Rods, Reels & Poles

Blink And You’ll Miss It!

Match Fishing magazine’s chief sub editor David Haynes recounts a tale of loss, and rejoices at the return of a faithful friend.

After doing this fishing stuff for a good many years you think you pretty much know what to do and what not to do, until something comes along and catches you out… In a match at the famous Glebe fishery recently I should have been prepared for the ferocity of some of the carp bites – I’ve seen the tip go round here a few times before, and I know that when they want the bait they take it… and how! I was fishing a bomb and pellet at a gentle lob’s distance, and having cast out and set the rod in the rest I turned round on my seatbox to reach something behind me. I wasn’t clipped up and the clutch on my Team Daiwa 3012D reel was set lightly, so I was a little confused by the splashy gurgling noise coming from where my rod had just been.

Spinning round, I saw it bounce into the lake and motor off away from me. Grabbing a feeder rod setup I cast that over the top and straightaway snagged the line… then the feeder pinged off it and the bomb rod silently disappeared beneath the waves, towed off like the string of barrels behind the big shark in ‘Jaws’. Like Quint, I scanned the water and waited for it to reappear but… nothing. It was gone. Walking round the small lake (trying not to disturb the other anglers, who were all now aware of my plight) I could see no sign of it. More casting around, hoping to again snag the rod, resulted in nothing. I had lost it.

My fishing continued half-heartedly; I was confused – how had it happened? Why had the clutch not given line on the ferocious bite? And then a shout came from down the lake: “I think I might have hooked your rod!”

One of my friends had gone solid on an unseen snag on the far bank, three pegs down. By walking around the end of the lake with his rod high he managed to get right on top of it, and it started to come towards him.

Racing to his side, a tangle of line came up first and slowly the rod tip appeared from beneath the waves, like Excalibur rising from the lake. The carp had long gone, no doubt laughing at me, but there were the rod and reel. A quick inspection revealed the wind must have somehow blown the line around the spool, completely negating the clutch and meaning I was fishing, in effect, locked up.

Imagining I could simply retackle and carry on I did just that, but the next carp highlighted that there was a new problem. The reel simply didn’t feel right when winding in under pressure.

A second outing when it had dried out confirmed this. It felt fine when spinning it round at home, but with a weight on the end it was ‘off’. It must have been damaged on its underwater tour. What to do?

Contacting Daiwa I was advised to send the reel to Ernie Scholefield at the Service & Spares department up in Scotland. He would sort it for me. After packing it up with an explanatory letter it was posted on a Friday afternoon, after which I resigned myself to waiting weeks for it.

However, the following Monday I received an e-mail from Ernie telling me they had received the reel and a chap called Barry had diagnosed the problem, replaced the necessary parts, cleaned and serviced the reel and it would be posted back to me the next day.

Wow, that’s pretty good service. It’s not the latest, bells-and-whistles, top-of-the-range, hyper-expensive reel by any means, but it’s my reel, I like it and it’s caught me a few fish in the past – this was great news, and meant I would have it back in time for my next match. Such great service in today’s throwaway world is certainly to be commended, and at a fraction of the cost of replacing with a new reel.

When I excitedly opened the packaging on the Wednesday it was like unwrapping a brand-new reel, and to say it felt better would be an understatement. Thanks Ernie, and thanks Barry – it’s good to have it back, and I can’t wait to strap it back on the old faithful bomb rod and get among the Glebe carp again. However, just like in Jaws – “we’re going to need a bigger boat!” – I’ve changed my approach and tooled up accordingly, and this time I’ll be going equipped with a big, tight, grippy rear rod rest…

Daiwa Service & Spares Netherton Industrial Estate, Wishaw, Lanarkshire,
Scotland ML2 0EY

Tel: 01698 357512

E-mail: [email protected]

www.daiwasports.co.uk