Identifying Old Linen Fishing Line

[foakes]

Found a few old metal baitcaster rods in the rod rack.

Bristol, True-Temper, JC Higgins, and a couple of others.

One actually has a square blank.

If you were closer, Steve -- you could just have one of these.

I might try to restore and match up these old metal rods with the period appropriate reels and vintage line.

Might make a nice display.

Best,

Fred

[oc1]

Mo, mine has steel guides.  They are wrapped on the rod with what looks like copper wire and then it is plated with something.  Mine does not have a brand name anywhere.  The fact that your rods have agate guides is a clue about their age.  I'm not sure what that clue means right now, but its a clue nonetheless.  As beautiful as they were, a lot of fishermen hated agate guides because they were so fragile and prone to cracking.  Everyone was glad to see metal guide rings with the hardness of agate come along.

George, that looks like Gudebrod Dacron on the top.  I think Dacron line came out a year before nylon.  You must know that dacron is a real pleasure to fish with because it does not stretch.  You get excellent sensitivity and firm hook sets.  But, dacron has no abrasion resistance so you have to keep it away from structure and the bottom.  Braided nylon stretches a lot but it's very durable.

Great collection there Fred.  Is that the one with the square blank on top?  I suspect the rods became thinner as the manufacturers found better alloys and tempering methods.  That one on the bottom with the extra deep reel seat is an odd bird.  I wonder if it was made for a particular type or style of reel.

-steve

[oc1]

Sorry, I'm still learning and told a lie above..  Nylon line preceded Dacron by eight to ten years.  

I read somewhere that nylon fishing line was introduced just after the Secnd World War.  But, information from DuPont and the Ashaway Line and Twine Manufacturing Company says braided nylon fishing line was actually made in the early 1940's.  By 1942 nylon braid was an important part of the Ashaway business.  Ashaway was, an still is,  an early-adopter of new technology, but there were several other forces at work.  For one, DuPont was anxious to have their new invention, nylon, made into popular consumer products.  Aside for the direct economic benefits, DuPont was in a campaign to change their image.  Until that time, they were known primarily for having made a lot of money producing weapons grade TNT during the First World War.  They wanted to shed that image and become known for making "better living through chemistry".  

International diplomacy also played a role in fishing line development.  Beginning about 1937 there was a grass-roots campaign in the U.S. to boycott Japanese goods.  I think it started in Seattle and spread east.  The intent was to financially hurt Japan in order to get them to cease their incursions into China as part of the Second Sino-Japanese War.  These incursions and war were eventually melded into the Second World War.  There was a lot of debate about the boycott of Japanese goods in Washington D.C.  The federal consensus was that it would be counter productive.  If the U.S. officially embargoed Japanese goods, the Japanese would counter by refusing to buy U.S. oil, steel, cotton and munitions (yes, munitions!).  There would be a net loss of jobs and economic harm.  Remember, we were in the Great Depression when jobs and economic growth were paramount.  So, the federal government did not proceed with an embargo but the grass-roots populist boycott continued.  There was nothing illegal about buying Japanese goods, but it was becoming socially unacceptable.  Some historians blame this early anti-Japan sentiment for fostering an unhealthy prejudice against Japanese Americans.  The harsh treatment of Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor may have been due, in part, to the grass roots boycott of Japanese goods in the late 1930's.

Anyway, one of the Japanese goods that was boycotted was silk.  Silk was the single most important commodity that the U.S. imported from Japan.  The finest baitcasting line was made of silk but now it was becoming politically incorrect to use.  Serious baitcasters did not want to use the coarse linen Cuttyhunk popular for trolling and bottom fishing.  The braided silk line was more expensive, but it cast better because it had a smoother finish.

There were many U.S. manufacturers of braided silk fishing line that relied on raw silk from Japan.  All of a sudden the fishing line companies found themselves trying to market a politically incorrect product.  They tried to dodge it by highlighting the fact that the processing of raw silk and braiding it into fishing line was done in the U.S. and highlighted the term "American Finish" on their silk lines.  When DuPont introduced nylon fiber, Ashaway, and then others, jumped on it for producing braided line.  For fishing line, nylon is superior to silk in every respect.  It is lighter, stronger, more durable, not subject to rotting, AND politically correct.  It's sort of like marketing fair-trade coffee or conflict-free diamonds today.

What does fishing line have in common with ladies stocking?  There was a time when ladies stocking were all made of silk.  When the silk boycott began, rayon stocking were introduced.  Rayon is not a synthetic fiber because it is made of wood pulp like celluloid plastic.  But, rayon has no stretch so it made baggy stockings.  When DuPont began touting nylon the ladies stockings manufacturers jumped on it just like the line manufacturers did and nylon stockings became the standard.

This is braided silk.  I don't know how old it is but the graphics and font are reminiscent of the mid-1920's.  It is unused on joined wooden spools.  The label says 25# test but it now breaks about 5 or 6 pounds because of microbe attack.


This is braided nylon.  I think it is from 1941 or 1942.  It is unused on joined wooden spools in a fancy box.  The label says 15# test and it now breaks at about 13 or 14 pounds.  I hate to ruin the modest collector value but will probably fish with it.


-steve

[Bryan Young]

That looks like Dacron.  Its was commonly used for trolling as it floats and when trolling a plunger, diver, skipper,... for marlin, mahi mahi, wahoo,..., it was the line of choice to be topped by X amount of leader to the lure.

[RowdyW]

Toss a spool of it into the washing machine with the laundry. 

[foakes]

Hi Joe --

On linen line --

Soak it in a dishpan of warmer or hot water -- with a couple teaspoons of Dawn dishwashing soap -- for a couple of hours -- make sure it is about a 12" loose loop -- and take some time so it does not get tangled.

Run the line through an old terry washcloth to remove the initial soap and staining.

Make another loose loop, and if still dirty drop it into another dishpan of hot water with a couple tablespoons of OxiClean (your wife has this) -- let soak for another couple of hours.  

This is as good as you are going to get it without using bleach -- which is not good for the line.

As you take it out of the dishpan -- put it into another dishpan of just straight, warm water -- let soak for maybe 30 minutes -- then as you remove it, run the line through a paper towel in your hand to get the initial water off.

Loop it between a couple of posts, or something -- out in the sun.

When completely dry -- you are done -- store or respool.

There are a few expensive things the fly fishers use to maintain their line -- but this works just fine for me.

Best,

Fred

[mike1010]

...I read somewhere that nylon fishing line was introduced just after the Secnd World War...

I think that's right for mono.

Mike

[oc1]

Mike, you are probably right about the mono.  Mono is made of nylon too.  I read something that made me think the first nylon line was monofilament, but it was so stiff that it was unusable so they braided it.

Speaking of stiff mono, there was the whole issue of leader material before the introduction of synthetics.  From what I can tell, the choices were monel wire and cat gut.  Fishing leader material sounded like a good use for cats (just kidding Fred) but cat gut was actually made from silkworm pupae.  So, gut leader material suffered the same availability problems as silk line.

Gut leader was a pain to use.  It was much stronger when wet and needed to be stored wet while the line needed to be stored dry.  Gut leader was not very uniform and available only in small sizes.  If you needed a thicker or stiffer leader you would twist two strands of gut together.

Fly fishers used gut for stealth and to help make the fly turn over in the cast.  I don't know if baitcasters even used a leader.  Seems like this sort of information should be available but I can't find it.

There is a coil of gut leader in the top right of this photo.  It has held up remarkably well and is still strong.  The hanks of green cuttyhunk, on the other hand, are rotted junk.


-steve