Hardy – William Hardy and his brother John James formed the company of the Hardy Bros Partnership, in 1873. Originally they dealt in firearms, but they soon changed direction. Both brothers loved to fish and their hobby became their business. And so the famous line of Hardy reels and rods were born.

Shakespeare – In 1896 William Shakespeare Jr, a keen angler, wanted to improve existing fishing reels so he decided to invent a device for winding fishing line back onto the spool evenly. He patented the level-wind fishing reel and his new design was beyond any other type of reel on the market. The result of this is now that this feature is commonplace on most fishing reels.

Hendrix – As an enthusiastic fisherman A.B Hendrix became involved in producing fishing reels. By 1886 he was granted the first of eleven patents he received for fishing reel design. These fishing reels first appeared on the market on 1887 and they remained one of the larger producers of fishing reels in the US.  But in 1919 the company was sold to the Winchester Repeating Arms Co, which makes Hendrix fishing reels very collectable.

Pflueger – In 1881, Ernest Pflueger founded the Enterprise Manufacturing Company and bagn making fishing hooks. Enterprise Manufacturing Company became the E.A. Pflueger Company in 1916 when Pflueger expanded the business to make more types of fishing equipment. Pflueger is renowned for making the finest fishing reels.

Penn – Otto Henze abandoned his job with Ocean City Reels in 1932 and founded the Penn Fishing Tackle Manufacturing Company in Philadelphia, USA.

Meisselbach - Meisselbach & Bro. began producing fishing reels in 1886, and by 1910 they were one of the biggest fishing reel producers in the world. After the retirement of Meisselbach the company was sold but carried on making reels until 1945.

Orvis - Charles F. Orvis founded a fishing tackle shop in Manchester, Vermont, USA in 1856. His 1874 fly reel was described as, “the benchmark of American reel design.” He had a fishing tackle catalog that was distributed to his devoted customers in the late 1800’s

Some other popular reel makers include South Bend, Heddon, Zebco, Ocean City, Langley, Bronson and Coxe.