About 20 years ago fishing the grand union canal in northampton i shipped my pole through a hedge and into a field and it got trampled to death by a load sheep deprested no suicidal yes i think the pole cost £200 but 20 years ago a lot of money for a postman. lol

A few more years ago than I like to remember I bought a DAM Futron 13.7m when they first came available. One week after purchasr fished a match on the Lancaster canal where toe path was level with the surrounding trees.

Shipping back into the branches for 4 of the 5 hours I stopped looking back, what i didn’t notice was a swing on the main branch the rope (obviously over time) had worn through the branch. The branch failed with 30 minutes of the match left taking my new pole with it, leaving me with half a No4 in hand. Fortunately only the No5 & 6 were also damaged.

Retrieving the pole from a 20m steep bank, taping the damage was bad enough, cost me the match finishing 2nd by 2oz but it took 16 weeks to get replacements.

had a browning ceramic, one year old, and was practising on the trent and Mersey canal for the div 1 national, went through a hedge but the pole fell through the hedge and the thirteen metre section landed on a crash barrier breaking the section! went back to trevs to order a new section was told they don’t make that any more however they would see what they could do!!!!!!!!!! they managed to secure me a section from a 13 metre model (I had the 14.5 metre model no graphics on the 13 metre section) that looked well beat up chips out of the end joint and it a bit dirty as if it had been left in a warehouse for around 10 years wouldn’t accept anything other than the full RRP for it, never bought a browning pole ever again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or a pole from Trev’s

about 6 years ago i was fishing a match on the meridian canal at border fisheries it was a hard day but i was doing well catching quality silvers tight across.i lifted into another bite with 40 minutes to go and was left with half the 14.5mt section of my g10 in my hand and 13 mts of pole floating in the water.could fish the same line for the last 40 minutes and lost the match by about a pound.

Fishing a team qualifier in Blessington Reservoir near Dublin in 1992. Me 17year old junior with an 11m Sundridge Vitesse (banana) next peg former World Champion the late Bobby Smithers fishing 11m to hand on wind with a spiral titanium and making it look easy.

1 hour into the match Smithers 20 fish, me no bites. I put up a 8gram pole rig onto my pole and tried to fish 11m to hand. 5 minutes later I was trying to fish 9.5m of my pole out of the lake and I was left holding the butt section and half of my no8 section. Much to the amusement of Bobby. 🙂

It took me 1 year to get a replacement section for that pole.

Moral of the story…………. never try and copy a former World Champion. You just end up looking like a twat.

Several years ago I was fishing Moorfields Farm in Goole for the first time and there was someone pegged directly behind me, the bloke made some comment about my roller being in wrong place so I moved it to one side – not noticing that my shiny new Shimano Aspire pro No7 had dropped between my seat box and leg SNAP. Heart broken I fished the match with just a top 6. I rang Felindre on the Monday to price up a replacement, the guy on the other end was very nice ” I’m not supposed to do this he says, but I will throw in free delivery on the section” That’s great comes my reply, how much is it then ?? “It will be £749.99 mate, are you paying by credit or debit card ?” F*** *** you cheeky **** comes my reply, I’m not paying that !!

fell over backwards with a former seatbox to ‘stop’ a suddenly detached p foot plate falling into 22 foot of water at somerton and crushed sections -7 &8 of my old long discontinued bagging/snags-lilies/river pole plus a few topkits.

Recently, managed to stick the newer 7/8 sections of the same pole together when d/shipping -despite candle waxing every joint. Got home to find my spare pole’s 7&8 had got superguled together when recently adding a foam cap – made specifically to prevent pole sections from falling into similar deep venues…. :rolleyes: 😡

A big cheers to Dunno for recently organizing some proper full pole replacements! 🙂

@wightangler wrote:

A big heers to Dunno for recently organizing some proper full pole replacements! 🙂

Bet you felt a proper Noddy 😀

A few years ago at Docklow, an angler lost a section during a match!

It was early spring and quite a cold day, but being a brave soul,he stripped off to his pants and waded in.

He located the section and retrieved it.

Unfortunately while getting dressed, in putting on his strides, he hopped about a bit and trod on the rescued section.

A few chuckles had by all!

I was really pleased as I had been given a brand new number 7 section for my MILO 3091 a few years back. I didn’t really need it but it was nice to have a spare.

I went to put it away in the garage and forgot that I had taken the boards off the garage pit. I fell in and broke the section clean in half. Easy come easy go.

The pole is long gone but I think I still have the broken section somewhere.

you have hit a nerve with this one
i bought the BROWNING cc995 for 5 grand yes you heard it right £5,000
i rang my mate peter “come on peter were of fishing with my new pole “
2 hours later i arrived at the river aire in leeds
pulled out my new pole peter was envious alright so of we go
set my rollers up to support my gleaming new pole
turned my back to start rigging up and sat down on my box
“hey peter what do you think nice bit of kit mate “
yeah shouted peter CHRISSSSSSS watch out there a bunch of mountain bikes
hurtling down the path SMASSSSSSHHHHHH straight into my new pole
the cyclist just rode off at great speed “the red mist had fallen “
i chased after them shouting and balling at them one of them turned round
and give me the finger mad wasnt the word for it
i ran and ran some more by this time some 1 mile down the towpath i was knackered
i got back to my peg to find peter on the phone i was in nearly in tears having spent my life savings on this pole
peter im devastated “DONT WORRY MATE ” I have rang the tackle shop i have bought you the replacements should be here next week mate
peter you cannot afford that “dont worry mate ive come into few quid from my family”
thanks peter i said
i later found out he had spent £1200 quid on the replacements
boy o boy was i emotinonal “THATS WHAT BEST FRIENDS ARE FOR” he told me
we are life long friends and very special friends at that 30 years of fishing togther
and the best thing is he has never asked for a penny back although i did re pay him some 12 months later

it was at the time the only 17.5 metre pole out there
AND I WANTED IT
looooooooooooooooooool
champions choice cc995 it was
was a beautifull pole

Marcos who I used to fish with in the USA team once borrowed a new pole off Milo Columbo for practice. It was one of these ridiculously wide and deep and fast flowing venues. Anyway, first time he used it, brand new, he was just getting it out (holding the 12 section) when Mick called out to him. He twizzled around and, one by one, the sections of the pole shot out of the 12 into the deep blue, never to be seen again. OOOOPS.

How we laughed….

True story!