Competition casting 1950s.

[spinyeel]

Just wondering if any of our older members can recall what type of reels were used for tournament casting back in the 50s and 60s?Apparently the guys used to hit some serious distances.Well over 200 metres.

[oldchukka]

the only person that comes to mind, was peter bagnall, who cast with, if i remember correctly.--a.b.u rods and reels

[philtherod]

Reels were Penn Surfmaster 100, Squidder145/6 with the fins removed, the 180 Baymaster, and the Mitchell captain 602 (602P and AP). Abu 6000 size didn't really appear until the 1960's, and no-one really took surfcasting seriously until the formation of the South & South East England shorecasting club (later became the UKSF), and the Hundred plus club (don't know what happened to that. Casters in the ses early days included Bill Roberts, Dennis Darkin, Peter Bagnall, Brian Harris, Ron Fouracres, Dick Swift ( he held the 6oz record until TC came along), Ian Gillespie (rod breaker), Tony Fordham were all involved. There were several others I can't remember, sorry if you're still alive!!!

philtherod

[spill]

I had a Penn Squidder in my teens (this was only the 1990s!) - respect goes out to anyone that could cast 200m+ with one of those. Perhaps it was because my one still had the spool fins!

[themrbeast]

300 Mitchell "Wedding Cake" Tournament
Circa 1963.

The rotating head on a normal Mitchell 300 reel turns clockwise, when viewed from the back of the reel. Since most people are right handed, this presents two problems for the tournament caster: First, when casting for accuracy, most competitors used the forefinger, during the cast, on the rim of the spool to slow the cast. This does not work well with a right forefinger because the line is coming off the spool in the wrong direction. Secondly, It was difficult for the right hander to lift the line with his finger to catch it with the pick-up.

Prior to the advent of this reel, a lot of competitors used the right hand version, the 301, because it eliminated this problem.

The rotating head on these competition reels turns counter clockwise (when viewed from the back of the reel). This was accomplished by using a 301 rotating head, and an intermediate gear to cause the head to rotate clockwise.

There were several different spools manufactured for these reels. This particular spool is a four stage design. The Manual pickup is tripple adjustable. The front (small part) of the spool is used to hand wind a shocker line. The other stages of the spool hold the main line.

Also, it has a "lock down nut" on the handle shaft to keep it from turning while casting.

Only 60 of these reels were produced and only 12 are known to exist today.

Considered "Super Rare" in the community of Mitchell collectors.

here a link to other mitchell reels
http://www.imageevent.com/jimfordham

you will have to use the link as the pictures did not come out

[oldchukka]

somewhere in the back of my mind i recall some dispute over the subject of amateur/pro,s and ateam that peter bagnall was a member of, does anyone recall the story and anything else from that era.
ive met peter quite a few times over the years, last time was when i was having a few practice casts behind his house at morecambe. he said , i see you are,nt improving much, when i asked why, he said, its obvious cos the field is still big enough for you,--- could,nt argue with that.

[Mackembow]

Reels were Penn Surfmaster 100, Squidder145/6 with the fins removed, the 180 Baymaster, and the Mitchell captain 602 (602P and AP). Abu 6000 size didn't really appear until the 1960's, and no-one really took surfcasting seriously until the formation of the South & South East England shorecasting club (later became the UKSF), and the Hundred plus club (don't know what happened to that. Casters in the ses early days included Bill Roberts, Dennis Darkin, Peter Bagnall, Brian Harris, Ron Fouracres, Dick Swift ( he held the 6oz record until TC came along), Ian Gillespie (rod breaker), Tony Fordham were all involved. There were several others I can't remember, sorry if you're still alive!!!

philtherod

Was there not a guy called Moncrieff, maybe Les. I can just recall a story in a very old sea angler. He may have been pals with Terry Carroll.

[Rob]

Was there not a guy called Moncrieff, maybe Les.

Yes there was, no longer with us but he put surfcasting on the map. He was once quoted as saying something like "One day when everyone can cast over 100 yards, it will be the anglers with the sense to drop short that will catch."

It's worth remembering that his distances were amazing considering the gear available then. 12ft glass rods and modified boat reels. gear has come a long way but distances haven't increased all that much really proving it is the technique rather than the tools that make the difference, and he was considered one of the pioneers of developing those techniques.

[philtherod]

Was there not a guy called Moncrieff, maybe Les. I can just recall a story in a very old sea angler. He may have been pals with Terry Carroll.

Yes Les was involved, he was the President of the UKSF, and it is his image that is on the badge....but....he refused for many years to take part, saying that to do so would do nothing for his cause, which was to get the orginary guy to improve.
I quote from the Jan 1968 editorial of Angling magazine:
came a time when Moncrieff (I'll call him Les) wrote that he, Dick swift and Fred williams were "competent casters". He was trying to show that although the three used different techniques, that similar distances were achieved. For this he was taken to task again by Eric Horsfall Turner, secretary of the British Casting Association, who suggested that Les should not have classed his style with that of Dick swift because he had not shown that he could beat him.
Les had not cast competitively at that date, what he termed "a childish trial of strength" with the top tournament surfcasters. But he was obviously annoyed by Horsfall-Turner's attempts to challenge Les, os in July 1967 he took part in his first tournament, but NOT with surfcasting gear, but in the 5/8oz distance event at the Scottish Casting Championship, Hawick.
Les won with 92.9 metres against Horsfall-Turners 79.6 metres. With regard to the surfcasting, remember that the first 200 yard "official" cast was several years in the future.
Again I quote from Angling, May 1968:
"A few weeks ago I went with two friends to watch Les, Bill Roberts and Gordon Moody practising on a measured court. We took our own rods to compare our own abilities......Here are some hard facts about Les's gear and distances that day.
With a 13ft 6in dural-butted rod and Penn Baymaster with 23lb. line and 6oz he cast 175 yards, a 14ft 6in dural butt rod and 4oz "well over" 180yards, and with a 16foot reverse taper did 160 yards with a 2oz.
Brian Harris, who wrote the report, cast 142 yards with a 4oz lead.
Gordon Moody used a production Hardy "Longbow" to cast 176(6oz), 172(4oz), and 147(2oz)."
Les went on to help Terry Carroll in his casting, Terry broke the record and almost became the first to record an official 200 yarder...his record measured 197yards 1foot 2in....so close!
Bear in mind that these were years of experiment and investigation, it was a very interesting period in angling history, and I am happy to have met many of these pioneers, and sad that so many are casting no more.

philtherod

[spinyeel]

It's even more amazing that with a few exceptions notably the Squidder,most of the reels had no ball bearings or cast controllers.