Or maybe 2 of them?
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Orvis CFO III-click & pawl
Orvis Battenkill Barstock
Both have served me well for years.
Old, Hardy-made CFOs. (Kind of fond of Battenkill LAs for big stuff.)
Anyone familiar with the history of the Medalist: a while back I acquired a spring-and-pawl 1494; I know that the drag version was introduced in 1937, but was the spring-and-pawl version discontinued at the same time?
I do like spring-and-pawl reels and own a few Hardys (LRH Lightweights, Princesses, St. Aidan, St. John, Marquis, Perfect, Marquis Salmon II). Other favorites include the Ross Colorado and the Islander IR as well as the above-mentioned 1494 Pflueger Medalist.
The 1494 and the 1494 1/2 are click/pawls
The larger reels have the ratchets
Preston, Are you the glass artist ?
I've seen your work
Tioga but I keep a 30 year old Medalist as a holder for a spare line.
Dwight
I guess it would be Ross Rhythm since I own three of them. I also really like the Orvis BBS II for my 3 wt rod.
Jeff
I love the Galvan torques but the old style Lamson litespeed are my second favorite.
The one I'm using at the moment.
Bill
For me the ones that I fish are my obvious favorites. Although for many years my favorite paper weight was my 1993 McNeese A/R Permit reel. Due to a missing part that I had no luck getting from the manufacturer the reel sat dormant, literally acting as a six hundred dollar paper weight. So in the category of pretty, but pretty useless, it took the top spot.
Enter Abel and Tibor, both have been fabulous to own and use. Yet a couple of years ago I decided to thin out the corral and so the Tibor's being the fewer in number found new homes. As did every Lamson / ULA reel I owned. It was an investigation of Abel's online parts diagrams that led me to ordering a part from them that got the McNeese up and running again, for next to nothing. Thank you Abel.
So of the twenty plus reels I own, by numbers Bauer would be first ( 3 to 8 weights ) followed by an almost equal number of Abel's ( 6 to 10 weights ), a distant third would be Orvis ( 6 to 8 weights ). Lastly, because I'd sold so many of them over the years and I believe that like the Gunnison, they are a part of fly fishing Americana. I picked up a Ross Cimarron this year. Now that little reel and it's click-ity clack-ity drag is flat out fun ( reads: old school ).
Best, Dave