Yesterday I got another spinning reel. I'm not sure how many this makes but probably at least forty since about 1948.
The new reel is light (aluminum) and smooth with six ball bearings. The drag has ceramic washers.
But the main reason I bought this reel is because it has a titanium bail that has no spring to wear out.
The bail opens and closes with a magnetic trip. The bail is guaranteed for life. Over the years bail spring failure has always been the biggest problem I have experienced with spinning reels.
As I unpacked my new reel I started to think about my very first spinning reel and how much better fishing equipment is today.
My first outfit was an old steel rod with a Pflueger Casting reel. I think it was a Trump or Triump model. This was before they were called bait casting reels.
The reel probably cost less than $10.
It was a backlash-making machine.
At that time I had a neighbor (Mr. Beebe) who used to take me fishing. He used a Pflueger Supreme. This was the Cadillac of reels in the 1940’s. I think Shakespeare also made a high end model called the President.
I believe these high performance reels were about $30 and more than a fourteen year old paper boy could afford.
Mr. Beebe was a super bass fisherman and an expert with his Supreme... But even he would sometimes throw his Jitterbug or Lucky 13 and end up with a backlash in the black braided line.
Mr. Bebee belonged to a fishing and hunting club in South Jersey. I think it was sometime in the winter of 1948 that he took me to a club meeting.
The speaker was a guy called the Old Angler. He was from Delaware and worked for DuPont.
His job was to sell nylon fishing Line. After the Second World War DuPont had a large amount of nylon fiber available that had been previously developed for the war effort. During WWII most of this nylon fiber was dedicated to parachute cord. After the war DuPont needed a domestic market.
Nylon stockings were the first big breakthrough and the old angler was pushing nylon fishing line to open up another market.
As the Old Angler started to speak out came this unusual reel. A spinning Reel.
As he cast it in the meeting room I was amazed. Not so much at the nylon monofilament as to the way the reel worked. Then he said the magic words.
NO BACKLASH!
That was it for me. I could not wait until I could buy a spinning reel.
Most of the early spinning reels were the famous Mitchell 300 series.
But I saw a Swiss-made Record that I liked and that’s what I bought.
I still have it today.
It was partly made of an alloy we used to call white metal. Since it was one of the first spinning reels it had a half bail. It also had a rear drag.
A picture of my over fifty year old reel is attached. It still works except that, of course, the bail spring is broke.