A Recap of Crazy Mark's Big Adventure …….to "Meet the Maker's"
As anyone who follows this section of the forum much likely already knows, I am somewhat of a "Reel Nut", and have an admiration for Bogdan Salmon reels and more recently have had a growing interest in reels made by Paul Hermann.
A few months ago in correspondence with Paul, we worked out a trade that would include me receiving a Salmon reel from his last batch of reels that he planned on finishing up this fall / early winter after the Atlantic Salmon fishing and grouse hunting seasons had wound down. In one of the emails I posed the following question that at the time thought would likely sound crazy to him…..
"What if I flew out to visit you when you were ready to start on your last batch of Salmon reels and actually spent some time in the shop when you were making my reel?"
To my surprise, Paul liked the idea and even offered to let me do some of the work if I promised not to lose any digits in the process…..
WOW, meeting Paul Hermann….getting to see his shop….AND getting to help finish a reel that I would be end up owning !!! Oh yah….I'm all over this idea
When I found out where Paul lives I asked him….. "So, about how far are you from Nashua and/or New Ipswich NH ?" When I found out it was only about a 5 or 6 hour drive I decided to take Stan & Steve Bogdan up on the prior offer to show me their shop if I ever made it out east…..
I got Stan to commit to being around for a certain date (it's amazing how many trips and commitments he has during the course of a year) and I think you can envision my permanent grin when I finally had my trip booked and the reality set in that I would be meeting Paul Hermann and Stan & Stephan Bogdan…..AND seeing their shops……all over a long weekend......
For a Salmon reel junky, I don't think it can get better than that
I arrived in Manchester NH early the evening of Thursday 12/4 and I'll say, one of the best decisions I made was responding "Yes" when the guy at the rental car counter asked me if I wanted a GPS unit in the car for an extra $11 per day (I'm inherently cheap, so saying yes was not "normal" for me, but I'd still be driving around somewhere in NH or Maine without it…)
I had decided to stay in Nashua Thursday night and would be meeting Stan & Steve at the shop in New Ipswich on Friday morning. I knew that our very own "Mainiac" lived in or near Nashua and had contacted him prior to the trip since I knew he had some interest in Bogdan reels and I would be bringing "Pandora's Bag" of early Bogdans. We were able to meet up at a local bar/restaurant and he ended up picking up the tab which wasn't supposed to be part of the deal, but was very kind of him. I enjoyed our visit and got to play with his Bogdan 00….and he in turn got to play with the contents of "Pandora's Bag". In conversation during our visit he tried to corrupt me from being happy fishing glass rods to needing to fish with fine cane like he uses, but luckily for my wallet, I was able to resist ..... When it was time for me to turn in after a long day travelling I mentioned I planned on driving around Nashua a bit in the morning and Marc was able to tell me how to get to the old Millyard building which housed Stan's shop for decades. I hadn't thought of trying to find that building and it was a good idea that led to some neat photos.
The old Millyard Building in Nashua, home to Bogdan reels until the mid 1990s:
After a short driving tour of Nashua I headed into the NH countryside in search of New Ipswich and the current
Bogdan shop on Stephan & Sandy's property……again, without the GPS I don't think I'd have found it….
Stan & Stephan greeted me at the door with smiles and showed me around the shop…..I was like a kid in a
candy store…Bogdan reel parts galore…..the old machinery….I'd seen photos of much of the same, in the Bogdan book and old articles, but "being in the
shop" was pretty cool
.
During the tour Stan & Stephan walked me through the making of the various parts and Stan even showed me a little filing and polishing on a
handle. After the tour I brought out the reel bag I had brought with containing two of Stan's mid 1940's
prototypes, my early 1950's Model 0, the Experimental Steelhead reel and others…..
I think Stephan enjoyed looking at the early reels, and Stan especially liked the old Steelhead. I wish I
remembered the man's name, but Stan had told me about the local engraver who used to engrave his reels in the early years.
The Steelhead reel is engraved "H. L. Talbot" and Stan recalled that Mr. Talbot had been an employee of Stan's old friend Jullian
Crandall at the Ashaway Line & Twine Co. I was pretty impressed when Stan turned the crank of the Steelhead not
more than a ¼ turn and looked up at me and said with a smile….hey, that gear has only 24 teeth/clicks , unlike the final version of the trout & steelhead
reels than have 36 teeth/clicks. This is the type of crazy detail that I had noticed about that reel but it made me smile that Stan noticed it to....
I had also brought with the 1959 Orvis catalog that I have that has a "Mary Bogdan" signature on it. I think
Stan & Stephan enjoyed seeing it and both recognized the hand writing of the signature as definitely being that of Stan's big sister Mary. Stan mentioned that she had worked at the same office in Nashua her entire career, to which I replied that she probably had that
catalog at work to show off that her little brother was a big shot and his reels were sold by Orvis….
It was a very nice visit and I was somewhat surprised that they spent several hours with me. I really didn't want
to ask them for anything, but at the end of the visit I got Stan to take a picture with me & Stephan and for Stephan to take one with me and
Stan. I also mentioned that someday I'd plan on getting each of my kids a Bogdan reel but since they were only 5
& 7 years old had no idea what type of fishing they'd grow up to enjoy…Salmon, Steelhead…Trout? I sheepishly
asked and they both agreed to fill out a hang tag for each of the kids and then both signed them. Some day my kids
will be surprised to get (likely each a used) Bogdan reel with each a hang tag personalized to them and signed by Stan & Stephan...I hope someday they
think that is as cool as I do.
I had brought Stan an early B-Day present (his 90th was on 12/16) and brought Stephan a copy of the 2009 Classic Reels Calendar (I have sent them
copies of the prior years to) and they also signed a copy of the Bogdan Book for me. When I was getting ready to leave
Sandy popped her head in the shop and Stan introduced me….she said "Hey, you're the guy that made the Bogdan
Reel print…we have it framed in our living room". That was pretty neat to know they had it displayed and it was
a good note to end my visit.
All of the good stories you hear about how nice the Bogdans are were certainly reinforced by my experience.....they are just super nice people
So, mid afternoon on Friday 12/5 I found myself barreling through the NH and Maine country side (very Thankful for the GPS in the rental), and on my to Belfast
Maine where I was staying right on the coast. My mind was still a little clouded with the realization that I'd
just met Stanley & Stephan Bogdan………and this led to one of the only poor decisions I made during the trip when I decided that instead of taking the Maine
Turnpike up to Augusta and then over to Belfast, I instead would take the scenic Highway 1 along the coast, THE ENTIRE WAY FROM THE NH / MAINE BORDER TO
BELFAST ME to have some leisure driving time to reflect on the visit earlier that day….……in theory it was a neat idea, and enjoyable when it was daylight……but
the last three hours at 35 mph in the dark through countless small towns was less than a well thought out plan on my part
. Even with this little planning hiccup I still arrived at my hotel early enough in the night to
let Paul know I'd arrived in Belfast and would be over to his place on Saturday morning. I also partook in a
celebratory Guinness or two….
I awoke Saturday morning and opened the shades to get my first good look at the Atlantic Ocean and all I
really saw was snow……lots of big flakes being blown around by strong winds creating very low visibility…..……hmmmm I thought………. I have seen plenty of that in
Minnesota….oh well, enough sightseeing ….time to jump in the car and head to Paul's
Penobscot bridge old and new on the way from Belfast to Paul's:
Through the snow storm I made it to Paul's house mid morning after driving around and checking out his
town a bit. It was really neat to see the old homes from the middle of the 18th Century…..something we
definitely don't have in Minnesota. Paul welcomed me in and one of the first things I noticed was the beautiful
paintings adorning their walls. As it turns out Paul's wife Kathy is a wonderful artist and many of the works are
her own creations.
We made our way out to Paul's shop and it was a reel junky's heaven ! Rows of machined parts lined up ready for fitting and assembly…..finished reels
waiting to have their handles spun…….it was sensory overload 
Paul started by explaining the process of how he had machined the parts in batches over several years leading up to having all of the parts necessary to
finish off a series of his Salmon reels. What was laid out on the tables in front of me was the result of many years
worth of work in the shop and since he does not plan on starting any additional reels, what was before me represented the parts for the final batch of Hermann
Reels. Since the main machining for the parts that would be used for my reel was done, he walked me through the process
on what had taken place to get the parts to the point they were at.
We picked out a pair of side plates, a set of rings, and spool and then Paul had me cut the slot and finish "just one screw" to give me the sense of
what was involved…….If I recall correctly there are 17 polished screws visible in each third generation Hermann Salmon reel…….YIKES !
We spent the next 5 or 6 hours going through the steps to assemble a Salmon reel and I was utterly surprised at how much individual hand tuning is done to each
reel and many of the individual parts. Many of Paul's parts are machined with tolerances of 0.001 mm so there is
literally no room for error...
Fitting, assembly....disassembly...fine tuning....reassembly and repeat 
:
Even though we spent the better part of the day assembling my reel, the time flew by (at least for me), it was an amazing experience and I am so thankful I had
the opportunity. When it came time to number the reel, Paul also suggested that we add my initials which was pretty
cool……so my reel has a serial number "200" and "MEB".
Me trying really hard not to screw up stamping the serial number and my initials:
More assembly, fitting and final polishing:
And, the final product :
We had a celebratory beer and retired to the den before diner to look at what else….a great collection of reels. In
addition to examples of his own reels, Paul has a collection of a great variety of reels from other makers, many of which were from makers I'd never
handled in person before so this to was a treat. In the mean time Kathy had made a wonderful diner and the rest of
the evening was filled with good food and conversation.
What a day it had been…….I'd met two of the nicest people one could ever hope to meet, and been able to help assemble my new Hermann Salmon reel…..as if it
couldn't get better, Paul had decided he wanted me to have his first prototype because he knows I am pretty much a nut when it comes to the history of
makers…..in addition, he decided that since there have been three major generations in the design of his reels, that I also needed an example of his
2nd generation. I wasn't sure what to say, but all at once I had in my hands one of the earliest
Hermann reels, a 2nd generation reel made in 1994, and the reel I got to help assemble representing the 3rd (final)
generation. Pretty overwhelming…..to say the least
It was getting late so I headed back to Belfast for the night and we decided to see what the weather was like in the morning and would go from there on what
we'd do on Sunday. Paul had initially thought we wouldn't get done with my reel in one day so had left Sunday
open to finish it if we hadn't gotten done on Saturday.
Sunday morning was cold and blustery but not snowing (at least early in the a.m.). When I got to Paul's he had
asked what I wanted to do…..I asked if we could open up the prototype and get a look at the innards. The reel had been
made without the intent of it ever being fished so the drag componenets had never been finished off. When we got it
opened up Paul realized that he probably had enough old parts to finish it off……and though I don't know how excited he was about working on that old reel
(and he probably was starting to ask himself why he'd ever agreed to have me come visit), he kept at it and in the end it's a usable fully functioning
reel that is also a great piece of history in the evolution of the Hermann Salmon reel. I promised that I would ONLY
use it on one trip, catch a salmon or two with it and then retire it……
Bringing the prototype to life as a functioning Salmon reel:
By the time the old reel was done it was snowing again so doing much sightseeing of the coast was not an option but Paul did take me for a drive around his
community and showed me a couple other neat coastal towns nearby. When we got back, Kathy had thought to pull out some
photo albums from hunting & Atlantic salmon trips, as well as, some photos of the early years of Paul's reel making.
It was very enjoyable to look through them. Unfortunatley I had to get on the road very early the next morning
so we had an early diner and I had to say goodbye. It was an amazing experience spending the time with Paul in his
shop and to see a part of the reel making process, and like I said before, Paul and Kathy are about the nicest people you could ever hope to meet and spend
time with .
I had talked to Sante before my trip and found out that I would literally be driving by where he lives so planned on stopping for a visit on my way back to
Manchester for my flight home. It was REALLY cool to meet Banjo and we got to fondle each others reels , and we got to get a photo of his early 1950's Bogdan
Model 0 in LHW and my same vintage RHW Model 0 together which was pretty neat.
Note that these reels were made before Stan had the models standardized and my reel is overall noticably narrower than Banjo's even though they are the
same model.
He also pulled out several rods from Pandora's Box and some great rod maker literature that made me glad I have not yet been bitten by the bamboo bug…..I
have enough problems being somewhat addicted to fine reels…….
Unfortunately I only had about an hour and a half to spend with Banjo….wish it had been more, but I needed to get back to NH to catch my flight…..before I left
he pointed be in the right direction to see the Cape Neddick light which was very neat to see. It was finally sunny
and blue skies……after two days of snow it was nice to see the sun again.
This should have been the end of a great trip, but when I got to the airport I found out that the Chicago Airport was closed so my flight was canceled….as it
turned out I had more time than I had planned and ended up in Manchester for an extra unexpected night.
If you've actually made it to the end of this story you should be commended……and I hope the ramblings of my story were worth your time.
Best Regards, and if Marc & Sante made it through this, thank you for the visit, it was great to meet you both, and to Paul, Kathy, Stan and Stephan, if
you are reading this, a special THANK YOU for an experience I'll not forget!
Mark B
. I can't even begin to imagine the
excitement that encompassed the entire journey.
