If some of these older fishing poles could talk

As I enter the last third or quarter of my life, I basically have all the fishing tackle I could ever use. But like most other enthusiastic hobbyists - I continue to go 'jonesing' around for more 'stuff'. The difference is, lately I have been buying tackle I always wanted as a kid. When I first started going boat fishing out of Pierpoint Landing in the early 1960's, the guys that looked to always catch more than the the rest of the anglers were older (to me at the time anyway) Japanese guys with nice tackle. I found out a lot of them were gardeners in Los Angeles. The bait was all anchovies, so the rods and reels were considerably lighter than the stuff being used today. There were Garcia Conolon, Harnell - and later there were Fenwick, Sabre, Truline amongst others. The name that's stuck in my mind was the Silaflex. Not sure when Browning bought Silaflex, but the Silaflex was the rod to have. They were considered the Cadillacs of the time and were very expensive. Guys were paying $80 and more for new ones in the 50's and 60's. When you consider a gallon of gas was probably in the 20 cent range or less, along with everything else being relatively low - that was a lot of money to be paying for a fishing pole. Silaflex Magnum PT-67, PT70...all the nicest anchovy fishing pole money could buy. And these old Japanese guys were fishing with them. I had a Tuna King pole and Optimo spinning reel. Don't get me wrong, I caught my share of fish - but I never had a Silaflex. Jump ahead to the 2000's. Not sure where I found it, but I found a Browning/Silaflex version of the PT70. Don't remember what year exactly, but I caught the largest Albacore I ever caught in my life on this pole - 67.5 lbs. Sometime after that, I lent this pole to a friend of mine (a semi-fisherman, at best) and he promptly broke off a foot off the tip. Irreplaceable. A few years ago on Ebay, I found the same rod and bought it. Subsequently found a Silaflex Magnum PT67 - and more recently a Silaflex Magnum PT70. Mind you with all the sardine fishing being done now - and not much for anchovy fishing, these poles are relatively useless. Matter of fact, with all the new technologies - there would be even better anchovy fishing poles than all that old stuff anyway. But I just had to get it. Why go through life not getting something you have always wanted? Especially something as menial as a fishing pole. So as I was driving home with my new (to me) PT70, I thought about all the people that must have owned the pole since it was first made. Looking at the pole, it looked to be re-wrapped - a while back I'm sure, but definitely re-wrapped. Absolutely the wrong guides for a rod of this caliber - stiff spinning guides. The original guides were thin wire and selected to allow the rod to bend as it was designed. But the cork and reel seat are original - and in good shape. So the rod is made in Costa Mesa in either the late 50's or early 60's. I don't know which stores would have carried such an expensive fishing pole, but definitely would have been bought by an fishing enthusiast with money. Those old Japanese gardeners probably saved up their monies for a while to buy them. The PT70's would have used with 15 to 20 pound line, even 25 pound. Flylining an anchovy for yellowtail or albacore fishing from a party boat. Some of them guys used spinning reels as well. Unlike most fishermen - even today, they fish their with drags extremely tight. At the time I always wondered why they used spinning reels - which would invariably twist your line. I'll write about my concept on this on a later post. If we're going to make some shit up, might as well make it about one of those gardeners - except a gardener just getting into fishing. He had been talking to his older buddies about fishing. Sounded interesting to him - but the expense of the equipment was making him hesitate. His buddies all belonged to a club called 'Tsuri-Kichi'....meaning fishing maniacs in Japanese. They had been trying to get him into the club and fishing for a long time. Both he and his wife were feeling bad about frequently being given a share of someone else's fish. They wanted to return the favor by sharing a part of their own catch. So the couple discussed this and decided to save a dollar here and a dollar there - into a fishing fund. Soon he had enough to start buying tackle. The terminal stuff was easy - hooks, sinkers, jigs, pliers....the basics either from Thrifty Drug Store or the neighborhood fishing store. He had been talking to his buddies about what rods and reels to buy. He liked the idea of catching fish with lures/jigs. So he decided a Penn 500 Jigmaster would be his first reel - came with two (2) quick change spools! They were plastic, but he was assured by the store salesperson that they would fine as long as he put a layer of dacron or something similar on the bottom to cushion the effects of the monofilament. So he thought he would put 15 pound on one of the spools for bait fishing, and 25 pound on the other for jig fishing. There were many different brands, but his friends suggested Meslon, Maxima was too expensive. Now the pole. His friends told him to spend a bit more and buy a Silaflex. He decided most of his fishing to start would be bait fishing. His friends all told him to buy a Silaflex. 'The best bait stick money can buy' - they all said. He went to the neighborhood White Front and looked at the Silaflex rods and was shocked at the price. He could easily buy a couple or more other brands for the price of one Silaflex. He had the money he had been saving for almost a year. So he bought it, a Silaflex Magnum PT70. This completed what he would need to go fishing with his friends and join the club. He was now a Tsuri-kichi member! The next trip for the Tsuri-kichis' was the on the Sharpshooter from 22nd Street Landing in San Pedro with Frank Hall. Yellowtail and White Sea Bass were biting at Catalina. He could hardly contain his excitement. Being on a boat with all his buddies. Somehow he felt as if he was leaving the world behind. The first fish he hooked at Catalina was a calico bass. The Silaflex and Jigmaster handled it beautifully! Then the Sea Bass and Yellows started to bite. His equipment handled that even better. By the end of the day, he had yellowtail, white sea bass and calico bass. What a day! When the boat got back to the docks later that day, he had his picture taken with his rod in hand and his fish laid out in front of him. Over the next few years, he would go on many charters - and even go on open party boats (cattle boats - they were called, because the passengers were packed on like cattle) by himself. And he would start accumulating tackle. A few more Silaflex rods, More Penn reels - Squidders, Surfmasters, Senators for conventional reels. And even a few spinning reels. As he got older, his ability to go fishing waned. His mind wanted to go - but his body just would not comply. His fishing days were over, and over time his kids would take over. Not having much interest in fishing, the kids would have estate sales and sell all the fishing tackle so fervently collected by their father. The Silaflex PT70 would be bought by a novice fisherman just looking for inexpensive equipment. He had no idea this was the 'finest bait stick money can buy'. All he knew was in dire need of new guides and wrapping. So he took it to a tackle shop specializing in custom wrapping of fishing poles. He didn't care about how the pole was designed to bend - he just wanted it to fish with, and he already had a spinning reel. Fishing was not his favorite thing to do - but he enjoyed going with his buddies from time to time. After a time, he stopped going fishing and during a garage sale, he decided to sell what was not longer being used. A buyer seeing some fishing stuff he could use - offered him a lump sum for the whole lot of the fishing stuff. The new owner took the stuff back to his warehouse and culled what he wanted - and put the rest up for sale. He doesn't know a Silaflex from a Berkely. Its just a fishing he wanted to sell. I see the ad on Ebay - and bam....Kohei has a Silaflex Magnum PT-70 for his collection. Haven't fished with it yet - but soon.