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Record/ABU Rods

ABU fishing rods were less common in Australia than their reels and lures in the 50's and 60's, for many reasons.

By the 70's they were becoming more popular.

Below you will see my favourite Anninversary 1971 catalog depicting a fine range of rods. Click on thumbnails.  

Rods are more difficult to handle over long transport distances for warranty purposes but  largely I think because Aussies (including myself were inclined to be independent ) were used to  building their own reliable rods of quality Fuji components. Only when ABU Speedlock grips, zoom and more improved blanks were seen did we realize the potential of these mighty little baitcasters like the Diplomats!

I just had to have a Diplomat 662! Little did I realize 40 years later I would collect them all.

My most recent additions to the collection are two early Record rods, viz Record 60 and Record 165, the latter being a 4 piece travel rod. Both are built utilizing the Speedlock handgrips. Thanks to Uffe for helping bring these rods to my display.

My Personal Collection  numbers merely 31 ABU rods, covering.....

1. Baitcasters over several decades  ranging from short steel to Diplomat Zooms

2. Spinning from Atlantic 4 series to miniscule freshwater rods

3. Fly fishing from early Laplandia to Diplomat Series and more modern Carbolite Series

4. Match fishing only the huge telescopic Mark 370 R

5. IGFA rods, notably the lovely Pacific 30 S with unique handgrip , old Pacific Fladen  and most recently a friend Alan from Queensland that I met on www.lure lovers.com   who decided his 1975 Pacific 20 should have a new home in my collection here. Many thanks Alan.

6 Missing and wanted  are Tournament Caster integrated reel and rod AND a Horgard split cane flyrod or baitcaster imported by ABU from Norway

My Norwegian friend Jon Steinsnes is on the job looking for one of these Horgard split cane rods for me. Also Hans van der Pauw from the Netherlands has been a great help in gather information on the Horgard rods supplied to ABU.

Enjoy this summarizing Asbjørn Hørgård  information. His story is extraodinary and well worth the read to see a story of pride, passion, persistence unfold to the benefit of all.

Thanks for help with images and text Jon and Hans! Hopefully one of these fine rods will come to my collection here one day to further flesh out more of  the wonderful A.B.Urfabriken history.

7. Possibly, being a collector,  there are a few others I don't know about yet!

Recent interest of mine  has been the  ABU boat rods, viz The ABU Pacific rods.

Lists of  other early 1950's and 1960's ABU/Record rod models and types  are found here courtesy of scans/images from Tight Lines and Napp och Nytt.   If you are aware of omitted models, production dates, images, and intended purpose, and maybe could supply scans of pages I don't have, please share your knowledge with me  wayne@realsreels.com

Some more lovely old Record and ABU Rods

Salmo                                       Record Scandia 5

Pacific 8                                   Pacific 20

Pacific 8                                    Atlantic 470

My studies indicate that first came steel rods, solid fibre glass rods, then hollow fibre glass rods and finally Carbolite  or graphite rods.

Make your choice wisely ...read on

"The Rod for the Job" Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3

No more personal piece of equipment for fishing than your rod? Part 1, Part  2

Jack Erskine (bottom of page) was in my mind always Australia's  Premier Rod Builder.

The fact that overseas film stars like lee Marvin came to Australia to catch Marlin, also had Jack build his rods, say a lot i think.

If one wanted simply the best, you looked no further. See below.

I am fortunate to have had Jack build two special rods for me long before we became friends.

Many more  high quality commercial Custom rod builders are available in Australia now in the last 3 decades or so.

My first two ABU rods  are a re-worked Atlantic 484 (due to a fall on the rocks) and ending in a subsequent unintentional shortening. Beautifully customized by Steve Pill of Barra Jacks Bait and Tackle in Rockhampton, it doesn't get a lot of work now as I fish predominantly from my boat.

The other is a pretty blue and mint condition solid glass ABU Caster 122 Zoom from the sixties. It will never see water!

Since collecting, I have now managed  to find Record steel, solid glass, hollow glass, Diplomats (I still need the short handed baitcaster 651) carbolite and in all forms , spin, fly, casting except for the Pacific Boat class rods.

I have at last found a few old annodized speedlock handles , both Record and ABU branded in black, green and silver.  

I once had an ABU Diplomat 622 Doubled handed baitcaster that I bought in London in the seventies.  Alas sadly, it was broken and the only part left was the Speedlock handle for which I'm trying to find a suitable 3 or 4 piece rod blank suitable for packing in a suitcase. The double-handed speedlock butt from this 622  rod was rebuilt on a Fenwick 10kg bait-casting blank in October 1979 by genius and cutting edge rod-builder Jack Erskine of Precision Reel Engineering  of 2 Finch Street Bayview Heights P O Box 2382 Cairns QLD 4870 Australia Phone: (07) 40546048 Mobile: 0413 584 897 Fax: (07) 4054 7487 Email: sportint@cairns.net.au

By the way, Jack's Bronze Trophy small oblique view above, see larger view of (front and back) of the one eyed bragging fisherman with elastic arms is now gracing these pages  as it has just been restored. It has its little bronze ABU (naturally) fishing rod and reel missing from the stand. If anyone has idea how I can restore this attachment, ie finding another or making a cast from another, I would very much appreciate hearing from you.

We have recently re-met via this website and when he learned of this new failure in the cast alloy of the butt, he immediately has offered a solution to the problem (after 26 years....What a warranty!! Who said quality is not as important as price?) It will be fantastic  to feel the old double handed speedlock butt again in my hands...I could just never throw it away! 

Here is a 90's sample of great Aussie rod building

So , in summary, I presently only have around 20 full size ABU rods , one Record 15 Pimpel and the  ABU Pimpel 1 & 2  Ice fishing rod and reel combos at present, but hope to collect some more rods shortly. I would be looking for a steel rod circa Record days, a hollow fibre glass rod and a Boron model from any of the Type 1,2,3 or 4 balanced tackle fishing groups. A replacement ABU Diplomat 662 has been found!

My latest acquistion for actually fishing with is this IM6 Graphite Pure Fishing Ambassadeur Steelhead rod which is just superb, points and casts and loads beautifully from the beach or rocky headlands. http://www.realsreels.com/ambassadeursteelheadrod.pdf

If you have any others listed above, that are unneeded  or doubles in your collection and are available for a reasonable fee, I would be very pleased to hear from you.  Particularly any Record rods or Diplomat series, or Safari Fly rod and a Pacific Series boat rod.