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Old Tackle that should comeback

all things considered, i can only think of one item from my angling youth that i would consider using today and that would be the viper alarm from the 80's early 90's.

i found mine to be more than reliable and far more sensitive than there optonic counterparts.
 
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Mike Hodgkiss said:
Spot on advice re the bail arms , WD40 can be all that is needed . As for old gear that should be brought back . I miss the rows of porcupine quills in the tackle shops of my youth , they were very versatile and durable floats , perhaps there is a shortage of porcupines ? Swingtips , I have never seen one of those in a shop for years , in certain circumstances a very sensitive bite indicator , can make long range casting a challenge though ...Tackle shops that sell wasp grubs ..., wicker fishing baskets ,..I could be at this all day , best stop
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Swingtips :)

I used to fish an old estate lake http://www.fisheries.co.uk/lakeside/index.htm in the early eighties, it was mostly shallow, perfect for the swingtip. Forget shy crucian bites, they fell for this time after time.

I returned to this lake in the mid 90's and it was on its' way to becoming a carp fishery proper, I think it now is and I think the crucian population has all but gone:(

OK OK, not barbel:rolleyes: still sad though!!
 
ave

But never forget dough-bobbins - paste-of-the-day or plasticine ("modelling clay") - which, unaccountably and totally unfashionably, have caught me some whopper barbs over the years.
 
Thanks for the replies lads about the bail spring on the mitchell. I,ll try the WD40 first, if that doesn,t work, i,ll give jims reel shop a ring. Thanks for the link Darryl. :)
 
I miss proper fairy liquid tops - the kind you could use as a bobbin, and which could (by those in the know, which is to say, those who'd read Jim Gibbinson's 'Carp' book in the Osprey anglers series) be enhanced with an isotope. That said, I don't miss the tangles around the butt ring when a 'screamer' developed and the bobbin spun a little web.

The other thing I do miss is tackle shops that smelt of waxed cotton and maggots, not Scopex and Lobster Thermidor, or worse still, the ubiquitous pellets. All great bait, of course, but we lost something there (of course, there are still tackle shops in the boilie-free Highlands of Scotland that smell as they always did. Graham's of Inverness is a favourite).

Jon
 
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I watched someone fishing with a swingtip at a large commercial fishery the other day and was reminded what a great bite indicator these actually are. He was "baggin'"!

But in terms of unfashionable bite indication what about monkey climbers... Many a night staring at the isotope in those back in the 80's!
 
i am still using the east anglian 9ft quiver match ledger by ken smith .i remember using this rod on the severn around 1971 at cound lodge.it landed my best severn barbel from the severn at 8/12 and many more nice fish.money cant but it .any body remember this company?
albert
 
I had a three piece East Anglian rod company match rod and like you I landed loads of barbel from behind the Cound Lodge on it, I loved fishing there, especially when the pub was empty and the fishing was free, I used to use 8lb Maxima as a mainline with 4lb bottom to a size 18 hook and would cast a 2oz Drennann blockend feeders stuffed with chrisodine bronze maggots to the top of the island. It was not unusual to have 20 fish for a weight of around 100lb in the keep-net at the end of the night.
 
Jon Berry said:
I miss proper fairy liquid tops - the kind you could use as a bobbin, and which could (by those in the know, which is to say, those who'd read Jim Gibbinson's 'Carp' book in the Osprey anglers series) be enhanced with an isotope. That said, I don't miss the tangles around the butt ring when a 'screamer' developed and the bobbin spun a little web.


I love to get my hand on some of the old washing up liquid tops as well.They be spot on for what I want
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with regard to the monkey climber, i bet it wont be to long before they are re introduced by one af the large tackle companies. we seem to have gone full circle in the way of angling fads from bobbins, climbers to swingers back to bobbins.
 
The swing tip, synonymous with almighty tangles and snap off's if the said tip was having an 'off day'!

Does anyone remember the swing tip thingy that sat between the reel and the first ring? I cannot remember for the life of me what they where called, but i do remember the worst days fishing i have ever had while using one.
 
Stan Bennett Wagglers and the original "Topper" floats by Topper Haskins....
 
Justin Cubberley said:
with regard to the monkey climber, i bet it wont be to long before they are re introduced by one af the large tackle companies. we seem to have gone full circle in the way of angling fads from bobbins, climbers to swingers back to bobbins.
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They already have, Matrix do them, i'm yet to see anyone using them though.
 
Jon Frisby said:
Stan Bennett Wagglers and the original "Topper" floats by Topper Haskins....
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Those Topper floats were made for the Bristol Avon, mainly for the stretch where the old Fry's chocolate factory is still today at Keynsham.

(spelt K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M)) How I miss Horace Batchelor:p

Big weights of bream were caught with the aid of this float.
 
Mark Walters said:
They already have, Matrix do them, i'm yet to see anyone using them though.
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i do!
they are not like the old ones from the 70's, a bit more modern, i love em.
century have been doing them for a while to.
 
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