Fly fishing

[razors]

Had a very enjoyable day fly fishing at Knitsley mill trout lake yesterday had lots of takes on wet fly but only landed one rainbow about 2lb.
I had never fished this lake before and I must say what a lovely place to spend a few hours fluff chucking and most of the people very helpful indeed.

Now to the important bit,this was my first time fly fishing and my mate loaned me all the gear and helped me understand a little how to cast and retrieve the fly and by the end of the day I started to grasp the fundamentals and could see why anglers enjoyed this sport and I intend to buy some gear and go again.
On returning home I remembered that my dad was very keen on this sport and I was sure there was some of his gear stashed in my fishing cupboard.
He passed away lots of years ago and his gear I just kept for sentimental reasons.
On looking today I've found a fly box full of fly's and a trout fly reel.
The reel is Hardy Bros makers Alnwick England called the GEM.
The age of this reel must be over 60years does anyone have any info on this reel.
I intend to use this reel now to do my fly fishing and its nice to feel the quality of a proper British made reel.

[dale19]

try hardy for info m8 they are always interested about there old reels,
I just live up the road from knitsley trout lakes always walking my dog around there, tend to pop in to see how its fishing ,give me a shout next time you are going down there.
billy the new manager has put a lot of time and his own money into the lakes to get them back up to the place it used to be a few years ago

[razors]

Cheers Dale ,Think I'm giving it a go again next week I'll let you know and I'm looking for a good second hand rod now to go with my reel.

[OuTkast76]

There is a few on ebay selling at well over £100 each so guess they are a decent reel...also found this info

There is a modern Hardy Gem and there was a vintage Hardy Gem. The vintage Gem was a 'boys' reel dating from the 1960's, it was of a basic design of the stamped and rivetted frame rather than machined variety. It was Hardys attempt at entering the budget reel market, it was a short lived venture as anglers did not look to Hardys for cheap reels.

This from their 1968 catalogue:' The Gem Fly Reel, Ideal for the new-comer to the sport, the young angler and the angler who wishes to 'fish on a budget'. The construction is sturdy and light, of modern design and handsome appearance. The nickel-silver lineguard is designed for right or left hand use.

Sizes, were 3 1/4" at 4 1/4 oz and 3 5/8" at 5 1/2oz.'

They were quite attractive reels though spoiled by the black plastic foot.