Significant ABU Friends
Simon
Glass, ABU fanatic who copes under difficult circumstances and
shares with others!
Oxon, UK
I have pestered Simon for some time re submitting a story of his connection with ABU from his early days.
His numerous responses to me, always sounded professional and had great well chosen words and phrases, based upon truth and all in all tremendous story-like qualities which really needed to be shared to a wider audience.
Simon is also a talented artist whose ability runs to all manner of subjects including fish, fishing and maybe soon some ABU still life drawings.
Finally , at the bottom after this, Simon's submission, some words by his friend Davy Smith of Denmark.
The Splash. ( ABU for life )
We were two little boys, desperate to go fishing like the other boys and men that we would see walking to and from the big lake that was three hundred yards or so from my parents house. On walks we would see these people sat intently on the banks with an array of evocative looking 'Things' that we came to know as fishing tackle.
After badgering our father for what seemed like an eternity, he caved and when Saturday came he actually took us to Woolworth and bought the cheapest fishing tackle kit he could find. My Brother and I were bouncing off the walls with excitement, clearly driving our long suffering Father crazy.
The day arrived when we would 'Go Fishing' so off we marched. Our Father
( Being North London born and bred) , and moved to what was then rural Sussex) had no idea of country ways, shooting, fishing etc.
Working out from the instructions how to put this foreign kit together our Father gradually made progress . All the while his two sons were dancing around him getting in the way and asking a torrent of excited questions. Not realising that by doing this we were slowing the whole process to our nirvana!
So, eventually and with everything set, our towering Father instructed us to watch him and learn how it was all done. With instructions to stand back we watched, beside ourselves with excitement as our Instructor swung the whole cane rod from behind him through a wide arc with a loud 'Swoosh' toward the lake in front. It was at this point that my Brothers and my own future in the sport of Angling was very much in the air, literally!
At the end of this mighty swing our Father let go of the fully prepared kit with both hands!
Mouths agape we all three of us watched in slow motion as the object of our cravings sailed out across the water before it punched its own rod and reel shaped hole in the surface of the lake followed by a gut wrenching splash.
Our first fishing trip was over.
Through a few well chosen Londoner's incantations to the Gods our Father turned on his heels ended his chant with, 'BUGGER IT' and walked off with two sobbing boys jogging behind to match his stride.
Upon getting home he walked straight past our house and a few more before turning into the gate of our neighbour, whom became on that day 'Uncle Bill'
After a brief chat and with some mirth on the side of U/Bill, our Dad had swiftly and with some relief ended his Angling career, while at the same time ours had a second chance in the form of Uncle Bill, countryman, sporting outdoorsman and well of knowledge in all things rural.
Fast
forward a year or two, we ( my Brother and I ) had got used to going
fishing with U/Bill, at least once a week. We joined the local
fishing club, where Bill was a bit of a legend, he won many matches
and caught big Pike etc. We fished alongside him watching him bag up
with huge Bream ( my snotty Nemesis ) using an ABU 506, ABU ledger
rod with a swing tip up against a site board. (What
an uncle to have Simon, I can't call him Uncle ABU as that name
has long been reserved for Vic
McCristal who you find on the Significant ABU Friends page
also)
We used solid glass old rods found for us and reels that were hard to turn.
A ten foot cast was a triumph!
Of course we dreamt of a time when we might be wealthy enough to emulate the kind of tackle the Men we fished around had.
Over time we improved our techniques as well as tackle.
Every
time we got to go into town we were glued to our tackle shop window
display, full of shiny ABU tackle and accessories, sitting on their
colourful boxes. I'm sure we kept the window cleaner in work with
our face and hand prints all over the glass! (Little
did you realize all these years later, you would win a
shiny new Revo, courtesy of Pure Fishing!)
When we were allowed to go in, it was heaven, the sights and smells of this cave full of the equipment that was then predominately manly pursuits.
As all kids do we would dive for the free catalogues, fighting my brother for a feverish look through the new Tight Lines of the year. These 'Books' were without doubt the most read literature throughout our formative years, bringing constant joy which never seemed to get old, their pages held the promise of adventures we could only dream of, in faraway places with exotic names. And fish we'd never even heard of. It opened up the world to us, as much as any Atlas, but with pictures of people living the dreams we often had.
The only connection to these distant people holding strange creatures of the deep were the items of fishing tackle and 'That' logo!
These visits to the shop continued as we grew older and to the moments I shared on the bank of a tiny Sussex trout stream as a boy with my older brother. I’ve written lots about these times in journals, something I’ve done for most of my life. The imagery is the surroundings mirrored in the chrome ring above the steely blue of what was to my brother and I treasure! In the form of a 506 bell housing on our dream reel sitting on suecia fishing rods!
It was the smells, the shafts of light piercing the Birch and Hazel canopy above, and the stunning Roe deer that accompanied us in this deep wood.
Even the flash of blue that was the kingfisher echoed the blue of my rod!
These were the perfect moments in what was a tough life growing up. Yet that feeling of excitement never dulled, even today when I or my Brother look at or pick up and old friend heavy with memories absorbed within its parts.
The muscle memory that never leaves you when picking up your ABU 506 and Suecia rod, that might not have been touched for long periods. They fill the hand as comfortably as they did a lifetime before. Even down to the evocative noise of the free line release pins retracting when pressing the top is a comforting thing, followed by the satisfying clunk of re-engagement.
My brother and I were both beguiled by ABU at a very young age and the one item that made it a beguilement for life was the ABU 506. Which then led to a love affair with the ABU Ambassadeur in all its guises, and on until today.
Now I own countless products that emerged from the minds of the people this company had in a small Swedish town that shaped the lives of two little English boys from Sussex, for their entire lives.
Simon.
Your beautiful story of desire for the ABU
marque has been told to me many times in varying forms
Simon , the essential truth and beliefs mirror my own experiences ,
which involved only be able to afford to use ABU lures until I was
21 when I received my first reel, the mighty Ambassadeur 6000 C in
1974, first of 400 odd to date!
Simon like many of us, not only likes using and collecting ABU but also to research the history of ABU.
I acknowledge and thank the family of Terry Maxwell for permission to use this text and photo.
I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Tony Perrin many years ago, and you will see more of him on my European advertising page. Len held him in very high regard.
Comment from Davy Smith of Denmark, close friend of Simon.
Simon and I met, like so many Abu enthusiasts, through a chance post on an Abu collectors group. If memory serves me, he was looking for something, possibly someone to refurbish his childhood Suecia, which he holds in the photo. My hands and eyes, like my memory, aren't as good as they once were, and it took me some time to finally get around to fixing his rod.
We chatted frequently about All Things Abu, and I think I may have been instrumental in many ways for Simons' urge, not just to know and learn, but also to collect various items. Quite amusing really, as we'd chat away and he'd mention something he'd seen or would like, and I would ask, "Do you want this ?" If the answer was "Yes", then, if I did not have the item, I would say "I'd see what I can do." I would then "stamp on the ground and see what popped up".
I usually found what was needed within a short time. My record is under 10 minutes!
After visiting Simon several times, a very deep friendship has grown, and we chat on a daily basis. I look forward to my next trip to England to visit my "family" there.
ABOUT ME
If you are a person that has significantly had an effect on design/development/testing of ABU equipment over the years please contact me abuadmiral@gmail.com if you wish your contribution documented for posterity and the immediate interest of the ABU fans worldwide!