If a Black Prince was your first reel, what was your second?

[John Milford]

John, I too had a two piece whole cane black painted fibreglass tip rod, my glass was white though.
Whippings were bright red.

Mine was whipped in green Tony.

When our Dad bought them for us, my twin brother chose a 3 piece varnished whole cane rod with an unusual top section - comprising a short section of cane bearing the male ferrule, which tapered down to a hollow glass tip set directly into the cane.

His was probably the more 'modern' of our two and whipped in red.

Funny the little details that still stick in the mind after more than half a century!

[Rockape]

My second reel after my black prince was inspired by a fellow angler while fishing the Fleet at Littlesea for grey mullet with my stepdad when we were on holiday in Weymouth (1975).

A nice chap from Birmingham (Ted, also on his hols) joined us, and he was using an Intrepid New De Luxe. It really caught my attention, and it had a roller bail, (I was sure the groove in my bail arm was loosing me good fish); so that was it, from that moment I had to have one, and a few weeks later I was indeed the proud owner of a New De Luxe (a big boys reel!), which I used a lot for swimfeeding for bream at Ruislip Lido Reservior in North West London in the following few years.

A Mitchell 410 took it's place later on, and I now have a few more Mitchells to play with, but that New De Luxe is the one that brings back the happiest memories.

Now (probably due to more than a touch of nostalgic insanity) I have somewhere in the region of 14 New De Luxe's (if you include my two USA versions), plus 7 Intrepid Extras (the beefed up deluxe).

[John Milford]

My second reel after my black prince was inspired by a fellow angler while fishing the Fleet at Littlesea for grey mullet with my stepdad when we were on holiday in Weymouth (1975).

A nice chap from Birmingham (Ted, also on his hols) joined us, and he was using an Intrepid New De Luxe. It really caught my attention, and it had a roller bail, (I was sure the groove in my bail arm was loosing me good fish); so that was it, from that moment I had to have one, and a few weeks later I was indeed the proud owner of a New De Luxe (a big boys reel!), which I used a lot for swimfeeding for bream at Ruislip Lido Reservior in North West London in the following few years.

A Mitchell 410 took it's place later on, and I now have a few more Mitchells to play with, but that New De Luxe is the one that brings back the happiest memories.

Now (probably due to more than a touch of nostalgic insanity) I have somewhere in the region of 14 New De Luxe's (if you include my two USA versions), plus 7 Intrepid Extras (the beefed up deluxe).

Were the American versions Branded Gladding?

I once saw an American version of either the Black Prince, or possibly a Boy'O as it was blue, but re-badged with some improbably macho name like 'Cougar', or 'Eagle', or some such?

[Grumpy]

My second reel was a Roddy 900,made in Japan,I think.I can't for the life of me remember what became of it,probably left in a garage after a house move.From what I remember,it served me well until I moved onto Mitchells.

[MGs]

Mitchell 320. Although I haven't used it in years, I still have it

[Rockape]

My second reel after my black prince was inspired by a fellow angler while fishing the Fleet at Littlesea for grey mullet with my stepdad when we were on holiday in Weymouth (1975).

A nice chap from Birmingham (Ted, also on his hols) joined us, and he was using an Intrepid New De Luxe. It really caught my attention, and it had a roller bail, (I was sure the groove in my bail arm was loosing me good fish); so that was it, from that moment I had to have one, and a few weeks later I was indeed the proud owner of a New De Luxe (a big boys reel!), which I used a lot for swimfeeding for bream at Ruislip Lido Reservior in North West London in the following few years.

A Mitchell 410 took it's place later on, and I now have a few more Mitchells to play with, but that New De Luxe is the one that brings back the happiest memories.

Now (probably due to more than a touch of nostalgic insanity) I have somewhere in the region of 14 New De Luxe's (if you include my two USA versions), plus 7 Intrepid Extras (the beefed up deluxe).

Were the American versions Branded Gladding?

I once saw an American version of either the Black Prince, or possibly a Boy'O as it was blue, but re-badged with some improbably macho name like 'Cougar', or 'Eagle', or some such?

Hi John,

There were two iterations of the US Intrepids; the first ones were around the time of the 'new' Intrepids (1966 /67 approx) and were marketed by the Old Pal tackle company in Pennsylvania (a division of Woodstream), and yes they were matt black with blue flyer/rotors (as with all Old Pal reels). The Black Prince (and a few boyo's) was called the Tomcat 25, and the New De Luxe (with a few Extra versions) was the Bobcat 35; I am pretty sure another much rarer Old Pal Intrepid was a Prince Regent, and was named the Reelcat.

The later (Early 70's) Gladding exports were marketed (under their original names ) by Horrocks Ibbottson (Hi), and a large round Hi label was affixed to the main body with a model number also. These were traditional Intrepid gloss black.

The two Bobcat De Luxes can be seen in this photo.

[Rockape]

Tomcat 25

[John Milford]

That's the one! Thanks guys.

[Peter Wilde]

Never had a Black Prince but my first fixed-spool was an Intrepid Monarch. it didn’t last long without faults, of which the line wearing a groove in the bale arm was the worst. (Another was the handle knob falling off, but a new washer and a dab of strong glue fixed that one).

Well I did stick with Intrepid and a year later got an Elite. A big step forward. I soon managed to knock the end off the check lever, dropping the reel on concrete; and subsequently had to make a replacement for the little bit of shaped metal pin thingy that slid in an elliptical groove to make the spool go in and out.

It was a good reel though …. and kept me happy until I switched to Mitchells a few years later.

[Bob Brookes]

In order from the 1950's: A small silver metal centerpin (probably an Alcocks Knight), K P Morrits De-luxe, Elite, Supreme, Noris Shakespeare 2050 (?). After that I could afford proper reels.