I am fortunate to live close to Noeline Inglis and have her take care of repairs and maintenance of my fishing rods and reels for many years now. The following is Noeline’s take on the work she does so expertly.
1 Rod repair, restoration and rod building may not seem the obvious choice of hobby to start when stopping work, but I love it!
Saving rods from becoming garden stakes or filling up the landfill, allows me to meet such lovely people.
Having some fishing background, and a husband with long fishing experience, helps a lot in understanding both freshwater and saltwater rod requirements….but I am sorry to say Ron, have never been surfcasting!
I was very lucky to be initially guided in rod repairs and rod building by the late Roger Thomas of Nelson. Roger had for many years made rods in Nelson under the Trent brand…generally freshwater rods. These rods were sold locally and through NZ and some are still being fished. He was well known as for many years he had a sports shop in Nelson and had a wealth of knowledge about rods and reels from that era. I am most grateful to Roger for his support and enthusiasm.
My husband inherited his grandfather’s split cane rods and this was the trigger for me to learn how to work on and repair cane rods, how to look after and store them correctly.
My workroom at home is set up with a variable speed rod lathe and slow speed drier, plenty of guides and tips in stock with a large range of thread colours.
Sharp blades, small fine scissors, digital calipers, a range of brushes and plenty of masking tape are my essential tools.
2 Many of the repairs I do are single guide or tip replacements. These are usually because the ceramic liner has been lost, or corrosion has taken its toll. To replace a guide, remove all the old epoxy and thread, then bind on and epoxy the new guide keeping to the same standard on all repairs as I would a new build
I take pride in matching the guide style, thread colour and trim as closely as possible. This of course is so much more difficult in vintage and antique rods. Thread colour changes over 50 or 80 years with exposure to light, age and level of use.
Silk was used universally until about 1960’s and there was a period of overlap where cane rods continued to be made commercially with silk while the fibreglass rods were bound with nylon thread from the same manufacturer.
Nylon thread comes in different weights as heavier rods use heavier “D” or ” E” thread to the light ” A” size thread for freshwater rods. As well, I use a range of decorative metallic thread, decorative braids and silk thread for the antique and vintage rods.
3 It has been a privilege to refurbish rods with sentimental value, often family rods, that may be used again for general use or perhaps once a year on an anniversary or be proudly on the wall as a display. This provides a link to the memory of someone special.
Another day it might be giving a new life to a great rod that has been used for 40 years and needs to be brought up to near new again for the next 40 years!
A rod has many memories attached to it, fish caught, happy times fishing and a real confidence in the rod that can sometimes take time to establish in a new rod.
The sourcing of vintage rod parts is something I have been actively doing for some years now and I have been lucky to accumulate many “new old stock” parts and can often refurbish a rod with the correct guides and tip.
4 The more difficult range of rod repair I tackle here is wide ranging.
One piece surfcasters are a logistical problem, the length. Just getting them here in a vehicle then into my work room a bit of lateral thinking is needed! There are many advantages to a one piece rod but as most people know, portability is not one of them!
Broken rods, a sad fact of life is that rods get broken, accidents happen. Car doors, car windows, standing on the rod, falling on a hard surface, run over by a vehicle, hit by a dive tank the list is long.
Some, but not all, broken rods can be repaired. I have to assess the degree of flex, the internal diameter of the rod and how much the action would be altered, before attempting any repair. Sometimes guide placement has to be altered to allow a repair or compensate for any loss of length.
Broken ferrules or breaks close to the ferrule can be remedied. I have repaired damaged graphite ferrules, both male and female ends. The ones that are smashed beyond repair or broken very close to the ferrule have been remedied using metal ferrules. From trout spin rods to surfcasters, old tech metal ferrules can save a rod!
One interesting project recently was to convert a 2 piece surfcaster into a 4 piece for portability. I looked long and hard at that lovely rod before I cut it and attached metal ferrules, binding and epoxying the ferrules to a lovely finish. I have “chopped “ rods before to improve portability for motor home or caravan travel, usually one piece to two piece lighter rods.
Butt extensions to improve the functionality of the rod or to replace the accidently shortened rod butt. Yes these things happen!
5 Split cane rods and greenheart rods are a passion and demanding to work on in many ways. Split cane rods are hexagon shape in cross section, comprise six tapered sections of cane (bamboo), the thread is silk and the many narrow intermediate bindings can be very tricky to replace.
Age often has taken its toll on the appearance of the rod and in some cases the very old glue has lost its adhesion and a section of cane may have separated from the others.
Varnishing to finish restoring a cane rod has to be done carefully and with full concentration to get the great finish I am after.
6 I have built new rods ranging from fresh water to game rods and have enjoyed personalising them with decorative wraps , guide styles, length of butt etc. It is a satisfying thought that a rod I have built is out there on the water or along a river working as a great tool, almost a friend!
7 Photos of repairs , refurbished and restored rods, and new builds are on my Facebook page RodArtNelson with contact details.
Noeline Inglis
