Not happy with cheap tackle

[ratchet]

i agree with budgie there is a lot of cheap tackle out there rebranded with a "name" and sold on at silly prices.there is also a lot of rod blanks under british "names" now being made in the far east for a fraction of the cost but still sold at the "made in britain price" yes they do look the same but with very little quality control in these countries its a lucky dip if you get a good one or a c**p one

[chesters1]

very little is actually "made" in Britain ,Intrepid reels under morritt were "realy" made in britain EVERY part cast or drilled in one place and this ultimatly led to their downfall ,the reels were no problem but later hooks and rods were made as well ,everyone knows that the best makers of rods are rod builders and the factory at Falmouth suddenly had to manufacture rods and hooks etc even though they had no experience in doing so ,so you ended up with tackle although servicable wasn`t much cop and people judge by experience and if the experience isnt up to much its gets about and then the trade name is sullied (i used a Intrepid float rod the other day and was surprised it was quite good ).

As for "made" in britain its very little, we "assemble" goods whose parts are made elsewhere cheaper and to an extent better than we can ,labour is the key and the cost of it the parts are a small cost ,whilst we the "Brits" invented everything we didnt go any further its called the British Disease and led to the downfall of Britain as a manufacturing country just as it did to Intrepid and hundreds of thousands of other "British" companies .

i suspect the amoungnt of real "British" companies are also just a handfull in reality as bigger and more profitable companies buy them out purely for the tradename and to an extent stop the competition ,whilst "names" like Fox etc DO sell expensive goods it also ties them to quality ,if the quality drops then it very soon gets noticed and their premium (the bit of profit they can get extra using their name)in the cost gets eaten away untill they become themselves budget tackle sellers .

even the mighty Shimano now are slowly dropping down the ratings their once unbeatable reels being made in the exact same factories as the budget ones and hence usually to the same machine tolerences .once a top class reel now a so so one .

the only way out of the pit is improvisation ,make it better and it sells sit on your hands and watch the compeditors outsell you with an equivelent item and as Intrepid its downfhill from there.

the budget reels are just that BUDGET you dont expect them to last and they certainly wont you rarely get cheap quality

 

[ 27. July 2004, 08:58 PM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]

[Bradford Angler]

Gazhilla:

although rated for a 5lb line it just did not have the power to turn even 4-5lb carp.

hmmmm . . got to argue on this one lads .. any rod blank can be made to stop a 5lb carp . . are the fish you are talking about foul hooked maybe or in snaggy area. The skill to using a rod is about knowing how much pain it can take . . it is very difficult to break a rod when playing a fish unless you have done something really daft. Two things to remember

 

As the rod goes through it's curve, one side is compressed and the other side is under tension. this works for both rods and poles . . get a pole above or passed your head and you will be in trouble . . the material will work differently and the outcome will be pretty unimpressive. However rods are designed for this function and distribute the stress accordingly through part or the whole action of the rod.

 

With any rod the knack is "if required" is to bring the rod right around to your side parrallel to the ground and feel for the fish giving ..

The amount of effort put in depends greatly on the angler not so much the rod . . keith arthur and Will Raison both catch relatively decent fish on the days at white acres on other peoples tackle . . tackle they personally would not entertain to purchase . . but still they get them in.

 

A master of this action to be found on the web and angling mags is Will Raison and see how he treats the 17-20 Daiwa long rod . . yes the blank is different and a different composition . . but it is the method that is important . . so long as it can take the pain and you have the nerve to put it through it. .

[Pangolin]

When I say the rod couldn't turn a six pound carp, what I meant was that it had 180 degrees of bend in it: once you have that, there's nothing more you can do to apply more pressure. The main problem with the rod, though, is its inability to let the line run free. It is incredibly frustrating to have your float swinging just out of reach and being unable to let out line to drop it into your hand. It's equally frustrating to make a good cast, and not be able to free the line to allow you to put the rod onto a rest. I went fishing today without either that rod or that reel!

 

[ 27. July 2004, 11:13 PM: Message edited by: Pangolin ]

[poledark]

Pangolin, was the rod sold as a "float fishing" rod? If so it should have had standoff rings.

 

If you bought it as a "float rod" then you should have checked out the rings.

 

If you did not know that float rods need standoff rings then you have learnt the hard way.

 

Re "stopping the fish", there are times when you just have to hang on and hope palm of hand around the spool and give it some welly

 

Den

[Pangolin]

You're right, Den: I've learned the hard way. I listened to the tackle dealer's advice. I did ask for a general purpose float rod to replace my fibreglass ones (from the 1970s), because I was afraid that if I hooked a big fish it might break them.

None of the rods looked, or felt, like the ones I was replacing. I expect the dealer had a bigger margin on the Ron Thompson than on the 'Leeda Assassin' I was interested in at first.

Looking at other Okuma reels, I notice that many have a much bigger drag adjuster than the Interceptor. Of the reels I've bought, this year, I'm happiest with the ABU-Garcia Cardinal (which nobody else seems to rate at all). It cost me £21: a 'reel bargain', you might say....

[fishtec1312]

very little is actually "made" in Britain ,Intrepid reels under morritt were "realy" made in britain EVERY part cast or drilled in one place and this ultimatly led to their downfall ,the reels were no problem but later hooks and rods were made as well ,everyone knows that the best makers of rods are rod builders and the factory at Falmouth suddenly had to manufacture rods and hooks etc even though they had no experience in doing so ,so you ended up with tackle although servicable wasn`t much cop and people judge by experience and if the experience isnt up to much its gets about and then the trade name is sullied (i used a Intrepid float rod the other day and was surprised it was quite good ).

As for "made" in britain its very little, we "assemble" goods whose parts are made elsewhere cheaper and to an extent better than we can ,labour is the key and the cost of it the parts are a small cost ,whilst we the "Brits" invented everything we didnt go any further its called the British Disease and led to the downfall of Britain as a manufacturing country just as it did to Intrepid and hundreds of thousands of other "British" companies .

i suspect the amoungnt of real "British" companies are also just a handfull in reality as bigger and more profitable companies buy them out purely for the tradename and to an extent stop the competition ,whilst "names" like Fox etc DO sell expensive goods it also ties them to quality ,if the quality drops then it very soon gets noticed and their premium (the bit of profit they can get extra using their name)in the cost gets eaten away untill they become themselves budget tackle sellers .

even the mighty Shimano now are slowly dropping down the ratings their once unbeatable reels being made in the exact same factories as the budget ones and hence usually to the same machine tolerences .once a top class reel now a so so one .

the only way out of the pit is improvisation ,make it better and it sells sit on your hands and watch the compeditors outsell you with an equivelent item and as Intrepid its downfhill from there.

the budget reels are just that BUDGET you dont expect them to last and they certainly wont you rarely get cheap quality

 

<small>[ 27. July 2004, 08:58 PM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]</small>

even on ebay you can be fooled,a couple of years ago 3x harrisons,built to spec ,i asked are they the same action,they were all 3.25tc.the answer came back yes,yes what .by the time i could send a question and reply theyed be gone ,so i bought them ,saved a packet ,but the guy was selling for a mate i later found out.i woulnt recom doing that much ,if at all