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I was recently fortunate to add an early Bogdan reel to my small collection that carried with it some neat history that I thought I'd share, as well as a few photos.

The reel (which is shown on the left in the photos) has many characteristics of the current "Small Steelhead" model that Stan & Steve Bogdan still make, but as can be seen in the photos, it also has many differences. This reel is my most recent acquisition and was originally purchased from Stan in about 1963 by Mr. John R. Woods. John's family founded Woods Canada Ltd which as a side note I found interesting since I've used a Woods Canada Ltd sleeping bag for many years. I received a letter from Mr. Woods shortly after obtaining this reel and in it he was kind enough to provide what he recalled about its history. I then sent a letter and some photos to Stan to see if he could verify or add any more information. In a discussion with him yesterday he was able to confirm that in fact Mr. Woods recollection regarding the history of this reel matched Stan's recollection and that this reel was one of a pair of reels that were made in 1962 / 63 at the request of Stan's good friend Mr. Ted Bensinger.

Mr. Bensinger had wanted him to make a dragless reel that could be used for Grilse and Bonefish, so the reel that I now have and the one that Mr. Bensinger ended up with were a new design at that time and what Stan called "experimental". Stan mentioned that he recalled making the dragless reel for Mr. Bensinger and recalled making the second reel but that he had not recalled who he had sold the second reel to until he saw my photos. He was glad to hear that Mr. Woods was "still around" and stated that "John is a good man".

It was somewhat surprising to me that both John and Stan recalled pretty much the same events regarding these reels considering that the memories are over 45 years old ( I often don't remember what I did last week, let alone years ago ). As John recalled in his letter, Mr. Bensinger had decided to only purchase one of the two dragless reels and that in addition to an A&F colored Model 100 that John was getting from Stan (in either 1962 or 63), he was also given the opportunity at that time to purchase the dragless reel that I now own.

Mr. Woods shared a story with me that I thought was funny and when I shared it with Stan he too got a chuckle out of it. Shortly after getting this "new dragless reel", Mr. Woods was on trip in Florida where he had the chance to go after Bonefish with his new reel. As the story goes, one particular Bone took his fly, leader, fly line and backing and kept going leaving him standing there with an empty reel. From that point on, future Bonefish trips were with his Bogdan 100 with Stan's double brakeshoe drag. Apparently "dragless" and "Bonefish" don't go well together .

It appears that the Bensinger reel and the Woods reel could be the earliest Bogdan reels that were of the basic design that evolved into the various Bogdan Steelhead and Bogdan Trout models in the mid-1970s.

The reel on the right in the photos is one that I was fortunate to purchase from a fellow forum member a year or two ago and is another variation of an experimental reel that is very similar to the Woods reel, only with an external rim brake. This reel with the external rim brake was originally made for H.L. Talbot who was a friend of Stan's and an employee of Julian R. Crandall of the Ashaway Line & Twine Mfg Co. Mr. Crandall was a mentor to Stan in the early years when he was first starting out and developing the prototypes that evolved into the Bogdan Salmon reel.

When I was researching the Talbot reel last year I had thought it and the "Kline" reel shown in the Bogdan book and referred to as "Experimental Steelhead" reels were the earliest of Stan's "dragless" reels (note the book references the Kline reel as circa 1955 but that is a typo that I've confirmed with the author and it should read circa 1965). I speculated when I got my hands on the Woods reel that based on certain features, it was an earlier example than the Talbot reel, but it was nice to have this assumption verified by Mr. Woods and by Mr. Bogdan. Stan mentioned again yesterday that he only made two or three of these reels with the external rim brakes and that based on the extra work involved in them it was 2 or 3 too many and that he was glad he hadn't made more .

Often times Stan doesn't really want to discuss the history or evolution of his reels and I respect that and try not to ask too many questions when we talk, but I think it would be interesting to know why there was over a decade that went by between these experimental dragless reels being made and the time Stan & Steve started selling the current Steelhead and Trout models in the mid-1970s. The check mechanism is almost identical to the check in the "Lee Wulff Ultimate Reel" designed by Stan in the late 1960s, and the original prototype Orvis CFO that Stan designed about the same time, and the present Bogdan Steelhead and Trout reels so it's hard to understand why it took from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s for the Bogdan Steelhead & Trout reels to be sold.

A lot might have to do with Stan's love of Atlantic Salmon fishing? Maybe he just wanted to focus on making reels with his double brake-shoe drag for catching the fish he liked to chase?

If anyone reading this knows any of the gang from the Washington Steelhead Club that got the first batch of Steelhead reels in the mid 1970s please point them to this thread or contact me via pm or email. I would really like to know if the reels that they got in the mid 1970s were the same design as the Steelhead reels currently being made, or whether they had design features more like the Woods & Talbot reels. Thanks in advance for any help with this question.

In any case, I've rambled enough, if you got to the end I hope it was worth the read. Hopefully someday this pair of reels will be on display in a public institution so that more people than just me can enjoy them.

Mark B