[gone johnson]

Picked up this vintage reel the other day because it was made locally.
Stamped with Sanford Springfisher Co. and Vashon Wash.

Can any one offer any information about this company?

 

[Richard Torres]

How cool is that? Nice find!

 

[BFK]

Go to fiberglassflyrodders.com and ask the question on their reel forum. You will undoubtedly get chapter and verse as they have a great resource on old fly gear. Nice find...

 

[kosel80]

If you do find out more info could you post it? I am really curious to see what you come up with..looks like a pretty nice find!

 

[martyg]

Could be an old mooching reel.

 

[gone johnson]

I've shown it over at the fiberglass forum, in fact one of the members there and I were both bidding on it!
Thought I'd come here since it is a local product.
It is definitely a fly reel with a RHW bias.

 

[wetline dave]

I have a very similar reel but without any designation regarding manufacturer. It lacks some of the refinement but the reel has a lot of similarities. the spool cage in particular looks like a dead ringer. My guess is that the reel I have may have been a forerunner of the one you have. I'll be interested in any responses to your thread.

wet line Dave

 

[Tom House]

Have you tried ORCA, Old Reel Collectors Association? You should be able to find what you need in their forum.

http://www.orcaonline.org/

TC

 

[gone johnson]

Great idea Tim! I had forgotten about those guys... Headed there right now!

 

[Preston]

The spring and pawl mechanism looks very similar to the old Ocean City models. I don't think I've ever seen that circular spring design anywhere else.

 

[Loteck Joe]

Go to fiberglassflyrodders.com and ask the question on their reel forum. You will undoubtedly get chapter and verse as they have a great resource on old fly gear. Nice find...

I agree.

 

[gone johnson]

Many thanks to this poster at ORCA known as Reel Geezer:

Arthur Sanford was a Presbyterian minister in Whitefish, MT c1915-1919 when he got interested in fishing reels and developed and patented an automatic reel with the spring power built into the rod handle. He moved to Vashon in 1919 and apparently developed that single action fly reel. The single action reel and the automatic reel are both shown in a Piper & Taft, Inc. (Seattle) catalog c1920. The automatic reel was advertised in the April 1920 issue of Outers Recreation magazine.

The single action reel was simply called the Springfisher Single Action Fly Reel. His automatic reel was labeled the Sanford's Springfisher Automatic Reel. Your reel came in four versions: 3" x 3/4" with solid or ventilated spool and 2-3/4" x 3/4" with solid or ventilated spool. I have seen and photographed a few of these single action reels, but am unaware of any of the automatic reels ever being found. Tom Harwood searched all around Vashon for information about Sanford, and for his reels, but found little information and so far as I know, he has not found an example of the automatic reel.

 

[4357]

deleted (mistake)

 

[4357]

I may have a couple of reels that may have been the precursors to the reel that you have. These weren't local though. They were made in England in the late teen's or early twentie's by a man named Walter Dingley. Mr. Dingley worked for Hardy Bros. before venturing off on his own and made reels for many dealers throughout the U.K. The one feature that appears to be unique to all these reels is the adjustable spring tensioner design that provided a real workable drag. This design was known as the "Struan" patent, and it's interesting that its use in reel manufacturing fell by the wayside for many years after these reels were made. It appears that there was a direct influence from across the pond on the "Sanford" reel that you have (or maybe it was the other way around!). One of the two reels that I have has the circular spring that Preston refers to, and the other one has the more traditional spring and pawl configuration.
You have a great reel in what appears to be excellent, original condition. The fact that it was locally made makes it extra special!

 

[Gary Thompson]

Nice reel