I remember when I bought my CFO 1988. Pawned the engagement ring my fiancee had given me back that day and drove over to Fly Fishers paradise in State College,Pa. Got that reel I always wanted and headed up Spring Creek to catch the sulphur spinner fall. Women may come and go, but a fine reel will last forever haha!
That's cool. I guess my decades old Orvis reels I still use are cool now, lol. All the rainbow patterned, extra large arbor, exotic metal whiz bang reels can take a back seat to old school...haha, I love it!
These are sweet reels. I wish they had produced these in some larger sizes for us out here in the Northwest. Trout, trout spey, single-hand steelhead, and standard spey.
Many thanks for another fantastic upload, still got my first click,reels from 1989,bring it out ,now again 😀. Thanks Brian for your time. Kind regards Mike. Norfolk. 🇬🇧. 👍.tight lines.
Small fish, small water perfection light weight awesome. I own a few of the originals use them on 2,3 and 4 wt. 5 wt and above fish large arbor helios. Many times on western big water I have been in the backing. This means a large arbor line capacity and take up is a must. Small streams back east the CFO is fun to fish.
You nailed it Brian! I’ve been fly fishing for over 50 years now and as you can imagine have many reels. Lots of Ross (Gunnison’s & Evolution’s) but I fish primarily with my Vintage Orvis CFO’s. I have 6 CFO III’s that I’ve collected through the years (All of them are Hardy made in England and 2 of them are the coveted Green Disc versions. It would be impossible to improve on this reel. I love the size and especially the minimal weight. I’m hoping to get the new USA Made version for Christmas. I understand it is actually made in Manchester, VT at the Orvis factory. Without question, the best fly reel design ever made! I couldn’t agree with you more! I use them on my Winston B IIIX 8.5’ 4wt, Orvis Super Fine Carbon 8’ 4wt, Orvis S.F. Touch 7.5’ 3wt, Orvis S.F. Far & Fine 7’9” 5wt. Thanks for the vid!
The notion that the CFO is a "retro style reel" is dependent on the belief that a fly reel should resemble the wheel of a Maserati. If you do not buy that belief then the CFO simply looks the way a fly reel should.
I absolutely love my hardy made CFO's. They get more and more buttery as the years go by. The CFO II is the lightest weight reel I've ever used. I'll never part with those reels.
Nice reel I love click reels up to this year all mine where yard sale special. My wife bless her got me a Abel 4/5 tr Brookie and a Ross Colorado. One for orvis sf glass and one for orvis recon. Guess Iam set for a while lol good video thank you
Such a beautiful piece of equipment. I have a few Click and Pawl Battenkills and they are pretty special. I’ll be ordering a C.F.O. For sure! Thanks for the video!
@@Madriveroutfitters Absolutely! I’m going to pair the CFOIII Reel with a 5wt Orvis Superfine Glass Rod and dress it with the double taper Cortland 444 flyline. The color peach will accent the setup quite nicely.
I have a really old CFO V and I just got into fly fishing for trout, interesting to see how it holds up over the years i will be learning how to trout fish with a fly.
Brian: Thank you for reminding everyone of the joy of click and pawl reels from Orvis. I have a discontinued Orvis Battenkill V for my spey rod, as well as a 3.5 inch click and pawl reel for trout flyfishing. I love the sound of the reel when the trout is taking out line. I also had at one time a Hardy click and pawl Princess reel before I left it on the top of my car one night after a caddis hatch in Utah. For my information, was Hardy the originator of the click and pawl reels?
I don't understand why clicker reels went out of style in the first place. I love them, especially my Martin 62 that I picked up for $10 from an antique store in Connecticut. Clickity-click. I swear the click is magical, I was up to 139 blue ridge brook trout with it since late February this year until I sprained my ankle 2 days ago. Big plus, it didn't dent when I tossed my rod when I slipped.
@@Madriveroutfitters I'd say, clinking is the sound, a well designed reel makes, when a fish makes a run - so my claim is, that clinking is good. Cambridge Dictionary describes it: "a short ringing sound like pieces of glass or metal knocking lightly together."
Good to see the CFO back, but Wow, the prices have escalated. We are now solidly in the world of $1000 rods and $350 reels. I have BBS3's on my 4wt and my 1wt and they are sweet. I have the original CFO1 on my old Orvis 2wt one ounce. The anodized CFO3's are more durable. The baked on enamel of the original sure has taken a beating on my small stream/ deep woods combo. Love it though.
Thanks for watching. Certainly the fly fishing world is not immune to rising prices. The cool thing is that there is still some decent quality equipment out there for reasonable prices. The fish don't care how much your gear costs!
@@Madriveroutfitters Luckily I built my collection when I was a bit younger and prices were a bit lower. Even then, my wife would say: "let me get this straight, you paid $400 for a plastic stick"?
I'm going to buy a new fly rod. $600 to spend and I've basically narrowed it down to 2 options: lightly used 9' 5wt orvis helios for $550, or brand new 9' 5wt orvis recon for $600. What would you do? Or should I look at something completely different? I've cast both and nothing I don't like about either rod. I'm torn between the 2. Leaning towards the helios just because it's cheaper being that it's used, but supposedly the better rod🤷♂️ by lightly used I mean maybe 10 trips a season over 2 years. No damage or anything, looks new besides the cork. It is nice to start fresh though
Thanks for being here. Please contact the folks at the shop directly via e-mail or better yet give them a call. They will be happy to help and answer your questions.
I Bought another CFO III about 10 Years ago? American Made by GALVAN or maybe Ross at the time? When HARDY stopped making them Orvis and The Reel manufacturer sent all the machinery to the new guy. They were only made 2 or 3 years and then nothing! Gad they are AGAIN being made!
@@Madriveroutfitters I haven't given up yet, but life is just "to much" at the time being. If crowd funding had been an option back then, I'm sure, you would have, but "illness is every man's master", as the danish saying says.