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We had a great morning with 16 attendees assembling their reels - including a 13 y/o boy and a young lady! The best part, we raised $800 for the NH TU Trout in the Classroom program. That's enough to buy a new chiller to put in a classroom with a little extra left!

Cheers,
Michael

We got some local press on our upcoming Workshop in the Lowell Sun Even have a little photo of me .

Cheers,
Michael

This Saturday will be our second annual Reelsmithing Workshop to support the NH TU Council's Trout in the Classroom program. It is shaping up to be a great event and will raise funding for chillers and other items for the program. The Workshop has a few more slots available if you are interested. Registration information here.

Cheers,
Michael

We've been getting more interested in sharing our knowledge in video! So, we created a channel on YouTube to host our instructional videos. You can find us and subscribe to the channel here: The Eclectic Angler Video Channel

We've posted a couple of videos to accompany our Newsletter and there is a great video on how we machine our Ported Aluminum Reel Kit side plates.

Cheers,
Michael

Three months ago we decided to augment our PayPal service with a credit card processor to give our customers more choices on checkout. After a 3 month trial we have come to the conclusion that PayPal is the best alternative at this time. PayLeap was very expensive (almost 6% of sales were eaten up by "fees" and "services") AND it did not support international buyers OR debit cards! On top of that, more than 75% of our customers continued to check out using PayPal and their credit card.

PayPal really has been dependable and affordable for us. Customers do not need to have a PayPal account in order to use a credit card on checkout. So, as of today, 8/18/2011, we've terminated PayLeap credit card processing.

Regards,
Michael

I slipped and fell in stream in the Smokies yesterday.  Smacked my reel on the rocks.  The pin that the spool locks into disloged from the axle (part that extends from drag mechanism)  and was lost. Now ther is no cap or pin to lock the spool onto.   looking for parts.  Any ideas?   Bill Franke at One Pfoot parts shop is not available right now.

Our next workshop is in Colorado in mid July. So far, we have 16 participants registered. It should be a great workshop is a beautiful location!

cheers,
Michael

Completed another Reelsmithing Workshop with a group of 12 guys in Rhode Island on Saturday. Unfortunately, 1 attendee had to leave early to visit a sick relative but the other 11 completed their reels in class. This group chose our Raised Pillar brass reel with black spool plates and a click check. A classic looking reel on any rod!

cheers,
Michael

I spoke at the Pemi TU chapter up in Plymouth, NH on Tuesday evening. A few of the members took me to dinner at The Common Man in Plymouth. The meeting was held in the same place. The Common Man is an inn in an old popsicle stick factory! It was very cool.

I'll be the speaker at the Thames Valley TU Chapter in Ct on 3/15/2011 at 7:30pm. Come by and say hello and here my presentation. You can get directions and more information on their web site.

I will start with an introduction on reelsmithing. A brief history of reels will be presented followed by a how-to discussion of building brass and aluminum reels using simple tools and materials.

cheers,
Michael