Lastly, the Medalist was simply so common, basic, and recognizable, not to mention the antithesis of cutting edge, fine tolerance design and construction, that it lost any and all sex appeal. “Blue collar” was not and never would be sexy or hi-tech. And the next rod material would push fly fishing itself into a space age, sexy, image-conscious culture.
Pfleuger resisted all change and rode the old workhorse as far as it would go. Eventually Pfleuger brought out exposed rim, advanced drag reels, and played catch up with newer, sexier designs. But from the beginning, Pfleuger understood and solved the issue of line abrasion and responded with an iconic, complete solution in it’s Diamolite guard. Line abrasion is simply NOT an issue with a Pfleuger of any model since the Medalist, regardless of the age or treatment of the reel, regardless of the line used or casting style. Problem solved.
Enter Graphite. Enter salt water fly fishing. Enter barstock aluminum. Enter hard anodized aluminum coating. Enter Chrome, Titanium, Carbide coatings and ceramic inserts. Re-enter House of Hardy!!
Orvis was, almost from the start, the American affectation of the “noble” British tradition and Orvis’s path, built initially on hand crafted bamboo rods to be fished primarily with British and Hardy origin or tradition reels, followed that trajectory. Very few felt comfortable putting a Medalist on an Orvis bamboo rod. (Orvis DID for a short time contract with Pflueger to make the first Madison series reels, to go with their fiberglass rods.) But the explosion in the size of the market attracted the attention from all sides of the tradition…and the Atlantic.
When Orvis and Scientific Anglers looked for a maker of reels to match the new graphite image of their rods, they did NOT look at American manufacturers such as Pflueger or Shakespeare Those were companies with a low tech, blue collar image. They did not partner with any of the dozens of brand new, hi-tech reel makers entering the market with radical designs and materials. They looked back across the Atlantic to recapture in their line the noble British tradition. House of Hardy was the obvious (and maybe only) choice.
Scientific Anglers contracted with Hardy to produce their line of “System” fly reels which in the larger, saltwater sizes broke new ground design-wise, but to a lesser degree material-wise. The System fresh water reels harkened directly to the bamboo era Hardy Flyweight series made of cast aluminum…and soft, replaceable line guards. Those reels looked good, like a Hardy in fact, and balanced the rod well. Unfortunately, graphite was everything durability-wise that bamboo was not. If people did not coddle their graphite rods as a super-expensive, protection-demanding bamboo rod then the attached reels were in for a much rougher ride. As a result, the System era reels were quite forgettable and amazingly few survive to appear as eBay auction items to this day. See Figs. 17-22