blobbottlebob
Well-Known Member
Recently, one of my dive buddies found an early old fishing reel. He found out that it was quite valuable and rare. That was the impetus I needed to learn more about one that I found. Here is the story that relates to the adventure . . .
[/size]Sometimes finding a diving spot where antique bottles can be recovered is a hit or miss proposition. We’ll look for old structures along the shoreline of a lake or we’ll research what used to be there. One reliable place to dive is fishing sites. We assume that human nature hasn’t changed much in the last hundred years. A fisherman then, like one today, might grab something to drink – a soda or a beer, or maybe even some cough medicine – and bring it out on the boat with him. With any luck, he might then toss it overboard. At least that’s what we are hoping he might have done way back when. That way, we have a chance to recover it now.
One sunny afternoon, I was diving by myself in an area that I knew fishermen liked. The bottom had some nice structure. In close proximity, there were rocky areas, drop-offs, weedy patches, and open muddy flats. I also had recently brought back an anchor with several yards of line still attached. There were three or four lures snagged onto the rope. It was safe to say that fisherman frequented the area.
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As I scrounged around the bottom out there in search of antique bottles, I saw something brassy. I reached over to grab it and realized that it was an old fishing reel. I’ve found a few before. As I began to pull it up, I noticed that it was still attached to the pole. I heard a sharp “snapâ€. I assumed that the pole was a badly corroded rusty piece of junk. I pulled my float line over and ascended up to the buoy that follows me along at the surface. Besides alerting boaters to the presence of a diver below, the float serves as a repository for my finds until I can return to the boat or to shore. Without much fanfare, I hung onto the side of my float and tossed the pole inside. I dropped right back down in the search for early crude glass.
At the end of the tank, I surfaced, inflated my buoyancy control device and swam back to the boat. After I climbed in, I first noticed that there was a tree branch in my float. That was very strange. I don’t bring sticks back. Once, we took a newbie out diving and he brought back a little piece of wood (because it was the only thing he could find). I told him that I had no idea that he was collecting sticks. Otherwise, I could have brought him back a ton more.
So, it was a little odd that I had brought in a waterlogged branch, especially since I didn’t remember doing it. I pulled the stick out of my float half wondering who could be playing this trick on me when there was nobody else around. Then I saw the brass reel attached. This stick was the original fishing pole! I spotted a little eyelet for guiding the line to the tip. It had been tapped into the wood with tiny points. Man, this thing was really old! Right away, I thought of the rest of that pole. It had snapped off and remained at the bottom. I had potentially left more of those line guides hidden on a stick on the bottom of a lake littered with branches, debris, and mud. The odds of finding that piece again were somewhere between slim and none. And as they say, slim was on his way out of town.
Next, I inspected the reel. It was held onto a reel support that had one little brass brad nailed to the pole (although it was designed to have three – two were missing). The reel itself seemed to be made by Empire City. That was what was embossed onto the footing. The spool has fine rope-like detail around the edging. The reel support was made by the J. Brower company. It has patent dates of (18)’87 right on it.
With the help of Jim @ sidemountreels.com, I have recently learned that the reel may have been a generic version sold by a company called Abbey and Imbrie. It was likely produced for them by another manufacturer. While Jim can say that the reel is ‘uncommon’, it is not one that is particularly rare or sought after. Nonetheless, it was fun finding it and then learning a bit more about it.
[/size]Sometimes finding a diving spot where antique bottles can be recovered is a hit or miss proposition. We’ll look for old structures along the shoreline of a lake or we’ll research what used to be there. One reliable place to dive is fishing sites. We assume that human nature hasn’t changed much in the last hundred years. A fisherman then, like one today, might grab something to drink – a soda or a beer, or maybe even some cough medicine – and bring it out on the boat with him. With any luck, he might then toss it overboard. At least that’s what we are hoping he might have done way back when. That way, we have a chance to recover it now.
One sunny afternoon, I was diving by myself in an area that I knew fishermen liked. The bottom had some nice structure. In close proximity, there were rocky areas, drop-offs, weedy patches, and open muddy flats. I also had recently brought back an anchor with several yards of line still attached. There were three or four lures snagged onto the rope. It was safe to say that fisherman frequented the area.
[/color]
As I scrounged around the bottom out there in search of antique bottles, I saw something brassy. I reached over to grab it and realized that it was an old fishing reel. I’ve found a few before. As I began to pull it up, I noticed that it was still attached to the pole. I heard a sharp “snapâ€. I assumed that the pole was a badly corroded rusty piece of junk. I pulled my float line over and ascended up to the buoy that follows me along at the surface. Besides alerting boaters to the presence of a diver below, the float serves as a repository for my finds until I can return to the boat or to shore. Without much fanfare, I hung onto the side of my float and tossed the pole inside. I dropped right back down in the search for early crude glass.
At the end of the tank, I surfaced, inflated my buoyancy control device and swam back to the boat. After I climbed in, I first noticed that there was a tree branch in my float. That was very strange. I don’t bring sticks back. Once, we took a newbie out diving and he brought back a little piece of wood (because it was the only thing he could find). I told him that I had no idea that he was collecting sticks. Otherwise, I could have brought him back a ton more.
So, it was a little odd that I had brought in a waterlogged branch, especially since I didn’t remember doing it. I pulled the stick out of my float half wondering who could be playing this trick on me when there was nobody else around. Then I saw the brass reel attached. This stick was the original fishing pole! I spotted a little eyelet for guiding the line to the tip. It had been tapped into the wood with tiny points. Man, this thing was really old! Right away, I thought of the rest of that pole. It had snapped off and remained at the bottom. I had potentially left more of those line guides hidden on a stick on the bottom of a lake littered with branches, debris, and mud. The odds of finding that piece again were somewhere between slim and none. And as they say, slim was on his way out of town.
Next, I inspected the reel. It was held onto a reel support that had one little brass brad nailed to the pole (although it was designed to have three – two were missing). The reel itself seemed to be made by Empire City. That was what was embossed onto the footing. The spool has fine rope-like detail around the edging. The reel support was made by the J. Brower company. It has patent dates of (18)’87 right on it.
With the help of Jim @ sidemountreels.com, I have recently learned that the reel may have been a generic version sold by a company called Abbey and Imbrie. It was likely produced for them by another manufacturer. While Jim can say that the reel is ‘uncommon’, it is not one that is particularly rare or sought after. Nonetheless, it was fun finding it and then learning a bit more about it.
