Kalamazoo baitcasters and baitcasting in general

Ferrylights · Post by **Ferrylights** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 9:41 am

I am looking for some information on Kalamazoo reels in general, particularly a baitcaster which is called a Kalamazoo Imperial.

I know that these reels were produced by Shakespeare, however I cannot find any history as to when production commenced and finished, etc.

I hope this next question isn't too stupid, however in Ireland we are not used to baitcasting, particularly with older reels. I own a few baitcasters (my collection is only starting off) and I notice that there is no freespool mechanism on these reels. Is it a case that when casting the clicker is disengaged and when the bait is cast the handle of the reel turns? If this is the case then the spool tension set using the end caps must be of great importance. Also is drag set using these end caps?

As I said previously I hope that the question isn't too stupid, however prior to my introduction to e-bay I hadn't the opportunity to purchase these great little reels and my knowledge of how they work is severely limited - to sat the least

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 11:55 am

The vast majority of baitcasting reels made in the U.S. from the 1960s back were not equipped with freespool clutches, even though many such clutches had been invented. Nevertheless, lots of freespooling older reels show up in collections. There was a discussion on this board a couple of weeks ago about when star drags first appeared on freshwater casting reels, and it seems that few, if any, were added before about 1950. Some reels had crankshaft-mounted drags, e.g., Shakespeare Superba, but they didn't have stellate adjusting nuts. Most of the earlier reels with star drags were meant for heavy freshwater or light saltwater use.

Many earlier reels had tension devices that were supposed to control line flow during the cast. South Bend reels, with their wire bails, had the most visible brakes, but lots of other reels, e.g., Pflueger and Shakespeare, had adjustable brakes that did not rely on merely squeezing the ends of the spool journals.

The 1936 Shakespeare catalog has a list of 20 baitcaster models that probably represents the spectrum of all baitcasters available to the public at the time:
16 had level winds.
9 had adjustable drags, though only 1 of these had a crank-collar-mounted adjustment.
2 had freespool clutches.

One of the reasons that spinning reels caught on so quickly here after WWII was that a lot of folks didn't have the highly trained thumbs required for successfully casting the conventional reels of the time.

Here's a link to a site with Kalamazoo info:
http://www.antiquelures.com/Shakehistory.htm

guest · Post by **guest** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 11:57 am

Most freshwater reels didn't have a freespool mechanism, as found in saltwater reels. There are some I am sure, but my memory is of thumbing the spool to control the speed of the cast,. the result was usually a backlash. That's why spinning reels were and are so popular.

Harvey · Post by **Harvey** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 12:28 pm

To answer some questions about your reel. The #1957 Imperial first apeared in the 1933 catalogue. It stayed in the catalogues till 1942 then was discontinued. There are seven models listed with a listing for a 1957 1/2 in '38/40. As for the bearing caps being the drag, no, they were not designed for that. Their function was to adjust the end play from the spool to assure a smoother running spool. You thumb was the drag/anti-backlash adjustment.
If you would e-mail me with the exact model number, I can tell you when yours was in production.
"H"

Reel Geezer · Post by **Reel Geezer** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 9:47 pm

To my own way of thinking, nothing is more outlandish looking than a small, modern low profile casting reel with a star drag. Why someone decided that bass fishermen needed a star drag to handle a largemouth or smallmouth bass eludes me. I understand their use for Steelhead or salt water fish, but believe that the use of the star drag on bass reels has led to tight drags, and yank them into the boat fishing, as shown on TV. Long live the original Lew's Speed Spool with its anti-reverse on-off switch, and the feel of a good bass under my thumb.

Ferrylights · Post by **Ferrylights** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 5:42 am

Folks,

Thanks for the information, it is greatly appreciated. Can anyone recommend a good book, which would provide a general history of reel manufacturing in the USA?

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 8:25 am

Mr. Geezer,
Guess it's too late to complain to R. D. Hull, whose patent drawing here was submitted in 1956:

SWIM JIG · Post by **SWIM JIG** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 9:08 pm

It may be a tad lake to complain, however the reel shown in the diagram is what became the (ZEBCO SPINNER MODEL 44 A nice looking reel highly polished bright chrom finish, works very well , and the back cover (appealed to the females as it allowed them to see themselfs to comb their hair etc!) or for a fisherman to see their smile when landing a fish, MY Thoughts) the strap that separated the nice shiny chrom was baked on black paint, the trip leaver was chrom, the handle was chrom with a black handle knob a rather flat knob. It works very well, and to this day the Ammish in OHIO prefer the zebco 44 and the 66 as their favorite reels and 3rd is the older 33s. The star drag on the 44 is smoth, and almost fail proff! its a nice and fun reel to use , we string them with 30lb (POWER PRO line its only .oo18 diamiter of 8lb line! soooo the next time for some nice relaxing fishing use a 44 zebco, its a treet, we clean and lube several hundred a year in Amish country! Your ohio Conection Col. Milton Lorens aka SWIM JIG

clinton_beeler · Post by **clinton_beeler** » Sat Mar 13, 2004 2:14 pm

The 44 was made from '56 to '77 and was R.D.'s first attempt at an "under the rod spincast". As such, R.D. had to decide whether to simply cut off the foot of a reel and attach it to the top or rotate the reel 180 degrees which put the foot in the right place, but the crank handle on the wrong side and turning in the wrong direction. He wound up choosing the latter of the two approaches. He must have done something right because of the reels popularity (thus longevity). I don't know if they've actually come out with the new 44 yet but it looks very much like the old ones. The trigger has been changed to more of a foot which allows more flexibility in holding the rod during casting and the back cover has a badge in the middle of it. I don't know what the badge looks like because the ones I saw had just completed testing and so didn't have them installed. I have some notes around here somewhere on how much weight the old reel was supposed to be able to lift in one rotation of the crank. As for the star drag, note the proportions. I've seen documentation about modifying the size of drag knobs so that people could get a better grip on them. Remember that the company was courting women and children as customers too. On the other hand I too have seen star drags on some reels that looked more like a status symbol than a functional part.

Kalamazoo baitcasters and baitcasting in general

Kalamazoo baitcasters and baitcasting in general

Baitcasters

Model 44