Abu 44x

[Gilbert]

i have a total of 6 44Xs all bar one bought new by myself . the odd one out i bought from a car boot sale for £12 around 1990.

i am not a collector , but back in the day my reels got a lot of use , and the idea was to rotate their use thereby keeping them all in decent nick.
the last two , i bought when production of the green body reels ceased in 1977 or thereabouts . i got Abu to build me two from parts . i don't know if they actually did , but two reels came with papers and boxes .
i did have a pair of 44s as well , but my son borrowed one ,and another 44X and that was the last i saw of them.
so i have 6 reels , all in good nick with minimal paint chipping having always lived in reel bags . i think one , possibly two - i would need to check ,are rare short production models , i will have to get the four that are currently furloughed down from the loft to check the dates ,the two in use at the moment are a '73 and a '76 , the older one being the sweetest --well maybe not now as i have just given the '76 a service .

i will check them all and if any of them are of special interest i will post up some pics . a pal of mine who owns a tackle shop has one brand new boxed example and would really like mine to join it in his "treasures" display . he's gonna have a long wait.............

[Aitch]

I have three Abu444a's, they are used with my Sharpe's carp rods... 2 of them are in very good condition and the other is a tad scruffier with paint loss associated with being used since new (ish) having owned it since 1980... I managed to drop one of the newer ones and it is at Jims Reel Shop being repaired

[Barbelseeker]

Had a 44X or was it a 66X, in about 1970's, my pride and joy. Was fishing an old pit which was being filled in with rubbish - trollies, settee's, rubble and for some reason it dropped off my rod, and into the water, which was about 6 feet at the edge. Of course the reel got lodged/trapped, and in pulling the line to pull out the reel, it broke.

If anyone wants the Grid reference and has a metal detector I can send it, although said reel might have Aluminium rot by now. Things that you regret losing eh !

[Olly]

I had the above but caught the reel and still have it. The rod slid down the line disappearing into the river - a solid glass ledger rod. So no loss there!!

The reel is an Ambidex left to me by an old angler whose fish I used to net as he was not 100% on his pins for climbing down the bank.