Issue 63 - Recognition

The small red and black Diawa spinning reel that my uncle bought me was a novel piece of equipment. Graciously the man at Robertson’s fishing tackle shop in Glasgow explained how to use and take apart this reel; thereby giving us a clue about its attributes. However, as with all new things, it took a while to get used to it; although other anglers were often on hand to give advice. Remarkably I found it easier to manipulate this spinning reel than I did the old fly reel, and although the new nylon tended to jump off the spool, due to its springiness, this was the only problem that I encountered. After a time I worked out that if you loosened the wing nut (that held on the spool) you could play larger fish on light line. In essence, this spinning reel was, in the technical sense, my passport to other forms of angling.

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