Where does older tackle rank ?

[fishing hobbit]

Got my dad's 3 piece Shakespeare and Norfolk back caster someone left in his taxi way back in the 60's. Also his multi from Woolworths!!! Use it on my boat. Did have his 2 solid fibre glass boat rods,had a clear out and gave them to the tip to sell in shop,proceeds go to air ambulance. We were out cockling dad said quick boi get the rod and feathers water was boiling with mack first time casting a multi, oohh dear look at this one look shaking his head, bird's nest and a half,he wasn't pleased to say the least! Only put new line on that yesterday!! Never got to use it again!
Sorry went offline then.
Never did get any mack.
Still use rod's today.

 

[Valleyboy]

There's not many old fixed spools that cut the mustard as far as fishing with braid is concerned. The reels available today in some respects are leaps and bounds ahead of what was available say 30 years ago.

 

[groundswell]

Old tackle by and large is way overrated, not a patch on what has been available this last 10 years or whatever

 

[Angrybear]

Daiwa have manufactured some truly great rods over the decades. I think they are generally underrated as a manufacturer, particularly these days with the glut of 'badge/brands' and generic re polished turds! My mate, an extremely dedicated and successful sea angler, swears by his 12' TDPK (Team Daiwa Paul Kerry) blanks for bass fishing around these parts with 150g leads. I think these might possibly have been the last incarnation of the Moonraker name?

Not the last, but the very top of the range, around late 90's early 2000's mine are 1 level down from the TDPK both 13foot. Both of these model levels came with plain texture finish 'grips' intended for coasters & heat shrink.

 

[Mike hemming]

Old tackle by and large is way overrated, not a patch on what has been available this last 10 years or whatever

What a load of bollocks , I fish with a pair zziplex t zeros I allso have a brand new pair of m4gt they are not a patch on the t zeros which have incredible bite detection cast same weights and just feel alive compared to the m4 gts which I may add have complete crap spigot which if I realy shoved would mate up , moden stuff is not as good as one would exspect except reels which have leaped ahead

 

[stan m]

Old tackle by and large is way overrated, not a patch on what has been available this last 10 years or whatever

Rubbish, before retiring I struggled to find decent modern blanks for some purposes but older stock fitted the bill. My own shark rod is on a Conoflex blanks from around 1990 and nothing has even come close in the modern blanks. As Mike said, reels yes, rods and blank no

 

[groundswell]

Steady on lad calm yourself, I said tackle this means all sort of things not just rods but since you have brought it up lets look at some scenarios in relation to rods shall we, most rods will cast more than far enough to catch fish, most rods will land most fish on relatively clean ground, most rods will show the bites from most fish, no matter how good you think certain rods are they are not a patch on modern continental rods for fishing for small fish case in point flounder fishing 10 yards to 70 yards or thereabouts on clean shallow beaches the weight of older rods/ diameter of older rods are greater than most continentals they also tend to bounce about in blustery conditions neither here or there to most you may say , fair enough but to use rods that have relatively poor bite detection when far better is available is sheer stupidity in match situations, some of our 5 hour cmr beach matches are won with 60 to 70 flounder at times, mostly 20 to 40 on average, older rods just do not possess the bite detection to know when small fish are definitely hooked and indeed whether you have 1 2 or3 fish on at a time, these modern beach ledgering rods have taken this type of fishing to a new level,
Next rough ground cod fishing (and I mean real rough ground not your powder puff type) older rods that were considered the dogs back in the day and felt like scaffold poles have softened up quite a bit and now in some of the roughest ground bend too easily 3 - 4 feet down when fish try to get their heads down behind every bloody snag that they can, this costs you time and fish especially in matches therefore it takes rods with a bit more in the top part of the rod to try and combat this but still not sacrifice the bite detection, this is where very few old rods still have enough grunt, even a lot of the new rods that are "everything to all people" still fall down badly but there are certain rod manufacturers/importers who do rods that fulfil this requirement and some of the most recent ones are ticking these boxes for us rough ground anglers, as I say it's not a case of having the latest toy it's a case of using equipment that gives you the edge.
Bear in mind this is what suits us where we fish so unless you fish on our type of coastline ..............................
modern fixed spool are another matter

 

[groundswell]

Rubbish, before retiring I struggled to find decent modern blanks for some purposes but older stock fitted the bill. My own shark rod is on a Conoflex blanks from around 1990 and nothing has even come close in the modern blanks. As Mike said, reels yes, rods and blank no

Point taken, but the 1990's conoflex beach rods have softened too much in the tip for us, rods like highlanders, nemesis +and so on, even rods like the flattie fanatic which are great for some types of fishing are not at the races for beach flounder fishing, and by that I mean in the bite detection stakes

 

[stan m]

Steady on lad calm yourself, I said tackle this means all sort of things not just rods but since you have brought it up lets look at some scenarios in relation to rods shall we, most rods will cast more than far enough to catch fish, most rods will land most fish on relatively clean ground, most rods will show the bites from most fish, no matter how good you think certain rods are they are not a patch on modern continental rods for fishing for small fish case in point flounder fishing 10 yards to 70 yards or thereabouts on clean shallow beaches the weight of older rods/ diameter of older rods are greater than most continentals they also tend to bounce about in blustery conditions neither here or there to most you may say , fair enough but to use rods that have relatively poor bite detection when far better is available is sheer stupidity in match situations, some of our 5 hour cmr beach matches are won with 60 to 70 flounder at times, mostly 20 to 40 on average, older rods just do not possess the bite detection to know when small fish are definitely hooked and indeed whether you have 1 2 or3 fish on at a time, these modern beach ledgering rods have taken this type of fishing to a new level,
Next rough ground cod fishing (and I mean real rough ground not your powder puff type) older rods that were considered the dogs back in the day and felt like scaffold poles have softened up quite a bit and now in some of the roughest ground bend too easily 3 - 4 feet down when fish try to get their heads down behind every bloody snag that they can, this costs you time and fish especially in matches therefore it takes rods with a bit more in the top part of the rod to try and combat this but still not sacrifice the bite detection, this is where very few old rods still have enough grunt, even a lot of the new rods that are "everything to all people" still fall down badly but there are certain rod manufacturers/importers who do rods that fulfil this requirement and some of the most recent ones are ticking these boxes for us rough ground anglers, as I say it's not a case of having the latest toy it's a case of using equipment that gives you the edge.
Bear in mind this is what suits us where we fish so unless you fish on our type of coastline ..............................
modern fixed spool are another matter

If you say so, my shore fishing is all overseas these days. Obviously prior to 10-20 years ago we never caught any fish.

 

[stan m]

Point taken, but the 1990's conoflex beach rods have softened too much in the tip for us, rods like highlanders, nemesis +and so on, even rods like the flattie fanatic which are great for some types of fishing are not at the races for beach flounder fishing, and by that I mean in the bite detection stakes

Can only say once again, none of the rods you mention above ever caught fish. Is it just that the modern angler wants it all on a plate. Plenty big skate being taken west coast and islands on anubis, highlander and nemesis.

 

[groundswell]

Can onlysay once again, none of the rods you mention above ever caught fish. Is it just that the modern angler wants it all on a plate. Plenty big skate being taken west coast and islands on anubis, highlander and nemesis.

That's exactly it though I would totally agree with you, these type rods (highlanders etc) are ideal for skate as they are by modern standards pretty short and bend and as such there is less leverage against you whilst fighting (hanging on ) these therefore are ideal but it does not necessarily make them ideal for other types of fishing,

 

[groundswell]

If you say so, my shore fishing is all overseas these days. Obviously prior to 10-20 years ago we never caught any fish.

Sorry should have stated I was replying to Mike hemming with my original post

 

[James81]

Got the Daiwa Supercasts 13ft the newer ones , they were the first more expensive rods I bought , really nice rods with excellent bite indication, although they are thicker in the butt section than more modern rods.
Even though I bought them fairly recently( 8 years ago ) I guess the design of the blanks dates back a while .

 

[groundswell]

Got the Daiwa Supercasts 13ft the newer ones , they were the first more expensive rods I bought , really nice rods with excellent bite indication, although they are thicker in the butt section than more modern rods.
Even though I bought them fairly recently( 8 years ago ) I guess the design of the blanks dates back a while .

Yes these were mid priced rods that covered a lot of bases, they gave you the option of different lengths, multiplier or fixed spool dedicated ringing pattern pity this idea seems to have died off, other than AFAW, you obviously get 4.2m and 4.5m in the continentals just wish they made them shorter for close in work

 

[Mr Fish]

My idea of ‘old’ tackle would probably be pre 1990 stuff if not earlier.

As previously said, much of what I use is probably up to 20 years old, but I wouldn’t consider it very old.

But also I didn’t have/couldn’t afford top end gear in the 1990s so have no experience of things like conoflex etc

Will say my Moonraker is crap lol

 

[James81]

Yes these were mid priced rods that covered a lot of bases, they gave you the option of different lengths, multiplier or fixed spool dedicated ringing pattern pity this idea seems to have died off, other than AFAW, you obviously get 4.2m and 4.5m in the continentals just wish they made them shorter for close in work

Rods have definitely gotten longer over time when I first got into sea fishing around 2001( not that long ago really) 12ft rods were common now 13ft is probably the starting point unless its a bass rod .

 

[Dutchman]

Are the modern bells better?

 

[Angrybear]

One area where modern definitely wins is lighting, I don't think my Samalite or MPA with old belt mounted Ni-cad battery packs will be joining me on the beach this winter

 

[concrete]

Point taken, but the 1990's conoflex beach rods have softened too much in the tip for us, rods like highlanders, nemesis +and so on, even rods like the flattie fanatic which are great for some types of fishing are not at the races for beach flounder fishing, and by that I mean in the bite detection stakes

You don’t need sensitivity for flounder fishing. The bloody things just hook themselves. It’s more about timing than looking for bites.

 

[concrete]

My idea of ‘old’ tackle would probably be pre 1990 stuff if not earlier.

As previously said, much of what I use is probably up to 20 years old, but I wouldn’t consider it very old.

But also I didn’t have/couldn’t afford top end gear in the 1990s so have no experience of things like conoflex etc

Will say my Moonraker is crap lol

I had a brown moonraker, bought it new in the mid eighties. It bent like a banana.