French Tournament Casting Reel

[Retropeche]

Tournament casting was popular in the UK and France in the early part of the 20th century. That lead to manufacturers designing all sorts of automatic casting aids. This Reflex reel was made in 1927 by a company called Bouriant. It has a very lightweight alloy drum that would not stand up to fishing, but aids the casting aspect. The reel is controlled by a trailing arm that applies braking to the drum when the line coming off the top of the drum is loose and relieves the braking if the line is tight. This stops over runs during and after the cast. There are controls that allow you to tune the reel to give the best results.









In practice the reel performs as it should, that is to prevent the drum over running during the cast and stops the reel immediately the casting weight hits the water, or ground. The British company Allcocks distributed the reel in the UK. Those versions had the company's Stag logo stamped on them.

[Steve]

Those line-controlled brakes have been around for a long time, but I can't recall seeing one on a single-action reel before. The best known are probably the South Bend casting reels made for decades, using the Rabbeth and Baumgartel inventions of 1905 and 1907. Others were patented at least as early as 1885, but, again, they were used on multiplying reels.

[kyreels]

Nice example of the unusual European tournament casting reel. In my opinion, this style of reel was first popularized by Hardy Bros with the Silex reel. From US eyes, it appears strange compared to the domestic casting reels typically used in the states like the Shakespheare standard. It looks to us like a fly reel, but in fact it could cast on top of the rod and was designed for the typical silk casting line of the time.

From the book Hardy Brothers, The Masters, the Men & Their Reels, John Drewitt, J&J Publishing, 2018



A series of UK patents showing the spool braking mechanism with adjustable arms is available in the appendix. The dates range from 1896 thru the 1930's. While the tournament patents of Jock Scott era of reels would be more familiar to the US casters. The Silex reels included the Silex HM series, which assumedly was the Hardy Multiplier, the world record reel in 1937 in the 1.5 oz category, by a Frenchman by the name of Monsieur Creusevaut.

[RonG]

I love the Hardy tournament reels with all goodies. I think these reels are pretty pricey these days.

[Steve]

I'm surprised that these devices were permitted on tournament reels, given that they supposedly provided casting advantages.

[Eric J]

I thought it was a fly reel at first. I really like the finish treatment, I’ve seen it referred to as “jeweled” or “engine turned”. Just like the action bolts on high grade bolt-action rifles. Beautiful.

[Retropeche]

The 'anti-backlash' devices were found on other reels too. Farlows retailed one, Allcocks sold their version of the Bouriant reel and also latterly, their own Easicast model, and a British angler / inventor Wallace Watson who lived not too far from the Hardy factory brought out a reel in the 1930s that had a rocking foot connected to an internal brake.

One of the intriguing thjngs about my reel is that the serial number suggests that they made 49,000 reels of this type. I can't see that myself. There are reels with 30k serial numbers and even then, 19k seems a high output for what it is.

[kyreels]

I'm surprised that these devices were permitted on tournament reels, given that they supposedly provided casting advantages.

It seems the whole history of tournament casting involved the modification of fishing reels towards more specialized distance and accuracy capabilities. Special lightweight spools, arbors, handles, spool breaks, reel widths, jewels, line size, and of course all kinds of rod configurations were used. In some cases, it advanced the art of fishing, but in many cases the equipment became only useful for tournaments. There were attempts to regulate things, such as the line used, but specializations always crept in. The game of Skish was an attempt to force competitors to use "standard" tackle, but that quickly deteriorated as gears were shaved and other secret modifications made. There was much discussion as participation decreased over time that it was too specialized in the equipment and some say that killed the sport.

[Steve]

...modification of fishing reels...

Modifications are fine, but those that substitute for the caster's hand in controlling a cast are different from those that simply improve spool rotation. For example, these line-activated brakes accomplish what the caster's fingers should be doing, whereas lighter spools or jeweled bearings simply improve spool rotation, while leaving the control of the cast entirely to the caster. IMHO, folks using such gimmicks as magnetic brakes or Shimano digital control should have to participate in separate-but-equal tournaments.

[kyreels]

folks using such gimmicks as magnetic brakes

In today's modern ACA accuracy casting events the rules for reels are "Shall have a fixed spool with a mechanical thumbing device that must be the sole means of stopping the line". But for distance, there is no restriction. However, the unlimited class evolved to such specialized equipment with no brakes and lines and spools so small that anyone without the necessary special reel could not compete. So spool braking is not a current issue in distance competitions.

My belief from observation is that a caster with a spool brake competing against a skilled caster with no brake has no advantage. I know that ORCA members have argued the opposite. But we don't really know that, since they don't allow regular competition now. I always wondered how the Abu narrow spool reels which were popular at one time in the ACA did against the reels with no brakes. I will ask around about that. If anyone has any more info, please feel free to enlighten us.

[Steve]

In today's modern ACA accuracy casting events the rules for reels are "Shall have a fixed spool with a mechanical thumbing device that must be the sole means of stopping the line".

The rules differentiate between fixed-spool reels, i.e, spinning reels, and revolving-spool reels. I don't know what "mechanical thumbing device" may be found on a spinning reel, unless it's a snubbing button on a CFSR.

Bait Casting Reels:
When choosing the reel, you want to make sure that your thumb can rest simultaneously on the line/spool rim and on some other part of the reel (some thumb bar). That way the thumb can contribute in holding the rod AND it can apply a flexible breaking force (by bending mostly the last joint in the thumb).

Reels for 5/8s: Most casters who have cast 5/8 oz a lot and successfully will recommend old reels with direct drive: Langley (Plugcast?), Shakespeare 1973 D (Ok, but line gets into the reel a bit too easily), and Meeks. Now the Shimano TE 200 DC and other waffle spool reels offer promise.
- from ACA's "Selecting Plug Accuracy Equipment"

They spend more verbiage on target and judging -ring specs than on reels. Why any group would permit users of DC reels to compete with users of brakeless reels in accuracy contests is beyond me.

[Eric J]

Clive, the serial number might represent the 49th reel made in June 1941 or some such thing as that.

[Retropeche]

Clive, the serial number might represent the 49th reel made in June 1941 or some such thing as that.

I considered that Eric. Pezon et Michel and otheds used a similar system so I know that one of my rods was the 1st one to be finished on 26th April 1944. This serial number and the ones seen on similar reels don't have a logical explanation other than every rotating drum reel the company made irrespective of model counted.

Regards the comments about mechanical aids and specialist equipment: Robert Marston, the editor of The Fishing Gazette in the early part of the last century, made exactly the same point. He argued that equipment that could not be used for fishing should compete in a different category. The Reflex reel I have would fall into that section as the backlash control removes any braking should a fish take line and lock the reel when it stopped. In those days reels were often mounted 90 degrees to the line of the guides during tournament casting.

One French competitor took the distance prize using a Co-Co can mounted on the rod like a fixed spool reel, and retrieved the line by hand. That may have been what inspired Illingworth to invent the threadline, now the spinning or fixed spool reel.

[kyreels]

Why any group would permit users of DC reels to compete with users of brakeless reels in accuracy contests is beyond me.

I hear you, but in my observation, the human touch and a low inertia spool beats any mechanical brake advantage except for the casual user. Low inertia aluminum and magnesium spools eventually proved to be the best at both accuracy and distance events, and brakes offered no advantage. Part of that might be that the casting weights used were typically 3/8 to 1/2 to 5/8. For very light weights or very heavy weights used in surf casting, brakes may be more useful.

I don't have an issue with competition with unlimited tackle for the same reasons that humans defeat computers in chess, because it takes a really, really good computer to defeat a human in chess, and it would take a really, really good reel to give a caster advantage enough to beat the best human accuracy casters. The world record holders in accuracy all use conventional reels without brakes. The gimmick reels just have not proved to be a great advantage over the human thumb in accuracy. In distance, the (brakeless) reels are king, even though there are no restrictions. The world champions are big strong men that can sling with the most force and still not break the leader and line. It is the amateurs which benefit the most from brakes.

In any case, allowing unlimited reels would advance the art, which in auto racing helps to improve regular drivers. Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday. But in fact as I have already mentioned, the use of specialized reels and rods in casting that could not be used in fishing probably contributed to the downfall of the casting clubs. Who knew that Shakespeare and Bronson and may other companies would sell speacilized casting reels that could not be used for catching any fish other than the smallest bluegill? So maybe I am arguing a moot point.

I have several examples of fixed spool tournament casting reels both in the lower weights (1/2 and 5/8) as well as the surf weights (1 oz to 4 oz). Outside of the surf casting events, the fixed spools cannot compete with the unlimited rotating spool reels for distance.

In summary, the french reel shown is a great example of an early tournament reel which would have been excellent in distance casting for the time, and also quite useful for accuracy casting. I would have no issue in competing against it with a Shakespeare narrow spool Standard of the time. Of course, I personally would probably lose, but someone would win with it.

[Retropeche]

The Reflex design was also found in a two reels retailed by Pezon et Michel in the 1930s as the Sport. One was a conventional metal reel and the other a Bakelite reel for sea fishing. Presumably the drum was more robust. Another company produced a simliar reel, the Servofrein.