BRUCE & WALKER

[Kenvis]

Hi I am new to the forum and from what I have seen its really good.What it is,is many years ago i had a 13' match rod called a Bruce and Walker Flyer, it was a brown rod with green whippings if i recall, with a picture of a Bream and a Roach at the butt end, does anyone remember this great rod.At the time Its competitors as i remember were the Shakespear match international, Seeley Blue Match delux and Hardy Matchmaker, which if I recall where very expensive compared to the £30.80 I paid for my B&W.If anyone has a picture of this rod or if someone could take a diggy picture of the rod I would be made up...thanks chaps, Davy.

[Dick Dastardly]

First Bruce&Walker I ever used was the CTM.I remember vaguely the rods prior to this but the one I was really into then is the only one of the great match rods of that time you havnt mentioned ie the ABU All England.

 

Just for interest in them days you could get Hardy and Bruce&Walker rods out of the Embassy cigarette coupon catalouge.I kid you not!

[Steve Burke]

Sorry, Kenvis I can't help with the Flyer. However, in conjunction with some friends I'm planning to launch an old tackle website to complement Classic Fishing Books, and so will add a picture of the Flyer to the wanted list.

 

My first decent float rod was also a Bruce & Walker CTM. It stood for Compound Taper Match. I bought my 14 footer just after I got married in 1973 and it cost me around £35 I seem to recall. I also remember that, whilst it had a smooth action, it was darn heavy!

 

I eventually replaced it with a 13ft Conoflex glass float rod that I found much easier to use.

 

However, it wasn't until the early 80s that I bought a Normark NMB (probably the first good carbon float rod) that I was really pleased.

 

The Normark served me well until I helped design my own float rod, that I still use today.

 

Isn't it amazing what nostalgia does for the over 50s like me? As a youngster I always wanted a split-cane Chapman's 500, which was considered the poor man's Richard Walker Mk. IV Avon. I preferred this to the Avon partly because it had a detachable handle making it easier to fit on the crossbar of my bike, and partly because it was less expensive. However at 7 guineas (£7.35 to younger readers) it was still out of reach.

 

I eventually bought one last year to do up for chub fishing. However, I sold it when I got sidetracked by the Wingham perch.

 

I already regret not keeping it!

[Guest Bish]

My first match rod was the B&W Flyer Kenvis - a lovely rod it was to.

 

Until the day i placed it down on my seat box with the lid open & a gust of wind blew the lid shut & broke the rod in two! I did get it repaired but it never did feel the same again

 

Thanks for the nostalgia though

[Kenvis]

Thanks chaps...Steve was the Normark rod you had all Black, I vaguely remember an all Black rod that I really wanted but alas could not afford, I also forgot the Abu Mk 6 Zoom, I think it was Mk 6, that was an all Brown rod...cheers Davy.

[Dick Dastardly]

Yup 6 was brown and 5 a speckled graphite colour allthough glass.

[teebee]

Hullo.

 

As a young man I ordered a Daiwa Ivan Marks Harrier 'glass float rod from a club book, at a cost of about £20. Or, "20wks @ £1" if you prefer.

 

They sent me the £130 carbon :cool:

 

Had an ABU Mk5 as well, which at the time I thought was the dog`s. Picked one up recently and

[Alan Stubbs]

My closest friend took me aside when he heard that I was going to start fishing (as therapy for an injured hand) he said 'If you spend money on tackle without speaking to me, I'll break your face!'

 

He gave me a Daiwa Harrier as above, along with a Mitchell 300 (both of which still get some use).

 

When we met up again over the Christmas holiday, he said 'I had a sort out.... an Adcock centrpin'

 

He will not fish... for fear of divorce (priorities????), but he is brilliant company and a really good teacher as well. A few years ago, he had a few articles published in one of the monthly carp mags, but as he said, 'I'd far rather fish for roach and perch'.

 

One fo the world's true friends.

[Guest Bish]

Alan Stubbs:

along with a Mitchell 300

Now we're talking tackle! I've a couple of 300's, one is knockin' on for 30 years old & still going strong

 

<bows down to the Mitchell 300>

[Steve Burke]

Kenvis:

Steve was the Normark rod you had all Black, I vaguely remember an all Black rod that I really wanted but alas could not afford...

I'm fairly certain it was. I believe that Terry Eustace also used to make rods based on this blank but with a glass butt. These I beleive were available in a choice of black or brown, but wouldn't of course have had Normark on them.