Circa. 1960s Abu spidercaster/world record holder

[Mike N]

I know we have some Abu collectors and tournament reel aficionados who will appreciate this circa 1960s Abu spider line (thin as a human hair) casting combo.

The description on the Swedish link said there were only 40 of these reel/rod combos made by Abu and that it set a 1981 record with an 18 gram (0.63 ounces) plug, casting it 151.07 meters (495.6 feet!). My buddy, Alastair Hosking, from New Zealand sent me the link, but I’m posting it for historical, not auction, purposes.







Mike N.

[Midway Tommy D]

Those are cool little tournament reels. There's some information about them over here at Wayne's site.

[Skip]

Way cool.

Thanks for posting it.

[Mike N]

I see in the link that Tommy posted that this reel held 200 yards (600 feet) of the spider line. [“In competiton the spool contained over 200 yards of 1/4 lb breaking strain line, then attached to a length of heavier Salmon Line used for a Shock Leader, which was then attached to a tournament casting weight of 5/8 oz...”]

I mean, that’s 2 full length football fields of line, and the world record cast with that tiny 5/8 oz. weight almost flat-lined the spool at 150+ yards. Unreal.

It makes me want to know more about the rod construction and the athlete who made that cast.

Mike N

[Dr. Rob]

It makes me want to know more about the... athlete who made that cast.

Well, as luck would have it, as soon as I saw the post, I figured it must be Dan Åslund's pet project.
i should preface all this by saying that I don't really follow the sport of casting, but admittedly do know some random things about ABU. There are others here who know more.

There used to be a guy there, Torbjörn Åslund, who was a real bigwig at ABU for years and years; I think he spent essentially his entire career there. I met him a few times over the years. The last time was when I was visiting the ABU museum. I was sitting waiting on a bench outside the factory when surprise, ol' Torbjörn rolled up. He couldn't stick around; he was on his way to a doctor's appointment. Oh, nothing serious I hope? Naw, nuthin serious he said... But it was, of course. He died maybe a year or so later.
He was very active in casting, and set a few records. So did his dad, Dan Åslund, who also was with ABU for ages. Dan was the Director of Advertising, and responsible for the annual Tight Lines catalog from the 1950s and onward. He too was a big casting champion, and held several records in his time. Now, idunno if he held the one you mentioned above, but it is a fair guess that if not, he was there when it happened.

I thought he was long gone, but while thinking about this post, I just googled him. It turns out that he was descended from a long line of renowned artists and authors, and died just a few years ago. I had no idea.

Someone asked about the engineers... idunno, but they had a bunch of little cottage wizards in the house. Jarding Karlsson, Karl Nurmse, Börje Moosberg... could have been one of them.

The rod? I don't know that either, but makes me want to check and see when exactly ABU bought Arjon, who were good at developing the new fiberglass rod technology.

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[Mike N]

Thanks for your post, Dr. Rob. That is very interesting, indeed.

Here is a link to Carl (Dan) Aslund’s Wikipedia bio, in Swedish, of course. Perhaps
one of our Swedish ORCA members can help us out.

https://sv.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Daniel_Åslund

(Edit- the above Wikipedia link is incomplete since it keeps omitting “Aslund” with the Swedish symbol above the “A.” You may have to search Wikipedia directly.)


Mike N

[john elder]

Neat rig! But i see no guides on the rod? Hollow so that line feeds through the inside?? Sorry if i am missing something obvious to most!

[Mike N]

Neat rig! But i see no guides on the rod? Hollow so that line feeds through the inside?? Sorry if i am missing something obvious to most!

John, there are guides, but the poor photos I originally posted omitted the same.

[Dr. Rob]

About the Swedish Wiki page, it says that he came to ABU in the mid-50s, and stayed until he retired. (i suppose i could figure out roughly when that was, but maybe that isn't so important right now)

He competed at the casting championships in Nürnberg in 1963, winning both the European and World Champion titles.

It doesn't specify exactly which categories. There are people who keep track of such things, I am sure.

Addendums: I have some of the Swedish Tight lines from the mid-60s. Maybe there will be something in there. I could look later. Or maybe i could just PM the seller of this reel and ask. (I don't know him though)

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[colby sorrells]

Mike,
Not sure exactly where you want to take this thread but here's a couple of items.

The rods are VERY stiff. You can check out people actually casting this type rod on the ACA website.

The integral reels/rod dated years before ABU got involved. To at least 1950 and actually before that. There was a lot of experimentation with the spiderweb or unrestricted reels at the time. Matt Wickham had a nice display at the National this past year which showed a good representation of these reels. The line was sold by yards per ounce and they ended up with 28,000 yards per ounce.

ABU and others (like our old friend Bill Burke) made these reels. B.L. Farley remembers a lot of this time also.

These integral reels were the end of development of distance casting. The unresticted catagory is basically dead now largely due to Steve Rajeff owning the category for many years. Distance casting is now done with modified ABU 6500 reels and is really a whole different game NOT using spiderweb line.

A fun part of casting history and a fun sub-category of reels to collect.

Keepin' It Fun!

Colby

[Mike N]

Matt Wickham had a nice display at the National this past year which showed a good representation of these reels. The line was sold by yards per ounce and they ended up with 28,000 yards per ounce.
***
A fun part of casting history and a fun sub-category of reels to collect.

Keepin' It Fun!

Colby

In fact it was Matt's incredible exhibits and speaking with B.L. at a few meets that really spurred my interest in these "spiderweb" casting lines and tournament reels in general. The distances involved are incredible. I mean "28,000 yards per ounce"!? Thanks, Colby.


Mike N.

[colby sorrells]

The line was sometimes cut by a blade of grass! The caster quicky walked up to the casting weight. They did not retrieve the casting weight.

To me this whole unrestricted category is very interesting. Once they allowed the use of a trace (or leader) in 1930 it was off to the races to longer distances. When nylon came along it created another big jump in distances.

All fun stuff.

Colby

[Harry Verdurchi]

Nice Find.

[Dr. Rob]

So, back to the reel at hand... I PMed the seller of this reel, who was happy to say that while he didn't know who had owned this particular reel, he had found some background info about it in the book, History of the Sport of Casting: The N.A.A.C.C. Years 1939-1960 by Cliff Netherton.

And, that the reel was indeed a special project between the previously mentioned Dan Åslund and Technical Director at the time, Göran Enocsson. Göran was with the company for many years and eventually went on to become CEO. He is still around; I chatted briefly with him several years ago.

Which brings us to the phenomenal record cast.... see pic.

[Mike N]

Now that was some fine sleuthing, Dr. Rob. And now that we have a name why not a photo and a link for an article published as recently as last week on Steve Rajeff...

“Steve Rajeff: The Gentle Giant of Fly Fishing:”

https://www.flyfisherman.com/editorial/ ... ing/370024

How about this excerpt from that article about the time he cast in an exhibition versus Masters golf champion, Fred Couples?

“The long drive skit was the last thing before play started,” says Steve. “I cast against Fred Couples, from the 18th flag putting surface, back down the fairway. He whacked a mighty drive that measured 333 yards (999 feet).

“I used an 11-foot surf rod with a 30-pound leader and eyelet screwed into the ball. I only had 30 feet of leader to the reel, with no other line connected. It was only a means to launch the ball, then free sailing.

“During a warm-up swing, I almost wiped out the Senior Tour players who were seated around the putting green as I winged the ball in front of their noses. It was all in good fun. I cast 337 yards, (1,011 feet).”


There are several more articles including one in The NY Times and this one...

[big hoss]

Thanks you for the interesting post Dr. Rob. Although I collect Swedish made reels this post added a good bit to my knowledge.

[big hoss]

Right click mouse then click translate to English - works fine for me.