I was fishing at the Stave today and the Chum were everywhere and it wasn't that busy due to the rain. A gentleman came and began fishing to my right but he was woefully inexperienced/prepared. He was using a spinning rod/reel and it was turned upside down (so reel is above rod) and watching him cast his float went straight under the water as his weight was too heavy for his float. He tried fishing like this for about 15 minutes and in that time I had brought in 3 fish and he commented that he must have bad luck or must be doing something wrong.
I brought in my line and asked him to come over to see if I could help him out a little. I looked at his set-up and it was no wonder he wasn't getting anything. He had a small float then had a far too heavy weight attached to his main line. His leader was about 2 feet long with a hook and piece if wool. I'm not too sure the size of hook but it was SMALL and I told him that if he hooked a Chum with that the hook would break in half. I then set up his rod with a proper "short float" set up from my own tackle. I asked him why he was fishing with the reel turned up and he said it was easier because he has trouble with his left hand. I then took his reel and switched the handle to the other side and told him to keep the reel under the rod. He looked in amazement as he had no idea the reel could be switched like that. I gave him his rod and set-up and few tips on how to cast/drift etc. and went back to fishing.
I was watching him out of the corner of my eye while I was fishing and he hooked into 3 chum and landed 2 on his next 5 casts, he was soooo happy! I said to him while he was reeling in a Chum that it is much easier when you have the correct setup and he gave me a big thumbs up!
He asked me how much he owed me for the supplies and I said don't worry about it to keep it so he can go buy his own.
Just thought I would share and hopefully encourage others to do the same in the future.
Dan