Swing tips, quick question

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Duckett
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Re: Swing tips, quick question

Post by Duckett »

Moley wrote: Mon Sep 21, 2020 11:00 am Well really the swing 'tip' was invented by Jesus when he told the lake Nazareth fishers to swing their nets to the other side of the boat in the new Testament book of Matthew and lo their nets were full. If that is not a swing 'tip' I don't know what is........so any advance on 2000 years then? :Hahaha:

No doubt there is a case for the stick and bone hook being a type of swing tip as the stick, placed in the ground and pointing skywards indicated a bite. This style of fishing is still practised at Cromwell Weir, for barbel, but dates back to the dawn of time.

Nowt new in fishing!

As ever,......

Moley
:Hahaha: :Hahaha: :Hahaha: :Hahaha: :Hahaha: :Hahaha: :Hahaha:
From "... the wilds of the Wirral, whose wayward people both God and good men have quite given up on ...".

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Ljm183
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Re: Swing tips, quick question

Post by Ljm183 »

Old Man River wrote: Sun Sep 13, 2020 3:01 pm Has anybody any idea when Swingtips first made an appearance ?

I seem to remember using them back in the early seventies, but cant really say when. I was wondering if they were around before Fibreglass took over from cane as a popular rod making material.

OMR
Definitely out the same time as Glass .... Maybe not all Glass rods.

Fenland Swing Tip rod 10ft. Made by Jack Clayton of Boston.


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Old Man River
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Re: Swing tips, quick question

Post by Old Man River »

Ljm183 wrote: Mon Sep 21, 2020 9:36 pm
Old Man River wrote: Sun Sep 13, 2020 3:01 pm Has anybody any idea when Swingtips first made an appearance ?

I seem to remember using them back in the early seventies, but cant really say when. I was wondering if they were around before Fibreglass took over from cane as a popular rod making material.

OMR
Exactly what I was wondering , pre fibreglass but in the swingtip form , great post LJM :Thumb:

Definitely out the same time as Glass .... Maybe not all Glass rods.

Fenland Swing Tip rod 10ft. Made by Jack Clayton of Boston.


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Hurrumph....... whatever happened to Handlines ?

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Mole-Patrol
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Re: Swing tips, quick question

Post by Mole-Patrol »

Ernie Stamford made quite a few variations of his swing tip rods; some were screw-in and others were whipped-in. There were various lengths of the lower section of the tip from around 6" to double that. You could also buy a 'donkey-top' version with a soft quiver-tip like attachment. If you wanted a spare top section for the rod that you had Calcotts at Sheffield would make you another top section so that you could have two or more options. Those rods were 10 foot, 2 sections, hollow fibreglass, mustard yellow in colour and had spigot ferrules and either green or red wrappings.

The Stamford rods had a nylon link to the swing-tip whilst other rods often had hollow rubber attachments and were prone to twisting over mid-cast resulting in a breakage. For the last one that I made I used strimmer line as the link.

The screw-end rods without a tip fitted made lovely chub and mullet rods as they had a smooth through action much like a Chapmans 500. I gave mine away to a new angler who subsequently lost interest. I regret parting with the rod and would love to have another. This action and the shortish 10 foot length wasn't the best for long range ledger fishing with fine mono lines however. Ivan Marks used to fall backwards off his basket during the sweeping strike to try and recover enough line to set the hook.

By the late '60's the Lincolnshire rivers lost ground to faster flowing rivers like the Trent and Severn. Bream were no longer the matchman's target species and the quiver-tip rod gained popularity at the expense of the swing-tip. Many anglers needlessly changed from swing-tips to quiver-tips just on the basis of the match fishing catch reports with no reference to their own style if fishing. I recall walking around Worsbrough Reservoir just before a match started and everyone had a quiver-tip ledger rod set up along with a float rod. It was flat calm and the water is no more than 6' deep in many places. The swing-tip is in my opinion a far better tool for those swims, but fashion dictated otherwise.

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Mitch300
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Re: Swing tips, quick question

Post by Mitch300 »

In the `Fred Foster's Swing Tipping' book, it states that the swing tip, as we know it, first came on the angling scene in the mid 1950's and was the invention of Jack Clayton of Boston. Apparently, he designed it to catch winter roach on the Whitham when it was flowing, and a stationary bait was needed, with a more sensitive bite-detection method than the butt indicator. When the river was not moving, most matches were then won with roach caught on the float. Only later did the matchmen try to win by swing tipping for bream.

G. B.

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Mole-Patrol
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Re: Swing tips, quick question

Post by Mole-Patrol »

They used to weight the swing-tips when the river had some pull on it. Sometimes Plasticine or lead wire as used in fly-tying was used for that purpose. But it really achieved most fame for bream fishing in the slower rivers.

Kev D
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Re: Swing tips, quick question

Post by Kev D »

I remember being a bit intimidated as a youngster by the anglers using windbreak/target-boards alongside their swing-tips.
They always looked so intense and unapproachable.
In order to shoot some close-ups, wildlife photographer ,the late Len Scapstillon, lured the orca to him by dressing as a seal.......

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Mole-Patrol
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Re: Swing tips, quick question

Post by Mole-Patrol »

I was only thinking of those old target boards today whilst fishing in a gale. I used to have a small photography brolly mounted on a bank stick to shelter the tip.

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Fred
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Re: Swing tips, quick question

Post by Fred »

Reading Fred Foster's swing tipping book 1976 and reading though the post on here,
I have to say it was Jack Clayton in the 1950s.
Fish come and go, but it is the memory of afternoons on the stream that endure

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Aquaerial
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Re: Swing tips, quick question

Post by Aquaerial »

Mitch300 wrote: Fri Sep 25, 2020 3:29 am In the `Fred Foster's Swing Tipping' book, it states that the swing tip, as we know it, first came on the angling scene in the mid 1950's and was the invention of Jack Clayton of Boston. Apparently, he designed it to catch winter roach on the Whitham when it was flowing, and a stationary bait was needed, with a more sensitive bite-detection method than the butt indicator. When the river was not moving, most matches were then won with roach caught on the float. Only later did the matchmen try to win by swing tipping for bream.

G. B.
Bang on...Clayton ran a tackle business and supplied match anglers from his van. Whilst fishing a match Jack split the tip of his cane rod and he fished on rather and set another rod up... need I say more? that broken tip was the first swinger.
Freddie Foster took it to where it is today experimenting with rod lengths and casting, his book is well worth a read it was a brilliant era.
Aquaerial
But Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man
That he didn't, didn't already have

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