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Fin-Nor Reels

Fin-Nor's beginnings go back to the glory days of big game fishing, when angling greats such as Ernest Hemingway, Tommy Gifford and Alfred Glassell, Jr. were expanding the sport's horizons. The brand was born in a Miami machine shop owned by Mr. Finley and Mr. Norwood, where they produced their first big game reel in 1933. It weighed 35 pounds and was large enough to fill a sizable water bucket. Capt. Tommy Gifford, collaborator on the reel design, caught a 527-pound bluefin tuna at Cat Cay on his reel, and Fin-Nor took off from there.

Fin-Nor's reputation for quality increased with the record catch of Alfred Glassell, Jr.'s 1560-pound black marlin in Cabo Blanco, Peru in 1953 while he was filming footage for the film Old Man and the Sea. This remains the largest black marlin on record with the International Game Fish Association.

Henry Breyer III, Palm Beach resident and heir to the Breyer's Ice Cream fortune was a long-time owner of Fin-Nor prior to selling the Company in 1990. With the help of superstar engineer Gar Wood Jr. Fin-Nor expanded into fly tackle.

Wood designed the legendary Fin-Nor saltwater fly reels, nicknamed the "wedding cake" reels, that were the first fly reels to withstand the rigors of catching large saltwater fish like tarpon.

To this day, these reels are collectibles due to their simple, elegant design that performs so well many are still in use today. Wood also designed a revolutionary spinning reel in the 1950's that established the base for Fin-Nor's expansion into spinning tackle.