Opinion Piece – Moans from Marlow’s Meldrew

Opinion Piece – Moans from Marlow’s Meldrew, Jeff Woodhouse

For Keep’s Sake!

There are some manufacturers that fit them as standard and occasionally the types they use are quite ingenious, such as the ones on Preston and Korum rods that fold away. When I find it most irritating is when they’re missing from spinning and baitcasting rods. Here they are not only a desirable feature, they are indispensable!

The keeper ring on a Preston Innovations rod

Well, the manufacturers obviously don’t think they are because many leave them off. So you are left hooking one of the trebles of a big Creek Chub Pikie lure through one of the legs of the butt guide. How stupid is that!

How many times do you hear the sound advice – “Do not attach the hook through the rod’s eyes.”? It even comes from manufacturers not to attach the hook to the eye as it can damage the liner and this can cause fraying to your line. So what are you supposed to do with your lure when you don’t provide me with a keeper ring, Mr Manufacturer?

Can you see now how this drives me absolutely insane? What can it cost to whip a small loop onto the rod – pennies? The cost if you do crack a line guide and have to have it replaced is pounds! It’s spoiling the ship for a ha’perth of tar, that’s all.

However, I am not the sort of writer to moan about something and leave readers out there feeling as angry and frustrated as me about the very same situation. I have found a solution, not perfect by any means, but a solution nonetheless and one that holds a hidden benefit.

Behold – The Improvised Keeper Ring!

They’re simple electricians cable ties with what is called a ‘screw mount’ attached, a small ring to fix with a screw. Even trying to find them led to another round of disappointments and blood-boiling rages.

My first call was at a local supplier to the trade, no less, not your normal B&Q shop. This ‘Lurch’ character eventually presented itself at the Trade Counter and I asked for “Black, screw mount cable ties, 4.8mm wide and I’m not too worried about length.” “Oh yeh, I seem to remember seein’ som’ink like that. They were called ….. Oh, what was it …. (5 mins later) … Nah, can’t remember ’em.” “Never mind.” I said “It’s October, I’ll need to put Christmas dinner on soon.” And promptly left the shop.

Back at home I had found some on the internet! Rather pricey with the VAT, delivery and all, £ 6.86, but that was 100. Placed the order and then I got an email FOUR days later to the effect that they were out of stock and since there was no demand they didn’t want to reorder. MANY THANKS!

Another search (why didn’t I try here in the first place?) on good old eBay revealed a company with loads of them. Different widths, different lengths, black or natural, wonderful! Some 4.8mm wide ones were on auction ending in 6+ days and some 7mm were on ‘Buy-it-now’ and the prices were really keen.

I contacted them and asked if they could supply some 4.8mm on ‘Buy-it-now’ and got an immediate answer offering to sell them at their starting bid! So I bought some 4.8’s and some 7mm in case the others might be too small. They arrived the very next day and here is what they look like fitted –

The improvised keeper ring

The added benefit as you can see is that they keep the lure away from the rod and are then less likely to scratch the blank’s nice finish. Okay, so it’s not the perfect solution, but far, far better than sticking the lure’s hooks in the leg of the butt ring! So there you have it and I’m now selling these as ‘Improvised Keeper Rings’ in packs of 5 for £ 1.00 each plus 50p P&P and this time next year I’ll be a millionaire.

The Way to Sell More Line?

So why do we have this current trend of putting 150 metres of line on a spool? It’s far too long for normal float and feeder fishing or even lure fishing. All you need on any reel for float fishing is 50 yards and on a spool for feeder fishing, 100 yards maximum (70 for the cast and a bit to play with).

It wouldn’t be so bad if they labelled it “50% FREE”, everyone likes something for free (note: ‘Free’ and ‘Sex’ are the two most eye-catching words in advertising!). The trouble is, the extra 50 yards isn’t free, you pay for it. Why can’t they put markers, pieces of loose paper that fall out when released, in the winding at 50yards and 100yards then you can load a centrepin 3 times or use the line on one fixed spool for feeder fishing and on another for float fishing?

150m lines

Oh no! Because then you will buy less line and that’s not the point at all. The idea is you can’t be bothered so you wind on the whole lot or as much as you need to fill the spool and then – throw away the rest? Well, here’s my mathematical answer to work out how much you need and then convert that into turns of the handle of your reel.

Holding a ruler against the spool to roughly calculate the diameter of your spool where the winding is to go, let’s say 4cms. Now work out the circumference by multiplying that diameter by 3.14 (3.14 being close enough for Pi) and that will give you a circumference of 12.56cms.

Now multiply that by the ratio on your reel, let’s say 4.8/1, this gives you 60.288cms per turn of the handle which in our case is very close to 2ft. So three turns of the handle will lay 2yds of line on the spool and 75 turns will put almost 50yds of line on the spool. Now you can get three loadings of line on a spool for float fishing out of your 150 metres spool with a little left over in case you miss a count.

Is this too much mathematics for you? Do like I did with the braid then, put a bankstick in the ground at one end of the garden, measure out 15 yards and place another bankstick. Tie one end of the braid to one bankstick and go around them both so there’s 5 layers (less or more if you like) of line or 75 yards.

Cut the line off the spool and also off the bankstick you initially tied it to and now wind it onto your chosen reel. Simple, you now have 75 yards of braid on your reel, 75 yards left on the spool for use again and 75 yards is all you will need for spinning and lure fishing. This is YOUR money I am saving, don’t let the line manufacturers have it!

Customer Care?

It’s nice when someone does give you something for a review and I honestly do think that is very wise of them considering the exposure their product will get for the outlay involved. For me, most of the items I have reviewed I have had to purchase, many a time I have won an auction on eBay. What I do look for is the manufacturer’s to supply a quality picture of the item and their permission to use it in the review.

Through this I have built up some contacts, but you wouldn’t believe how difficult it is with many of them. All I am asking for is A) information, B) a picture, and C) permission to use it and for that they get a page on FM’s website telling you what the item is like. It costs them absolutely nothing so how beneficial is that?

A few years ago I almost became an importer of tackle myself and the first thing I realized was the power of the media especially when you send them an item for review. How much would you think a portion of a page of advertising costs, what a review amounts to, on a website or in a magazine? I don’t know either, but I do know what the ‘Factory Gate’ price of some equipment is and I can tell you that the exchange is bloody good value for money on their part.

So, manufacturers, get sending Graham some more gear!

However, all that I am dealing with here is a picture, a JPEG, and permission and a bit of info to go alongside it. I have already bought it in most cases! There are also a couple of cases pending as I write where I have asked for information about the product before I buy to ensure that it is what I want. Like you, I don’t want to waste my money.

Do I get a response? I might as well whistle up a wall.

Yet, on more than one occasion I have done the very same with American shops and manufacturers and, you bet, a response came back within hours with all the info I needed. There’s a lot that I can criticise Americans for, but on Public Relations and customer care they are absolutely first class! The customer is always a priority in their eyes and they have a saying “Every sale leads to another sale.” So if you let down one, you could be letting down a chain of several sales.

Whereas people (young kids you might call them, but at 30 and 40 and more?) in business in this country need a damned good lesson teaching to them. That being, when a customer says “Jump.”, DO IT! Don’t argue the toss with him or make him wait.

I swear this lack of customer care is what gives Britain a bad name these days. Too many businesses pay only lip service to the words ‘Customer Care’. Emails that are left unanswered, phones left to ring until you hang up, letters that just end up in the ’round file’ or shredded for the next paper collection. Doesn’t anyone give a toss?

On websites, why give out an email address that doesn’t work? Why is there no direct phone link to whoever is responsible? Why is it that managers hide being rows of ‘advisors’ these days and won’t speak direct with Mr Angry from Marlow?

This video clip is well worth watching:

WHY DOES NO-ONE LISTEN? … LISTEN? … LISTEN? … LISTEN? …

Well, that’s just about wound my blood pressure up even more now. I think a session of contemplative yoga is on the cards this afternoon, or maybe a spot of fishing.