A third Richard Walker carp fishing reel circa late 1940s.

It was the early nineteen nineties. Barry Grantham was exhibiting his new BB replica centrepin reels at the NEC angling show. A gentleman approached Barry and told him that BB’s reel, made for him by Richard Walker, wasn’t unique. Walker made two of them, he said. Barry told his visitor that Walker had indeed made two reels, but the first, which became known as the Thorndike reel, was different. It lacked a lever brake, for one thing. No, the gent insisted, Walker made two reels with lever brakes, quite aside from the first (Thorndike) version. Having nothing but received wisdom to rely on, Barry stood his ground. Walker made two carp reels- his and then BB’s, he repeated. Again, his determined visitor assured him that Walker had made two BB-type reels. They’d reached an impasse. The argument ended. The man departed and the matter didn’t arise again –until now. Read on.

The reel you can view in the accompanying pictures came from the collection of a recently deceased gentleman. He left no clues as to where he’d obtained it. He would have been aware of the publicity I’d given to the BB and Thorndike reels (Walker gave his first reel to his friend Jack Thorndike) in recent years but he didn’t contact me to tell me that he owned a third Walker reel and he wasn’t known to be secretive. I suspect that he thought he’d bought one of Barry’s replicas. The handles may have been responsible. We’ll come back to them in a while.

There are plenty of precedents for this sort of thing. John Nightingale famously bought the Thorndike reel on eBay, thinking that it was a BB replica. There was, collectors believed, only one Ustonson multiplying winch –until another one turned up recently, also on eBay. Walker regarded his cut down Wallis Wizard as his MK I carp rod. The late Chris Ball owned the MK III. Chris Sandford owns the MK  IV. There must have been a MK II mustn’t there, but nobody seemed to know anything about it. Well, it was unearthed not long ago and now lives alongside the MK III in its new home.

Walker made his reels in the late nineteen forties (1947, when he was twenty nine). Until it resurfaced, the Thorndike reel had largely been forgotten. Why wouldn’t Richard Walker have made two reels incorporating the lever brake he’d devised, one for BB and one for himself? He was famously generous. I can imagine him giving away his lever brake reel, just as he’d given his first model to Jack Thorndike. He became a champion of the then new Mitchell fixed spool reel and it’s a fair assumption that he’d lost interest in using a centrepin for carp fishing.

When my esteemed colleague Colin and I received this reel, we were struck by its similarities with the BB and Thorndike reels, both of which we’d spent a good deal of time with. One develops a feel for these things when one’s been making fishing tackle for well over thirty years. In a manner of speaking, the reel displayed all the hallmarks of Walker’s other work, so much so that we were initially convinced that the reel was, without doubt, a third Walker centrepin. It had been examined by an engineer friend who said the alloy used and the manner of its machining looked decidedly ancient and typical of early post-War work. How exciting it all seemed!

The next day, after we’d calmed down, further careful consideration was given to the reel. The handles were clearly made from Delrin or a similar thermo-plastic not available in the immediate post-War period. They looked rather like the handles on Barry Grantham’s BB replicas. I phoned Barry, who I’ve known since 1991, and we had a chat, during the course of which he told me about his argumentative visitor at the NEC. Afterwards, I sent him some pictures of the reel. He agreed that the handles were replacements and most importantly, he confirmed that the reel wasn’t one of his.

The handles on the BB & Thorndike reels are made from Xylonite, an early form of plastic notorious for crazing and cracking. Indeed, the handles on both reels clearly display these tendencies. No surprise then that replacements had been made for the reel we’re dealing with here. The brass handle shafts and cone shaped alloy cups appear to be original. It would have been a small job for someone with a lathe to make a pair of new handles. There used to be a lot of lathes in this country when I was a young man.

We discussed two other possibilities. The first: Walker could have given technical drawings of his reel to someone who’d expressed an interest in making one (I think it would have been exceedingly difficult for Walker himself to have made a relatively complex reel without some drawings to work from). Therefore, I can’t rule out the possibility that the ever generous and helpful Walker passed on drawings or copies thereof to someone else.

At this stage, I’m still inclined to think that Walker might have made the reel. Notwithstanding the visual and physical similarities to the BB & Thorndike reels, it seems fairly unlikely (but not impossible) that anyone else would have gone to the trouble of making such a reel at a time when materials such as aluminium and magnesium alloy were scarce and expensive. A machinist would have needed a substantial billet of aluminium/magnesium alloy with a diameter of at least five and a half inches. Few home machinists would have had a lathe large enough to handle such a large diameter billet. That said, Walker did, at his family firm’s factory, so it’s not impossible that someone else had similar facilities.

We must bear in mind that in the immediate post-War period, there were very few carp anglers in the UK. Communication between them was mostly via the Fishing Gazette and through the post. How likely is it that someone else knew of Walker’s reel making, had sufficient interest in carp angling to want such a reel, knew or had access to Walker’s drawings and/or BB’s reel and had the means to make such a reel for themselves? Pretty slim, I’d say.

The second possibility is that BB loaned out his reel for someone to copy. I happen to know that this did once occur, many decades ago. With BB’s cooperation and some input from Richard Walker, three new versions of BB’s reel were made by an engineer. Modifications were made to the original lever brake mechanism and the overall standard of manufacture was professional. These reels are all together still. Their owner kindly sent me pictures. The reel I’m introducing you to here is not one of them!

Until or unless I receive proof to the contrary, I feel that this reel is possibly the work of Richard Walker.

This is a reel of potentially great historical significance and rarity. If anyone can shed any light on its provenance, I would be extremely grateful to hear from them. Perhaps the unknown visitor to Barry Grantham’s NEC stand thirty-odd years ago will read this and contact me. I’m all ears!

The reel is available to buy and anyone interested in it is welcome to make an appointment to view it.