TAFFY Reel...Neat!

[john elder]

A friend just returned from spending the summer in the center of the known universe...Indiana...with this Taffy reel, made by the Taffy Reel Co. in Cleveland, around the 1950's. Ben Wright listed it in his spinning reel book, but noted that given the spool rotates, it is not a spinning reel. Steve, in reaffirming same, referred to it as a "cute little Taffy reel", but I guess that is a matter of perspective...it's about the size of a pregnant Mitchell 300 reel. The mechanism is, however, cute in that it is fished as an under reel and the spool is disingaged until you pull up on the lever at the back, which then allows the line to be retrieved. I really haven't investigated it further. I was surprised, given the untouched condition of the finish, that it was not in its box! It has obviously been well-protected for the last 60 years or so and I'm not sure it ever made it on a rod. Neat piece of reel history!

[Steve]

See Reel News, November, 2009. The lever operates a friction clutch.