Nostalgia

steve2 · Jun 14, 2016

Got to reminisce about the good old fishing days with long time fishing friend today. We both agreed that while the fish are bigger these days the fishing is no better. The tackle was rubbish back then when compared to what we use now.
I still have the odd nostalgia day when I drag out some old tackle but if anything it makes me appreciate tackle I now use.
Does anyone apart from a few traditionalists still use any of the tackle they had 50/60/70 .

tigger · Jun 14, 2016

Any tackle I had left from my youth was nicked out of my farther in laws shed over a decade ago now!

I have a few rods with a bit of age but still modern really. I do have some quite old centrepin reels with one of them being from as far back as 1915 ! Obvviously I didn't get it then but I do use it and it's a cracking reel to use, as smooth running as any of my best modern pins...smoother even!
That reel is my oldest peice of fishing tackle, my other oldest reels are from the fifty and sixties, so quite old but not ancient....like some of the coffin dodgers who post on here

.

Neil Maidment · Jun 14, 2016

Only centrepins, sadly not my original reels but those purchased since.

All(!) are used at one time or another being part of a rotation "system" that I sometimes remember to put into operation. They include a couple of relics that were in pristine unused condition which some collectors get very uptight about but they were all designed to be used and used they are.

Everything else is modern tackle and equipment.

mikench · Jun 14, 2016

It's not what it was!!!

john step · Jun 14, 2016

My Trudex pin bought with 8 weeks paper round money is still used regularly loaded with 4lb sensor.
My Edgar Sealy 11 foot split cane had an outing a year or two ago but as it nearly sprained my wrist, it will be kept for sentiment only.

Strange to think now that a fishing rod was a fishing rod.....just the one that did everything. I even used it for piking as a kid.

flightliner · Jun 14, 2016

One or two floats, a couple of c/pins, a trudex and one of the original stantons, a very old and very dear swingtip rod-- not often but it does get the odd outing.
My old fishing box that I made in 1970, carries everything, is lighter than any modern box, has adjustable feet for levelling along with a backrest and totally eliminates the need for bags in both hands---- ask Binka, he couldnt believe that such a lovely, practical, desirable item existed, I should have had a signwriter paint "Hardy" on it as I could have sold it for hundreds making a fat handsome profit on my thirty pence investment -- sorry, I digress!

tigger · Jun 14, 2016

john step said:
My Edgar Sealy 11 foot split cane had an outing a year or two ago but as it nearly sprained my wrist, it will be kept for sentiment only.

Nearly sprained me wrist.... tickled me that John lol.

robtherake · Jun 14, 2016

I have a wooden float box with an assortment of 60s/70s floats (Ultra/ Ivan Marks/Drennan and so on,) kept for nostalgic reasons and mostly unused; a plethora of small tackle items; a 60s and a 70s centrepin (Grice and Youngs Gypsy D'Or and a 5 1/2" Leeds Classic); an original Optonic alarm which I still use; a small selection of fairly ordinary 70s fibreglass rods, which don't see daylight and will eventually be stripped of their rings for spares; Efgeeco extending banksticks; Stewart boxes from the 70s and all sorts of other odds and sods. A pair of Mitchell 308 reels (the oldest from 1954); a Mitchell Match 440A from the late 70s and a Mitchell 810 of similar vintage all get occasional airings.

What I do have (and use regularly) is a decent selection of 80s/90s rods and reels that still hold up well against modern equipment and regularly see use alongside the more recent stuff.

A rummage through my tackle room always triggers the most amazing memories, and for that reason alone I'd rather hang on to all the clutter than have a clearout.

mightyboosh · Jun 14, 2016

I'm not as old as some of you and not as young as others. When I first started out in the early 80s, fishing tackle was terrible and expensive compared to modern day equivalents. I don't own anything from back then, partly thanks to the *******s that burgled my parent's garage, but no desire to go backwards at all.

Bob Hornegold · Jun 15, 2016

steve2 said:
Got to reminisce about the good old fishing days with long time fishing friend today. We both agreed that while the fish are bigger these days the fishing is no better. The tackle was rubbish back then when compared to what we use now.
I still have the odd nostalgia day when I drag out some old tackle but if anything it makes me appreciate tackle I now use.
Does anyone apart from a few traditionalists still use any of the tackle they had 50/60/70 .

I still use the Speedia Centrepin that I bought with my paper round money in 1957, I got it from the Tackle shop at the beginning of Seven Sisters Road, opposite the Hitchin cycle shop.

I had to cycle down the North Circular road to Tottenham from Chingford, a precarious journey 58 years ago, but the Speedia was cheaper than the Trudex and that shop was the only place that sold them at the time.

As for my rods, they were made from J B Walker kits and I still use them, but when it comes to trotting you cannot beat a modern carbon rod, even if it is matched to a 70 year old Allcocks centrepin !!

But I like using old tackle, it requires far more skill from the angler to land a fish on a cane rod, they are not that forgiving as carbon and it adds to the pleasure of the angling experience.

I have landed many good fish on cane rods, 20lb+ Pike, 10lb+ Barbel, 7lb+ Chub, but never a 20lb Carp, so I still have that as a personal target and that is one of the joys of fishing, you are never to old to set yourself a new challenge !!

Bob

Peter Jacobs · Jun 15, 2016

I have a modest collection of vintage split cane rods from the 40'd through to the 70's as well as a number of centrepin reels that see the occasional use even these days.

I also have a sort of shadow box style coffee table where I house some of the reels and other fishing memorabilia, and my study is pretty much full of old rods, reels and assorted bits and pieces, including a couple of **** Walker's keepnets, creels and other fishing paraphernalia . . . . . .

peterjg · Jun 15, 2016

I've still got my dad's old cane rod (with fibreglass top section) and a rod he gave me as a boy, he died in 1962. I also still have a tiny boy's green metal centrepin he gave me. A few year ago now I gave his old rod an outing with a Bakelite Ariel reel on the Aylesbury Arm and caught a few roach - received a few funny looks from the lads fishing there.

I still have and use an old bait dropper that I bought as a boy and I still have a Bruce and Walker match rod (the 12L) that I bought new for £43 in about 1980 from Youngs of Harrow, I remember Clive Young let me pay for it weekly - it was a lot of money then for me.

I also have two ABU Cardinal 66 reels which I sometimes use for pike fishing. These are great reels with a superb clutch, I originally bought them for carp fishing.

I have a Match Ariel which I bought second hand (circa 1960) which I bought around 2001 and a wide drum Ariel which I collected from Fred Crouch's home in Enfield. I remember he kindly signed my copy of his barbel book for me.

I'll stop now before I bore you senseless!

john step · Jun 15, 2016

Bob Hornegold;1382355 As for my rods said:
HA HA. I had forgotten about JB Walker kits. I still have one such rod which was marketed as a bass spinning rod. I used it for pike and carp for years. Its glass with metal ferules.I still have it at the back of the rod cupboard.

I had just got married in 69 and was living in a flat. My wife came home from work to find me shaping the cork rings on the kitchen table. Our only table!!
I didn't think I was making too much dust until she pointed put the cork dust covering just about every surface. TALK ABOUT TRAUMA AND THE SCREAMING ABDABS

Graham Elliott 1 · Jun 15, 2016

My memories are more about people than items.

I still miss my fishing days with Keith Speer and long chats with Fred Crouch.

I have Peter Stones own Ledgerstrike rod and a few of his tackle bits.

I wish I had kept hold of my Sundridge Proton 13ft rod given with lots of my old bits including specimen trophies to the Fishing Charity at Horton for teaching/helping kids.

Apart from a few books like all the Barbel Fisher mags, any value is in my current modern stuff.

Keith M · Jun 15, 2016

Graham Elliott 1 said:
I still miss my fishing days with Keith Speer and long chats with Fred Crouch.

I miss talking and fishing with Keith Speer too he was a great guy who was a great angler in my club; and I also occasionally fished with Fred Crouch's father.

I rarely use my old rods and reels and much prefer using modern tackle.
The only retro tackle items that I still occasionally use are:

An Abu 506 closed face reel, that I occasionally use for trotting.
An Abu Cardinal 55 reel that I occasionally use for surface fishing for Carp,
A Match Arial centrepin and two Black Cat centrepins (one is a prototype).
A B.James & Son MKIV Carp rod which gets a yearly nostalgia outing coupled with an old Mitchell 300.
A Mitchell Match reel (the black one).

I still have lots of other old reels (Abu, Mitchell, Diawa and Intrepid) but they all stay in the back of a drawer where they belong LOL.

I do still use a 13ft Diawa Amorphous Whisker light float rod (AMW13L) which feels almost as light as my Drennan Acolyte and is almost the same thickness although it has sliding reel fittings and weighs an ounce more.

Keith

chub_on_the_block · Jun 15, 2016

I still use an ABU 506M for most of my trotting and float fishing in general, unless targeting fish over about 6Ib or in difficult swims eg fast river flow or snaggy situations when a decent drag is essential.

Also use some early Normark Carbons from mid-late 80s and Drennan Tench Float from early 90s, on occasions.

I was still using Mitchells (300a, 440M) on occasion until last autumn when a barbel on the Wye managed to break the gears. I needed to do a reel change mid-fight before landing it OK! You dont get that sort of excitement using a decent modern reel.

S-Kippy · Jun 15, 2016

I've still got the odd bit here and there that gets used....couple of 501's eg. I've older tackle that gets used occasionally but less and less frequently and its been acquired rather than owned from new ie pins and cane rods.

I actually enjoy the sensation of playing a fish on a cane rod but they are way too bloody heavy for my delicate Southern Shandy drinkers wrists. They do look lovely though and [ unlike me !] always draw admiring comments bankside.

lamorna · Jun 15, 2016

I have a lovely old 11ft Normark No 1 ledger rod dating back to the mid 1980s that still get's an occasional outing. While it'll only handle very light feeders by today's standards, I've never found another rod that has an action as sweet or is as reassuring to play decent fish on.

There isn't another rod around that I'd swap if for, regardless of amount.

pratty117 · Jun 15, 2016

I have an old Linetek bite alarm that was given to me by my uncle along with a load of other gear when I started fishing in the mid 90's. He sadly passed away two years ago. I always seem to catch when using this it and it has even survived being dropped in the lake!! Overnight in the airing cupboard and a new battery, good as new!! Divine intervention perhaps!!

edsurf · Jun 15, 2016

I have a B James and sons Avon perfection which i like to use now and again for a little trotting, Do not think i could trot all day my arms would not stand up to it, but its nice playing the odd Grayling on the cane and pin.

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