Do people still buy fishing sets ?
I ask because I have been answering some questions on the forums from new anglers (to the fly anyway) who are needing some advice about what stuff to buy etc and it made me a bit nostalgic.
I can still remember my first ever “spinning rod” and fly rod – in fact I still have them both stored away. My first “spinning rod” was in fact a coarse fishing tool that I bought as part of a set from a catalog. Nope, not like the fancy fishing magazines you get these days it was probably Littlewoods or something like that. I looked at all the sets you could buy and chose one at random. I did not really have anyone to take advice from and the whole lot probably cost £20 which was a heck of a lot of money 30 years ago or thereabouts. It did not even have a cork handle, it was a plastic handle and I think was around 10 feet long. it was good for catching small Jack pike on the canal as I could get past all the reeds.
My first fly rod was bought in Morcombe near Blackpool and as I did not have a scooby what I was doing tried to catch a flounder with a weird bee imitation. It did not end well. I do still have that reel and line in my loft actually.
Not fly gear, but I have bought a couple of ludicrously cheap sets in the last couple of years, both from Decathlon. The first was a 6 foot telescopic spinning kit, costing all of £10 as a first rod for my son. Certainly not fancy, but it happily landed a 4 pound Bavarian trout, so I won’t call it rubbish. I picked up a 4 metre telescopic carp / beach affair, with reel from Decathlon too. Cost me all of 10 Euros in France and it costs about the same here. Highly serviceable and casts like a mad thing. Ideal for pursuit of the recalcitrant sea bream of mediterranean shores.