Can anybody tell me about these reels and give me their opinions on them. I haven’t heard a whole lot…but the feedback has always been good. They also look very nice 
.
“GET THE DRIFT?”
MM,
Elegant looking, smooth, quiet click sound, ball-bearing set drag.
Yes, I have one.
Allan
MM, RW here
I’ve seen several. I’ve seen Allans but never fished with it. Looks elegant, something like a Bogdan…from a distance. I’ve tied flies with Rich, the guy that makes them. Allan likes his, that’s good enough for me, but I think I’ll stick with my Hardy.
RW
“We fish for pleasure; I for mine, you for yours.” -James Leisenring on fishing the wet fly-
While I’ve never fished with one, I took a good, long look at these reels at a FF show over the winter. Unfortunately, they are a bit out of my budget.
There was a discussion about these reels on another board a short time ago which may have some relevance:
[url=http://p205.ezboard.com/fclarksclassicflyrodforumfrm8.showMessage?topicID=807.topic:314f5]Bradley/Fir Brook Reel[/url:314f5]
Jeff
I work only so that I can afford to fish
[url=http://nwcttu.tripod.com:314f5]http://nwcttu.tripod.com[/url:314f5]
Northwest CT TU web site
In a word, superb.
Steve V.
I saw them last year and my wife ordered one for me as an anniversary gift. They are VERY nice. Rich does a wonderful job of machining and finishing. They’re old-style click drag reels, but they are beautiful. I use mine on a small 3wt bamboo that I built for Brook Trout fishing. No problems at all, only a great reel.
Joe
MM, RW again
If you go to Fish-Ins in the index and click on Roscoe Fish-In 2004 Wrap-Up, then to picture number 11 you will see the stream that Rich lives on. It’s beautiful. One of my favorites in the Catskills. Maybe that’s why he named his reels after it. The one-weight and Hardy fly-weight reel in the picture is mine.
If you want to see the Fir-Brook reel in action, go back a few pics. That’s a shot I took of Allan catching his first trout on his new Fir Brook reel on the Neversink River at the 2004 fish-in. It was also the baptism of his Lee Wulff cane rod he had just won here on FAOL. The reel is slightly obscured in the picture by his hat brim.
Later, RW
“We fish for pleasure; I for mine, you for yours.” -James Leisenring on fishing the wet fly-