Vintage Tackle

Vintage Tackle

 Some has been in my possession for many a year other pieces I have found at car boots, markets and auction sites. I love the excitement of the chance discovery of a small piece of angling history and enjoy fishing with them rather than putting them in a case to just be admired.

Intrepid Reels
 I have a passion for Intrepid reels and over the years have owned many models. These have now been whittled down to my two favourites. The Elite and the Envoy. I often use an Elite when roach fishing. It looks the part with my Sealey Octofloat and gives a nicely balanced outfit that happens to combine two pieces of tackle from roughly the same time and also by coincidence they are pretty much the same age as I am. We all seem to work well together. The Envoy will be matched with a seven foot Anon Shaw cane spinning rod I found at an auction house. It needs some work but once ready I think it will be a great outfit for a bit of light lure fishing or even drop-shotting for perch on the canal.

My two Elites

The one on the left is in overall pretty tidy condition and if used in the right circumstances is still a perfectly good reel and testament to an age of fine craftsmanship. The one on the right is a bit battered now and I've had to remove the ant-reverse function as the lever had snapped off. It still works otherwise.

I like the shape of the Envoy and I've not seen many of these around. It still works properly and although a lot more basic than the Elite I still fancy it for spinning on the canal.