The post-New Year mail brought an always anticipated item, the January 2008 Reel News (Vol. XVIII, No. 1), the magazine of ORCA now entering its eighteenth year. From a four page foldover, The Reel News has evolved into a premier 40-page magazine filled with original and always interesting articles on fishing reels and fishing history.
This month, we get a number of articles of tremendous interest to fishing historians. The first of these is Part I of Terry McBurney's "Ranger: The Reels the Fishermen Asked For," which details the background and history of this interesting Michigan reelmaker. McBurney was fortunate enough to meet and interview Edward N. Andrews, who was one of the founders of the firm, and thus gives us tons of information heretofore not known concerning this firm. This two-part article promises to be a significant contribution to fishing history.
My "Reels of the Trade" article this issue was on Klein's Sporting Goods Company of Chicago, a prominent (if mostly forgotten today) sporting goods company probably only remembered today for having sold the rifle Lee Harvey Oswald used to assassinate Pres. John F. Kennedy. That's a shame, as this firm had a long and distinguished history and sold some really rare trade reels marked with the company name. I hope "The Admiral of the Chicago Loop: Klein's Sporting Goods Co." will help set the record straight about this great Chicago firm.
Bob Miller's always anticipated "Pflueger Pfacts" article is entitled "The Golden Decades of Pflueger Reel Patents: The Early Years, 1900-1919" and is a nice short primer for those unfortunate enough to own Bob's groundbreaking book on Pflueger reel patents. This was a rich and interesting period for Pflueger, and one that Bob has covered in great detail.
An important contribution this issue comes from Jim Madden in his "South Bend Bits" column. "A Gold #60 South Bend Presentation Skish Reel? Not!" is a great article where Madden chronicles the purchase, inspection, disappointment, and ultimate acceptance that must come when one purchases a replated fishing reel passed off as original. My hope is that this article will inaugurate some discussion on the subject, as replated reels (the reel equivalent of a lure repaint) are becoming more common.
Other articles include Jim Schottenham's always entertaining "Auction Report," and a corollary piece, Howard Coleman's "Lang's Auction A True Record Breaker," which is a detailed analysis of the recent Lang's auction in November. Stu Lawson offered up "Pflueger Progress is Medalist Clone," an interesting look at this rare line of Pflueger fly reels. Ben Wright gives us "Zangi of Torino: Italy's 3-Speed Spinning Reels," detailing this short lived but popular spinning reel. Finally, Col. Milton Lorens' "Fixing the Freespeed and Free Flite," covers repairs for these two popular Pflueger spinning reels, complete with exploded drawings.
All in all, another good issue. The Reel News is published six times per years and is ably edited by Richard K. Lodge. It is available only to ORCA members, so if you aren't an ORCA member look what you're missing. Join here.
-- Dr. Todd
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