Simplicity 202

Yesterday, I wrote that I took my grandchildren fishing over the Memorial Day Weekend.   It reminded me of when my grandpa Louie used to take us fishing at Garvin Park here in Evansville.  We used the tried and true cane pole method.  As I remember, the cane poles were about 26 feet long, so I can't imagine how we used to get them to the lake in his tiny car (of course, I was very young then, so maybe they weren't quite 26 feet long).

One year, around 50 years ago, my father bought my two brothers and I the quintessential kid fishing combo: The Zebco 202 rod and reel.  Millions of young fisherkids started off with this good ol' basic Zebco 202.

When my girls were old enough to take fishing -- whether they had an interest or not -- I bought them their own Zebco 202 combo.

Though I've since graduated to a slightly better quality reel, I've still always kept our 202s.   Now that the grandkids are old enough to take fishing, I decided to locate them and try to bring them back to life.   With only 17 parts, these things are as simple as they get (though, certainly not as simple as a cane pole).   Still, it was a bit of project:  Breakdown, clean, oil, crease, reassemble -- hopefully without any extra parts -- and I was done.

My 202 on the left.  One of my girls' on the right, dated 1986.

It was a good lesson on taking simple and making it better.  Now, if I've done all the steps correctly, they're ready for the next time the grandkids come down to fish.  And, with a little fishing luck, they'll be around for the next generation. 

If not, I'll see if I can find us a few cane poles.

Carpe diem Life,
David Kuhn