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Brusky Reels
Stefan Brusky is practically a neighbor of mine and has been an occasional fishing partner. For years he worked on producing an anti-reverse trout reel made from all stainless steel. He's actually got one or two of these reels finished and they are incredible. When we were talking awhile ago and discussing reels that would actually sell fairly well I mentioned classic/traditional S-handled style reels for spey fishing. I particularly emphasized the lack of any reel of this type having a click-only or gear and pawl only "drag" system. The first reel Stefan showed me in the classic design was beautiful and had a wonderful, and relatively simple, drag system. I again encouraged him to do one without the drag. He showed me an almost finished reel in early 2008, we discussed a few possible changes, and I received the finished reel a month later. This is a bench-made (only the gorgeous S-handle itself is CNC machined from stainless) reel that has real stainless pillars, exceptional attention to details- like how the reelfoot is machined out to mesh with the two pillars to which it's attached, and an S-handle that's recessed in just far enough that line cannot get caught behind it. The click-only system is totally unique. It works terrific and yet it isn't LH or RH specific. What it's not is a true gear and pawl. Check out the photos below the table to view the insides of this ingenious approach. The plan is to have two widths available in the 3.5" diameter model and 4.0" diameter now. Believe me when I tell you that particularly the 3.5" sizes would also make excellent reels for single-handed rods. Even the 4.0" size would work for heavy duty single-handed work like what might be needed on the Thompson, Grand Cascapedia, Moisie, or some of the rivers in Norway. The salmon reels in the photos have had the aluminum anodized. As noted below, Stefan is no longer offering clear anodizing on rims, spools or trim. Aluminum sideplates will still be anodized black, however. Unless orders get a little overwhelming Stefan figures it should take no more than four months from the placement of the order until delivery. Call or e-mail me today to be sure to get on the list soon enough that one hundred twenty days is all you'll have to wait.
Stefan announced in mid-2009 that he will no longer offer clear anodizing on any of his reels. One of the principle reason why his delivery times have gone from thirty days to four months is the trouble he's had getting good anodizing on his rims, spools, and trim. Eventually he had to make the same decision that Joe Saracione, Al Bellinger, and others have made and that is to avoid clear anodizing completely. He has also at least temporarily discontinued black anodized sideplates. Your option is in the white clear non-anodized aluminum or black Delrin. Call or e-mail me if you have any questions about this. Stefan now has 2.5", 2.75" and 3.0" trout reels available with all the same features. Since the reel has a virtually identical design the costs are about the same for him so the price will also be $850.00. Each is available in three different widths. All photos of the trout model here are of an unanodized version. In the two photos showing both the trout and the salmon it is fairly easy to see the difference in finish between the unanodized trout and the anodized salmon. Remember, clear anodizing is no longer available. We also recently discussed a 4.5" reel. To be honest, the capacity on that one would be enormous as his 4.0" Wide holds a lot of line. He asked me to try to determine whether there was a market for a reel of this size, so I'm asking you to respond if you think you'd be interested. No commitments here, just an assessment of the interest. In the photos below, the Trout model is shown with a white Ivorette handle and the Salmon model witha black Delrin handle. This is the default setup as determined by Stefan, except that his black handles are now black buffalo horn. However, if you'd prefer a white handle on a Salmon or a black handle on the Trout, just let me know when you order. Another option to consider. The biggest issue with the trout reels is weight. Since many of these will be used on cane rods they don't really need to be featherweights. However, the 3.0" Narrow trout, which is the one trout reel I've had a chance to put on my postal scale, weighs 8.2oz and is a reel best suited for 4/5 weight lines. Even on most cane rods, many of you would consider that heavy. Stefan understands and is proposing the following option: if you're going to be using the reel rather than displaying it, you can request to have an all aluminum spool in place of the brass arbored spool and/or you can request an aluminum reelfoot in place of the stainless foot. Don't get me wrong, the brass arbor is very classic and gorgeous to be sure and the stainless reelfoot is far more durable, but you will experience a difference of two ounces or more for the choice (depending mostly upon the width.) As soon as I have definite weights on these various options I'll get them in the table below, but Stefan assured me it'd be at least two ounces and that is significant. I guess if it were me, and I intended to use the reel quite a bit I'd opt for at least the all-aluminum spool. If I were going to use it mostly with a graphite rod I'd probably elect the aluminum foot option, too. Stefan is serious about trying to meet everyone's desires and needs. The latest option for reducing weight is to have the internal spool ventilated. Stefan will ventilate both sides of the spool AT NO ADDITIONAL cost and again, depending upon the size of the reel, you're looking at two ounces or more in reduced weight. In other words, opting for the aluminum arbor and ventilated spool would reduce the weight somewhere between three and five ounces. Stefan is now taking orders for his disc drag salmon reels in 3.5"W and 4.0"W. The reels look very much the same as the click-only models except for a round, knurled, drag knob on the rear plate. All arbors on these will be aluminum and the offer of a ventilated spool at no additional costs applies to these reels, too. In fact, my own reel will be arriving that way. The only photo available right now is of the reel totally in the white (absolutely no anodizing), which is so beautiful that a few guys, including me, have actually ordered it that way. Stefan and I discussed pricing at length regarding this reel. I kept pushing the fact that if you keep the price to three digits you'll likely find a lot of buyers. So, Stefan is pricing this model at $995.00. Believe me, you cannot find a bench-made reel of this quality, with a true cork/drawbar disc drag (Abel, Tibor, Shilton, etc.) at anywhere near this price. At this point Stefan plans to keep to that $995.00 into 2010, though there's no guarantee he'll be able to maintain that price throughtout the entire year. It would be best to place your order now if you're truly interested. PLEASE NOTE: Soon I will be re-writing all this copy. However, until then let me just state that Stefan has decided to enter the designs for his reels into a CNC program and that in the future his reel will no longer be bench-made. At least that's true for the reels at the prices shown on the table below. Stefan has said he's willing to continue doing the bench-made models (all of them) but that the waiting period would be long and indefinite and the price will be substantially higher. Those prices haven't been determined yet, but will be posted here when they are. Rest assured that the new reel will be made in the US, probably by a machine shop close to where Stefan lives here in southern Wisconsin, and that all the final assembly, tuning, and quality control will still be done by him. These will be superb reels, virtually indistinguishable from the bench-made and quite frankly, probably with closer tolerances as computers can do things no human can accomplish in that regard. What will be missing is the mystique that comes from owning a piece of artwork created by a single pair of hands. And that usually translates into long-term collectors' interest and value. If you're buying the reel mostly to fish it, you'll love the CNC version. If you're buying one with at least as much interest in long term value and/or appreciation then you'll want to order a bench-made reel and simple wait for it to be completed. This effects only reels order after July 1, 2010. FEATURES:
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