As long as I can remember I have loved angling. From the days fishing the stream that ran through my Great Aunt and Uncles farm where we stayed for holidays, the Marshes near where I grew up, the first Club I joined, and then match and specimen angling. But over the years tackle and methods have become more and more technologically advanced. For many years I kept up with the advances in tackle and methods but often returned the simpler methods I learned as a boy.
After a change in circumstances I found using modern tackle and practices too much and took to using simpler tackle and methods again, a cane rod and centrepin. One day while stalking the riverbank I lost my footing and fell, breaking the butt guide from the rod. I have repaired, and even built, modern rods but not a cane rod before so sought advice from a local tackle shop. They couldn't do the work but told me to talk to the man coming the into shop behind me, That man was Mike Harris, a rod builder, restorer and fellow cane rod user. He invited me to his small workshop where he searched through some draws and found an exact match for the broken guide, and the correct thread to whip it on. After that I became a regular visitor, sitting with him while he worked, and bringing rods I had found to be restored until one day he said "No!, You're doing this one" and I did, My first cane rod restoration was a particularly sorry Millwards Swimversa, and it went on from there. RIP Mike Harris, hope the roach are biting where you are.
Restoring My rods, soon lead to restoring rods for others, and building new sections and complete rods with blanks provided by Brian Norman, R. Chapmans and others, and it was on a visit to Chapmans to collect parts early 2015 that I discovered they would be closing the factory and selling much of their equipment. A deal was made and early 2016 I took possession of the equipment and started a small cane blank factory myself. As well as Cane rods I have for some time been making traditional hand made floats, and other items, and will be making a selection of cane tip sections for popular rods, supplying rod building materials and kit form cane rods, as well as fully built cane rods, Walker and Crabtree style landing nets, Float tubes in wicker, cane and leather, other traditional, and retro, fishing tackle, both new and used.
'Arcane Traditional Products Ltd' Facebook,
'Traditional Angling Retrro Tackle' Facebook group