The spike-mount reel is a mysterious design of great age. Possibly Irish in origin, it continued to be made into the 1880s. Instead of the conventional reel foot, there is a spike on the base of the reel that fits through a hole in the rod butt. The reel is then fastened by a wing nut that threads up the spike until the reel is firmly in place.
The American Museum of Fly Fishing Collection
1975.026.001
Gift of Luis Marden
