The River Expert Reel by Jesper Fohrmann

Today we have an awesome treat thanks to Jesper Fohrmann. You may recall Jesper for his great piece on dry flies on the tube we ran a few months back. Today, Jesper gives us the details on the River Expert reel from Sweden.

The River Expert Reel

by Jesper Fohrmann

In the late 1940s Mr. Malte Pontus Blohm of Gothenborg in Sweden started the production of some of the nicest and most innovative multipliers ever made. These reels were the River Expert that featured a free spool system developed by Mr. Donald Anderson. The spool of the reel was freely turning on the axel of the reel when casting – once the angler started winding in… the spool would become engaged by the gear. Ball bearings embedded on each side of the spool would assure a smooth drive. Mr Donald Anderson also had a very elegant casting brake designed for the River Expert reel consisting of a oil-filled chamber where a pair of curved wires rotating inside the oil chamber would function as a anti backlash brake when the spool was rotating at high speed. Later this advanced braking system was replaced with a more traditional centrifugal system and on later models the free-spool system also was altered to a more conventional system with a manual release-button. Through time the River Expert reels went through numerous changes and it seems like the engineers never really wanted to finish improving on these beautiful reels.


Malthe Blohm produced many other reels than the River Expert – But these reels with their futuristic look and wonderful technique are favourites of many collectors.


Through time the River Expert reels went through numerous changes and it seems like engineers never really wanted to finish building on these beautiful reels. Here the right side plates of 3 River Expert, each with tiny variations.


The reel came with a very light aluminium spool – but one could upgrade this to an even lighter magnesium spool.


Picture of River Expert box.

-- Jesper Fohrmann April 2010

Jesper Fohrmann is an author, guide and fishing historian. He runs the Fish Mad Man web site which you can access by clicking here.

ADDENDUM: Jesper sent in the patent information for the River Expert reel: British patent 683,520 filed September 1951, published November, 1952.