Vintage baitcasting reels

Revolving-spool casting reels: the Abu Garcia Ambassadeur, Daiwa Millionaire, Pflueger Supreme and Akron, and Shakespeare's Kalamazoo level-wind reels. The spool turns as line goes out on the cast, so the angler controls it with a thumb, helped on most of these reels by a brake; on the retrieve a level wind lays the line evenly across the spool. Ambassadeurs, made in Svängsta, Sweden, from 1952, are the most collected. Mid-century American casting reels from Pflueger and Shakespeare are plentiful, inexpensive and a good way to learn thumb-casting on vintage tackle.