ambidex 6 fixed spool reel

Went to a jumble sale a couple of weeks ago and picked up an Ambidex 6 fixed spool reel for two quid. Looks to date from the early 1960's or even earlier.

Its hardly used, and once I've re-greased it, looks good to go.

Were these reels any good in their day? Advice appreciated from you old 'uns.

Is it a No 6 or a Mark Six? For some reason Youngs decided to cause immense confusion by producing two reels of slightly different design with essentially the same name.

The No6 is blue with a silver flyer and is in shape not dissimilar to the earlier brown versions. The Mark Six is almost all blue except the back plate, handle and spool which are black; it has the same body shape as the Delmatic, which was a slightly cheaper version of the same reel made by Youngs but badged by Allcock.

I've got several Ambidexes including a Mark Six, all of which are perfectly useable, although somewhat heavier than my beloved Mitchells. The Mark Six is probably the best of the bunch as it has something resembling a line roller (although is doesn't actually roll) in the bale-arm; the earlier versions having just a hardened steel wire arm which was prone to grooving.

Both the No6 and the Mark Six date from the 1960's. If I had to put a date on them I'd say around 1962 for the former and 1966 for the latter.

As long as you don't try to cast a hundred yards with it, or expect such an unfamiliar reel to perform perfectly to land a monster carp, you can have some fun using it. Load it with five pound Maxima and have a go for some tench or chub.

You may even get the bug for collecting and using older tackle which, if it does nothing else, will force you to learn more about watercraft and keeping things simple; in the long run this can only help improve your fishing.

Hi Fred

From your description, its a Mark Six as it has what looks to be a primitive line roller. I greased it up and gave the bale arm a dab of oil and tried it out on a local club lake last weekend, teamed up with my dad's Bruce & Walker hollow glass match rod. It works fine! The retrieve not as smooth as modern ball-bearing reels but it still caught 10 pound of silvers.

I think I'm getting the vintage tackle bug. I have an 10' split cane Chapman 500 rod that has been in my shed for teh best part of 20 years. Sorely tempted to give it a coat of varnish and a session on a local river.

One more identifying feature for you; does the stem of the reel finish up at the back of the body, or halfway along it like most reels? If the latter is is a No 6, if the former it's a Mark Six. Also, it will have Mark Six (in letters) written on the side plate - which is as good a way of identifying it as any I suppose!

Paired with a Chapman 500 the Ambidex will make a nice enough outfit, although you'll need to put some 8lb line on the reel to balance it. The 500 is a carp rod and as such a little heavy for river use, unless fishing for barbel.

The stem does finish at the back of the body, so I guess its a Mark Six.

Interesting you say the Chapman 500 is a carp rod. Its a lovely piece of kit, but the test curve seems nowhere near as powerful as that on modern carp rods. Is this because the carp are bigger these days, or because modern carpers seem to think that you can't catch fish unless you chuck out a 2 ounce lead 60+ plus yards?

Carp rods typically used to have test curves of between 1.5 and 2lb; 2.25 was a stepped-up version for really big fish in snaggy water! The carp are not significantly bigger today than they were forty years ago, although there are more of them around.

Bigger, more powerful rods were developed to cast greater distances and to cope with the heavy leads necessary for self-hooking rigs to work properly.