Chris Yates’s Swallow Centrepin reel.

Chris didn’t manage to break the barbel record while using the reel Dave Swallow had given him but he did get Dave’s reels a lot of publicity. This was before the time of Richard Carter, Chris Lythe or any of the other makers of fine centrepins we’ve since been blessed with

I was Dave Swallow’s main stockist for a while in the early nineties. Dave would accept my orders but he somehow forgot to make the reels. When I had over thirty orders in hand, Dave assured me that he’d fulfil every one, but he didn’t. I had to return all the cheques and that was the end of the original Swallow era.

Dave was a very nice man. He and his wife Thelma lived at Ibsley Bridge Farm, where Richard Walker and his friends used to stay when they were searching for giant middle Avon barbel with Colonel Crow. Dave and I never fell out. One couldn’t be angry with Dave but he was a bit of a bugger when it came to trade.

You might well be wondering what all of this has to do with Chris Yates’s reel. All right, I confess. I’m skirting round it. Chris used this reel a lot during the filming of A Passion For Angling and carried on doing so until quite recently, especially if he wanted to spare his beloved Aerial or his Carter reels from harsh conditions. Sea fishing, for instance.

I’ve cleaned and serviced this reel. It no longer has sand or salt in it and nor does it have a 2/0 Aberdeen hook and a 3oz pyramid lead tied to it. Chris Yates- Dogfish fanatic.

All is well now and the reel is a good, usable example. However, dear Dave was invariably hard up so he didn’t fit his reels with the most expensive bearings. They were quite noisy from the outset. Thirty five years and many bass later, the bearings in this reel sound rather like a speeding goods train.

Fish with Chris’s Swallow. Hear it rumble and howl. Imagine the 12lb barbel he caught with it on float tackle and catch one even bigger yourself.

The reel comes with a letter of provenance Chris has written on Golden Scale Club headed paper.