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The Hardy Marquis Fly Reel
Every thing is about fads and fashion nowadays but the Hardy Marquis is for ever.
At the age of twenty three I decided I needed to start using real grown up toys or more to the point, quality fishing tackle and a reel was top of the list. I chose the best, a Hardy reel, a Marquis #10. At over £20 for a reel and a spare spool it was a hefty investment in 1973. Little did I know it would prove to be a total bargain.
As I sit here writing in February 2010 one of the new generation of Marquis Reels will set you back about £200, which come to think of it with inflation and so on, is about right.
I am also admiring my old Marquis reel, 37 years old and still working well. It has wound and ground over rivers, lochs, lakes and fisheries all over the country. It has handled trout, sea trout and salmon to 12lbs. My Hardy Marquis has never let me down and I have rarely used any other other reel for most of that time.
When it came about that I wanted to do some salmon fishing I decided on Hardys tackle, why not have the best. A Hardy self inflating wading jacket, a Hardy Speycaster and off course a Marquis reel.
In the case of both my trout and my salmon Hardy Marquis I look at the simplicity of the reels, the quality workmanship, the durability. I have seen many of the modern reels, shiny, complex magnificent chunks of engineering. The Hardy Angel is a sports car of a reel. Gears 'n brakes, a boys toy, but the tactile nature of the Marquis with it's simple drag, it's accessible rim where a hand can judge how much pressure to exert beats the lot of them. It sounds great with a fish on the end of the rod, running, fighting and I never feel that the fish, if lost, was the fault of the reel. I know it was my fault. I'm not one for seeking excuses for my mistakes and the Marquis is a reel that makes none - so who's to blame? I have never experienced the haunting feeling that if I had used a modern techie reel I would have done better. Ever.
When I see my rod set up with the Marquis I know I am in safe in hands. A reel approaching 4 decades of use, my salmon reel approaching 2 decades I am totally confident that nothing will daunt them.
What ever you do when you look for a reel go for quality, not something that will fall apart after a few years to be replaced like a fashion accessory.
For me the Marquis is unsurpassable. At 23 when I bought my first one and jokingly said it looked like it would see me though my entire angling life. 37 years later that prediction is a distinct reality, it won't stop performing perfectly well under any circumstances. I took it into Somers in Aberdeen a few years ago for a service. When I got it back they passed on the message 'a little bit of oil every now and then is advisable'. That reel has been treated, on a few seasons, less meticulously than it deserved and it is still running. Now that is value for money.
Oh and I've owned the reel for so long it has become an old pal, trusted and undoubtedly loved, I'm heading off to a DIY shop to get some oil, just as a treat for an old friend.
