Been involved in the outdoors for 40 years. I have been writing outdoor columns for over 25. I am the producer and host of the Illinois Outoors TV Show and CoHost of the Fishing Line and Outdoor Radio Show.
This is an antique fishing reel that was obtained by sending in lables from a cereal box in the early 1900s.
Lock and Load would be glad to share it with you. I think you might enjoy it too. Here is what he said....
The old reel you see in this photo belonged to Fishing Line and Outdoor Show producer Jeff "Lock and Load" Lockridge's grandfather, James F. Lockridge.
The reel is around 85 years old.
Grandpa Jim was born in 1919 and in 1926 at the age of 7 he discovered if he tore off proof of purchase tags from a company that sold hot breakfast cereals he could get a free fishing reel. Everyone he knew helped him save these labels until he had enough to send in the mail for his fishing reel.
After some time doing this he managed to get a hold of enough of them to be able to send for it. When it arrived in the mail he still didn't have enough money for a fishing pole, but he solved this problem by getting a flexible thin green branch from a tree. The limb had the desired snap action to it.
The old timers had taught him how to make the "line guides" for the pole out of small pieces of thin wire formed in a circle. For a few years he was able to enjoy a few laid back summers of fishing. By the time the stock market crashed, however, fishing had ceased to be a pastime for my grandfather and he began to view fishing as a chore to be able to put meat on the table. Money was even more scarce during those hard times. He never regained his fondness for fishing after this, and took up golf as his pastime after serving in WWII. He played until he passed in 1978.
Jeff "Lock and Load" Lockridge of WCSJ Radio and producer of the Fishing Line and Outdoor Radio Show
A few fun facts about the reel...
It bears no brand name or serial number. It has no writing on it at all. You would have to control the line, which was made of cotton and much thicker than today's products, with your thumb. Besides the small hand crank the only mechanism on it is the switch you flip depending on whether you want to "free spool" or not.
Thank you for viewing a part of angling history, and a part of my family's history.
Jeff "Lock and Load" Lockridge
Fishing Line and Outdoor Radio
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