Has Anyone Ever Seen A Pflueger Prokast Reel???

[Teal]

I'm finishing up Bad Bob Miller's latest Pflueger book and it occurs to me I've never seen a real live Pflueger Prokast reel. It was catalogued for one year (1941) and stated that it was designed for tournament casting, especially skish. As a narrow spool model, I was wondering if anyone's seen one? If so let us know.



-- Dr. Todd

[RAM]

Todd-I strongly suspect it was never sold. Another reel also made a catalog but has never been seen-the Major SW. Maybe they will magically appear one day. Ho! Ho! Ho!.

Bad Bob

[colby sorrells]

Very interesting. That's a narrow spool tournament reel I have never seen. Since it is in the 1941 catalog, which was printed BEFORE WWII, it may have had a very short life. Once the War started everything shifted to military production and then they just never got back to it after the War. If Bad Bob does not have one it has to be very hard to find. Hope one shows up. Fun stuff. Colby

[Robin Sayler]

Never seen one

[wrong99]

It seems they would have had at least a full year to produce one. The 1941 catalog was usually printed near the end of 1940, so the war wouldn't have had any effect on the first production run. Granted, it likely would have been a limited production anyway, given the fact it was somewhat of a "specialty" model. If the reel was aluminum (I've never seen the listing), which was already getting scarce by 1940, perhaps that lead to a decision to not put it in production?
Mark

[Reeltyme]

Could this mean there might be a Pflueger web site on the horizon?? Merry Christmas Y'all!

[Bill Sonnett]

The picture appears to be a narrow spool version of the Nobby. Even if I had seen one up to this point I would have assumed that it was a custom produced reel made by or for a tournament caster. The same as the green narrow spool Marhoffs that show up in tournament casters stuff which were put togeather using parts from two different Shakespeare reels.

[wrong99]

Just ran across the original listing for the Prokast while looking for something else.
Mark

[Alan Baracco]

Folks,

Contrary to the catalog cut "Prokast" is not a US Trademark registered by Enterprise.

Alan

[Teal]

Wow. I did not know that Prokast was not a registered TM. Very weird, as Pflueger seemed to TM everything. Can't imagine why they didn't follow through. Is this the only Pflueger name they said was TM but wasn't you've come across?

[john elder]

I note it says " levelwind can be quickly and essily detached for cleaning". I guess i've never met a levelwind with those qualities! But maybe i was doing it wrong!

[Alan Baracco]

DT,

You are right, Enterprise seemed to put alot of stock in trademarks, Colby & my database identifies 207 fishing tackle TMs for Enterprise between 1908 and 1960, and there a few after that.

This thread seems to focus on 1941, at which time Enterprise trademarked Skilkast, but not Prokast. I re-trolled USPTO pubs but it is not there. Maybe a further indication they did not get the Prokast to market??

Alan

[Bill Sonnett]

On an earlier thread, Jim Madden posted this picture of a Narrow Spool Nobby that seems to me to be a dead ringer for the illustration of the Prokast. In addition, I noticed that the center shaft of the spool in the reel pictured here, is somewhat thicker than that found on similar Pflueger reels from the same time period such as Nobby, Akron and Summit. This thick center shaft is only found in my experience on one other pflueger reel (also introduced in 1941) i.e. - the first version of the Skilcast. The Skilkast as produced in 1941 is different than those made after the War in that it has this same thick spool shaft which is hardly ever seen as Pflueger listed the reel that year as having a factory-installed cork arbor. Removal of that arbor is not easy but will show two things, that the spool shaft is very thick and that there are no Pfleuger replacement arbors that will fit it. (discovered by sad experience on my part) I mention this only in that the listing for the Prokast states that it is available with two different diameter----factory installed----arbors.

[scottorock]

Here are a few photos of the first Skilkast Bill is referring to with the wider spool axle. Also note that in 1941 most LW Pflueger reels (except the Supreme) came with the "6th" screw in the head cap as seen in my photo and in the illustration Dr Todd provided at the beginning of the thread. The photo of the narrow spool Nobby that Bill posted does not have the 6th screw in the head cap. Otherwise the narrow Nobby looks extremely similar to the ProKast illustration and the catalog grab Mark posted. The crank looks longer on the narrow Nobby as well but that could be attributed to the angle of the pic or maybe it was replaced.

[Bill Sonnett]

For anyone not familiar with the Sixth screw Pfluegers this short article may be of interest.



http://fishinghistory.blogspot.com/2012 ... screw.html

[Paul M]

Great article. Thanks for posting the link, Bill.

[Willis Logan]

Bill

Really great information---I am impressed!-----now I have something else to worry about!
Looking for that little screw.

Fun Hobby

Willis Logan