Part Two: Modern Fishing Equipment
Glass Fibre and Carbon Fibre plus Advances in Reels
Fishing rods made out of bamboo were popular for many years and split cane bamboo fly rods are still used today by some fly fishing anglers. However, by the end of the Second World War new materials such as glass fibre was being used to manufacture fishing rods. At first glass fibre rods were extremely expensive, but American companies pushed forward with the development of this type of fishing rod and increasingly efficient manufacturing processes meant they soon they came down in price and became extremely popular. In Britain, Leslie Moncrieff’s glass fibre Springheel rod was the first that allowed the average angler to cast 100 yards (or more with a little practice). This was soon followed by Abu Garcia’s 484 Zoom rod, which in the hands of a good caster could hit the 200-yard mark. Ultimately, the domination of glass fibre rods was short-lived, as carbon fibre was developed in the late 1960s. Its usefulness as a material for making fishing rods quickly became apparent and rods made from this material soon came to dominate the market on both sides of the Atlantic. These rods, when combined with the new lightweight aluminium reels, such as Abu’s classic Ambassadeur 5000 and the Mitchell 300 (the biggest selling reel of all time), allowed anglers to fish with rods that were comfortable, easy to use and could cast distances unimaginable just ten years previously.
The Manufacture of Carbon Fibre Fishing Rods
Carbon fibre is the ideal material for making fishing rods as it bends to allow casting but then instantly straightens when pressure is removed. In the latter decades of the twentieth century, manufacturers began increasingly mixing carbon fibre with other materials such as boron, kevlar, and graphite in their search to create the perfect fishing rod. Although the way fishing rods are made differs from manufacturer to manufacturer the general process follows this pattern:
- Carbon fibre comes to the manufacturer in the form of a flat sheet. It is pre-impregnated with resin making it sticky to the touch.
- Next, a custom-made tapered steel rod known as a mandrel is chosen and the carbon fibre sheet is wrapped around this. Selecting the correct mandrel is extremely important as slight changes in the shape of the mandrel will produce very different results in the completed fishing rod.
- Once the carbon sheet has been wrapped around the mandrel it is placed in a specially designed oven at temperatures of up to 200° C for up to an hour. The heat causes the carbon fibre/resin mix to dry and harden.
- The finished blank is then removed from the oven and the mandrel removed with a hydraulic ram and the cellophane tape removed. The blank is now completed and is given initial tests by the manufacturer and sanded down to remove any rough surfaces and then coated.
- Additional fixtures such as the rings, reel seat and grips are added and the rod is complete and ready for use or sale.
Modern Rods and Reels
The massive advances in fishing rod technology have transformed the sea angling market and today modern rods are light and durable and yet can still cast long distances and remain strong and tough enough to fish rocky ground and reel in fish through rough seas. Many of the world’s best rod manufacturers such as Grey’s, Century, Cono-flex and Zziplex are based in Britain. Modern manufacturing techniques have seen sea fishing rods increase in length. Whereas 12ft was once the standard length for a beachcasting rod in the UK, today Continental-style rods of 15 – 16ft and even longer are commonplace, with the increased casting distances offered by these rods accounting for their growing popularity.
Reel technology has advanced just as much as rods, especially with Japanese manufacturers entering the UK market in the 1980s. The Daiwa 7HT revolutionised beach fishing by offering an advanced magnetically controlled reel that was affordable, easy to use and could reach long casting distances. Similarly, the company’s SL20SH and SL30SH ‘slosh’ reels became hugely popular for rough ground shore fishing and light boat fishing when they were released several decades ago and remain in production today. Other manufacturers of rods and reels such as Penn from America, Sweden’s Abu Garcia, Japan’s Akios and Italy’s Lineaeffe have joined many others in the UK market meaning that sea anglers in the UK today have a huge range of high-quality rods and reels to choose from.
Line, Lures and Terminal Tackle
Until the development of nylon monofilament fishing lines, anglers used cuttyhunk (a type of twisted linen), cotton and silk. All of these lines would begin to rot and degrade when exposed to seawater, with anglers having to unwind the line from the reel and hang it up to dry after every fishing session in an attempt to prolong its life. In the book The Technique of Sea Fishing and Tackle Tinkering by W. E. Davies which was published in 1958 and revised in 1962, anglers are advised to remove all of the line from their reel after going fishing and submerge it in a mix of Stockholm tar, turpentine and methylated spirits for two days. After this, the line should be hung outdoors to dry (for up to a week) and then wound back onto the reel through a cloth. The book states that this makes the fishing line less water-absorbant and slows the degradation of the line, meaning it will last longer.
The DuPont company invented nylon in the late 1930s, and by the 1960s fishing was revolutionised when nylon (monofilament) began to become available to anglers. Although early monofilament was difficult to use due to being stiff and springy, especially in higher breaking strains, improvements in manufacturing processes slowly made monofilament softer and more useable, making it by far and away the most popular type of fishing line across the world for all types of fishing. Stretch-free braided line was first used by boat anglers in the 1960s, but the first braided lines had a very high diameter and were only available in breaking strains of over 100lbs. The last few years have seen braid become both stronger and much thinner, meaning it now has a lower diameter than the equivalent strength monofilament. Today braided is used by shore anglers to reach extended casting distances – something which would have been unimaginable a generation ago.
Fishing lures have been used since ancient times, but the mass-produced lure for recreational fishing dates back to the 1830s when a man named J. T. Buel was fishing from a boat on Lake Bomoseen in Vermont. The story goes that he accidentally dropped a spoon into the water while eating lunch and was surprised to see a fish attack the spoon as it fell through the water. He put this idea into practice and soon created an extremely successful business manufacturing spoon fishing lures. Other types of spinners soon emerged, such as the traditional tubed mackerel spinner which remains popular today. One biggest selling spinner designs of all time are the toby-style spinner (pictured above). This was mass-produced by Abu Garcia from the mid-1950s onwards and has spawned countless imitations ever since, although Abu Garcia continues to produce their original version to this day. Sea fishing plugs were originally carved out of wood, and traditional wooden plugs are still available today, but the Heddon began manufacturing plugs made out of plastic in the late 1930s. Today, high-quality plastic plugs dominate the market, while jelly and soft plastic lures which offer incredible levels of lifelike swimming action are widely used by both shore and boat anglers.
It is also easy to forget the extent to which terminal tackle has advanced over recent decades. Rigs once consisted of little more than hooks and barrel swivels connected by knots. Today, anglers can use components such as crimps, microbeads, impact shields and pulley beads to construct a near limitless variety of different types of rigs which are strong, streamlined and durable. Modern hooks are also much stronger, sharper and corrosion resistant than those used in previous decades.
So there we have it. Over five hundred years after Dame Juliana Berners Famous book and the rate of development of new fishing tackle continues and the popularity of sport fishing itself continues to go from strength to strength.
<<<<< Return to Part One: Ancient Fishing to Early Rods and Reels