A Perfect Little Fly Reel

This past summer at NFLCC Nationals I picked up a neat little 1 weight fly rod from Don "The Lure Magnet" Ludy. However, since it is such a dainty wand, I have been having trouble finding a reel for it. Fortunately, at the recent Daytona tackle show, I was able to pick up a nifty little reel from a fellow ORCA member. It's one of the coolest little fly reels I've seen:






It was made by the same maker who constructed two other fly reels sold by Dean Smith and available on this thread on the Classic Fly Rod Forum .

It is a remarkably nifty little guy. Made of machined aluminum, it weighs 2.375 ounces on my postal scale. Dimensions are -- Spool diameter 2" and Outside Diameter 2.1875".

The really cool part is how few working parts there are (who really needs a drag when you're fishing a one weight). SPOOL (SCREW) - FRAME - FOOT (attached with two screws). That's it.

Anyone looking for a pattern to machine a usable small stream fly reel could do far worse than adapt this design! And anyone with information on who might have made this baby, drop me a note...

-- Dr. Todd