Paul Roberts

I was taken by the Meisselbachs from the get-go. They are beautiful reels, and so well designed and built. The Takapart and Tri-Part are such simple ingenious designs I think.

:)) Yeah, I know... it looks bad. I can't stand clean cork either and will even cheat by muddying a new rod up before I even start fishing with it. My Skyline pistol however is indeed pretty much pristine. It hasn't seen much use since two-handed rods became "a thing". I actually made my own first two-hander, by peeling off a pistol grip from a "blank-thru" rod and epoxying on a straight handle from a light downrigger rod. Still use that rod regularly. Another "If it ain't broke..." kind of thing. Not sure these old photos are going to add any street cred though :)) What's with that hat?! The night shot shows another bass caught on my grandfather's Jitterbug. That one 'bug has caught bass for 4 generations of Roberts'. Yes, that's the "Deluxe" version, with a plastic head ring. That color caught my fancy, as the rod blank for my "vintage facsimile" build is a translucent "caramel" color. BTW: Ron (bulldog1935) is a Materials Engineer, a metallurgist; The right guy to send a 4-figure reel to. If you have one you don't care that much about, I'm your man. :))

Here are a few old reels I've acquired and cleaned up... OK, torn down stem to stern to get them purring again. It's amazing how well-made they are, nearly bulletproof: A South Bend 1200 (1920's), Marhoff #26 (late 20's), and a South Bend 1000 (late 40's into the 50's) -rough dates here. All three are actually Shakespeare made. Here is a Langley 310 (late 40's thru the 50's) on the 1984 Skyline graphite rod I've been test-driving my old reels on. The rod is a thoroughly modern performer that I've caught a lot of bass on since I bought it new off the rack in '84.

I've been acquiring, renovating, and trying out some antique casting reels lately, and actually mic'd some new 12lb Mason Legend braided nylon. Kind of difficult to accurately mic braids but I seem to get .013 to .014, which is what many 12 to 14lb nylon monos come in at.

Ach! Missed it.

Iced up, and working on a feature series on lure presentation.

Nichol's Mango has been my GoTo for veges and wood. Even doubles as a slop bait. Only drawback is they are known to LDR a few fish. Patrick Sebile claims to have alleviated this issue with his new Band of Anglers Waterbull Jig. Haven't tried it. Not sure it's out yet. Recently picked up some Title-Shots but haven't tried them yet.

Will be interesting to try! Beautiful surf rod there. I'm always torn between the organic and tech look. I like, and own, both. Going organic here with this old stuff. Should be fun, and enlightening. Will help me put all our advancements in better perspective. Some more John Henry moments for me I suppose. :)) If the reel explodes, or an 8lb bass breaks my wrist, will my heart-of-hearts go with it? ?

Well... polished the ferrules and put it together and... it's only 4.5ft long. Lacks a trigger/"finger hook" too which makes it darn unwieldy in hand. Can't imagine trying to handle a reel on top of it. Since they aren't of great value, I'll probably have to modify it: trigger to start. And maybe a fighting butt; My wrists always had trouble with pistol grip rods. Finding rods to be more of a challenge here. I'm a fisherman first. And the rod does the fishing, in my mind. Not liking the looks (and prices) of most good vintage tubular glass rods. I feel like I left them (the cheaper ones at least) behind, so it's tough to click "buy" on those. Solid glass... hmmmmm. My dad had one years ago, and I have a nostalgic sweet spot there for that rod. And there are some pretty ones out there, (Heddon "Pal" in particular), but could I stand fishing with a "rubbery club"? At 5ft I can see this would be a very short range, chuck-n-wind, game. So... I might build a glass rod, with antique/vintage cosmetics. But to start, I'm going to pop the reels I'll be trying (yes, "reels" -doing only a fair job of NOT collecting!) onto a 1980's Skyline graphite 5'6" 1/4-1/2 pistol grip. Bought it new in 1985 and still love that sweet little rod -a retro style rod that can fish! Will see if I can incorporate some of these old reels into my fishing. Not exactly sure why I am doing this, but I'm captivated by them somehow. Eye candy perhaps. Thanks to Ron (aka bulldog1935), I think! But, there's a bit more there. I always loved making good catches with "limitations" in place, oft-times amusing ones: like float-fishing for steelhead with a Snoopy bobber, catching bass on a Creepy-Crawler Tarzan I molded from melted plastic worms, fished topwater with the Jaws theme song going in my head. I started archery with a cammed compound, then dialed things back to trad tackle, until I was going into the woods with a hatchet and coming out with self-bows; Still my choice there. Even made a few (very pretty) fly rods from goldenrod "cane". So, we'll see what I can make of it. Already been eyeing 25N's and P-41N's. One step at a time here, though. "Whoa there, Nellie!!" Cool thing is that there have been so many technological advancements, and well-documented by folks such as @bulldog1935, that one could actually pick their train stop through time. Pretty cool.

Lotsa amazing critters out there. I think what's also cool is that it's fisherman that would notice them and think they're cool.

Although they look a bit like salamander egg masses, they aren't. They are Bryozoan colonies -tiny filter feeding animals. Yeah, weird.

That I wouldn't know. The Intex ones have held up so far, but could still puncture one. In fact, a friend borrowed one and it came back with a small puncture. Rock, she said.

@bulldog1935 Is the Shakespeare Marhoff #26 a good match. Can't tell how large a reel it is. People seem to talk about the GE, GF. Diff between the Skilcast and Akron?

Here's the steel rod I've had for some time. Garage sale find I believe, but I don't remember where or when. Been collecting dust here for decades now. Pretty thing! It's an Armax, a Winchester off-brand, "Steel Bait Casting Rod" made from the 20's into the 30's, from what I was able to find out. Marbled red glass, (or perhaps agate?) guides. It's in very nice condition. Looks like it was little used. I think it deserves a reel. I have some of my grandfather's plugs, including a Jitterbug that I, my dad, and his dad, have caught bass on. I see some fun ahead. Thanks for the inspiration bulldog!

I like everything as light as possible.

My wife bought a couple Intex Challenger Kayaks (K1 and K2). They were inexpensive, easy to deal with, relatively durable, and inexpensive (<$100). Prices have gone up since Covid it appears. I see them on Amazon for $90 and $109. Fine for just tooling around.

Yeah, I already squeezed the air outta my float tube. Glad that's outta the way! :))

Such a fun thread. Thanks, bulldog, for posting and sharing your knowledge. I have an old tubular steel "bass" (?) rod that's about 5ft or so. It's in great shape and I've toyed with the idea of finding a vintage reel and putting it to use. I have a YT channel and people often comment on, and even chuckle at, my "vintage" gear (70's and 80's ). To which I reply, "That's not vintage, that's just my stuff!" If it ain't broke... Looks as though many of them will outlast me. As to true "vintage" reels, I've perused ebay some, looking at old Pflueger's (only vintage brand I've known about) and see there are so many, and I know so little about them. What reel brands/models would you recommend someone look for, that would be functional without breaking the bank?

@Boomstick pm sent.

So am I. Lemme know when you find it!

What do you like about it? How's it stack up in terms of abrasion resistance compared to other lines?

Thanks, Andy. I remember the thread now. Should've searched it. Seeing the same thing: loss of slickness followed by some fraying. I've been using both J-Braid8 and Gliss and now cannot tell the two apart by eye due to the loss of coating/fusing(?) in the Gliss. Been using it for finesse fishing and has been nice there, esp for winter fishing.

For those who've used Gliss for some time now, what do you think of it? Is it holding up?

Agreed. I learned bc the experts of the day did it. If I were starting now my “opinion” might be different bc I likely never developed the experience.

Haven’t bought any recently but they’ve been very good plugs for me.