Broken blues

UNLESS I’m fishing close enough to home to nip back in a crisis, I’ll always take two rods.

The thinking is that it’s a bad day when you break one – but a disaster if there’s fish to be caught and you haven’t got a spare.

Twice this year I was glad of a second rod.

The first time was when I was spinning for sea trout down the coast, using braid – which will twist and ball up now and again no matter how good your swivels are.

Exactly that happened and as I wound in, I saw a big knot heading for the tip ring.

Bigger than I thought – for as I tried to yank it through to bring it down near the reel and untangle it, the top joint of the rod snapped.

Now, I was less than pleased and may have said some bad words.

But I had a fly rod with me – so I set it up and was soon into a nice fish that saved the day. It probably wouldn’t have taken a lure anyway.

Another day, I was out on the river for brownies and as usual, I had at 10ft rod and an 8ft rod, both four-weights.

I use the longer rod to search the water with nymphs and wets until I see a rising fish, then I’ve got the LIVINGSTON angler Iain Kelly caught this 9lb 3oz brown trout on a size 16 Black Pennell and 5lb leader at Carbeth fishery. It’s his biggest catch to date in 30 years of fishing.

Congratulations Iain, you will shortly be receiving your fantastic prize courtesy of top tackle makers Diawa, our Fish of the Week sponsors. shorter rod ready to float a dry fly over it. On this day, I was doing well with wee black wets and bugs until I caught the rod tip in a tree branch as I made my way through some woods.

Snap. Sweary words. This was quite a nice rod and I was gutted. But again I had a spare and just at that moment, I spotted a rise.

It was the first of many and I caught a good few trout that day, none of which I’d have got if I’d only had the one rod.

But those weren’t the only rods I broke this year. Oh no. I had a fantastic 9ft sixweight that I’d got for near half price when the makers replaced it with a new model – and I loved that rod.

But so did my cat, who managed to chew off the top six inches, God knows how.

Now, with the first two rods, I’d asked about new tip sections but they were out of production and the manufacturers couldn’t help.

No such problems with the third rod, by none other than top tackle makers Diawa, our fish of the week sponsors.

A quick jaunt to their Wishaw factory and I was back in business.

And because I’d bought the rod new, it was still under warranty – so I got the tip section for just a few quid, saving me throwing out one of the best rods I’ve ever had.

The people at Diawa were brilliant too. Add in the fact that you’re supporting Scottish jobs in the angling industry, and the next time I’m buying tackle, I’ll need a really good reason before I look at any other brand.