bulldog1935

spinning is for the dark, and then only where you can't see your long cast splash. (ok, there are a few complex finesse rigs - tandems and weightless cigar cork rigs - where I prefer spinning) Major deja-vu on this thread.

@JJM I had to turn him before a stand of watercress at the end of the pool and his backing run. I had the reel jammed into my belly for 1xR drag on the handle knob, and pinched the line between my fingers. It was epic. it gets worse

this reply could be a tome - Vince Cummings Water Witch and c. 1930 Medalist reporting some stealthy sight fishing. 1918 Thomas again used my cane rods twice on tv - my prewar Heddon wind rod first in coldwater, second in warm even handed my 100-y-o Thomas to the cameraman and let him catch a trout when we were done filming TU On the Rise here's my friend's daughter with a redfish on my Conolon glass and green Penn 716

@JJM where I got there began at jaded from harassing fish on overqualified graphite fly rods and disc drag reels. Many people get here, clip the hooks from their flies, and count coup. Discovered you could try cane and click pawl reels, sell for what you paid (or Good Profit if you shopped well) and move on - everything eventually worth more than you paid. First 20" rainbow in fast water on cane and click pawl - oh crap, what am I going to do now - Hey, this is why we do this in the first place. You could get the good vintage tackle for less than the cost of the new boring, fish it for 4 or 5 years, and sell for a profit - often doubling what you paid. I also made a niche repairing OP's valuable antique fly reels, and connected with the people who would do the same with me on vintage cane. Careful with the You're a Collector, But I'm a Fisherman delusion - it's always much less than true, shows up on Every forum, and Everyone who says it becomes a Rabid Collector

There's a thread going on FFR where people are bemoaning what happens to their tackle collections when they suddenly pass, and the nightmare of their tackle displayed at Salvation Army Store. I like the cliche, "it won't matter 100 years from now" The story of how the rod was acquired only matters to the guy using it. Maybe the rod gets its own stories FE Thomas Special, 1918 date stamp

Fly fishing moving water, fluoro vs. mono makes a big difference getting your fly down, both for diameter difference (drag) and line density difference. The same is true in salt water. You're certainly not giving up anything by trying fluoro.

@KP Duty seems like that would increase their profit margin, unless there are specific agreements with USA importers about holding prices up to meet their USM prices. In that case, we'll all bypass them to go to Japan. I noticed searching residual ZPI parts, Tackle Trap always came up on google. They lost ZPI as a supplier when ZPI made the choice to leave aftermarket parts in favor of their own Alcance reels. There also seems to be some agreement inside Doyo (Abu?) not to import this reel to the US, because it's worldwide except for USM.

Most places you want to fish this reel, the newer reels aren't needed. There's a joy factor casting a micro-plug or finesse spoon on a raced-out mini Ambassadeur. How's this for covering the bases? A Pedernales headwaters bike-fish. You're not allowed to park on county roads here, but the flood plain gravel sendero is state. it's certainly not going to wear you out lifting it.

Bill Phillipson never missed on a rod taper, His Scotchply rods are all fast progressive. All Harrington rod tapers from fly to surf are fast para. He first made bass rods. Harrington added strength and stiffness in the resin itself with carbon black, and giving his blanks their characteristic through-thickness black color. (this 7-1/2'er will launch a T-200 shooting head to 70' with just a back-cast, no false cast) I don't want to get into a conflict over Fenwick, I have a lifetime of fly rod observations, and Fenwick has a timeless fan club, but Fenwick tapers are hit and miss. The rods I don't like are very swoopy with slow mids (exactly where a fly rod needs to roll-cast).

Gladding is most noted for eventually buying South Bend and pressing the trademark. But they were driving the industry in the early 60s. They acquired H-I before SB, and their coup was buying Harnell when the partners split up, and continuing Harnell production into 1970. I'm pretty sure the H-I Star spinning rod that sweeps me away was built on a Harnell mandrel. John Harrington, who arguably sold the first fiberglass rod, was just not a businessman, and after the Harnell split, he continued making rods under his name through the 1990s - Harrington rods have cult following on every coast.

If you notice the old metal-spring Stubcaster on the back of this curio shelf... ... it's set up with a Thill slip bobber, soft braid, and line stopper. The diminutive raised-pillar multiplier is a Pflueger-made Peerless trade reel. For grins, I've fished the combo at the creek with my daughters. I don't think you'll find too many UL fishing limits on your Fenwick glass rod. (Not my favorite action, I'd take a Harnell, Phillipson, or my shocking sweet Gladding-made H-I Star). But any traditional UL technique you want to fish, the rod will be worthwhile - spinners, micro-spoons, micro-jigs. A couple of similar rods fishing days posted on FFR Another Spin page, including a nice little smallmouth. https://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=73529&p=405901 https://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=72441 If you do visit the page I linked, the masthead photo is my Mitchell 440 on Conolon glass and Hardy Altex on Arjon cane. I've never fished the 440 Ottomatic - it's too valuable in its box - just took it out for this photo, but I have fished and even loaned the Conolon rod with a Mitchell 410. Conolon was King in the '70s, and still fast glass.

<burp> Excuse me. Flounder fish tacos

@chall59 Hogy makes the Big soft baits https://hogylures.com/collections/softbaits Matching bait size is important. If the finger mullet are 2-3", that's what you fish. If the redfish are grazing mud minnows, etc. Specs are a little different that they will slash into larger lures for the flash when the bait is smaller, even tiny.

Ima is Imakatsu, a Japanese lure company that I like so much I have their sticker on my kayak cooler. Asian Portal has a big stock of their lures, and fishingshop,kiwi is another place I'll add up large lure orders. While fishingshop.kiwi prices are discounted on most everything, lines, rods, they charge $40 to ship DHL. If you google Trout Support Lure you'll find the Grasswalker - yes, Texas, my buddy Tobin. Last time I posted a link here, it got moderated and scalped.

Fishing and catching aren't always the same thing, especially if fishing means a picnic at the creek with your daughters and outfitting their friends. My older daughter had her choice of anything, and her go-to for creek fishing was always this 1937 Luxor half-bail with 4-1/2' Airex solid glass rod. This reel doesn't have anti-reverse, and she gained the skill of landing and releasing fish on it all by herself. I'd guess there are grown men on this forum who might be intimidated by the task. Certainly the topic isn't about old is better, but could be about old is more interesting. I'll add this about the Luxor. If you used it, you would be pretty amazed. Until modern computer balancing, it was the 2nd smoothest spinning reel made, next only to Hardy Altex.

Guess it depends on how far back you wanna go Two other forums where you'll find a good audience, especially for glass rods https://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=33 You'll find limitless threads on this page with recent catch photos on vintage tackle. and old reels https://reeltalk.orcaonline.org/viewforum.php?f=1

@Eric 26 Especially Ambassadeurs - they're just so much fun to work on, everything is simple and makes sense, and large enough to handle without tweezers and Ott magnifier.

@chall59 5 lures that are very effective - ok, make it 6. Two hard plugs, Yo Zuri 3DS (mullet) - even better action and prismatics, Ima K-Ta (bora) Our bread-and-butter lure on the TX coast is TSL Grasswalker. This is a 4" soft neutral density jerkbait fished on a Trokar 140 swimbait hook. Fishes in the zone on top of the grass with slow retrieve, and dog-walks with any retrieve. Also tough-enough to survive lizardfish (see the bite marks on the right) Another bread-and-butter soft lure on ML tackle is Z-Man 1/8-oz Texas Eye Jighead with Minnow-Z shad tail - different color, Sexy Penny, caught my nice flounder last week. Two ways to fish through the winter are imitating glass minnows on finesse tackle, and mullet are big, 5-6". Go-to lure for the latter are Corky's soft, suspending 7/8-oz jerk baits. Adding one more soft lure for flounder - Down South on weighted swimbait hook. My buddy Tony's score on this bait

If you did understand, it would be frightening.

@Ski I'm surprised you haven't made the switch to titanium. . For toothy fish with fly rod, 30 years ago, I got tired of tying Bimini twist in single-strand stainless wire, and made the switch to Seven strand using Allbright knot to leader butt and crimp sleeves to fly - the same stuff I used on spider weight bait rigs in the surf, but in 12-lb test. Titanium wire is a game-changer. It holds with a 3-turn clinch knot, will tie a snell knot, and is much tougher and elastic compared to drawn stainless.

I went through the centrifugal exercise on my 1500C, taking the approach of setting mag brake for the lightest thing I'm going to throw on the reel, and centrifugal for the heaviest I'm going to throw. I reduced the 5 Avail magnets to 2. It would throw 7+ g without backlash. When I added centrifugal shoes (the same smallest/lightest), it was just a distance robber on the light end. So I went back, replaced the centrifugal with the Avail spacer, and moved the magnet from the left side to the right side, which my photo shows above. The one that really floored me is my 4600, which I was targeting 1/2 oz on light braid. When I was tinkering for initial set-up with 6-lb YZH, discovered it would cast 3 g, set my mag there, and added 2 centrifugal shoes for the half-ounce. The reel is backlash-proof from 3 g to an ounce - no adjustments.

@Eric 26 you can't imagine the total change swapping the heavy stock spools for new lightweight spools. Everything you learned about setting up your old Ambassadeur goes out the door. Zero end tension, up to 1/4 oz, you don't need centrifugal, and with lighter weights, you only need a light mag brake. Especially for the stream trout rods @redmeansdistortion is matching. There's a lighter spool available than this, but this reel easily fishes tiny 1.5-g plugs.

Thanks @AlabamaSpothunter for your contributions. I'm a little surprised as many people here who fish the salt, that no one added fishing discussion. Even the old reel collectors on ORCA wanted to talk tackle and lures. I debuted a new inexpensive Abu all-range salt finesse rod, one with extreme wide range. While I can cast the light weight (and a bit lighter) on my Yamaga Blanks salt finesse rod, and it's great for wading, the 8'2" Y/B rod just doesn't have the backbone to keep a redfish from going under your kayak. The longer Abu rod has the power to do the job, and not worry too much about this $100 rod. It casts almost as light as the Y/B, and proved itself this trip, turning reds from going under the boat, casting finesse lures, and catching most every significant fish on my trip. I had it matched with my Zillion Silver Wolf and PE#0.8 X-braid (16-lb). This is a 16-inch rat red in Little Cut Josh joked about the length, but in the tight marshes, it fished finesse lures quite well, such as 1/15-oz Texas Eye Finesse jigheads for imitating mud minnows. It fished very much like a fly rod in tight quarters with light lures. Both wading the tide pass and drifting the flats, the combo easily cast more distance than I needed with 5-g finesse plugs - the short soft tip is just right for topwater action. Two plugs that stood out were the Ima K-Ta 58 diving plug in the passes for a bite-size prismatic mullet (bora in Japanese), and INX Supra 65 prop-tail topwater shrimp drifting the flats. The topwater shrimp was especially fun to fish, and caught my trip-fish red. The only reason the Abu rod won't retire my 7'1" Omen Green ML is that rod is freakishly light-in-hand for all day fishing (caught the flounder with 3" Minnow-Z shad tail on 1/8 oz Texas-eye jighead). They'll still fish two different niches from my kayak. BTW, a friend on FFR is using a shorter and lighter Abu Salty Style rockfish finessse both for bass finesse and shore fishing Sierra Nevada lakes, and really likes it - especially for the price.

The Japanese (and Hong Kong) offer some really great aftermarket parts that change their nature and can build a wide-range backlash-proof reel.

European titanium-wire pike leaders are my favorite for inshore fishing. They have micro-swivels and micro-snaps. Dragon Brand from Poland was my last DHL order. For muskie, you might do better with something heavier, with BB swivels and stronger snaps. Check Amazon for titanium wire leaders. Halco is no miss. Titanium has much better toughness than stainless wire, will stretch and absorb damage.