Thursday Review: ORCA's Reel News (March 2013)

The most recent issue of ORCA's Reel News recently arrived and reminded me why I like this magazine so much!

It's the yearly double-thick issue with the ORCA membership roll, but it also included a ton of great information, most of it not available anywhere else.

One of the things that Richard Lodge has been doing lately that I think is neat is reprinting some older articles. This issue gives us a cool one from Mike Nogay entitled "Early Fly Fishing with the Kentucky Reel," which was reprinted from the 1992 American Fly Fisher.

I enjoyed my Reels of the Trade article this issue, as it deals with the Trade Reels of E.C. Simmons of St. Louis, one of my favorite trade companies. Simmons sold a lot of cool reels and I tried to picture a representative sample of them.

The great Bob Miller gives us "Seven Decades of the Pflueger Reel: The Fateful 1960s," which chronicles the last decade (six years actually) of Enterprise Manufacturing Co. fishing reels. It brings to an end a really great series by Bob, who is winding up over fifteen years as the Pflueger Pfacts columnist.

Mike Cacioppo gives us his continuing series on Penn reels, and it is indeed excellent. This one covers Penn trade reels, including the Tryon and Schultz trade models.

Jim Schottenham gives us the always great Auction Report. I am always shocked by Jim's ability to catch really rare reels on the internet; he has a truly discerning eye.

Ben Wright gives us the details on the Heddon Spin-o-Matic, as well as reprint of the Spinning Reel Report that debuts here on the Fishing for History blog (and is reprinted monthly in the Fishing for History Magazine).

All in all, it was another strong issue and a reminder why ORCA is the coolest.

-- Dr. Todd