Thursday, March 19, 2009

Thursday Review: ORCA's Reel News (March 2009)


A review of the ORCA 2009 Reel News

The latest issue of The Reel News, the official publication of ORCA, has hit the mailboxes and it is a good one.

We lead off to a really cool article by Mark E. Baker about the making of the S.E. Bogdan poster that was so incredibly well received last year. For those who haven't had the pleasure of seeing one, they are gorgeous.

Ed Slane contributed another neat article on fishing in Florida, this one entitled "The Trout are Bigger in the Bahamas." Ed's remembrances of fishing history are a great contribution to the magazine and one of the things that differentiate it from other publications of its type.

My own selection this issue was "Congressional Reels: The Reels of Supplee-Biddle Hardware Co.," which was an expanded version of the short section on reels I published a few years ago in The NFLCC Magazine. Editor Richard Lodge miraculously was able to include pictures of 24 different Congress reels.

Michigan's own Terry McBurney gives us a great article in "Lawyer, Architect, Auto Builder and Reel Maker: Charles H. Wisner, Renaissance Man." This great, great article about the man behind one of the neatest (and rarest) reels around allows us a glimpse at the reel maker as an actual individual--and a well-rounded one at that. Judge Wisner was truly a fascinating character.

Bob Miller--whose highly anticipated History of the Pflueger Akron & Summit Casting Reels went to press today, gives us the skinny behind an overlooked Pflueger reel in "Norka: Even Spelled Backwards, a Great Little Reel Made in Akron!." Like all of Bob's work, its meticulous in its details and entertaining to read.

Jim Madden offered up one of my favorite kinds of articles for his South Bend Bits column: a reel mystery, in this case, two South Bend reel mysteries.

Regular columnists include Ben Wright, who contributed an article entitled "Early Shakespeares and their Unique Drive-Gear Systems," Jim Schottenham who pens the highly anticipated "Auction Report," Stu Lawson who wrote "San Diego Area Tackle Swap Meet" for his More Reel Stuff column, Col. Milton Lorenz gave us the Zebco 40 Series Reels in his "Reel Fix column, and Richard K. Lodge opines on the big Lang's move to the virtual world.

Phew. Seem like a lot? Well, IT IS. And if you're not a member of ORCA, I ask again--in all seriousness--why not? Every single issue of The Reel News has information that can help you in any area you collect, from rods and lures to ephemera and misc. items. If all you got from this issue was how to spot a Yale surf reel marked Congress, you might have been able to pick up said reel, which would sell for $200 or more, off of eBay for $15. I know, because in the month leading up to the article I did just that.

The Reel News is capably overseen by Richard K. Lodge. You can learn more about ORCA and join by Clicking Here.

-- Dr. Todd

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