Tackle Terminology

Lets start off with reels.

The Americans call it a "spinning reel." We call it a fixed spool reel. In some parts of England, they used to call it many years ago: a "casting reel".

Personally I prefer the term fixed spool reel because that's what it is. Even in The States they don't always use a spinning reel for spinning.

Now take the "multiplying reel." In the States it's called a "bait casting reel"

I think the term "Multiplying Reel is the better one as all sorts of reels can be used for casting baits.

One thing I do not like is the term: "Clutch" which is used for the drag system of a reel. The term "drag" is far better. The system on a motor car is called a clutch. It functions nothing like the drag system on a fishing reel.

Now we come to rod guides. And I do prefer the American term: "guides." It describes more accurately what they do. Don't like "rings", "runners" or "eyes."

Then we have the "reel seat". A much better term than "reel fitting" or the dinosaurian "winch fitting". That reminds me of something out of "The Compleat Angler".

In fly fishing we talk about a "leader". This American term is now universal and is logical. In the old days they used to talk about the length of mono or gut tied onto the front of a fly line as a "cast" for some weird reason. Better to use the term "leader". We know what a "cast" is and it's got nothing to do with a hook length.

And now we come to the term: "lead".

This can be confusing. Many "leads" are not made out of lead at all. What about those ones made out of stone or pebbles. Should we call them: "stones"?

The more international term here should be "sinker".

From: "Hook line and sinker".

The term "lead" can also be confused with the word meaning "to lead a horse". Or another term for leader.

Or maybe we should use the older term: "Ledger"?

No I don't think so.

"Sinker" is a much better term in my view as it decribes what the weight actually does.

And finally the term: "Plug".

I've never liked that one. The Americans mostly call them "crankbaits". A better word maybe.

No doubt there are other terms in angling that could be improved.

Can you think of any others?

Why not Ledger then Ron?

I think that ledger is the ideal word to describe the method.

If you think back to the original coffin shaped ledger weights there is sound etymological reasoning behind the name.

The usual synonyms for 'Ledger' being; footstone, grave marker, gravestone and headstone, so it reasonably follows that the old coffin-style weights were called Ledger Weights.

Moreover, the history of the word comes from; Middle English legger, probably from leyen or leggen to lay - and that is what the coffin weight did - it Laid on the bottom and was flattened to ensure that it laid there.

As far as I am concerned they will forever be called "Ledger Weights" and for good reason - Sinker? bloody Yankee rubbish

Ron,

I would definitely agree with you on the Fixed Spool Reel though, after all it was invented by an Englishman, Holden Illingworth, as an update to the Malloch of Scotland "turntable" reel.

I don't have my references with me (as I am at work) but I think I am right in saying that Illingworth himself referred to it as being fixed spool inasmuch as the spool was fixed and pointed up the rod.

Mr. Crabtree called a fixed-spool reel a 'Threadline reel'. I would be interested to know where that one comes from. When I first read it as a youngster I found that very confusing because we called them 'Spinning reels'. I was familiar with the term 'Fixed-spool reel' but I presumed that was a bit posh because that's what **** Walker called them.

The original fixed spool reels had line like a "thread", mainly because the idea came from cotton spinning machines.

I do believed Illingworth worked in the yarn spinning industry himself. It was thought you could use much finer lines than were normally necessary when you used a "thredline" reel because of the "slipping clutch".

We now know this to be untrue of course.

Hey Peter, why are you so anti-Yank?

"I do believed Illingworth worked in the yarn spinning industry himself"

Ron, Illingworth was a mill owner and textile magnate.
His design was in use around the 1930's but was not taken up by the Americans until shortly after the second world war.

The original Nottingham reels that were based on a wooden lace bobbin which is unsurprising as Nottinham was the lace town in its day.

As you know Ron my wife is an American so I am not anti American as such, but more pro British when it comes to our fishing history and traditions. I just hate seeing our fine traditions being polluted with Yankee imported words

'Ledgering' sounds so much better than 'sinkering'

OK, maybe we should get rid of the word -"rig" and use the word "Tackle".

Today, the term "tackle" refers to rod, line, reel, hook, shot, floats etc, etc.

Less than 100 years ago it meant just the terminal bit, the hook and hooklength part.

I like the term "rig", for end tackle.

"Fishing Tackle", in my opinion, is best suited to encompass the whole range of angling equipment!...

Baitcasters, i thought , applied to coarse fishing multiplyer type reals used for spinning...

I bought myself a "baitcaster" for spinning, but in the shop i asked for a spinning reel, they told me they are all spinning reels, which was true!... confusion set in until i expressed my desire to buy a multiplyer, for spinning, in which case they offered me a "baitcaster"... got there in the end!

Don't they call em spinning reels because that bit with the bail arm spins around the fixed spool?

And............ What is a multiplyer multiplying????

I can't wait to have a go at link-sinkering!

Sorry, I should have asked..... What DOES a multiplyer multiply?

A spinning reel was thus named because it was suitable for casting small light spinning lures.

A multiplyer was thus named because it has gears which improve the retrieve ratio, eg 5:1 - a multiplying factor of 5.

Actually it is not a good name for this type of reel.

I thought it was because it had the bail arm "spinning" round it too!... just goes to show.

I think in terms of conversation, iv'e only ever called a fixed spool reel a "reel"

One which ron touched on earlier was the
"leadcore"

i thought it was"lead" as in to lead a precession, and that the line was a leader, with the mainline following!....
Actually it's LEAD, as in PB, the material, core, a braid fitted with a lead core!..

confused!... i bet i'm not the only one caught out by that !....

In England, the vast majority of young coarse anglers will only know a fixed spool reel as a "reel". Ask them what a centre-pin or a multiplyer is and they won't have a clue.

And in many lead cored lines it's not lead that is used it's tungsten.

Another bit of terminology that confuses is "carbon fibre" and "graphite."

This is where the Americans have got it wrong when it comes to rod materials. The correct term is carbon fibre. Graphite means somthing quite different. Carbon - yes but not necessarily in a fibre form.

Thanks for clearing that up Ron. Perhaps someone should invent a centre-pin with some sort of multiplying mechanism. )

I'm not convinced about your theory of how fixed spools were named in the States. Not that its in anyway important. I can't stand all these Americanisms, so I'll carry on calling em fixed spool.

BOTTOM!

That's what the "Rig" was once called. A "Bottom" as in "Let's see your bottom?"

Rig is a better name for that end bit terminating in the hook.

Baitcaster not multiplier - better for that's what it's for, casting big artificial baits. Reel? What's a reel? A Scottish dance?

Fixed Spool - who're you kidding? When the clutch (good name) slips (as a clutch is supposed to EVEN on a car) the spool is no longer fixed. It is rotating.

Spinning reel better - this describes its action and comes from where Mr Illingworth got his idea from. And also, it does put a spin into the line unlike a baitcaster or centre-pin.

Ledger - s'what you write in when you're doing your accounts, ie: Sales Ledger, Nominal Ledger. It comes from "Pescher a plomb leger" french for fishing with a light lead. Some eejot got it wrong years ago and it has remained so.

The first geared multipliers that I have found a reference to were in use in the USA as early as the 1890's.

So much so that the wonderfully named William Shakespeare of Kalamazoo, Michigan invented the first level wind system to fit those early multipliers, in 1896.

Those very early models actually fitted onto the underside of the rod unlike todays top-mounted models.

Hey Ron, how about the first readily availalble offset hook model - The Kirby from around 1650, was it?
Ah, another great London invention.

You can get a centre-pin with a multiplying gear. Many fly reels are made that way.

I will get to the "bottom" of why in the USA it is called a "spinning reel" Jeff. I do think it has something to do with spinning as in spoon etc.

But I'm not going to be dogmatic about it.

I still prefer the term: "drag" Jeff. A clutch, as in transmission in a car is only designed to slip for a short period of time when the power is initially applied to the wheels, or when some stupid woman who doesn't know how to use a handbrake drives it.

Years ago, float fishing or coarse fishing rods were called: "Bottom Rods"!!

Often confused with instruments of chastisement used in schools.

Graphite - originated as a word in 1789 by an AG Werner as a better term for the pencil material. It was a mixture of pure black carbon (the graphite), sulpher and antimony. However, when France was cut off during the Napoleaonic wars they couldn't get hold of the new material.

Graphite derives from the greek "to write".

An officer in Napolean's army called Jacques Cont? was given the job to develop an alternative. He mixed some powdered graphite with clay and fired it in a kiln. He was able to get varying degrees of hardness by varying the amount of black carbon to the amount clay, hence you get 2H and 4b etc.

After the Wars he set up his factory an the company continues to this day - Cont? a Paris. The method Cont? developed is used to this day. The first ever mass-produced pencils were made by Staedtler in 1662.

I get all of this out of my A&I magazine.