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In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.* The rest of us think of fishing.
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| Vintage reels are interesting, colorful, and widely collected. |
Part of what makes fishing such a pleasant pastime is the eternal optimism of fishermen. Hunters get grim and campers glum, but fishermen keep on grinning like children, convinced, no matter how many times they've been skunked, that the next outing will fill their stringers with whoppers.
Ironically, it is failure that keeps the sport going. Because stupendous catches are rare, the quest is endless. So too is the search for gear that might make the dream come true.
No other sport rivals fishing for it's wealth of gear and gadgets. Rods, reels, lures, and accessories mutate faster than fruit flies, making fishing equipment the most abundant of all sporting collectables.
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| Spinners, spoons, plugs and decoys offer collectors endless variation. |
Beyond infinite variety, fishing gear has wonderful eye appeal; alive with flash, glitter, gleam and color. Even the smallest collection of vintage lures catches the eye and delights the spirit as few other collectables can. A rack of gracefully crafted rods makes gun collections look like plumbing.
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| Fish may be color blind; fisherman aren't. |
There will never be a shortage of things to collect because fisherman don't throw anything away; they just buy bigger tackle boxes. But when it's time to head for the great pond in the sky, the tackle stays behind, and another collector hits the jackpot.
The sport fishing industry has always focused most of its creative energy on the glamorous part of the business--hooking more fish. Webster Marble was one of the few inventors who saw room for improvement in the less pretty parts: landing fish and preparing them for the table. W.L., like any other fisherman, knew how quickly the disappointment of letting the big one get away, or facing the drudgery of cleaning a catch could spoil an otherwise perfect day.
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| Marble's Automatic Gaffs were jaws of death. The largest model easily subdued fish up to 50 pounds. |
Webster's first improvement, introduced in 1900, was the Automatic Fish Gaff. Basically a pair of sharply toothed spring loaded jaws mounted on a pole, it cocked when opened and snapped shut when the hinge touched the back of a fish. Said the inventor, "...any time you can reach him, it's all over but the frying pan."
As good as it was, the Automatic Gaff was discontinued in 1906. Sensitive to the era's growing conservation and preservation mood, Marble felt his invention violated the principle of fair chase (once touched, the fish had no chance to escape). The inventor began working on a more humane design.
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| The Clincher Gaff could land fish from 1/2 to 20 pounds, or release them unharmed. |
The Clincher Gaff was introduced in 1911. Manually operated jaws with dull teeth could catch and keep, or catch and release. It sold well until WWII, survived the war and continued on dealer's shelves until 1960.
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| Trout Nippers handled delicate fish without damaging meat or skin. But so did the traditional hand net. |
Marble's niftiest gaff, the Trout Nippers, went to market in 1912. Like a mechanical thumb and forefinger, the toothless pincers wrapped around the delicate trout and picked it up unharmed. Although it worked as advertised, the well made device offered fisherman no real advantage over a traditional hand net and was produced for only 5 years.
In 1901, Webster introduced the Handy Fish Knife. A double edged hook blade with an elegant wood handle, it never attracted a profitable following. By 1905, the inventor was advertising his odd-looking knife as well suited to cutting window screen and linoleum. By 1907, the knife was out of production. It deserved a better fate. A century later, it is back on the market.
Webster's second fish knife was a folder: the Safety Fish Knife. Introduced in 1906, it had a single blade with scaling teeth on top, a double edged tip for gutting and slicing, and a noncorrosive handle that also served as a blade lock. It sold for more than 30 years and has recently been reprised by MARBLE'S Cutlery.
The last Gladstone fish knife was the diminutive ring handled Trout Knife. A simple one piece design, it was well suited to its purpose and sold from 1919 to 1940; it is again available.
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| Marble's Cutlery's updated versions of the inventor's original designs: Handy Fish Knife, Safety Fish Knife, and Trout Knife are useful accessories and future collectables. |
Webster Marble's fish knives and gaffs are often overlooked by collectors who believe that rods, reels, and lures are all there is to fishing. W.L. knew there was more to the sport than that. So do I. I even collect forks and frying pans.
© 2007 Arni Dunathan
Arni Dunathan is the author of the newly published collector's guide "The Encyclopedia of MARBLE'S Knives and Sporting Collectables." |
