I purchased two Windex recently. One is an absolute monster, five to six inch diameter and must weigh over a pound, but will be perfect for the task (Ebro catfish next year!).
The other, pictured below, is a smaller reel, at 3 3/4 inch diameter and a 1 1/8th arbor. With the line guard as it is, if looks like it was built for a left-hander or perhaps to be used upside-down like a multiplier - perhaps for trolling?
It would make an excellent pike reel as it is as sturdy as an ox and a great (proper) drag mechanism operated by the centre button.
Any comments on the reel I would be interested, plus any idea on value and, if there is any interest (it is superfluous to my needs) I shall put a price on its sale. In good to very good condition with just a little paint loss.
They were intended for Pike and Salmon spinning or trolling but were also popular pier and boat reels. The Allcocks version was called the Brighton. The 5 1/2" version is rare, I think it was only made for one year so that could be worth a bit more to a collector.
Back when it was built, right-handers used to hold the rod in the right hand above the reel to cast, and transfer it to the left when they wanted to wind in; this, it was argued, helped prevent the handles tangling the line while casting, and helpedbalance the heavy rods of the day, even though, decades earlier, J.H.R. Bazley was shown holding a rod in his right hand, below the the reel, which was set for left-hand wind, and quite high up the rod - the modern way.
Those scary videos of Bernard Venables reaching across the rod to reel in, looking about as competent as Bob Mortimer, show who thought about exactly what they were doing and who just copied the herd and wrote about it... though when Bazley did pick up his pen, he was excellent.
(Still, no-one painted and drew like Venables. Nothing ovine about him when he was illustrating!).
As a southpaw, I've always thought that this quirk of logic, that means most centre-pins work for me, straight out of the box, was a nice little compensation for all the other embuggerances of life in a right-handed world!
"Write drunk, edit sober" - Hemingway.
Hemingway didn't have to worry about accidentally hitting "submit" before he edited.
I have one - but never until now - noticed it was with the line guard for a right handed retrieve!
In the 1966 Allcocks catalogue there are 2 versions of The Windex by j W Young in the sea category. A 4in and a 5.5in costing 97/6 and 114/- respectively - with out Purchase Taxes.
Strangely the illustration shows, like the Trudex, a place on the backplate for the line-guard to be ambidextrous?
I know what you paid for them because you bought them from me. Glad you like them.
If you have no grease with you, and your rings are full of ice, do not cut out the ice with a pen-knife but get your man to put the rings one by one in his mouth, and so to thaw the ice.
John Bickerdyke.
Fredline wrote: ↑Sat Oct 12, 2019 9:02 pm
I know what you paid for them because you bought them from me. Glad you like them.
Hi Fredline, I did!
It was the big one that I really wanted, for catfish. It’s PERFECT! With that one you can move the line guard for left or right retrieve but the smaller one you can’t - I don’t think - did they make a left and right hander? Or am I missing something?
I’d have kept the smaller one for piking but it’s the wrong way around for a right hander and it’s baffled me.
I would ask Garry Mills, the man for all reels by Youngs.
If you have no grease with you, and your rings are full of ice, do not cut out the ice with a pen-knife but get your man to put the rings one by one in his mouth, and so to thaw the ice.
John Bickerdyke.
I’ve just had a rummage on the inter web and it seems the smaller one was always like that; they must have been intended for use with the reel on top for trolling multiplier style.
In short therefore, a great pike reel for a left hander or a right hander going cack-handed.
