.jpg) |
| Custom, Simple |
This year at
Spey-O-Rama I was stoked to win a Leroy
Teeple gear and pawl clicker reel, a reel designed similar to a Hardy Perfect. The
raw look to the Teeple reel caught my attention as a work of fine art with
dedication to craftsmanship. Leroy has
been a face in fly fishing for many years and is a certified single and two
handed instructor. I met Leroy about 5
years ago when I started practicing for SOR, he was kind enough to give me a
few pointers on distance casting that got me going. He also loves fishing floating line with a
two handed rod and big water, when he isn’t on the river he can be found
crafting reels in his garage. I haven’t fished with the reel yet but waiting
for the summer steelhead to arrive to
test it out and listen to the click, click.
How did you get into fly-fishing?
Back in the day I would
fish for summer steelhead on the Salmon River in Oregon using bait. One Saturday while fishing it started to rain,
I put on my rain coat that had been in the back of my truck for a while,
reached in one of the pockets that had two week old sand shrimp in it and
almost passed out from the smell. That’s when I decided, I have had enough of
bait fishing. One of my fishing buddies was a fly fisherman and suggests I try
his method. After many days of fly fishing without catching any summer
steelhead I finally hooked up and never looked back.
Do you have a favorite place to fish.
In the past I have
fished several places in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and B.C. Some of my favorite places are the Sandy,
Clackamas and Deschutes Rivers. Being retired I like to spend month fishing for
steelhead in the Lewiston Idaho area too. I Love fishing floating line with a
two handed fly rod, big fish and big water.
 |
| Poppy shows off a Teeple. |
When did you start making gear and pawl clicker reels and
what provoked you to start making them?
About four years ago,
one of my fishing buddies challenged me to make a reel I did some research and found that a Hardy
Perfect is mechanical one of the best, basic reels available and I like things
that are very basic, or in other words less is more.
How did you come up this design and where are your reels made? I heard you make them in your garage...
I have always enjoyed
tinkering with fly fishing gear, such as tying my own flies, cutting and
splicing lines, and wrapping graphite fly rods. After serving as an apprentice
with a master bamboo rod builder, Ed Hartzell for a year, I learned how to make bamboo fly rods by the traditional
machining processes necessary for building. These processes are rarely used
anymore and thats when I decided to start making reels. Now I have a small
machine shop in my garage where the reels are built. Ed got my creative juices
going.
What is differance between your reel vs a Hardy paw clicker?
The difference is, I use modern materials such as stainless steel for the shaft and
screws, high performance plastics for the bushings and gears, and a ceramic
coating, or anodizing for exterior finish.The reels are custom made.I like to know what the end use will be so I can tailor it for the angler.
How can people buy your reels?
.jpg) |
| The diameter is 4" |
.jpg)
.jpg)