Technology gone to far?

[Peter Waller]

Have any of you read books by Thurlow Craig? He came along during the early 1950's. Made spinning rods out of old golf clubs, redundant foil blades and the such like. His reels might be drilled out old timber starbacks, his lures made out of ribs from a cow, old tooth brushes and tobacco tins. He caught plenty of pike, killed a lot too. But as Vagabond has pointed out, really basic stuff works. A good excercise for any angler, perhaps, is to do as Vagabond did as a kid. Could be good fun too, maybe a new slant on a Sky TV programme.

[chesters1]

its a pity we dont have a top tips section dedicated to tackle ,i for one have "improved" a pathetically made (but not cheap) beach fishing tripod and could provide before and after pics,bits on refurbishing rods or reels ,float making etc could all be kept in one section to help young and old anglers alike ,now we have digi cams photo illustrations would be a real help and save many a line of type ,its a pain having to search for a post mentioning something you may want to look up and that key word you search with finds things you dont want

i suppose it could be divided into fishing and non fishing there must be plenty of tips for fixing things that others could gain from ,from overhauling a tilly lamp to rewiring a 1958 prestcold fridge etc

 

[ 04. March 2005, 12:17 AM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]

[Peter Waller]

But how many people make their own rods or adapt stuff Chesters? Its what the close season is all about and half the fun of angling but I reckon its a minority interest.

[chesters1]

but think of the people drawn to AN with search words like prestcold fridge ,Intrepid alone no doupt brings in many theres nothing else out there mentioning them

[John S]

Tony U:

I used to have an Intepid Black Prince, alright as things went but things started looking up when I aquired first one of the then new Daiwas, it had bearings and then a Mitchell 300 which i used for everything even sea fishing.

My first decent Rod was a Edgar Sealey Contestant, which seemed brilliant at the time.

My very first reel was an Intrepid Black Prince, replaced it with a Prince Regent. I've said a few times on here that sometimes I take my old cane rod and P-R out for a days' fishing. They caught me fish before and still do now, it's not what you have but how you use it....

 

A few years ago I bought a Mitchell 300A, and since then it has been my reel-of-choice whenever I go fishing (wanting to buy another now )

 

Tight lines

[tommo666]

My first tackle was a Winfield combo, given as a christmas present. Strapped to the crossbar me and my mate Ivan would cycle for miles to find new fishing. The rod was white I remember and stiff as a rod of iron used to use far to heavy breaking strain, probably 20lb and a massive hooks with a single maggott. But used to catch and always went back for more. Memories of Sindlesham Chesters

[Dick Dastardly]

I made my first ever reel.It was made from an old Sylcast spool; and its container.Wasnt very robust and was replaced a few times before my first "proper" reel was brought.An Anon Shaw Olympic.Coupled with my 11' rod made from a split cane fly rod spliced into an old coarse rod handle it caught me many different species from minnows to pike and even some sea fish!Sadly the reels handle broke.I replaced it with a Black Prince which was both cheap and crap!(sorry Chesters!!)A lot of saving saw my first Mitchell 300.

 

peter mccue is totally right in his post.The reason I used to collect pre 1980 ABU multipliers was because of their boy hood memories.

 

Chesters,I can never make my mind up wether modern anglers are interested in tackle making or not! I used to write a regular DIY feature for FishingMagic called "Tackle Workshop" was quite well recieved.Was contacted two years ago by a publisher asking if I would be able/prepared to turn the articles into a book.Whilst I was looking into the possibility of reaching the minimum content level he required he got back to me saying it was all off as his market research people had decide there wasnt a market for such a work.

 

On the subject of DIY tackle Ive been considering doing a "Tackle Workshop" type weekend over the close season to raise some more cash for Angling Projects.Might be fun to get together and show each other a few things,maybe I could do repairs for a donation?

[Wordbender]

I dunno, I turns me back for a second and there's that fishfinder-usin', boat-exploitin', latest-Merkin lure-lobbin' Waller comin' on 'ere an' dribblin' about how it were all better when he were a lad!

 

Better? Better? When Peter was a young'un, most of the fish we catch today hadn't even EVOLVED! The specimen anglers of the early Wallerian Period were after plesiosaurs, for heaven's sake!

 

Don't listen to 'im, folks. He's never been anything but grumpy since the earth cooled.

[Vagabond]

The Flying Tench:

Does the reel rotate? It's hard to see from the pic.

Yep, the endplates are two pieces of plywood, held together with eight 1.5" nails to form the cage.

 

The handle is a bit of brass tube (in the original it was a 1" screw)

 

The drum rotates about a spindle driven at right angles into the rod butt.

 

In my original the spindle was a 2" screw and the bush around it was a piece of hollow cane - the holes for the bush in the end plates were burnt out using a red-hot poker.

 

Remembering how wobbly the original was, I cheated a bit in the replica, and supplied the lad who built it with a brass spindle and bush that I turned up on the lathe. Tapped the front end of the spindle to take a retaining screw. Also put a thread on the far end of the spindle (which comes out of the other side of the rod-butt) This thread takes a nut, which holds in a cork washer and a metal washer (out of sight) forming a primitive adjustable drag.

 

All the rest was built by "primary school technology" (or Blue Peter technology if you like) I had to teach the lad how to saw a straight line, how to drill an upright hole, how to measure, and how to knock a nail in straight, but once he could do that the rest of the job was his own work.

 

The rod has rings made out of safety pins bent over and cropped. The butt ring is really a line guard, as a trial run suggested it would be useful - my original did not have one, and I nearly lost my first decent fish (2lb Crucian) as a result.

 

A good close season project for you FT

 

[ 04. March 2005, 09:54 AM: Message edited by: Vagabond ]

[Peter Waller]

Mr Mathew's posting, spot on!

As for that Bender Bloke, pike haven't needed to evolve much over the last 5,000,000 years, unlike carp they got the design pretty much right the first time round!