What the heck is this??

[Wez4869]

Cleaning my grandfather's vintage ice rigs.....i cannot figure out what this spring is used for on the last eyelet of a rod...it points toward handle,..and has a slight bend at the end.....
I'm a pretty smart guy,...but this one has me stumped.....no laughing😄

[RapShack]

Looks like a spring bobber of some sort to me.  Can you loop the piece of line between the last guide and the tip over it?

[Noon]

My first guess is also a type of spring bobber. Never seen that before though so I’m curious if someone will know what it is and reply.

[JIGMAN21]

could be a predecessor to schooley rod with spring bobber.

[river_scum]

it could have had an eyelet on end?  I have ones that point back like that.  is it broken off?


will it bend to the tip eye and pin the line until line is pulled and trips?  could be a strike indicator for dead sticking. im reaching here I know. lol

[trapster]

Not sure of that one but I've seen something like that.  It slides back inside of the collar that holds it to the rod.  Pull it out to fish, push it back for storage.

[tacklebox07]

Is there a name on the reel, I have one similar with no name. thanks

[Old Goat]

looks like a retractable spring but most likely too old to be true

[Bobber61]

It looks to me like the old style (circa 1980's-90's) HT Spring Bobber.  Pictures aren't super clear, so you'll have to tell me if I'm seeing it right.

It uses a flat strip spring with a 'trumpet horn' shaped ring/eyelet fused to one end, and the other end of the flat strip was/is bent as a 'stop' to keep it from pulling all the way out.  The spring is held onto the rod by a short piece of heat-shrink tubing which gets slipped over the last eyelet of the rod, before placing the spring thru the tubing.  When the heat was applied to the tubing, it would shrink and lock/hold the spring onto the rod.  You can push the spring back into the tubing for transport so it isn't sticking out; and pull it out to the stop for fishing.

Not as sensitive as the tubular, wound spring, bobbers, but a heck of a lot easier to thread the fishing line thru; (although pushing a loop thru a wound spring bobber makes that style a little easier to put in play than trying to thread the limp end of super light fishing line).

It could even be an earlier style of Eagle Claw's spring bobber; before they went to the snap-on style.  They (HT and Eagle Claw) did a lot of similar (knock-off type) products back then... still do, IMHO.
https://uedata.amazon.com/Eagle-Claw-Spring-Bobber-Snap/dp/B00CJJBHTI

Hope this helps.

[trapster]

Yup.  Old timie spring bobber, they are still around.  The slot in the red end fastens to the rod tip.  Before spring bobbers were sold in stores, we'd take a piece of main spring from an old alarm clock, solder a tip guide on one and wrap the other end to the rod.