It’s the mid-80s since I salmon fished with any real intent, apart from a couple of trips this century after Icelandic fish.

So, truth be known, my Spey casting with a double-handed rod had completely seized up, not that it was up to much in the first place. I’m just okay with single-handed fly rods, but those 16-foot beasts that grizzled ghillies wielded back on the Tweed, Dee and Tay always had me flummoxed. So, I went and bought a modern, top-of-the-range Sage affair, which as some of you know does not come cheap. Allied with a suitable reel and a swish line system, the bill makes your eyes water like Scottish sleet is hammering them.  

But what a rod. Modern materials and designs allow you to lay a long line with a 12-13 foot tool that feels wand-like, especially compared with the behemoths of the last century. The reel, the line, oh my, oh my. Truly exquisite. Gear for the gods. Only problem was, I had totally forgotten how to use even such a delicate double-hander and my first attempt saw me thrash the water to the proverbial foam. No timing. No rhythm. No control. No technique. Not a hint of muscle memory.

If a dour wee lad north of the border had seen those antics I’d have been done for, consigned to the kiddies’ pool. I have to say that even after two masterful lessons (thank you, John) I’ll be winning no prizes , setting no records. So much gear, eh? So little idea.

This sorry story at least makes me realise how far tackle has come in my lifetime, fly gear especially. Modern rods are so light, crisp, dynamic even. It’s like they’re alive, chomping to get at fish. Reels purr, lines float all day and space age leaders are all but invisible to fish even in rivers of gin. Even artificial flies are so uncannily lifelike you want to swat them. It’s a whole new world. I guess coarse tackle has made similar strides and when it comes to baits, hair rigs and all the carping bits and pieces, 40 years ago, we’d have just gawped. And hands up if you know what every bit of highfalutin piece of fandangle that’s for sale in Wensum Valley Angling is used for. I don’t. I’m not sure owner Daniel does!

Let me say two things. One is that I travel the country visiting waters and from what I see, many coarse anglers fish too heavy for my taste. It’s a case of 3.5lb test curve rods for everything that swims. Most challenges are approached with hair rigs and 3oz leads. Baits are boilies or, perhaps, pellets and they are cast to the horizon by big pit type reels that hold enough line to let a fish run all the way to London. Apart from the match scene, or elements of it, delicacy has largely been replaced by beef and brawn.  In some situations, bruiser tackle is called for, but not always. You only have to look at some oft-caught fish to see that a heavy hauling-type battle doesn’t always do them any good at all. A 4oz lead, hurled 150 yards, landing amidst a spooky shoal of fish hardly sets minds at rest either.

The other day I had a guy with me wanting a barbel. He also wanted to use a 1962 cane built Mark IV Avon rod with a test curve of not much more than a pound. On the butt, he suggested using a vintage Mitchell 300 reel to round off the whole retro look of it. I was dubious. I should not have been. That rod was a delight, light, sensitive, endlessly forgiving.

My new pal hooked a good fish in a full, fast flow and he was always in charge. When a barbel looks like coming to the net, it always gives two or three powerful lunges that can spell disaster, but not with the Avon. The rod smothered the danger and the bamboozled fish was landed without a bleat. Crisis? What crisis?

The old Mitchell I wasn’t so sure about and all us oldies remember their bag o’ nails clutch systems. But matey got away with it this time. In my guiding life, 90pc of fish are lost because of bad clutches or bad clutch control. Buy the best fixed spool reels you can afford. Cheap reels have clutches that stick in rain, heat and cold, often at the most crucial of moments, most especially if the spools are made of plastic. Personally, I always play fish off light clutches because it’s easier to dab a finger on a spool to slow a fish down than it is to loosen a clutch in the white heat of battle. That’s a bit of gear I do know something about.