Why an antique Hardy LRH?

[CatskillKid]

Well, I own all sorts of reels, but I fish with OLD HARDY's most of the time, and my fave is the LRH Lightweight for a 9' 4 Weight. First of all, there isn't anything like a spring and pawl reel. Most people have disc drags on the brain. I sympathize and all that. But a spring and pawl helps you play a fish and protect the tippet. True, I do love the sing of a spring and pawl too. But beyond these obvious things, they are the most durable, dependable, solid state reels on the planet. I have punnished them. I mean absolutely pounded the tar out of these reels. Of course, all the while I have maintained and lubricated them properly. To this day, no matter what fancy rod I pull out, chances are if I'm fishing alone for the day, I will take a Hardy. Is it a love affair? Call me crazy, but they are just so fun to fish with that I'm hooked.

Back in the day, 30 years ago, wise old Catskill Veterans like Walt Dette told me I couln't go wrong with one. They said they're dependable, durable and that they'd last me a lifetime. Guess what, so far they have. Orvis Battenkills have bent, lost their annodization, and scratched to point of creating issues. Not the Hardy's. The quality in them is amazing considering the time periods in which they were made. I've since aquired a whole collection of mint condition Hardy's because I love them so much. If you ever get a chance to fish one, I encourage you to do it. You'll see what I mean. The drags are tight enough you don't need to palm them and they literally screetch when a fish runs. Even 7X tippet is A-OK, no worries.

They're not too heavy either. Even on a modern rod. They have style, integrity and worksmanship too. If I was to advoate buying a reel to last you a lifetime, I would stop short of saying get a new Hardy. I'm not sure the alloys are the same, or the worksmanship. But I don't know why more people don't look to obtain (and FISH) the older models. If you happen to be looking for a new reel, consider getting an old reel. You won't be dissappointed.

 

[redietz]

Antique? LRH's are post-WWII reels. "considering the time period in which they were made"? It wasn't exactly like they were carved from stone. We're talking the nuclear era, the jet age. And you'd expect a country that made the Spitfire and the Lancaster bomber to be able to build a quality reel.

Most LRH's I've seen were made in the 60's, making them at least ten years younger than I am. I'd call them "used", not antique. And of course they lasted longer than most of the stuff you'll see today -- "improvements" in manufacturing processes have been to make things more cheaply, not better.

I share your appreciation of Hardy reels of that era, but find it odd that anyone would be surprised that a quality reel of fairly recent vintage wouldn't be superior to average reels of today. (Not that there aren't quality reels made today, but most of what most of us fish don't fit that category.)

OTOH, the Battenkills you're bashing were manufactured for Orivs by Hardy as well. Of course, they're both made in Asia, now.

 

[NJpatbee]

I have been fishing an LRH for decades, and unless I lose or damage it by carelessness, for most of the trout fishing I do I will never need another reel.

 

[flickfly]

I have a few old Phlueger reels I fish with and a couple Okumas but by far I own mostly Hardy fly reels and fish them 99% of the time! Gottta luv them Hardys !

 

[CatskillKid]

Well stated except for the Battenkill comment as I didn't state the age of the reels I was commenting about. I have 3 older CFO's (Made by Hardy) and sadly, all of my Battenkills are disc drags made by BritishReel (if you research the history of the Batenkill, you'll see that British Reel made the Battenkills during the die cast era mine are from). These Battenkills feel solid, they seem durable and actually, even they are better than many reels made now (keep in mind, they were priced under a hundred bucks and yes, they are small arbors, wah, wah, wah). If you take really good care of them they will do the job with flying colors, but when put next to an LRH, wowy....the difference is amazing. It almost signals a change in era's, from quality to quantity and margin.

Why did Orvis go away from Hardy? Cost. Orvis got bigger and began to dictate terms, Hardy didn't want to get bullied and like so many other companies that shied away from Orvis, Hardy wouldn't play ball with them any more. It's a shame for Orvis too because they were a cool match and from a customer satisfaction standpoint, Orvis has yet to recover. They have put out some ok reels over the years (the DXR for salmon and the Vortex 7/8 Anti Reverse even with it's clicker issue and it's 7 ton weight come to mind).

As far as being surprised at how functionally efficient and durable the OLDER (yes, OLDER...) Hardy's are, I stand by the comment fully. Modern machining, components and technologies give engineers a distinct advantage (as you kind of illuded to) But, it's all about margin these days I guess. A well made spring and pawl is truly spectacular for trout and salmon too if you have the right reel (like a Godfrey). Rinse an LRH off, grease the shaft, lube the pawls gently and you're really good to go. Talk about smooth. They sing. Beyond this, they are reliable, sweet looking (granted, in the eye of this beholder) and flat out WAY more fun to fish than any other reel I think of. Bar none.

They're not without some disadvantages either. You can't palm them, they keep the line in fairly tight coils and they're noisy on Sunday mornings which can make a user stand out.

 

[Pete]

IMHO-The classic (not antique) Hardy lightweight series is/was one of the finest reels produced....
BUT- one mans "music" is another mans "noise".:

........ and they're noisy on Sunday mornings which can make a user stand out.

I've met many people who've been very critical of the excessive noise.

I was pleasantly surprised that some of the similarly designed "made by Hardy" click & pawl reels, that were once sold by Orvis and Scientific Anglers, don't seem to have this problem. To me, they feel a lot "smoother", and are more pleasant to use.

BTW: Although it's not as "pretty", I don't have any problem with the (made in China) Battenkill Bar Stock. It's appears to be better machined (to closer tolerances) than any of my older reels. At first, I was surprised, but upon reflection, I've never met a Chinaman, that I considered technically incompetent.

 

[Trout Nazi]

Actually, I have to think that modern forging and CNC machining is better in every regard (tolerances, efficiency, etc.) than what they were doing back then. I think the difference is that back then, forging and machining were more labor intensive and expensive, so there were very few companies that made their reels this way.

 

[JeffK]

I used to be an American reel snob, but an older Hardy lightweight is my go to light reel and I have taken a shine to the older Young's reels. The Young's reels may be a tad heavy, but they are well built with very large spindles that never wear when maintained and adjustments for end play. A really solid reel and go really well with fiberglass rods where the weight isn't an issue. The older Hardy's are great reels to fish with.

Lot of modern models to play with and modern computer run machine tools (computer runs equally well in England or China) do allow a lot of design freedom. However, very competitive industry leads to both great innovations and cheapening of other components.

I don't believe you need a disk drag in a trout reel. The old saw about a fly reel is just a place to store line has some elements of truth and you can get by at first with a less expensive reel - there are lots of decent ones around. However, if you get one of the rugged old Hardys or Youngs you will never have to buy another reel for the rest of your life and you will go in style.

 

[Future Fanatic]

When referencing "older" and "antique" is everyone on the same page? How far back are we talking?

I have two Hardy LRHs and am wondering if my reels are the same "best in the world" reels you guys are speaking of.

 

[CatskillKid]

However, if you get one of the rugged old Hardys or Youngs you will never have to buy another reel for the rest of your life and you will go in style.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

Well sais 'Laddy. A round of Boddington's is on me. This quote is priceless.

 

[Trout Nazi]

Much as I would love to own an old reel like that, I don't think that I'm not about to spend the $$$$ required just for a place to store line. Plus it won't look right on my Z or Winston. It will about as right on my Z as my Nautilus will look on your Boo. Kind of like putting a set of forged 19" BBS RS-GT wheels with Pirelli P-Zeros on your old Chevelle.

 

[CatskillKid]

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

I think the LRH's look awesome on most of my rods, including Z's, Winston's, St. Croix's, TFO's, Albrights, Orvis, Hardy, Greys, Fenwicks..etc. Why? Because many of the rod's I've illuded to are traditionally appointed with exqusite finishes, real wood inserts, uplocking nickel silver hardware and sexy blanks.

Notice I didn't mention Loomis though. They like modern reels asthetically. As for the old Chavelle, now you're talkin'! My highschool buddy had a midnight blue 66. Awesome ride. I had a '67 Camaro of course and we kind of liked that too!

 

[redietz]

IMHO-The classic (not antique) Hardy lightweight series is/was one of the finest reels produced....
BUT- one mans "music" is another mans "noise".:
I've met many people who've been very critical of the excessive noise.

I was pleasantly surprised that some of the similarly designed "made by Hardy" click & pawl reels, that were once sold by Orvis and Scientific Anglers, don't seem to have this problem. .

Problem? I'm trying how to figure out how put a baseball card into the spokes of my Galvan to get it to sing, too.

Plus, it's only polite to let everyone in the river know when you have a good fish on.

 

[NJpatbee]

Has anyone had any experience with the more recent Hardy LRH reels or spools that are manufactured in Asia? How is the quality? I am considering another spool for my "Vintage" LRH and they are reasonably priced.

 

[PRomano]

NJPB,
I haven't fished with one but i have held one in my hand at a shop not too long ago. I couldn't see any difference between British models and their Asian counterparts. The machinery used in manufacturing is the same; only the location has changed so why should they be different?

 

[NJpatbee]

NJPB,
I haven't fished with one but i have held one in my hand at a shop not too long ago. I couldn't see any difference between British models and their Asian counterparts. The machinery used in manufacturing is the same; only the location has changed so why should they be different?

I would hope that there would be no change in quality, but moving an entire manufacturing process to a different part of the world usually means different management, raw material sources, machinists, technicians, and possibly new machinery. I have seen problems occur in manufacturing when the transition is less radical and within the same country, but under ownership of a different company. A classic is when the owner of Good & Plenty sold the brand to another company and the equipment was shipped to another manufacturing location within the US. The new owners could not get the candy manufacturing equipment to work properly and the candy sizes were random. The new company was prepared to change the name of the candy to Good & Crazy, when the problem was resolved by tapping the previous owner's technicians.

Glad to hear that this has not happened to Hardy, but I believe it pays to investigate a product when its manufacturing has been moved to a new location because of cost reductions.

 

[Trout Nazi]

The main issue with Hardy, and many other imported reels, is that they charge the same premium price as domestic reels. Why would I spend $400 on an imprted Hardy when I can spend the same or in some cases even less on a Nautilus, Ross, Lamson, etc? Those reels are beautifully machined and have killer drags. The whole point to Hardy was that tie to tradition and elegance when they were hand-made in England.

 

[CatskillKid]

The whole point to Hardy was that tie to tradition and elegance when they were hand-made in England.<!-- google_ad_section_end --> ~ An exxxxcelliient point! Why would anyone want a new Hardy when they could have a reel with man eating acid sharpened titanium teeth and..Um, Sir, we didn't give them the titanium teeth, they have lasers though, oh, and really cool paint jobs that look like scales from a killer chilean sea bass...I see Number 1, well then..as I was saying, an exxxcccccelent point none the less, why would anyone want a new Hardy reel when they could have reels with lasers man? A friend of mine who runs a fly shop in NY City (Urban Angler) has staff members who claim that the new Hardy alloys do suffer from raw materials issues and thinner or lesser amounts of materials in the frames and spools. I am unclear however as to the reason why, though I am sure they were not diluted with Good & Plenty particles. Though the anodization process on a good and plety is truly superb.

Seriously though, I have so many old hardy reels that I've never felt the urge to buy a new one (other than the Bougle I from some reason had to buy). I will say this, if I wanted a spring and pawl reel and I wanted it to be a retro, throwback deal where I was buying it to have the closest thing to an LRH I wouldn't hesitate to grab one. They're still made by Hardy and Hardy is known for uncompromising quality. The northeastern Hardy Rep, John Shaner, formerly of the Orvis Company by the way and one of the truly few people I have met in the industry who I 100 percent see as knowledgeable, objective, highly experienced (ex Montana guide), wonderful personality and a truly legit heavyweight in the industry, would probably be able to shed some light on this matter. The Troutfitter in Syracuse is a place he still frequents and I know the owner if you guys want me look into this I can. I'm passing through Syracuse on the way to the reservation up above Pulaski for some late season fun.