Interesting Old Piece of Gear

RossP

Member
While I finally opened my Dad's old tackle box, he has been gone for eight years I found some very old lures, and plugs. I also found what looks to be a bumper/shock absorber of some kind. It almost looks home made. Dad was a metal worked, tin basher in the Air Force and then again in Civilian life working for ConAir Aviation making Fire Fighting Planes. It looks like a Brass cotter pin inside a copper tube. The cotter pin is spring loaded. Has anyone ever seen something like this before? I can pull the one end out about one inch.
 
pretty sure they used to make concrete weights that clipped into those... once a fish his and there was tension.. concrete weight released. I could be wrong.. never used them, remember my grandfather talking about them back in the day
 
pretty sure they used to make concrete weights that clipped into those... once a fish his and there was tension.. concrete weight released. I could be wrong.. never used them, remember my grandfather talking about them back in the day

And the winner is Outback. Guy also would fill old nylons with rocks. It's a release pin type of thing when the fish hits it pulls the pin and the weight drops and its just you and the fish.
 
pretty sure they used to make concrete weights that clipped into those... once a fish his and there was tension.. concrete weight released. I could be wrong.. never used them, remember my grandfather talking about them back in the day
Bingo , thats exactly what they are , any kind of weight with a swvel , fits inside the slot
 
Cool, must be a big fish to release the weight, I bet the pull on the pin to get it to release is at least a 5 lb pull.
There were some other cool things in the tackle box. I will post some more pics of some of the old lures and plugs.
The one I like the most is from Gooderham and Woris Distillery, an old spoon with the original box.
 
I have a couple left over from a fishing trip out of San Francisco Bay in the late 80,s. They were used instead of downriggers to get a spoon or chovie down 30-40 ft while trolling. (no flasher) The Sacramento River king run was just incredible then. Easy limits. They didnt use concrete however... lead cannon balls of various weight (3-8 oz) with a swivel on them. And surprisingly it didnt take much of a strike to release the weight.. Especially with the mammoth strikes most guys used when they got a hit!!

I remember asking my US fishing buddy how long the EPA was going to allow the sport fleet to drop TONS of lead into the sea just outside of the Golden Gate... he laughed, and said "Not a chance!!" Downriggers are much more common now.
 
People still use those Luhr Jensen still makes them.

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I've talked to guys that fished off California charter vessels that used the dropped weight method. Can you imagine the amount of lead pied up on the bottom from these 20 person puker style boats that fish the same grounds every day? They said 5 pound leads were commonly used.
 
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