It’s not unusual for such a little piece of angling ephemera to hide a massive story. The Warner of Redditch little hook paper fold measures a diminutive 2.5” long. It was hiding in the base of a willow creel and is worthy of examination. The famous Warner fish and cross sword logo is displayed over […]
There is only one way to buy old floats and that’s in bulk! This amazing float collection is part of a huge vintage tackle collection we have recently bought. To be accurate, it’s only part of the float collection. Displayed on a custom-made three-tier setting, the floats span 100 years and are great fun to […]
Once again rummaging in the bottom of a tackle box unearths these little curios. These are a matching pair of vintage lightweight alloy bait safe appliances in fine condition. Each tube measures 5 1/2” long with a hinged snap shut lid. The front of the tube has a tiny hole to accept the line and […]
This match fishing programme came in last week and I couldn’t help flicking through it. What a glorious era this must have been. Travelling by train, coach or maybe car, this was a marathon of planning by organisers and competitors alike. Match fishing was big business in its day. A 48-page programme was available, priced […]
We see quite a few wicker and willow reed creels coming to Thomas Turner on a regular basis and we were pleasantly surprised to find this one in Holland. I normally associate these creels with the USA, but clearly, they travelled into Europe and were made by the Europeans too. The interesting feature of this […]
A useful and collectable little gadget came in this week. The Milbro Lesney Bread Bait press was in production from 1954 to 1957. It is manufactured by the Matchbox Company from die-cast alloy. Standing a mere 5cm to the top of a winged screw, originally coloured red and green, later appearing in red and silver. […]
Finnish born Lauri Rapala watched large fish chasing smaller fish and decided to carve a lure that replicated a wounded fish. In 1936 he carved his first lure from cork, using chocolate bar tin foil wrapper as the outer reflective surface, and it worked. He would have no idea where this single event would take him. […]
The Thomas Turner European advertising campaign is clearly working. We were contacted by a tackle shop in the northern French/Spanish region. They were changing their business retail plan. They’d been Hardy and Rapala agents for many years so we were delighted to be able to buy the entire fishing stock. They specialised in fly fishing, […]
Always popular, this Hardy little gadget is easily missed at the bottom of a tackle box or bag. The Joint Lubricator and Container was an entirely new idea in the 1930’s. Measuring 1-3/4” tall the outer casing is stamped”Hardy Bros. Makers Alnwick”. It was produced in both brass and nickel materials. Pull off the top […]
Yes, one of the few fishing lines the ordinary man could make himself. Assuming you have access to a horse you could be on your way to a cheap line with some effort, well, a lot of effort. Way back in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s it wasn’t as easy to nip to a […]