Ocean City Fishing Company Research

[Biggamereels1988]

So I've been diving deep into Louis Markowitz and Louis Herbach to find out exactly what they were all about. It would appear they got into a scandal which hurt their business back in the 1920's. They took candy that wasn't fit for human consumption and sold it in their store. Check the Article I found.


I also found a few early ads they ran in the newspaper as well. This one is from June of 1922 and possibly their first fishing reel ad ever.


This is the 1923 Census on Business Traffic a company has, the whole book into detail on what exactly the amount is covering.


1924 Newspaper Clipping from Newark Sunday Call


And this is one of my favorite pieces of info I found. It's an advertisement to push Bakelite's durability and shows how many products it can be used for.

[RonG]

That's some interesting stuff you got there.

[Biggamereels1988]

This is the Other Bakelite Pic.

[Biggamereels1988]

So reading Mike Cacioppo's book on Ocean City. He claims people consider the Free Spool as the very first Ocean City Reel and with that ad I found. I believe this makes that statement True.

[mark bumgarner]

Great stuff, right down to the armpit issues! ( Just don't see ads like that these days ) I did not know there was a bearing issue with reels warping in the sun but you can learn something every day. I know Bronson's "Brontex" warped something awful, not sure but think it may have been very close to if not tenite.

[kyreels]

Good finds! Like the boil in the armpit, that is classic. Don't know if Jeff Johnson is still active, but we should see about getting on the OC site.

[m3040c]

Moskowitz and Herbach go back as far as the 1890's, maybe further back than that. Here is there 1921 catalog with the reel you mentioned. That reel was the first of the Ocean City models which transition from Moskowitz and Herbach to Ocean City. Moskowitz and Herbach had many earlier reels than the one pictured here. They also sold many other brands in their catalog.

[john elder]

You need to buy this book if you don’t already have it! Mike put in a lot of work and covers about all there is to know about OC and its founders!

[Biggamereels1988]

Yeah that was the first book I picked up. Mike did a wonderful job putting that together.

[Roger Schulz]

You also might want to check out a recent article on M & H in the Reel News.

Roger Schulz

[Biggamereels1988]

Appreciate the info! That M&H Catalog is nuts! I really would like to have a copy of one or better yet the original.

[colby sorrells]

Got to love the documents!! Sure makes the research worth while when you can run across those pieces. Keepin' It Fun! Colby

[m3040c]

You need to buy this book if you don’t already have it! Mike put in a lot of work and covers about all there is to know about OC and its founders!

Thank you for the kudos of the OC 2nd edition, John. I cannot even begin to tell everyone about the work that went into creating this work and then doing a 2nd Edition, which I am much happier with than the first issue. Unfortunately, it is no longer in print. It has gone down the road of all the Whitefish Press books. The void is massive. I am still trying to get past the loss of my works to a market that still wants them.

[BILL HOERTER]

Yes, the first Ocean City reel was the Free Spool surf reel and it was the same reel that M&H made except the M&H reel has a small 0 stamped on the front plate under OCEAN CITY FREE SPOOL. This 0 is very hard to see and I have never seen this stated on an auction site until after the ORCA REEL NEWS article that Roger Schulz and I wrote.

[Biggamereels1988]

I found a Hermos Identical to the Free Spool.

[m3040c]

I found a Hermos Identical to the Free Spool.

They are similar but not identical.

[Biggamereels1988]

Yeah besides the Free Spool lever, It's a match.

[BILL HOERTER]

Your image 8 reel picture does not match with the catalog reel pictured. The reel foot is different. Your image 12 states that Montague made the reel on the right. How do you know that? I know the reel looks like a Montague but maybe it was made by a prior Montague employee working for The M and H Manufacturing Division.

[Thehorseman]

Here are a couple of nice 14/0 Ocean City cradles