Missing Dick Walker Reel.

[Fredline]

I was sent this when I first bought the "Thorndyke" reel and I thought it has been lost due to a computer failure, I cannot remember the sender but it was an article he had written a while ago. The article mentions both the BB and Thorndyke reel.

THE MISSING REEL MYSTERY

Looking at today’s state of the art tackle it is easy to ignore how
much we owe to previous generations of tackle designers.
Richard Walker must surely have been the most influential
designer this century. His radical developments reached just
about every aspect of fishing.
Most of his ideas were so revolutionary yet practical that
they changed angling for ever. Yet strangely one of his designs
made no impact whatsoever and has almost disappeared without
trace. The first Reel designed specifically for carp fishing. I first
read of it years ago in that wonderful book Confessions of a
Carp Fisher by Denys Watkins Pitchford, or BB, as he is better
known. Few dedicated BB readers could fail to note
descriptions of this unique reel scattered among his many
angling and country books. Although regarded as the
grandfather of carp fishing, BB was more accustomed to game
tackle. He could not get used to the geared fixed spool reels
when they appeared and preferred large center-pins for carp
fishing. Walker too thought them preferable for a time. It was
early in 1947 when Richard Walker first made contact with BB
ant it is easy to imagine them talking of tackle and what was
needed. There were reels that would have sufficed, like the
Hardy Silex or the larger Ureka. Not content with making do,
Walker set about solving the problem himself.

THE MISSING REEL MYSTERY

Later that year he produced a huge center-pin designed for large
carp. It was constructed by his company in Letchworth, which
then produced gang lawnmowers and where Walker was general
manager.
A description first appeared from Watkins-Pitchford in his
book Be Quiet and Go a Angling, printed in 1949, written under
the pseudonym he only used the once, that of Michael
Traherene. The reel was engineered from a solid block of alloy
with high magnesium content and that perhaps accounts for the
shavings igniting during machining. Under the chapter
‘Fisherman’s weapons, BB proudly wrote:
‘The reel which I use exclusively for carp fishing was made
for me by my friend RW and it is a lovely thing. He managed to
get the block of Duralium and as turning it on the lathe, the
shavings caught fire. He was enveloped in a mass of flames. If
he had let the metal cool it would have been ruined, so he kept
at his lathe while everyone else was rushing round trying to put
out the fire. A reel which had such a fiery birth is surely
destined for great things. It is very light, weighing only 13 .5 oz.
. it measures five and seven eighths inches across the drum,
with a width of one and a quarter inches.
‘The drum is detachable in a moment by pressing a trigger in
the centre. Facing forward is a brake lever which can be
applied with the forefinger of the right hand, as I prefer a left
hand wind. But by quick adjustments of the racket inside the
drum the reel can be converted to right hand wind. There is
another trigger facing forward which releases the tension,
allowing the drum to revolve quite freely. This wide reel has a
terrific purchase on big fish; the line can be drawn in with
great rapidity, and the brake lever is only applied when the
carp is making for cover. I know of no other reel on the market
which is so ideal for carp over ten pounds in weight, which
fight with power and determination’.

THE MISSING REEL MYSTERY

In 1950, Confessions appeared and between its marvellous
chapters appear scraperboard illustrations.
Among them is the only early picture I know of that shows this
large carp reel. It is attached to what looks like a Wallis Wizard
rod. The reel next appears in print in Walker and Ingham’s
Drop Me A Line published in 1953. Two of Walkers previously
published articles embrace to form chapter one, called ‘How to
Catch Carp’. In it he wrote:
‘I have another reel, blood brother to the one Michael
Traherne speaks of in his book Be Quiet and go a Angling,
which is used when monsters are expected and snags are
numerous. Its is really an oversized version of the Hardy’s
Ureka bottom reel, five and three quarter inches diameter ,
three quarter inch in the drum, with a finger –operated brake
lever in addition to the optional check and exposed flange . This
carries a plaited line with a breaking strain of 18 lb and is used
for attempts on Mr Buckley’s record.
Clearly Walker had his own reel and it sounds as
though he preferred it to any other. It was an opinion soon to
change. That same year Walker’s hugely successful book
Stillwater Angling was published and under the passage on reels
he wrote: ‘Big fixed spool reels are excellent and in my opinion
the best proposition for large carp’. However BB did not get on
with them. Some years pass until once again BB brings it to our
attention in the now very rare book Wood Pool published in
1958. In it he says:
‘I believe now that all fixed spool reels which are
worth their salt have a hooped pick-up which cannot tangle the
line, but even so I shall stick to the gearless Nottingham style
which was made for me by Richard Walker. It has enormous
recovery powers but will not hold as much line as a fixed spool.
And if you are going to try your strength with leviathans, you
need at least one hundred yards on the drum.’

THE MISSING REEL MYSTERY

From then it fades from his pages until he regains some of his
early carping enthusiasm, and calls it to mind for the last time in
Indian Summer published in 1984. He fishes with a friend
called Michael who it seems, has made his own copy of the
reel. He writes:
‘At the strike the water and weeds in front of us erupted
and the big reel screamed. This reel was a copy of the one
designed for me by Richard Walker , the king of all carp
catchers, who for a number of years held the British record
with his carp of forty-four pounds. ‘The carp reel he made for
me is a large center-pin which holds a great many yards of line
and has an ingenious brake fitted.’
That is as much as I can tell. Sadly BB’s old fishing
friends could add little in the way of stories of its past battles;
they have passed on with the master.
As for the two original reels, BB’s is in I private
collection the other I know not where. But should it come to
auction you would need a bid of at least four figures.
I know have my own copy of the reel after researching the
details. Although my copy has served admirably I have been
known to browse at auctions looking for that giant Center-Pin

[PershoreHarrier]

Cracking stuff Fredline - I really enjoyed that - thanks for posting.

[StefanDuma]

Very nice I enjoyed reading that.

[BoltonBullfinch]

I enjoyed the read, very interesting.

Thanks
BB

[Lea Dweller]

I just saw this John, there is NO doubt that your reel was the first that Dick Walker made. The whole story about both reels is fascinating!

[Pallenpool]

It is an incredible thing the whole story surrounding this reel - I would have to keep pinching myself in order to actually
realise I do have the very first Walker Carp Pin - absolutely superb really. Would it be possible to post a couple of pictures of it being used?

Peter

[Lea Dweller]

It is an incredible thing the whole story surrounding this reel - I would have to keep pinching myself in order to actually
realise I do have the very first Walker Carp Pin - absolutely superb really. Would it be possible to post a couple of pictures of it being used?

Peter

I am not sure if John has actually fished with it yet, but he did make a special stand and took it to Redditch and maybe Romsey? Lots of people took the opportunity to see, hold or spin the reel. John is much braver than me!

[Pallenpool]

It is an incredible thing the whole story surrounding this reel - I would have to keep pinching myself in order to actually
realise I do have the very first Walker Carp Pin - absolutely superb really. Would it be possible to post a couple of pictures of it being used?

Peter

I am not sure if John has actually fished with it yet, but he did make a special stand and took it to Redditch and maybe Romsey? Lots of people took the opportunity to see, hold or spin the reel. John is much braver than me!

Oh! that is a shame I missed seeing the reel - I hope one day John will have an angle with it and keep the record in pictures or video it would certainly be a fitting testament to his ownership and in keeping the continuation of this part of Walkers legacy very much in the present.

Peter

[Fredline]

I have used it along with one of Trevors (Santiago) floats. Unfortunately Tinypics are no more and my Mac has just given up the ghost after 9 years and the Samsung M3 external drive back up disc will not open with Windows 10, at least not yet. This is the thread. I will list the pictures when I retrieve them.
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=18853&p=257001#p257001

[Lea Dweller]

I hope that you do retrieve the pictures John, when you mentioned using Trevor's float I remembered that you told me you had used it. I believe you said that if you 'batted' the reel too hard you were worried the float would come back over your shoulder!