all my rods & reels are rusting away, covered in inches of dust.
I once had nearly 50 rods aging back to the early days, loved my bamboo rods.
Im a spinning reel guy, levelwinds are for fishing from a boat lol!
knowing how to tie an eyelet back onto a rod in the field is money in the bank.
I know what you mean. I had 2 old bamboo rods, one a 9 footer and the other an 11 footer, both with top end reels. These were OLD!! While I was away in the military, my dad threw them in the trash because he saw the split rods were separating. He had no idea of value or that they could be rewrapped. He also threw away my old old old hand made wooden lures from the 20's and 30's I had collected. Again, they looked dirty and the hooks were dull. Sigh..
Mom did the same with my old original, some first issue, comic books. "You're grown up now, no need for this foolishness". When I told here she threw away about $10K, all she could say was "I wondered why the garbage man put them in the cab instead of the back". Another sigh... Same goes for my Lionel trains. My nest eggs were all gone by the time I got home. They never questioned why the neighbors used to ask "got anything else???"
So don't throw those old rods and reels out! If you no longer want them, I'm the trash man!!! <Grin>.