Pflueger Medalist Fly Reel

[MR.JML]

Very beautiful reel !!!

[Bamboozle]

Hey if you have One Pfoot install a round line guard on your Medalist like I did, you end up with a poor man's Perfect.

I guess I should have said a REALLY poor man's Hardy Perfect considering the new for 2009 3-1/8" Perfect will set you back about a grand!!

[Janus]

That is a beautiful reel. I was lucky enough to find a late 50's medalist 1595 which is a LHW model that they made of the 1495 for a couple of years before the DA's came. No conversion needed for me and am thinking about onepfooting it.
Janus

[dudley]

I like my Medalists because they're the 'sow's ear' of reels
Personally I have no intention to ever try to make one of mine into a 'silk purse'

[bassman]

I have two Medalist reels, a 1498 made in 1959 in Ohio, and a current model of the 1595, I find them both to be perfect as is. That is not to say the One Pfoot treatment is not a good idea, it is, it is just not for me. It says a lot for a reel that was made 49 years ago and it is still going strong without any improvements being made on it. Just my 2 cents worth. I would some day like to find a good 1495 made in the USA. The main difference between the 1595 and the 1495 is that the 1595 has the ability to let you palm the spool. They can both be changed from right to left hand. John

[Panman]

I converted the reel with no problem. Now I will put some line on the spool and get ready to fish. Bamboozle that is one nice looking reel - thanks for sharing.

And thanks again to all for your input.

Tim

[fritz]

Just installed several "accessories" purchased from One-Pfoot for my 1494's . Great quality products. "Made in USA" is the way to go.

[lastchance]

Hi Fritz: How about posting some photos of your OnePfoot accessories? I just bought a 1494 and would like to add some accessories, too.

[overmywaders]

I've had a lot of "Made in Akron, OH" Medalists and enjoyed them all -- once I installed a One Pfoot on them.

IIRC, the 1496 1/2 was not reversible. It became the 1498 which is my favorite big reel. My 1498 has a bronze drag plate which is much finer than the steel plates and gives a "refined" click rather than the sound of a 1950 Buick with gravel in the crankcase, which is the tone of some of the smaller models. Refined may be too strong a word, you still can hear it in the next county, but it doesn't set the dogs howling.

[gadabout]

Whether the 1494 is reversible depends on the era in which it made. Prior to a certain date, the drag plate could not be flipped over. You could however reverse one of these reels by just buying a replacement drag plate, such as the one sold by One Pfoot. The 1492 was never reversible. Not easily anyway. I heard a rumor awhile back that One Pfoot was going to produce some kind of kit for reversing a 1492 but I don't know if anything ever became of it.

I prefer the Made in USA Medalists, if only because they have more mojo. I had a 1494 and 1495 from the Shakespeare "Made in Japan" era that I used for quite a few years. They were fine. It's just that after I developed a real taste for Medalists, the MIJ models started to look cheap to me. It was easy enough to replace them so I did.