Pike fishing in the 60's and 70's

[valetudoguy]

As someone who was born in the 80's but is becoming interested in fishing that predates myself.

Could anyone please try and paint a bit of a picture for me what pike fishing tackle was like in the 60's and 70's, what rods were people using, Brands, Length, Material etc. Also what reels? I'm assuming Abu Cardinal 55's and some model of Mitchell were popular?

Basically what did Pike fishing look like back then? And if one were to assemble a period Pike set up what would they be looking for?

This period was the heyday of my Grandad and uncle Bill fishing, sadly my Uncle Bill has long passed and my Grandad has dementia. So I can't ask them.

 

[The Sogster]

All my pike fishing in the 70's was done on a glass rod from Winfield (Woolworths own brand), it was 6 foot long and supposedly designed for spinning. It came equipped with a fixed spool reel which lasted until I got my first proper reel a mitchell of some sort.
At the time most anglers still had a float road and what was termed a bottom rod for ledgering. Feeder rods hadn't really been developed, for many anglers this bottom rod also doubled as a pike rod and could be glass or cane or a mixture of the two. Many anglers made their own ledger rods.
There were no freespool reels but a matchstick and elastic band held the line with the bail arm open.
Line was generally 15lb to 20lb that could have pulled a trawler coupled with a gazette type bung and crude snap tackle.

Things not needed now are the gaff and gag.

 

[David Rogers 3]

The classic pike rod of the 1960s was the Chapman Dennis Pye, which was designed for throwing big livebaits and had a test curve of 4lb! These now sell for big money (£300+). Spinning rods like the Allcocks Nimrod were more commonly used, most of the big tackle firms produced these in both split cane and fibreglass and they can be picked up relatively cheaply (£30-60). My own retro pike set-up consists of a late 1970s Terry Eustace Big Pike rod (3.5lb test curve) in hollow glass, coupled with a Mitchell 307 (left-handed version of the 306). The Mitchells are comparatively cheap as so many were made (£15-25, depending on condition). I paid £75 for the rod a couple of years ago on "the usual online auction site".

 

[Keith M]

For Pike fishing back in the 1970s I used a couple of fast taper 11ft Jim Gibbinson Clooper Carp rods (fibreglass) which I made myself from a pair of rod kits bought from Goings Bros of Southend together with a pair of Mitchell 810’s which I changed to Abu Cardinal 55’s when they came out.
NB: Most good tackleshops back in those days sold rod blanks and rod fittings for us to make our own rods.

For lure fishing I used a 9 ft Abu 403 Zoom spinning rod.

Keith

 

[steve2]

My rods were 2.5lb test curves from Simpsons of Turnford. Bought the blanks and built the rods. Before that it was splitcane carp rods. Reels were Mitchell 300's or 410. Plug fishing was done with a ABU rod and a Abu 5000 multiplier. All other lure fishing using carp rods.
Many of the so called pike rods back then resembled sea fishing rods.
When you think about it most pike caught are smaller then the average carp so apart from casting big dead bait there is no need for powerful pike fishing tackle.