Is there an online resource where I can find out about older model fly reels? I just got two unused Martin fly reels off ebay and am curious about them..... To be more specific Models 60 and 63.
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Is there an online resource where I can find out about older model fly reels? I just got two unused Martin fly reels off ebay and am curious about them..... To be more specific Models 60 and 63.
I checked Martin's website but found nothing. I really just want to know when these were made.
joe,
check with terry "akalooker". he knows all about them
Go to fiberglassflyrodders.com- there go to classic reels. Bulldog1935 is the moderator and this man is the most!! knowledgeable man I have seen when to comes to classic reels. Show him a picture and he knows what and when it was made. Has a collection of Martin fly reels a museum would be envious of, no kidding, he is truly the man on classic reels. Got me into buying old Martin click pawl reels. Give him a shot....hope it helps......Bo PS. Right now on the classic fly reel section there is a thread on classic Martin reels. Bulldog1935 has all paperwork on "every Martin classic reel ever made" WOW!!!!!!!! I would bet the Bank of England he can answer any question on older Martin fly reels. Great pictures there too....Bye for now.........
do what Boskie posted. You will spend hours reading the Classic Reels if you are interested in them. THose reels of yours were made by the thousands and are admired by many. Bulldog coined the term "tuna can reels" to describe them. They are inexpensive, often ten bucks or less.
Those Martin 60 & 63 model reels (made in the USA) where manufactured after the original Martin Reel Company was bought out by Zebco, who expanded the product line. I still have an old original Martin Model 67N that I bought sometime back in the 50's. What was real interesting back in those days, as I understood it, is there was a lot of competitive rivalry between Martin and Pflueger, which was later bought out by Shakespeare. Martin (English), an advocate of the rim fly reel, and Pflueger (German), who thought the notion of rim-fly reels was crap, gave a lot of us new fly fishing enthusiast a lot of food for thought. And I bought both a Martin and a Pflueger reel just to keep abreast of both!
I have a couple of those Model 61's and still use them. Some years back I flew up to Iron River, Michigan, to meet up with a couple of fishing friends and we were planning on fishing the Brule River just south of there which is also the boundary between Michigan's UP and northern Wisconsin. Since I chaged planes serveral times getting there, the inevitable happened ... my luggage was lost, or better still, routed on to parts unknown ... and that included my flyrod! So a quick trip over to a K-Mart got me a Martin combo rod & reel kit, complete with a fly line and backing. The Martin rod was an 8' three piece 6/7wt, no cork handle but sort of a rubber material instead, and a Model 61 reel. The rod fished surprisingly good ... and I caught trout! Still have that rod today - had an old rod sock and case and it rides around behind the seat of my pick-up. Also, when in the canoe and I'm going to be over some deep, strange water ... that's the set-up that comes along just in case we all end up in the drink (not about to take some of my more expensived gear!)
Dale
Thanks for the info everyone!
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3063/...c2999cf5_o.jpg
These are the reels, both of which are supposed to be unused. One for me and one for my Dad!
Boskie- From what I've gathered so far from the site you mentioned, these reels may have been made in the 70's. I may not know this until I can actually get my hands on them.
Here's the fiberglass site' reel section:
http://fiberglassflyrodders.yuku.com/forums/4
There was a recent discussion of Martins.
Those models aren't as desirable as the ones with the adjustible pawl drag. They should be fine for perch and small trout. You might have problems with bigger fish, because you can't even palm the rim.
I have a 63SS, which is the same reel as the 63 with a palming rim. I caught a decent sized carp on it without any problems. The capacity is enough to hold a WF6 line and some backing (probably less than 50 yards).
Also, I don't recommend getting it spooled on a machine at the fly shop. The pressed metal is easily bent, and it will start to grind. One of my spools was ruined that way.