Wierd Spinning Reels

[Dr. Rob]

Was thinking about spinning reels recently. Should have had
the good sense to ask here directly, since you all have an eye for unusual
reels.

Tell me, has anyone here ever seen a spinner that wasn't built in the
conventional sense, with a non-rotating but oscillating spool and a
rotating bail? Ever seen one with say a rotating spool and a
non-rotating bail? Or an oscillating & rotating bail and fixed spool?
Anything like that? Just wondering. I know some reels are known as bailless, but really they're the same anyway, but minus the bail wire.

Doc.

[SWIM JIG]

You may want to conect with (BEN Wright, at ( ) BEN WRIGHT P. O BOX 311 Le ROY , NEW YORK) ph# 585 768 8806, he and some others wrote a nice book 376 pages with most types of spinning reels only! Most of us use this book as a guide line for styles and prices etc. Its well worth the investment and on Occasion he writes articles in the ORCA Mag, you would need to look in the index of THE REEL NEWS and find these articles I am aware of cone spinning reels, I hav one also some other weird types of spinning reels that fit your description, You may want to check the ORCA Liabraiy for more imfo. I have some rather unusual reels that swing about and the line feed in is much different than the typical spinng reel. For starters, Colgrove Tackle company vancouver wash. 2 , Alvey made in austrlia, 3, very unusual closed face marke modle 500 pat. applied for left or right set up, 4, UCO Spin Fly pat. appiled for 5, stream and lake trademark mfg. by wright& mcgill denver colo. usa marked (demonstrator) 6, angler scout 8-60 7, magic fishing reel sn 9316 denver colo. pat pend. 7, fre-line pat pend modle 10 bolder colo. and many more! as for the oscilating bail, I have a few with no ident. marks or names, I belive they must be Forign modles as the threads are (NOT USA ORE SAE) look more like din or metric and a few have english witworth left hand threads. Hope this is of some help. Col. M. Lorens aka SWIM JIG your Ohio Conection

[FSREPAIR]

Doc, There are so many unusual spin reels. The term fixed spool applies to many types of spin reels, in that the spool doesn't rotate to let line out, but simply billows off the end of the spool. How the line is wound back onto the spool is another story and there are different ways to accomplish that. Spin reels which don't have oscillating spools usually have very narrow spools, as the line get's placed back onto the spool in a narrow area. Many to most of the very early to early fixed spool spin reels were made this way. One spin reel which doesn't have an oscillating spool but has a wider spool is the Pflueger Pelican 1020. On this reel the spool is stationary but the rotor or cup oscillates back and forth to lay down the line down evenly on the spool. Some reels like the Tap or Tokoz have offset spools which rotate slowly as the reel is cranked and the spool does not oscillate. Another type of spin reel is called the sidecaster. These reels don't have oscillating spools. They have a spring loaded or other type mechanism which allows the reel body to be turned 90 degrees to cast like a spin reel. To retrieve the line the the reel is turned back 90 degrees and retrieves line in a similar manner as a kite reel. Ben Wright is a great source for info and writes a column in Reel News called "Spinning Lines" on a REGULAR basis. I don't know where Col Milt came up with quote "on occasion".

[Dr Rob]

Thanks for info, guys. I'll really have to look into Ben W's book! Really, what I think I was looking for would be some sort of a chronological analysis of the technical evolution of spinning reel anatomy, and it sounds as if the book fits the bill.

Thanks for the listed examples, EZ. Life is always easier when you have some tangible aspect to base further queries upon.

FS, you're so right about the great diversity of reel configurations. (I shudder to think of the mass of documentation available at the PTO.) I really should have specified more about the closed-vs-open face and need for oscillation.

Really, I was sort of mulling over the now-standard configuration of fixed / oscillating spool & rotating bail, and the thought struck me that it needn't be that way. And, the ever-occurring afterthought that I couldn't possibly be the first guy in the world to notice that. Very seldom in the world of reels is anything truly new. Nowadays I mean.

And, being an offshore / big game / lever drag kind of guy, I thought it best to ask the folks who know best.