The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

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

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

As angler’s oral history tells us it was Jack Clayton when one of his split cane rod tips cracked during a match, I would say it’s a reasonable calculation that it was mid-sixties at the latest.

A very short while ago on fleabay, I spotted an early fibreglass ledger rod with what I’m convinced was a built in swing tip - it I did not look like a later addition. Annoyingly, I can’t recall whether it was a Jack Clayton or an Ernest Stamford.

Phil

I was certainly using a swingtip in the late '60s.

Richard Walker and Peter Stone were playing around with separate ideas (Stone's involved whale bone), they got together and, as best I know, the swingtip was born.

https://www.maggotdrowning.com/forums/t ... ip.116776/

angler Freddie Foster
Bream from Ten Mile Bank, Red Hart Lane, Crooked Chimney, Crowland and the Coronation Channel. The swing tip itself was said to be designed by Yorkshire angler Freddie Foster who used it to good effect on the Fen Drains. Sheffield had about all of the Middle Level then.

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-th ... die-foster

Duckett wrote: ↑Sun Sep 13, 2020 3:18 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

As angler’s oral history tells us it was Jack Clayton when one of his split cane rod tips cracked during a match, I would say it’s a reasonable calculation that it was mid-sixties at the latest.

A very short while ago on fleabay, I spotted an early fibreglass ledger rod with what I’m convinced was a built in swing tip - it I did not look like a later addition. Annoyingly, I can’t recall whether it was a Jack Clayton or an Ernest Stamford.

Phil

I own a Ernest Stamford swingtip rod which has a built in tip.
I also have a similar version which has just the threaded tip guide.

I acquired them some time ago ,both very similar in action .
When the Trent is at normal levels from the start of the season to some time in October before we get the rain,there are areas on my local stretch which are deep and very slow.These rods come in to their own for feeder fishing for roach and bream as the tip is a very sensitive method of bite indication .
When I was in my teens living in Clifton,Nottingham we would swing tip for bream in the deep water above Beeston weir.
Very successful and enjoyable method.
I would say the rods I own date to the early 70's based on the blank colour and both fitted with brass ferrules.

All the best
Nige.

I can't answer your question. I first used it as a lad in the 80ies and today again for the first time since the 80ies. Gloriously blanked!

So, we have at least 3 different oral history claims as to who had the idea first and all would appear to date to a few years from the mid-60s to the early-70s.

Two things spring to mind. The first is that the only possibilities of a primary source are catalogues or possibly something in the angling press. The angling press might also provide a secondary source. The second is the possibility that several people, working independently, came up with the same idea at around the same time. This happens surprisingly often with television and the telephone being classic examples. On the technical invocation front, which the swing tip fits into, this was very common in the early days of photography and also moving pictures. Ideas circulate and reach fruition in more than one mind at the same time.

Inspired by Martin’s post from Bamberg, was the swing tip even invented in the U.K.?

Phil

Duebel wrote: ↑Sun Sep 13, 2020 8:24 pm
I can't answer your question. I first used it as a lad in the 80ies and today again for the first time since the 80ies. Gloriously blanked!

That is a lovely looking venue Duebel, I think we all occasionally suffer the blank occasionally, makes a good day better though, remembering when you couldnt catch anything on the same place the last visit !

As for the swingtip, it looks like , as Phil says, probably the mid sixties for a first appearance, dates dont matter really,I was wondering if they were first used on cane prior to Fibreglass ?

OMR

From an angling encycopaedia published in 1960 by Colin Willock.