after them to ensure that they do. If I stop using an item, because it's replaced or circumstances change, it's either given away, sold, or hoarded. I can only recall binning two reels in about forty years. I don't recall binning any rod at all, even the odd broken one.

I'm probably not typical, and I make no claim to be a paragon. What applies to fishing gear doesn't necessarily apply to the rest of my life. A make do and mend philosophy is simply not possible in the face of modern manufacturing. However, consumerism is part of the modern world. Only when items become prohibitively expensive, and/or spares become inexpensive and widely available, will a great deal change. I rather think it will happen eventually. The make do and mend philosophy will eventually return to the world of consumer goods. How long that takes is anyone's guess. It's not likely to change as long as repairing items is less cost effective than buying new.

My career was in the repair of electronic items. I ended up disillusioned with it when it went from actually repairing things to replacing whole boards/units. Paying a tech to actually repair something just wasn't cost effective. Neither was training the individual to the required level to be capable of doing such a repair. I ended up as an expensive anachronism in a job I ended up hating.

Hi Sam. Great contribution to the post. Thanks I'm no great instigator, I just wanted to get members opinions on the subject

 

[Old fisher]

I doubt very much we will go back to repairing things the costs are too great and few are being trained to fix them.
I recently watched a programme about electric cars. There are not people being trained to fix these because of the power storage it seems need to be a car mechanic trained in electrical engineering to fix them.

The only reason you need to cast into the next county with powerful tackle is because the "experts" and tackle dealers have convinced many that you need to it to catch carp. Even if your lake is only 100 yards wide and you can cast that with an ounce or less.
Give me a nice through action rod any day, a joy to use, unlike many of todays pokers.

Hi steve2 I know I use cane rods at times and other anglers do also, I am not saying they are better all round than modern rods but they are in the right situation a joy to use, and also when they do reach the end of the line ( no pun intended) they are to the most part bio degradable

 

[Old fisher]

To the question about repairing stuff, I’m the son of an engineer! Does it really need any further explanation?
I was taught to think, work things out and be creative.
Something very lacking in a lot of modern-day so-called Anglers.

A “GOOD” rod or real will always be a good item of tackle and do the job it was made for no matter how old it is. What it won’t do if its 1.75lb TC rod for instance, is cast a 4 oz lead into the next country.
Nope, you need some sort of ugly stick of 3.50 lb and above to do that and in the nostalgic days they just weren’t made. A 1.75 TC old rod will cast comfortably 60 + yard and as accurately as the user is. Playing fish very well and comparable to the super duper loads of money made in China modern rods.
What many anglers don’t realise or understand is there are only three types of taper to a blank - Fast, Medium and Slow tapers. All the rest are a variation of them.

Well said ! You mention China. Bat flu is about the only thing to come out of china that's lasted longer than a week

 

[nottskev]

I don't think OF was aiming to tell us old tackle was better or any such thing. I think he was saying something else.
Although my parents provided everything we could need (if not want) for my sister and myself, they did it via their own hard work, abstemiousness and ingenuity, having arrived here from Ireland, separately, with only hand luggage. There was always an old, battered bench seat in the garage, hacked about and showing several different paint colours. My dad never mentioned, til I asked, that he made the seat when, just married, they rented an unfurnished cottage on a farm. I sat on the seat, he told me, and your mum sat on my knee. Over the years til I left home, I saw him design and install first coke then gas central heating single-handedly, drop out and change the engine in a car on the drive, make furniture, tailor adjustments to clothes with an old Singer machine, mend shoes, carry out endless DIY to perfectionist standards, build a guitar, even. He'd left the village school at, I think, 13 - the teacher told him he might as well work as he had nothing more to teach him. My mum meanwhile cooked every meal from scratch and baked twice a week. We ate like kings for very little expenditure. Making and repairing was a way of life and an expression of talent and being able to do things with tools and skill a source of pride and self-respect. Of course, as the beneficiary of all this, I grew up not needing to do it. But even though I have only a fraction of their nous in that respect, I haven't capitulated to the throwaway world of today and one sign of that is the fact that I still fish with a well-maintained set of gear from the 90's and regard shopping for endless updates as a mild form of illness. When I retired a couple of years back, I realised the same cheapo Far Eastern radio alarm had woken me up every day of my working life.

 

[nottskev]

I ended up as an expensive anachronism in a job I ended up hating.

Nailed it! My job was nothing like yours Chris - but it got to that point, for different but equivalent reasons.

 

[steve2]

When I cleared my late in laws house we found that they rarely threw anything away that might come in handy, unlike today.
The bulk of this was taken to the local tip I had no use for any of it. I don't resole shoes, mend clothes, mend cars or build things, most of his tools were dumped because no one wanted them. Even his bench saw and band saw along with his lathe ended up in the tip because I couldn't even give them away.
I doubt many repair and make things any more, just throw it away and buy new.

 

[Ray Roberts]

I seem to be on a minority of one with regard to waste. I don’t think the disposal of fishing gear adds up to much in the great scheme of things. General packaging is much more problematical. I ordered three packs of special link swivels from an online dealer last week. They arrived in a huge A4 sized envelope. Anything you order from Amazon comes in massive boxes and envelopes. Stuff from the supermarket is also usually overpackaged. A fishing rod which will probably see at least ten years service is negligible in comparison. It would produce less waste than the average supermarket meal deal.


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[steve2]

Our latest amazon order arrived in a box, inside was a smaller box surrounded by brown packaging. The items in the smaller box were dish clothes. Bit too much packaging I would say.

 

[john step]

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.

The elephant in the room is too many people.

 

[fishface1]

Indeed. We need a proper pandemic.

 

[peterjg]

I have all the ft I want or need so I only buy to replace broken or worn out stuff. Most of my ft is modern but I do love using my Century Armalite mk1 carp rods, a pair of ABU Cardinal 66 reels and two Ariel centrepins.
I still have some glass fishing rods but they are horrible compared to modern carbon rods. Modern hooks and line are vastly better. I do enjoy making bits of ft: floats, swim feeders, landing net, rod rests, bite alarms, etc, etc.

 

[Philip]

Part of the issue is that nowadays things are made to break and be replaced rather than repaired to ensure ongoing business so its not just the anglers but the industry and world as a whole that is to blame for the modern chuck away mentality.

 

[nottskev]

Indeed. We need a proper pandemic.

You volunteering to check out, then?

 

[John Aston]

Where will it end up one day?

As I said I find it hard to buy bad gear now , hence I have far less to discard . But if something has outlived its usefulness , I don't hoard it , but either sell it , give it away to a charity shop or take it to the household waste site. Assuming it is not recyclable , it will ultimately end up generating electricity in the incinerator I spent many tedious hours doing the legal work on , back when I had a day job.

 

[no-one in particular]

As I said I find it hard to buy bad gear now , hence I have far less to discard . But if something has outlived its usefulness , I don't hoard it , but either sell it , give it away to a charity shop or take it to the household waste site. Assuming it is not recyclable , it will ultimately end up generating electricity in the incinerator I spent many tedious hours doing the legal work on , back when I had a day job.

You have your own private incinerator?

 

[fishface1]

You volunteering to check out, then?

Survival of the fittest.

 

[nottskev]

Survival of the fittest.

Watch out. That could mean the smartest.