Youngsters

This week a young man's grandmother brought in a fishing rod.  It was in awful shape.  Line was wrapped around the pole, bird's nest in the reel... pitiful.  The grandmother wanted to see if I could fix it.  My friend, Gina laughed as she looked at it.  It was that bad.  Let me add that I will often do some small repairs to reels and rods.  I also do maintenance to reels.  I started working on the reel after getting it untangled.  It was clear that the reel was broken.  It wouldn't stop feeding line.  This is a frequent occurrence with the brand of reel I was working on.  Plastic gears are not a good idea on a fishing reel.  It was a cheap combo purchased at the big box store.

Many people buy rod and reel combos.  I sometimes sell them at the store, but I don't like to.  They generally do not have good reels on them.  The rod is fantastic, but the reel is the cheapest they can put on the combo.  Usually, it breaks within a few times of using it.  I can generally put an entry level rod and reel together for the same price and give the customer a better product.  Daiwa makes some great entry level rods and reels called Sweepfire.  They have a one year warranty and Daiwa is great about taking care of their customers if a problem arises.

Back to the customer and the grandson...
When they came back in and I explained that it could not be fixed, the young man started to cry because he couldn't go out fishing that afternoon.  Plus, he thought his dad was going to be angry.  I ended up calming him down by explaining to him there is no crying in fishing!  It's pretty much a rule.  Well, maybe if you lose a fish of a lifetime.  No, come to think of it, I don't think that is even an excuse.  We put an inexpensive reel on the rod, put on a hook on the line, and he was off.  I can guarantee you, you won't get that service at MegaMart!  Ultimately, the kid was happy and went fishing that afternoon.  Happy customers make me happy as well!