FREE FIshing Rod - sort of....

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Fishing at my friends house yesterday, I noticed a crummy looking old rod on the dock. It was obvious that it had been in the water for some time, as it was mud caked and coated in water weed. It also had tangled wads of monofilament wrapped all over it, a couple of large twigs and buried in the mess was a 1 oz. egg sinker.

"Hey Ed," I asked, "whats this piece of junk? Something you dredged up off the bottom?"

"Exactly! 'Hauled that in the other day... and I had a catfish on my line with it, too!"

I picked it up and worked the handle; it turned, but it was full of grit and smelly water oozed out. But I had a notion.

"Mind if I keep it? I think I can get it working."

"That crummy thing? Sure - I was gonna threw it in the trash. You're wasting your time, but go ahead!"

To keep it short, I took it home disassembled, cleaned and re-lubed it. Here is the result:

South Bend "Proton" spincast.

Medium action, 5'5" rod

The stickers and graphics are pretty much toast on the reel, but it works perfectly. The rod is in perfect working shape, if a little rough from it's time in the muck.

It's not really much for panfishing, but it might do to surprise my buddy Ed!

[Ronnie M.]

Looks like a little work paid off for you, Congrats.

[Michael A. Walker]

Very nice!  Good job!  Might do that if I find a reel in bad shape.... but I always just find 1/2 of of the reels out on the banks.....

[Allen Morgan]

I find lots of lures, sinkers, and such.  Never found an intact rod or reel before, although I have found pieces.  Nothing like finding something you can actually use!

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Thanks guys. This is not the first rod and reel Ive come across in this manner, even though Ed found this one.Ive found a few, here and there, too

Fishing gear, itself, is pretty basic and holds up well. Sometimes just a small part or a good 'clean and tweak' is all that is needed to keep it out of the trash heap.

Many of my outfits, while not always pulled from the muck, ARE what I call ebay 'specials'. This means that, in most cases, they were low bid, hard used and often raggedy. But, with only a few exceptions, they clean up nice and still have plenty of life in them.

Kinda like me.