Of Woods and Waters: A Kentucky Outdoors Reader

Old Reels

J O H N WILSON Old Reels From Happy Hunting Ground (July 1973) IN 1810, GEORGE SNYDER, a silversmith in Paris, Kentucky, had an idea. Let's assume that it came to him in March, just when the first buds began to appear and only the faintest hint of green colored the fields, came to him during those first few warm days of spring when Snyder, in anticipation of fishing trips to come, was walking along Stoner Creek. Then, for the next few weeks, while winter returned to play out the last seemingly interminable act of its seasonal drama, Snyder stayed indoors at his lathe while under his hands his idea took shape, and when he once again appeared on Stoner Creek he carried his invention with him. George Snyder had made the first bait-casting reel with multiplying gears—that is, one turn of the handle causes the spool to revolve several times. It isn't known if he realized that his reel was the first of its kind, but what happened on that historic first cast is almost certain. He baited his hook with a big minnow (or maybe a nightcrawler or two), leaned back and tried to throw his bait all the way across the river, then watched in amazement as all his line tried to jump off the spool at the same time, tangling itself into the most incredible series of knots and snarls imaginable. History mercifully does not record what Snyder called this first backlash, but variations, all equally unprintable, have been used by fishermen ever since. In any event, Snyder soon learned 192 to use his thumb to control the spool and began making a few more reels to sell to his friends and neighbors. This was in the days before mass manufacturing and merchandising, so he remained content to keep his reel making as a small sideline to his jewelry and silversmithing business. Snyder never knew the impact his invention would have on fishing throughout the world, never foresaw the hundreds and thousands of anglers who would use the direct descendants of his reel to catch everything from bluegill to sailfish, never guessed that tournament casting would develop into an international sport. In fact, Snyder's role in developing the casting reel was virtually forgotten until the 1930s, when he was rediscovered by Mrs. Wade H. Whitley, a Bourbon County historian. It's only about 40 miles from Paris to Frankfort, but in the early 1800s, that was at least a five-hour trip. News, like everything else then, traveled slowly, and it was over 20 years after Snyder made his first reel that Jonathan Meek, a Frankfort jeweler , was commissioned to produce a similar article. Here again the historical record is scant, and we'll probably never know the exact date or circumstances of the first Frankfort reel. Different versions of the story place it as early as 1832 to as late as 1839 when Judge Mason Brown learned about the Snyder reel and asked Meek to make him one. Some sources say that Brown had invited some friends from Paris to Frankfort for a fishing trip and they brought a couple of Snyder's reels with them. Brown liked them, and took one to Meek for him to copy. Another version has it that Brown owned a Snyder reel and hired Meek to make a replacement when he lost the original. Yet a third story completely discounts Snyder's role and maintains that Brown independently asked Meek to develop a reel for him. But the important point is that Meek accepted the job and in so doing started an industry in Frankfort that was to last until after World War II. It is probable that Meek turned some, if not all, of the job over to his younger brother Benjamin, who alJOHN WILSON 193 though still a teenager, was purported to be a better craftsman than many men twice his age. It is also very likely that there was a young apprentice, Benjamin Milam, in the Meeks' shop when the first reel was made. This reel was probably made of brass and had a 4:1 gear ratio —the first "quadruple multiplying" reel. This gearing became and still is standard on most reels. Brown liked his reel, and soon the Meeks started receiving orders for others. Since the reels were entirely handmade, production was slow, seldom exceeding at its...