Vintage fishing tackle

I have many of those quick reels , they were just works of art along with Alcedo from Italy the 110 was one of my first freshwater reels years ago ,,nowadays I have over 30 bamboo rods and haven't fished spinncasters in a long time

A vintage fly fishing outfit would not be complete without a willow creel, an Abercrombie &Fitch fly box with individual compartments with transparent lids- loaded with a variety of select, custom-tied flies.

I do like to use older fishing tackle but only under controlled conditions. For small fish under easy, ideal conditions/ no issue with old, less capable tackle. The problem is I can’t justify breaking a collectible bamboo rod messing around in a willow tangled mountain stream for small fish. Plus, in some waters, even though you may be targeting small trout less that 12 inches, breaking off the occasional 20-25 inch monster isn’t fun. Light/fragile rods and old reels without good drag systems sooner or later will lead to disappointment or broken equipment on large, strong fish. Also, “playing” a large fish to exhaustion using light or fragile gear, a fish you plan to release, isn’t the best plan. Most old “vintage” reels don’t have much more than a clicker/pawl, if that.

Here are some fly reels showing the drag systems of each. From the least capable clicker-pawl system on the fairly high end but older Hardy to the better more capable mechanical hub on the Teton and Ross to the best systems like the large cork discs on machine plate on an older, solid body Able and the large cork disc on a PTFE plate on a more modern Bauer.

Kind of a unique rod - reel combo. Sport King 6 ft heavy duty bamboo rod with fighting butt and large diameter Sal-Trout reel.

Three older Abel fly reels- # Pt .5, # 1 and # 3N. I guess these could be called “vintage” as they are first generation Abel fly reels from the early 80s. These solid body, large cork disc drag, early Abel’s are, IMO, about as robust and capable a fly reel as has ever been made. Body and spool machined from solid, aircraft aluminum bar stock. If I had to pick only one fly reel to own and use, it would be one of these early Abels

Pic of reel contrast Open spool Marc reel and a Shakespeare auto fly reel. This auto was my first new reel. I used it from age 10 to about age 16. It still works. These auto fly reels are very efficient for line management for small fish is tight streams.

This thread got me to thinking, normally a pretty dangerous undertaking but my father has some old fishing tackle squirreled away somewhere. We are going to visit them next week and I’m going to try and dig some of it out and see what he has.

Pretty sure he has an old Montague split cane fly rod somewhere and a ton of old lures.

fourfive8 said:

Pic of reel contrast Open spool Marc reel and a Shakespeare auto fly reel. This auto was my first new reel. I used it from age 10 to about age 16. It still works. These auto fly reels are very efficient for line management for small fish is tight streams.

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My dad left me one of those green auto fly reels. I used it a lot while it worked.

steve white said:

My dad left me one of those green auto fly reels. I used it a lot while it worked.

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Surprising how long they last! The one I have dates from early 60s and is still operating although I haven’t used it in quite a few years. They have a long, flat coil spring with simple ratchet release system. My dad and I would occasionally take it apart, clean in solvent and lightly oil. He taught me to release the tension on the coil spring in off season.

I have a lot of vintage tackle, but most of it was not vintage when I bought it. It was new.

fourfive8 said:

A vintage fly fishing outfit would not be complete without a willow creel, an Abercrombie &Fitch fly box with individual compartments with transparent lids- loaded with a variety of select, custom-tied flies.

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That's an English Wheatly fly box. Retailed by A&F, I have a couple and they are very nice - especially on windy days.

Kevin Peacocke said:

Are any of you into vintage fishing tackle? I am into nostalgia as you know and in the youthful days either owned or hankered after special itels that have since been lost along the way.
Enter e-bay and a credit card and one can re-live it all.
A year or so ago I found a 1960's NIB Mitchell 408, the little ultra-light model they made. It has been on many enjoyable outings already and even landed a 6kg tiger fish on the Zambezi.
Here is it's companion, a DAM 110 Microlite, also NIB out of Australia, and hailing from 1966.
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Kevin, I too am into nostalgia, in guns, burl wood and leather car interiors, and yes fishing tackle! Would love to have one of the old screw driven Abu spinners. Almost bought a Dam Quick once. Thanks for the thread.

fourfive8 said:

Surprising how long they last! The one I have dates from early 60s and is still operating although I haven’t used it in quite a few years. They have a long, flat coil spring with simple ratchet release system. My dad and I would occasionally take it apart, clean in solvent and lightly oil. He taught me to release the tension on the coil spring in off season.

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I'm up for cleaning lubing it! There was a time when I would not take apart a baitcaster, but youtube put an end to that with all the helpful tutorials.

steve white said:

I'm up for cleaning lubing it! There was a time when I would not take apart a baitcaster, but youtube put an end to that with all the helpful tutorials.

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Absolutely. YouTube can be a great resource for DIYers

Those type auto reels do build up black gunk. I think the combination of steel rubbing on aluminum creates the black mess.

One of the secrets, in addition to regular cleaning and lube, for maintaining a long life for those auto reels is to not over-crank the tension with the large, outer knurled ring since stripping line out also adds spring tension during normal use.