Thought it was broken............

[reeltackle]

Don't you hate it when you find a beautiful reel and you start to turn the handle and the reel is frozen solid and won't crank. When I started playing with this excellent looking 9/0 Pflueger Atlapac that is exactly what happened, the handle would not budge. After a few seconds of playing with the reel I did notice, however, that the handle was turning backwards just fine. It took a few more seconds for it to dawn on me that I was holding a left-hand wind reel. I flipped the reel around, gave the handle a turn and the reel spun beautifully, just like Pflueger's highest quality fishing machine should. If I had taken the time to examine the reel first I would have seen that "Left Hand 1690L" was stamped into the hard rubber face-plate. I went from disappointed to bewildered to delighted all in that one brief minute.

The reel came with its original metal box and its marked felt bag. The reel also came with something I don't remember seeing before (or am I just getting forgetful?) and something I am definitely sure that I have never owned before, the Atlapac paperwork sheet.

The reel is a true lefty with the the handle position, freespool lever, and even the name tag on the opposite side of the face-plate as its right-hand counterpart. The auxiliary drag on the back plate is reversed too.

Has anyone ever seen a lefty Atlapac before? Has anyone ever seen the Atlapac paperwork before?

[Paul M]

The lefty Altapac is listed as a special order in the 1931 Pflueger catalog in the library. The box paper does not appear to be in the library. I am sure a hi-res scan would be welcome.

[reeltackle]

Paul, I would be glad to send ORCA the info, however, it is to long for my scanner unless I break it down into sections. Which would be better, large files of the photos I posted or broken down into sections and scanned?

[Steve]

Yo Anon, separate scans of each page can be combined into a single, large .jpg...or pdf, for that matter. I can help if needed.

[Stef Duma]

What a fantastic find It rare to have something that complete.

[Robin Sayler]

I had one just like that with all the goodies. I let it go last year to a fellow Orcan.

[reeltackle]

Yo Anon, separate scans of each page can be combined into a single, large .jpg...or pdf, for that matter. I can help if needed.

Mr. Pie, I will scan the paper and send you the pieces. Some assembly required.

I had one just like that with all the goodies. I let it go last year to a fellow Orcan.

Robin - Was it Left-Hand Wind and marked so on the front? Did it have the paper? Thanks!

[Robin Sayler]

[reeltackle]

Thank you Robin - Very cool, its great to see another one. Different paperwork however.

[Brian F.]

I remember a guy on Joe's collected left hand reels and had a lefty Atlapac. His reel, Robins and now yours, Ed, are the only ones I've seen. Did not know about the markings either. The papers come with about 50% of the Atlapacs I have, along with the usual square tool box with wrenches, oil and oiler. A tough item that came with those reels are the registration cards. Looks like you have one on the bottom of the tin. Maybe stuck to the paint? Finish on the tinsel wasnt very good and sometimes "melted". The really tough item is a simple bent piece of metal that came in the tool box. It was marked "Pflueger" with two prongs. It was the tool to remove or tighten the end caps. I've only found one of those in 20+ years.

[Brian F.]

Robin's paper is the same fold out panel just not expanded. The early versions were printed in the orange color like yours, Ed

[Bill Muth]

I had one, but I’m pretty sure I sold it to Robin, so the one he posted was probably mine.

[Robin Sayler]

I can confirm Bill, that is indeed the one you sold me

[reelsmith.]

Way to go Ed !

Whenever I buy a reel that I think is broken ...its always broken worse than I figured !

Dean.