By Jim FieldA friend of mine--retired US Navy Captain Roy Collette--knew I was a sportfisherman, and he dropped a gift off at my house--"don't want to stay, on my way to pick up granddaughters"--thinking I might appreciate it. He had been given the object, in turn, by a friend who was slimming down his worldly possessions. I opened the wooden box to find this beautiful object inside--a 1965 Penn 50 International reel: perfect, sparkling, lovely, despite 45 years of age!
Looking it over--turning it in my hands to see it from every angle--to my eye not much had changed from a design and engineering perspective from the 50's we curently use. In fact, the only thing I could find different was the handle, which appeared to be made of plastic to mimic a fancy hardwood, as opposed to today's plastic handles, which imitate plastic. Also note the braid line, fragile now, but even in its day, presumably far inferior to mono.
Rather than preserve it further as a museum piece, I think The Crew should use the darn thing. Why not finally get some spray and salt on it, and let the object do what it was made to do? Maybe under sporting conditions it will prove less functional, revealing it to be an antique. On the other hand, it may fish "true," which, if it does, will make it my immediate favorite.
Here are a few more photographs.
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This is like a Toy Hess Truck that has been kept in the wrapper. It is valuable to a collector, but not to a kid.
ReplyDeleteLet's get that thing out of the box and hook it to a North Carolina 100# bluefin.
JK
That Penn 50 is a piece of art and quite the gift, do not listen to Jon, it should be past along to the next generations of Weekend Sportsman so they can enjoy seeing the beginning off the GOLD RUSH for Weekend Sportsman. But if you listen to Jon, it should go on a Bamboo trolling rod.
ReplyDeleteTony "Liquid Handler"