This shelf pays homage to my dad's side of the family that includes my grandfather's "bass reel" -a '40's Bronson Mercury- some of his lures and other memorabilia. The jumping bass is a rock painting my father did and gave to me at Christmas in 1973, representing a strike he witnessed on his own dad's jitterbug, or his memory of it; I notice it's a spotted frog pattern rather than the green back silver scale finish the plug actually is (foreground).
Next is a continuation of the same shelf, of some memorabilia of important fishing partners, including my son and some flies and a bass sculpture he gifted me years ago. One photo is of my son on a trip he and I took when I (and he!) were teaching aquatic resources and angling at a forest reserve. He got to drive that John Deere Gator all over that 1500acre property. You probably can't quite make out that enormous smile on his face. I sure miss my bud. The bass reels are SB 1200 (1920's), Pflueger 1576, with jumping bass relief (early '60's), and a Shimano Bantam Mag, my first bass casting reel (mid-'80's).
Lastly are some large reels I collected up in anticipation of moving to the salt. Plans changed and we have landed in big Esocid country. So... the shelf is a good place to stash some of that paraphernalia, and to remind me that those beasts are just down the road! The spinning reel is a Quick 440N that had lost its jumping trout plate. So, I replaced it with a more appropriate one! Conventional reels are: OC Jones Beach, OC Seal Beach, Shakespeare Hercules, Pflueger Bond, Coxe 65C, and Pflueger Rocket. Oh yes, my Dad did the pike painting too, for an article on pike in a magazine.
, Kevin, but I sure wouldn't want to have to dust them all. 
