11 must-have 90s cult classics
Many of which we still mourn over today (or pay extortionate amounts for on eBay)...
1. Daiwa Tournament-S
Dressed in that classic washed-out bluey-purple jacket, these reels perfectly represent 90s fashion. They weren’t as rare as some Daiwa offerings, but the trading of cult products hadn’t really taken off back then and these were still a flagship model.
2. Solar Sod Pod
Gloriously hewn from stainless steel, this compact yet stable pod made most of its contemporaries look like a flimsy collection of drinking straws. In a world before ‘chunky’ became the fashionable adjective to attach to your bankware, this was the height of elegance.
3. Bi-Tech Viper Extension Box
Almost every carp mag of the day would feature a half-page Bi-Tech Viper ad tucked towards the back of the publication. At well under £30 these sounder boxes were just about the only budget option around, and they worked perfectly well - extending the reach of just about every alarm on the market.
4. Shimano Big Pit Baitrunners
Launched in 1999, these giant cranking machines were the first to combine big-pit capacity with free-spool functionality - and they became instant classics. They were heavy but bulletproof and helped lead the big-pit revolution that saw smaller Baitrunners decline in popularity among carp anglers.
5. Nash Ball Pellets
These slowly dissolving spherical pellets were brilliant for sticking or catapulting around your hookbait. The Tangerine ones were part of Hughes and Crow’s World Cup-winning armoury at Fishabil in 1996. Packaged up a bit like Nash’s boilie range, if you didn’t know they dissolved you could be in for a shock when you reeled in a bare Hair!
6. Kryston Snake-Bite
Easier to use than its Multi-Strand stablemate Snake-Skin, Snake-Bite was THE coated braid of the decade. In fact, if you wanted a coated braid (a new concept back then), you basically only had one choice. It was slightly waxy and wiry, but its unique properties fooled thousands of carp in the 1990s.
7. Nash Titan
The daddy of the bivvy world throughout the 1990s and beyond. Virtually indestructible, the Titan went through various tweaks and models but always looked reassuringly like nothing else on the market.
8. Richworth Attracta Leads
A real blast from the past! These leads were moulded with cavities to take dissolvable pellets of liquid attraction. An idea you might think would still be relevant today, but they fell out of favour as bigger and bigger leads came into fashion.
9. Mistral Rosehip Isotonic boilies
Winter carp fishing in the 1990s was pretty bleak before the boom in commercial runs waters, but these heavenly baits often made it all bearable. Much like Richworth Tutti Fruttis, these boilies were confidence in a pot (or bag), especially in the colder months.
10. Shakespeare Cypry Dome
If the Titan was the bivvy for the elite in the 90s, then the Cypry was definitely the shelter for the everyman. Exhibiting classic dome-tent properties and prominently advertised in mail-order ads and catalogues at a decent price, this bivvy was everywhere.
11. Trilene Big Game
Line technology was gathering pace in the 1990s and carpers looking for added toughness turned, almost in unison, to Big Game. Its classic abrasion resistance was a huge selling point as the lines of the 1980s began to look feeble in comparison.
