4 cool ways that fly-fishing is evolving, mostly for the better

PFLUEGER MEDALIST

Black, with a distinctive cream handle, the Pflueger Medalist was a plain, yet oddly elegant reel made in Akron, Ohio, and sold at hardware and sporting goods stores everywhere. I’d wager that between the 1930s and the ’80s, half of North America’s fly anglers had one. The Medalist was inexpensive and amazingly rugged, and over the decades, its design barely changed. I have one my grandfather bought in 1965. It sat in a shed for 20 years until I started using it, and it still works fine today.

But the Medalist’s time has passed, and that’s okay. What bums me out is that Pflueger launched a new version a few years ago. It was decent, but cheap-looking and too expensive, totally missing the spirit of the original. At least that misfire highlights how much better fly reels have become. Today, $100 will get you a reel that’s smooth and tough enough for even Canada’s biggest gamefish, bringing high performance to the everyday angler. In a way, that’s the true legacy of the Medalist.