My old fly reel

After 17 years of service, my fly reel reached its retirement.  The reel is totally worn out now. There are some paint loss and signs of corrosion, the handle is becoming loose, and the reel no longer has any teeth left on its gear for the click drag to engage.

I took it for its final mission on the weekend, and the reel did a good job to land one fine fish in the end. The fish fought well, and the reel was crying out for the last time as the fish nearly took out whole fly line.

I have caught a lot of fish on this reel, and we did many fishing trip together, but it is now time for it to rest.  Thanks for many happy memories.

P.S. I have already got my new reel though.  It is exactly the same Hardy reel as my old one.  I liked the reel, so I bought another one when the company decided to discontinue the model years ago.  Hopefully, the new one will last as much as the old one.

写真のリールを買ったのは、１７年前。イギリスのハーディーからフライロッドを買った際に一緒に オーダーしたリールです。竿の方は、竿先に五寸釘でも入っているんじゃないかと思った位の駄作で、とっくに売り払いましたが、リールの方は、今まで色々な 所に行って、沢山の魚を釣りました。

散々使った結果、ギアは完全に摩耗し、ハンドルはガタガタ。残念ながら現役引退の時が来てしまいました。

い つもの様に週末に釣りに行きましたが、これが、このリールにとってのファイナルミッション。お子様サイズのクロダイが次々と釣れるなか、ラストを飾るのに ふさわしい良いサイズの魚がようやくヒット。最後の最後に良いサイズの魚とファイトできて、リールもきっと満足している事でしょう。

P.S. 今週から使う新しいリールは、 古いリールと全くの同じモデル。ハーディーが同モデルの生産を終了した際に、スペアーに買って置いたリールです。

Fishing was good on the weekend. We caught many fish.

We found a school of hungry breams at the mouth of the Canning River, but fish were mostly small though.

Mike fighting his fish

Another iPhone size bream

We had enough of catching those small schooling breams, so we went on a search to find a better size fish.

I finally got one nice fish. The fish fought well, and my old reel did a good job on its last outing, I thought.