A CARING dad is still taking his young son fishing despite callous thieves stealing as much as £13,000 worth of top kit.
The fishing tackle theft won’t beat Jonathan Archer. He’s now taking his six-year-old, Archie, out fishing again… and they’re using an old whip that the scumbag robbers didn’t take.
And Archie has been catching plenty of fish with the 1990s Silstar 5 metre whip. He even used the old fashioned pole to tame a hard-fighting double-figure carp.
Jonathan explained: “I had the majority of my fishing tackle pinched a couple of months ago, tackle I’d been collecting for over 25 years.
“A piece of kit they didn’t take was my Silstar 5m whip, which was the first pole I ever owned and I used to fish with when I was about 12 years old.
“We took that out to fish, and I’d re-elasticated it with black size 12 elastic.”
Jonathan with a barbel from before the devastating fishing tackle theft.
Jonathan continued: “We went to local Woodrow’s Pond in Derby, he’s been a quite a few times now and is really enjoying it.
“After a few good rudd, up to about 1 lb Taylor hooked this common using a double red maggot on a size 22 hook and 2 lb bottom.
“He struck well and immediately said ‘this is a big one daddy!’
“A good quarter of an hour later, and with a bit of assistance from his dad, Archie landed his first proper carp.
“To say he was excited was an understatement as you’ll see from his smile.
“He’s proud as punch and has taken his picture in to school and Beavers and has shown all his friends what he’s caught.
“I never had anything as big on the pole back in the day. I had loads of crucian carp and tench. I’d guess the biggest fish I had was a 4lb tench, which was massive when I was 12.
Fishing tackle theft scales £12-13,000
“The thieves took about £12-13k worth of kit – I was gutted,” revealed Jonathan.
“It was pretty much everything I had, so coarse fishing gear, river, carp, barbel, pike and lure stuff.
“There was barrows, bivvies, bait-boat, luggage – you name it – absolutely loads.
“Thankfully, I recovered a chunk of the money from my insurance recently so will be starting to re-stock.
“But some of the items I’ve had for a long time and are irreplaceable, like my Shimano Antares carp rods.
“I’d much rather they’d have nicked my car,” concluded Jonathan.
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