Buy cheap, repair twice

It's been a bit quiet around here of late, and I have only managed a handful of lure trips with nothing to report. On one trip the bail arm spring to my rather cheap, but excellent Diawa reel snapped. I fished on during that session, but worried that the bail arm would close during a cast and cause a snap-off.

The reel cost me about £25 around three years ago, having replaced a better one that was stored in my shed, unknowingly, under a leak all winter. So it had done well, and didn't really owe me nothing. I scoured the internet hoping I could pick up a replacement, only to discover it has been discontinued and updated. I was contemplating popping down to my local tackle shop, when I remembered my old seized up reel.

Hoping the spring coil would be the same, I was surprised to find a piston type arrangement in place instead of a coil. So I reverted back to the net for the second time to see if I could buy a replacement coil. I could, but the cheapest had a 50 day postage, and wasn't that cheap either. As I was about to grab my keys and head out to my tackle shop, I thought about looking through all my reels I have accumulated over the years - because the one thing we never do is chuck away any old gear!

As I was rummaging along a shelf in the shed I came across an old Diawa reel of my Dad's that I saved after he passed away. As you can see from the picture, it's a 3000 size and solid metal throughout, including the spool. My Dad was not known for spending money, so I hoped the bail arm mechanism would be the same as my reel. Taking it apart revealed the same spring coil, and with thanks to the internet it was soon proudly installed into my reel. 

I have used my repaired reel a couple of times now, and it's a wonderful thought that in some small way I'm able take a bit of my Dad with me whenever I go.