Heaton or Smith and Wall

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Paul M
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Heaton or Smith and Wall

Post by Paul M »

Look what I found on my doorstep today! [Thanks Andrew]. Made either by Heaton or Smith and Wall circa 1920 but it looks downright medieval to me. The copper rivets, tool marks and metal on wood arrangement give it great character, don't you think?


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Paul M
Lillawill
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Post by Lillawill »

Hi Paul

What a gem. From the pictures you posted it makes one want to just hold it. If you ever want to sell or trade it let me know. I am also curious as to the diameter of the reel.

Bill Turnbull
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Paul M
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Does size matter?

Post by Paul M »

Bill:
Thanks for your interest. The reel is 4 inches across and weighs a rather hefty 13 ounces.

(I just took up Skagit style Spey casting and now that I have handled the reel to measure it, I realize that it would balance my new 14ft #8/9 rod perfectly... but I won't try it. :) )
Lillawill
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Post by Lillawill »

Hi Paul

Thank you. I would have guessed 3 1/2 inches but four inches is more logical. This would be a beautiful reel for your Spey Rod and as you say would balance it quite nicely. I would have no fear about using this reel as it looks to me made strong enough to handle most anything you would want to use it for. (Just don't fall on it. I fell on a four inch Hardy Perfect about 20 years ago and ruined it.) Also it would be great to watch the other fisherman drul over it. Where do you live and what do you fish for with the Spey Rod? I have a few old brass English and Scottish Spey reels. If you are interested I could let one go. By for now

Bill
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Paul M
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Post by Paul M »

Bill:

I live in Toronto and usually fish with light fly tackle for Browns an hour or two north of here. I normally use modern tackle except occasionally I have used a Granger Deluxe split cane rod, circa 1929, that was restored very nicely by Ted Knott who was, among other things, an old reel collector. I stopped using the Granger after hooking up with a big Rainbow, one day, at the far end of a long cast. I didn't want to risk breaking the top heavy rod.

I just took a Skagit lesson in preparation for an October trip to SW Alaska for Rainbows. We use heavy flesh flies on sinking tip leaders but getting out to the big ones on the Naknek River takes a great deal of double-hauling- at least the way I was doing it with a #9 single handed fly rod. Unless you are an expert, a heavy fly outfit can be very tiring after 3-4 days of fishing in cold weather.

Last year a companion brought along a two-handed spey outfit and caught the big ones time and again, so I thought I would try it too. The Skagit method should be perfect for that application and I intend to try it here in Southern Ontario for our version of Steelhead this fall (and maybe Bass, beforehand). There are a couple of spots on the Grand River that are ideal for the Spey outfit. There will be a SpeyClave on the Grand, near Paris Ontario, on Aug 25/07 so I hope to learn more. I have bought 2 Skagit rods but the line is still on order and I have not yet bought a new reel.

This Heaton reel would do the trick but I'd never forgive myself if it broke. I'm thinking instead about springing for a Size 12 Able or a Hatch or maybe find a larger Ross Canyon Big Game reel on e-Bay. If I get into the more traditional spey casting, I think a neat way to go would be with all vintage tackle. I have a spey sized brass winch but it is not in good enough shape mechanically.
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Post by Lillawill »

Hi Paul

Reading your post brought back some fond memories. I was born in Hamilton and lived there until I was about thirteen and then we moved to British Columbia. I have lots of fond memores of fishing the Grand river as a young boy and cycling out of town to fish streams for what we called then speckled trout. My dad and I used to go to Collingwood in the summer and fish the streams on Blue Mountain and I can still remember like it was yesterday the fish we used to catch there. There was a lot of summers when we would camp at Brocks Beach and I can remember fishing of the pirvate rock piers for Bass with a float and a worm. I have not been back to that part of the country since I left so I imagine things have changed a lot since 1963. I know they have here.

I live on the Vedder-Chilliwack River up in the mountains about 10 miles out of Chilliwack and I have been a fishing nut since we moved here to the area. We originally settled on the out skirts of Abbotsford on a small four acre hobby farm and there was a local stream about a mile from the house that was full of trout. So from the first day we moved here I was in heaven.

The Vedder-Chilliwack river is my home river and it has a hatchery which puts out Coho, Springs, Steelhead and Chum Salmon. However in the course of a season I will fish up to eleven different rivers that are in the area. I am an avid fisherman and average three days a week year round so this can be hard on gear. After distroying the Hardy Perfect years ago I quit using expensive gear for fishing and found that some of the cheap reels are very good. I have a little KP Morretts Intrepid fly reel my father got me when I was eight years old and I am still using it. These reels are just indistructable. I do all types of fishing but 80% is fly fishing. I don't fish lakes as I love rivers and streams and I would say 90% of my fishing is for Salmon and Steelhead. It didn't take long for me to realilize that the convential fly rods just didn't work for large fish and after years of going through a series of different rods and reels including Spey rods I have now settled into using a 3113 Sage with a sliding reel seat and for a reel I use JW Young Windex reels. For me this is a perfect set up. The rod cast extremly well and the Windex has a great drag and rim controll and line capicty and playing fish 15 to 40 pounds is comfortable with this out fit especially in the Fraser where the water is huge. A fourty pound spring hooked in the Fraser on a fly creates an interesting challange. On a good day it is not impossible to hook Springs, Chums, and Coho and it is not uncommon to be into thirty to fourty fish so like I mentioned it can be very hard on gear. So I would sooner wear out a reel that cost me around 20 dollars than one that has cost me several hundred. All my good reels are in a display case and only come out to be used once in a while. I am babbling now so I should let you go. I could talk about fishing for hours. I do have eight old brass Spey reels ranging for Inverness to G. Little and all are in excellent condition so If you think you might want to go with the old style I would part with one. Well I am heading out fishing so By for now

Bill
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