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Post 25 Nov 2021, 13:35 • #1 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/19/08
Posts: 1218
Location: Branson, Missouri
Happy Holidays - too windy to fish, and I have been wanting to throw this out for a while...
Every CFO reel pictured was manufactured before the year 2000.
Study the little details from photo to photo.
Just use the reel foot for quick ID.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I will start with the most recent reels I am showing here - a 1990's BFR era reel / no rivets / no center hole - durable classic :

Image

This would be the 1980's rivet reel with no center hole in foot - vintage classic :

Image

Now we see the 1970's transitional rivet reel - leftover feet with signature first run
middle hole to the center of the foot attached to new style of spindle reel :

Image

This would be the 1970's second CFO model issued, this version with the screwback spindle
and signature first run middle hole to the center of reel foot :

Image

Not shown is the absolute first reel model - one of the most rare versions - with the screwback and upside down script.
I do not have one - yet.

I am certain it has a signature hole in the center of the foot.

http://classicflyrodforum.com/forum/vie ... 72&t=74427

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Got take a look at your CFO model reels... you can sorta pinpoint the era of CFO IV a little better with these photos for identification help.


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Post 26 Nov 2021, 10:44 • #2 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/05/06
Posts: 2086
Location: US-PA
I never owned a CFO IV, but I'm digging this thread regardless because I have two older CFO's with center hole reel feet that I bought new. They were my first fly reels and I still have them along with a single extra spool for each I purchased at the same time. Those extra spools were lined up with sink tip lines that I believed necessary to have on hand as a rookie fly fisherman. I hardly ever used the extra spools & sink tip lines which is ONE of the reasons I don't bother carrying extra spools any more.

My CFO's:

Reel #1 - CFO II: Screw-back, rivets, normal script, no line guard with a center hole in the reel foot. This was my first fly reel and I still have the original receipt.

    CFO II Anecdote #1: While doing something stupid as a kid (standing in the middle of a 25 foot high dam fishing), I was fiddling with my reel, (probably swapping spools) and I dropped the reel off the downstream side of the dam. I watched in horror as it bounced down and into the shallow water below. Expecting the worst, I scurried down and retrieved the reel. It had a tiny ding on the side and a SLIGHTLY bent spindle and spool. All of which I repaired and I continued to use the reel up until a few years ago when I retired it in a bout of sentimentality.

    This is OTHER reason I don't fiddle with extra spools. ;)

    CFO II Anecdote #2: A handful of years ago I noticed one of the reel foot screws was missing. I cannot recall why or for how long, but I became obsessed with obtaining a replacement. I called Orvis who just happened to have 30 year old CFO reel foot screws lying around so they sent me two, free of charge!

Reel #2 - CFO III: Transitional spindle cap back, rivets, normal script, no line guard with a center hole in the reel foot. This was my second fly reel I used with my 7'6" 5wt Fenwick HMG graphite rod, my prized possession at the time. I still have the reel which I retired, but I sold the rod to a friend who completely wore out the ferrule through neglect.

Good stuff Brian!!


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Post 26 Nov 2021, 11:13 • #3 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 05/19/14
Posts: 3924
Location: USA - Illinois
Here is one.





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Post 26 Nov 2021, 11:39 • #4 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/05/06
Posts: 2086
Location: US-PA
Excellent!!

Does anyone know when the script was reversed to "normal?"

I know it was "inverted" when the first reels appeared in the 1971 Christmas Catalog and was also inverted in the 1972 Spring Catalog.


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Post 26 Nov 2021, 11:57 • #5 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 05/19/14
Posts: 3924
Location: USA - Illinois
I believe there were 30 inverted script reels that went to dealers/shops for the purpose of advertising-marketing so they were the 1st "production" run, then went to the non-inverted script you could read as the reel was mounted on the rod. Not sure if manufacture would have been 1970 or 1971.


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Post 26 Nov 2021, 12:05 • #6 
Sport
Joined: 12/15/17
Posts: 59
Location: SW Idaho
Bamboozle wrote (snip) CFO III: Transitional spindle cap back, rivets, normal script, no line guard

Bam, does the reel have the holes to mount a line guard? I just received a screw back CFO III that doesn't have a line guard, but does have holes.I understand they were an option for a number of years.


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Post 26 Nov 2021, 19:09 • #7 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/05/06
Posts: 2086
Location: US-PA
Mike:

Mine has no holes for a line guard.

It was available with or without a line guard when I bought it. If you have a CFO III with holes, someone removed the line guard.

J:

The reels were first introduced and pictured in the 1971 Christmas catalogue with inverted script. I'd love to get my hand on a 1972 Spring Catalogue to see if the photos still show inverted script.

Regardless that is a keeper!!


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Post 27 Nov 2021, 10:35 • #8 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 05/19/14
Posts: 3924
Location: USA - Illinois
Thanks - mine has no line guard (or holes) either and I prefer it that way. Keeps me from monkeying with something and screwing it up.


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Post 27 Nov 2021, 11:30 • #9 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/05/06
Posts: 2086
Location: US-PA
I honestly don't remember if the store I bought my CFO III at had the line guard version, I could have ordered it or I was just too impatient to own a new reel and bought what they had because my CFO II didn't have one.

The funny thing is, as a beginner I was wisely taught to pull line straight off the reel in advance of the cast or when stripping line to lengthen it, not to pull line off to the side.

As a result, none of the reels I own without line guards have any wear or cuts from line so a line guard for me is just bling. ;)


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Post 30 Nov 2021, 19:18 • #10 
Sport
Joined: 12/15/17
Posts: 59
Location: SW Idaho
Bam said:
"The funny thing is, as a beginner I was wisely taught to pull line straight off the reel in advance of the cast or when stripping line to lengthen it, not to pull line off to the side.
As a result, none of the reels I own without line guards have any wear or cuts from line so a line guard for me is just bling"

Exactly. I don't pull down and back, or to the side either. I have never seen a need for a line guard, probably because I have always pulled line straight out.


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Post 01 Dec 2021, 21:24 • #11 
New Member
Joined: 01/12/20
Posts: 16
Location: US-WI
Here's a look at an early CFO without any script:







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Post 02 Dec 2021, 10:03 • #12 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/05/06
Posts: 2086
Location: US-PA
Whoa!! That's a rare bird.

I wonder if that's a prototype pre-1971 Christmas catalog to decide on a color before they decided on the script and script direction.

Is it yours?


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Post 02 Dec 2021, 12:40 • #13 
New Member
Joined: 01/12/20
Posts: 16
Location: US-WI
Yes, it is my one and only CFO. Really cool reel, and apparently it is one of a handful of circa 1971 reels produced to be tested out by notable flyfishers at the time, prior to the mass production of CFO's. I'd really really love to fish it--at least once or twice--but that would be just crazy, so I won't....


Last edited by archer829 on 02 Dec 2021, 12:40, edited 1 time in total.

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Post 02 Dec 2021, 12:40 • #14 
Sport
Joined: 11/24/21
Posts: 70
From other threads on other forums it sounds like the reels without markings were essentially pre-mass production versions given out to trusted people so they could get feedback.


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Post 02 Dec 2021, 14:26 • #15 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/11/14
Posts: 1784
Location: urban Colorado
fascinating, thank you..
I have a 1981 CFO III, never checked the holes on the foot but will now ;-)

My line guard has a slight groove from years of small freestone stream fishing - constantly have to wind up to move along the rocks to the next fishable bit, then get lazy and start pulling off line anyhow. Given this is my primary trout reel and is 40 years old now, I confidently expect the line guard to outlive me..



did take a bad fall with it once and bent the handle and spool lip. Sent it back to Orvis and they repaired it for something like $20.. at that point the CFO was being made in China, so I was impressed by their customer service and ability to repair the old reel..


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Post 03 Dec 2021, 05:46 • #16 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/05/06
Posts: 2086
Location: US-PA
archer829 wrote:
Yes, it is my one and only CFO. Really cool reel, and apparently it is one of a handful of circa 1971 reels produced to be tested out by notable flyfishers at the time, prior to the mass production of CFO's. I'd really really love to fish it--at least once or twice--but that would be just crazy, so I won't....

Wouldn't it be great if you knew which "notable flyfisher" used yours?


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Post 03 Dec 2021, 08:10 • #17 
New Member
Joined: 01/12/20
Posts: 16
Location: US-WI
Yes! I'm going to go on believing it was Ernest Schwiebert..... :)


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Post 10 Dec 2021, 12:20 • #18 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/19/08
Posts: 1218
Location: Branson, Missouri
The foot of that unmarked reel is the coolest thing I have ever seen in my whole life.
Thank you again for sharing that.


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Post 08 Aug 2022, 09:55 • #19 
Guide
Joined: 12/31/10
Posts: 158
Location: Maryland
The VERY first were the unmarked pre-production batch of 30 reels,.


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Post 05 Feb 2023, 17:30 • #20 
Guide
Joined: 12/31/10
Posts: 158
Location: Maryland
Pre-production batch of 30. Or so I was told by Ed Shenk who had the only other one I ever saw, other than mine.


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Post 11 Feb 2023, 11:24 • #21 
Master Guide
Joined: 06/07/12
Posts: 865
Location: US-CA
Just to bookend things, here are a couple of pictures of a reel from the LAST run of Hardy-made CFOs, circa 2012.



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Post 11 Feb 2023, 12:51 • #22 
Guide
Joined: 08/07/08
Posts: 107
Location: America's Dairyland
Bamboozle wrote:
. . . . The reels were first introduced and pictured in the 1971 Christmas catalogue with inverted script. I'd love to get my hand on a 1972 Spring Catalogue to see if the photos still show inverted script. . . . .


I have a few Orvis catalogs from the 1970s. Here's the 1972 Spring catalog page for CFOs - the lower photo (showing the side plate view) reveals that the script was still inverted. In fact, it was still inverted in Winter, 1973 and the Spring, 1975 catalogs. I don't know when it changed, but in the Spring, 1979 catalog the script was in the "normal" position. So, maybe CFO reels with the inverted script are not quite as rare as originally thought.



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Post 12 Feb 2023, 08:49 • #23 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19076
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
It's also possible they changed the reels but continued the original older ad copy, because they still made them "close enough" following Orvis intellectual property.

At some point, c. 1971, they went from Hardy to BFR, and that's where the magnesium Battenkill Mark disappeared, and Young-made Battenkill took its place - the new owners of Hardy (the castle-logo guys) refused to make reels for "the competition"


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Post 21 Feb 2023, 01:42 • #24 
Master Guide
Joined: 06/07/12
Posts: 865
Location: US-CA
The timeline I have seen for the CFO manufacturing transition from Hardy to BFR was 1994 to 1996…


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Post 01 Aug 2023, 16:41 • #25 
Guide
Joined: 12/31/10
Posts: 158
Location: Maryland
Actually introduced in the Orvis newsletter in the summer of 1971.

Orvis distributed a newsletter printed on newsprint paper which was mailed out to regular customers several times a year.

The introduction of the CFO came in that newsletter In July/August of 1971.

Word of the new reel spread via the LeTort grapevine, and suffice it to say that the group of anglers in that area knew about the CFO long before the Christmas catalog arrived.


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