Tonytoned wrote: ↑Sun Jan 21, 2018 7:17 pm
Harry H wrote: ↑Sun Jan 21, 2018 6:49 pm
Most pre 50s fishing was rod held in the left hand and reel wound with the right also the reels were mounted nearer the butt hence the shorter handles on old rods.
Thank you Harry for the enlightenment, that is very interesting. I have noticed in some old fishing photographs from old angling books, that they have some of their centrepin reels on the left-hand and the lower end of the rod handle.
Yes indeed, centrepin and 'swimming' reels were originally mounted low on the handle and braked with the little finger of the right hand...the same hand that was used to rewind line in again...a bit clumsy in truth, but that's how it was. Consequently many reels were only ever made in right hand wind...even the JW Youngs Trudex with its additional line guard mountings was only 'partly' ambidextrous as there was no way of changing the check pawl to operate differently when the reel was turned.
(I can do this now, but it's not for everyone, grinding away tiny amounts of metal from a hard carbon steel pawl)
This style of fishing with the reel low was usually called the Nottingham Style and the great FWK Wallis fished this way and that's the reason so many rods have a rather short handle if you want to fish in the modern style with the reel mounted higher up...his famous rods by Hardy and Allcock, the Wallis Allround and Avon and the Wizard are cases in point.
Here's His Nibs seemingly holding the reel body with his left hand too...maybe to give his little finger a rest from braking? Click on the image to enlarge.