On my drive north to visit the Hardy Facility in Alnwick I was reminded of the booklets produced by Hardy’s in the 1920’s when a couple of gentlemen toured the rod making works. I felt I as though I was treading in historical footsteps. The main difference was that I did not have a leisurely trip on a train but a four o’clock start and a two hundred and fifty mile drive up the A1.

Solid Drum Hardy Bougle Agate II

On arrival I was met by Richards Maudesly, the managing director of the company and a member of the Harris & Sheldon main board – the owners of Hardy Brothers since 1967. I had heard various comments on the current situation at the company including the fact that Richard was a “money man” or “bean counter”, a sometimes derogatory term for an accountant. Far from it, and although not coming from a tackle making background or a mechanical engineering background, he is an electrical engineer by training. Richard has worked for various companies involved in the heavy power generating field.

We were joined by Charley Norris who is the Chief design engineer and reel maker.  Last year was not a good one for the company with all the problems, especially foot and mouth. The tourists did not come and by the time that it was cleared up the season had finished.

Left Hardy Bougle 2 ⅝ inch Agate II right Hardy Lightweight III

This year however there is a genuine air of optimism due to certain events that have taken place. Firstly the foot & mouth disease has gone and it is expected more visitors will come to this country to take up country pursuits when the new season starts in March. Hardy have recently concluded various deals to manufacture reels for other companies. During my visit I saw the Daiwa Lochmor reels being assembled.

I asked Richard about the various “collector” reels that have been made by the company and he did admit that there had been some mistakes in the marketing of them. Most people complained about the Bougle reels, but we have to take a balanced view here. I know people who have bought the reels as an investment and have tried to sell them a few months later. A situation similar to that encountered in Britain when the Public Utilities were privatised.

Well there was no shortage of these reels, there was in fact a glut. Witness the number that appeared on eBay. Who’s fault was that? Hardy’s for making too many or the “investors” for being greedy. One guy I know has a few of the Bougle and the St. George Junior reels and he has no complaints because he fishes with them.

Hardy Bougle Agate II with teardrop ventilations, agate lineguard and teal green frame & Hardy Lightweight III with teardrop ventilations, rim mounted tension adjuster and central roller pillar.

I believe that we will continue to see reels that celebrate the history of the company but the numbers will not be as many as those produced in the last few years. This problem is not unique to Hardy’s people like Royal Doulton and Crown Derby introduce “Collector” series getting the exact number right is a tricky quest, too many and the retailers are left with unsold stock, too few and panic buying takes place.

Many people were under the impression that the London shop had been closed down and sold to Falow. I was informed that this was not the case but that Hardy had bought Farlow and would for a limited time be known as House of Hardy at Farlow. This was a business decision based on the fact that two retail stores within walking distance of each other was not a good idea. As the Farlow site was in a better location it was decided to move the complete operation there.

I brought up the question of fakes and forgeries and was left in no doubt that Hardy would defend their name and reputation, hopefully something can be sorted out to eradicate those that appear at auction and internet sales. Hardy’s are in a unique position and are mindful of their historical past. Yes they have the skills to produce futurist reels similar to those by Ari Hart but they have a tradition to uphold and many of their customers would not accept radical departure from those traditions and values. 

I was shown round the factory by Charley Norris and was amazed at some of the reels being produced. One reel that impressed me was the Baby Bougle reels being made in a limited edition from their agent in Japan. This is wonderful reel and with a very limited run will become very collectible. These reels quickly sold out when offered to the collectors and fishermen in Japan.

Hardy Lightweight III inside the frame showing the rim tension adjuster, ball bearing race, central pillar and duplicated check.

I was shown Charley’s cupboard with bits and pieces of reels that have been produced and some that were not. The Royal was one such reel that was manufactured for testing but never produced. The new Bougle reels have a teal green frame and I asked why the spool was a different colour. The answer was that the manufacturing process could not guarantee exactly the same shade of green. Reels would look different and customers would think that they had been given the wrong spool.

Hardy Bougle Agate II with ball bearing race, agate line guard and duplicated check.

The White-Wickham reels that were purchased by Ted Evans did go back to Hardy’s for cleaning and Charley told me of how when he first started to work on them they were a horrible colour. He started to wonder if things were going wrong, £50,000 worth of reels about to be ruined. Eventually the correct finish came about and he was able to stop panicking.

The reel making department is a fascinating place to visit and I was shown the various components being made for the limited edition wide spool Perfects. The problem for the modern reel maker is how to find materials that are no longer available. The handles for the reel are man made but have the look of bone or ivory. This set has been limited to 200 and comes in a presentation case. There are also 50 individual reels in the three sizes available. So I do not expect these to be flooded on eBay.

After spending a few hours looking round the factory I was then shown the Museum. This is a very nice visit with a well laid out and labelled display. Most of the items are on loan but you can see items here that you will not see anywhere else.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and as a bonus I went into the town to buy a recharger for my mobile phone and quite by accident got talking to the grandson of Lennox Walker the Alwnick tackle maker. I will be doing a further article on this company in the near future. For anyone wanting to visit the factory please contact tel. +44 1665 602771 email sales@house-of-hardy.com

John mentions the Tobique River reel sold at auction in America during  November 1993 and having known about it for some time I decided to do a little more investigating.

The reel was a size 2/0 and only had  two medallions, the Royal Warrant  by Appointment and  the model designation. The medallion with the  Prince of Wales feathers was omitted.

This Royal Warrant  was granted in 1931, one year before  the Cascapedia was launched in the  Hardy supplement. My guess is that the Tobique River reel was made in 1930 or even 1929, it would require many months if not years to  produce a new reel This reel is certainly the prototype or first production model for the Cascapedia.

Edward  Vom Hofe had  launched the Tobique reel in about 1928 claiming that it was the world’s first multiplying action reel with the winding handle centrally located.

Ed Zern Hardy Tobique River Reel

We can only speculate as to the reaction of the Vom Hofe company on seeing the appearance of the Tobique River reel. Panic, shock, indignation – who knows?

Or what about this as a theory, Hardy Brothers and Vom Hofe worked on producing the reel as a joint venture?  “No chance” you might say. Well let us look at the evidence.

The Tobique and the Cascapedia share the following features:- “S” shaped handles, handles mounted within a handle guard, oiling ports on the back plate, indicating dots for the drag system and  roller bars. Finally both reels were made of ebonite, German Silver and Duralumin.

With one exception no other Hardy reels produced had any of these features. The exception was the New Brunswick, a variant of the Cascapedia, introduced in 1935. This was the Hardy equivalent of the Restigouche single action fly reel. There were only two of these reels made according to the production book.

The Vom Hofe company did not make aluminium fly reels and this gap was filled by  Hardy Brothers, evidence of a close relationship  

So with both companies having decided to develop the reel someone chose the project name “Tobique” the man from Hardy asked what that was and Vom Hofe said that it was a river. Vom Hofe built the Tobique and Hardy the Tobique River. Once the reels were finished they could not be called the same name so Hardy changed theirs to Cascapedia named after another river and also an earlier Vom Hofe model.

Far fetched! Well we have the reel as evidence.

The reel or reels, who knows how many were made?, ended up being used. The one sold at auction belonged to Ed Zern. I did not know who the gentleman was and asked a few people if they knew anything about him.

Medalion on the Hardy Tobique River Reel

What I learned was that to many people he was like a member of the family.

One person told me how, as a youngster, he always looked forward to the arrival of his dad’s Field & Stream. Even if the front cover story was, “How I beat off a 10 foot renegade Grizzly with a Spatula, whilst landing a salmon”, he would always turn to the back page to read Ed. Zern’s column first.

I managed to get hold of some of his books and he was without doubt a very fine writer with a wonderful sharp wit.

Nick Lyons wrote a fine tribute to the man in the magazine Fly Fishing  in 1994 and pointed out some of his observations on fishing.

On ”The Truth about Izaak Walton” that the book “has nothing whatsoever to do with fish or fishing. It is, in every detail, a turbidly political allegory intended not for the amusement  or instruction of anglers but simply for the advancement of the Caroline cause and the confusion of the forces of Cromwell”

His review of Lady Chatterly’s Lover was a “fictional account of the day-to-day life of an English gamekeeper” with ”many passages on pheasant raising, the apprehending  of poachers, ways of controlling vermin and other chores and duties of the professional gamekeeper. Unfortunately it was filled with “extraneous material” and would never replace J. R. Miller’s Practical Gamekeeping. Various people wrote in to Field and Stream asking where they could buy the Miller book, obviously thinking that it too had “extraneous material”

It was the story of his meeting with a man named Thompson that first appeared as “A Day’s Fishing” in 1948 that was his favourite. He was pointed in his direction during a particularly poor days sport, but was warned that if ever there was a contest for the most unpopular man he would win it easily.

He meets Thompson and quite openly describes what would take place. “if he likes your looks he will  let you go to the river and if he didn’t you wouldn’t”. Thompson looks him over with folded arms for a few moments and then curtly says that he will show him the way to the river.  Would Thompson like a few trout to eat? Silence – then a few hundred paces later “I guess I could use some. If they’re cleaned.” 

He then tells us about the fishing and the fish that he caught. About a day’s fishing, what some of us still try to do, pleasant, rewarding, solitary and uncomplicated. A break from normal everyday life and the pace that it is lived at.

He then returns to Thompson and although he looks “well-to-do” lives in a basic and somewhat primitive state. Why does he use a dug well instead of a pump? “Had a pump once and it froze. This don’t freeze.”

Thompson then brings out a chocolate cake, says “There’s cake.” Ed waits to see if he wants to “pursue the subject” then asks directly if he might have a slice of it. Was it cooked by a neighbour? “I do my own cooking” says Thompson.

Does he fish? “Don’t fish a-tall. Don’t see the sense on it” But aren’t trout pretty good eating? “Not that good. Not that good enough to go traipsing up and down a river all day getting bit by black flies.”

He asks if Ed has ever milked a cow, and Ed indicates that he has – though poorly. Thompson says he’d known; he could tell a man who’d milked a cow. “Never missed a one”

Then they part with Ed asking if he could come back some day and Thompson saying “I guess so” but it would have to be alone, he didn’t want  “all creation tramping across them fields”.

As Ed is turning his car out of the driveway Thompson calls him and walks over to him. “You can bring someone, if you want” Ed thanks him and says that the first chance he gets he will be back but he will only bring someone who has milked a cow. He means to go back but never does. It is the same with us.

We move on and special days like that one are all too often forgotten, missed or  trivialised.

Keeping the memory of that day and sharing it with us were at the heart of the man who once said “When the fishing goes, I’m willing to go too.”

The last few years of his life were rough  for him and when he died in March 1994 many thought that it was a blessing.

As the nurse wheeled him out of the rest home on the way to the hospital he asked the nurse where he was going, the nurse said “On a fishing trip, Ed”  Shortly after he slipped into his last coma and died.

So there we have it a unique reel that was for a time in the possession of a unique man.