A FUNNY THING HAPPENED TODAY

[John Harding]

Good evening all,

I added another rod to the collection today and it came about rather strangely. I went to a service centre which is just behind my house to collect my chain saw which has been there for the last couple of weeks. There are two workshops, one for vehicles and one for machinery & tools, I went in through the first one and was told the mechanic was down some steps into the machinery workshop, I duly went down, but on entering I could see the mechanic was out through a door into the yard talking on his mobile phone. His conversation went on for quite some time and after I had browsed all of the various machines, mowers, chain saws etc' I decided to lean against a work bench and after a couple of minuets my eyes wandered towards the steps I had come down and propped up against the wall was quite a large bundle of fishing rods !! Of course I had to have a look didn't I ? there was quite a mixed bunch, some in bags so I don't know what they were, but one caught my eye, it was quite a long section of what looked like Spanish reed. Eventually the mechanic came in and I reclaimed my chain saw and we had a bit of a chat and it turned out that his dad was a chap that I grew up with, so now that I had broken the ice I decided to ask if the rods were his. It turned out that they belonged to a mechanic in the other work shop, who he called over. After another chat in which I explained my interest in rods he said that his wife kept on buying things from Ebay and car boot sales, I asked if he wanted to sell the Spanish reed rod if I could find the top section for it, he said could this be it and pulled out the other section from the bundle. He then said "take it, the wife will never miss it" , I couldn't say no could I ?

The rod is in a bit of a state, it is only a two section rod, Spanish reed bottom section and the top section has two steps down and then has a spliced in split cane final part to it and it has a ferruless joint between the two sections. Some of the rings will need replacing and it is missing a tip ring, the handle is sheet cork which has some sections missing and there is no end cap on the butt, the whippings look as if they were done quite nicely originally. Overall as near as I can measure the rod is 11ft 7" in length, at the most it looks that it has lost less than half an inch off the tip

I suppose in some ways it is hardly worth the bother of restoring it, but I think it is worth a try and if successful it could be a nice rod for the canal.

The rod :-


Hope it's of interest,
Regards, John

[Thameside]

It's strange how you can acquire tackle. I always end up talking about fishing & at my age the person always comes back with a fishing story . Good luck with the restoration.

[Tonkin Wand]

Well found John. If you can invest the time give the old warrior a new life. In the same circumstances I would be off to fish it once even with a temporary top ring tapped on that would make my mine up. Restore or let someone else have a go, bootsale bundles get forgotten or broken by non TFF members. Look forward to the updates! Tony

[Vole]

That's probably a very serious bit of kit, made for a matchman who was prepared to put up with the inconvenience of carrying a six-foot bag for the extra responsiveness and lightness at a time when most rods packed down to four feet, maximum (and most cars were Morris Eights and Austin Sevens) - and probably most anglers travelled by bus or bike.
It should an absolute joy to use! I have a three-piece ferruleless job that I love to use if big fish aren't likely; I risked raising eyebrows by fitting modern, lightweight, match rings and they transformed and liberated the blank. Subsequent custodians can feel free to fit Bell's "Life" rings again, but not I. (Tin helmet on...)
Well rescued; Enjoy!

[Santiago]

Nice find.

[Wallys-Cast]

That sounds like a special rod to me.
If you get time, drop it on the kitchen scales and let us have weight.

Wal.

[Reedling]

I think you have the basis of a rod that will give you a lot of joy in use and probably needs a lot less work than you think. Renovate and use it as rods of that configuration are not that common. I look forward to reading of your progress if you take on the challenge. Go on, do it.

[Pallenpool]

Looks to be a very nice find indeed John - one never knows what will turn up and in most cases a place least expected.
Look forward to a progress report.
Peter

[Dave Burr]

Great find and a great price too. That'll be lovely for roach fishing but for goodness sake, avoid carp waters.