Saturday, August 15, 2020

MB CUSTOM RODS - Tiemco Oracle Vintage Baby Trout Fly Reels

It's always amazing what you can find elsewhere in the fly fishing world and if you're not familiar with Tiemco beyond their hooks, well you're missing out.  A few years back they offered some really wonderful yellow glass fly rods and more recently I have been intrigued with the EUFLEX Glass Master fly rods they are showing on their website.

I am a pushover for classic-looking click and pawl fly reels and my interest was sparked when Marc Beissler of MB Custom Rods recently began offering the Tiemco Oracle Vintage Baby Trout series fly reels.  They are available in several different configurations and in two sizes.

Your two, three, or four weight fiberglass fly rod might need an upgrade...

I asked Marc if he wouldn't mind sharing his thoughts on these fly reels along with some of the studio photographs that he took.  Yes, there are a lot of photos as you scroll down but I certainly don't mind looking at them and I bet you won't either.  


Marc wrote...  "As a custom rod builder, I´m always looking out for the perfect combination of aesthetically pleasing rod and reel combinations, and as a fan of classy looking rod concepts, not really vintage, but kind of pure, subtle ones, I stumbled across the Tiemco Oracle Vintage Baby Trout reels.

As Tiemco is foremost known for their hooks and maybe tippets, they never crossed my way in terms of fly reels before. I was excited to see their range of classy looking vintage click and pawl reels in my preferred sizing from 2 7/8“ – 3".

As the Japanese product design and product quality caught my attention on other occasions before, I ordered the first batch to check if they meet my expectations. One week later I held the Baby Trout model in the non-perforated spool combination color in hand and I was stunned by the clean, perfectly machined, and well-packed reel with the perfect weight and size to fit on a two to four weight rod.

There are two models, with the Baby and Baby Trout, and two types of spools available with the NP (Non-Perforation) which is without holes and DP (Double Perforation) which features two rows of holes in the spool. There are three types of color combinations with Solid Silver, Solid Gray and Gray Body with Silver Spool combination, so you can choose by coordination with your rod.

The Oracle Baby Trout has an outer diameter of 75 mm (3“) and is almost the same size as a CFO III and is ideal for DT 3F to DT 4F.  For reference with fly line and backing, expect a DT3F + 50m and DT4F + 20m (20lb). The fly reel weights 92 grams, spool width is 18mm.

The smaller Oracle Baby is 72 mm (2 7/8“) in the outer diameter almost the same size as a CFO 123 which is ideal for DT 2F to DT 3F.  The weight is 91grams, spool width measures 16mm with a fly line and backing capacity of DT 2F + 50m and DT 3F + 25m (20 lb). 

The clicker mechanism is solid and works properly with no plastics at all. It has a slightly louder sound whilst releasing line than in retrieve mode whilst using it lefthanded. As it is a two-way clicker, you do not need to change or switch the pawl to prepare it for righthanded use.

For everyone who likes a clean and solid reel with a vintage touch, this is one that will make you happy! The current stock is almost gone, but the next batch is already preordered to be available in early autumn. Visit my webshop or drop me an email if you have further questions on those beauties."

 












Want a Tiemco Oracle Vintage Baby Trout fly reel of your own?  Check out the MB Custom Rods website before they go out of stock.

3 comments:

Jay said...

Some time ago I acquired one of those highly acclaimed (probably only in Japan) Tiemco's Glass Master fiberglass rod.
A bit reminiscent of the Winston Stalker, except having non sanded blank and four piece rather than two piece.
Has a nice brown translucent color. Mine is the 7.7ft #3.

It seems the current Glass Master series are a different beast. The price is quite a bit lower too.
I have no clue why and what's different as I can't search for it with English language. Probably in Japanese there are tons of postings in various Japanese fly fishing forums 😆

Cameron Mortenson said...

Jay... I tried to get more information from Tiemco and even asked about getting one of the Glass Master fly rods and was told they were for the Japan market only. Oh well.

Jay said...

Cameron, it's odd that a company refuses to sell an item at all in spite of having a product made for a certain geographic area. I's obvious that some customers might have the taste that doesn't 'belong' there...
If you really want that rod, I can help. Let me know