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Rochester & Carlton Reels

Harvey Carlton was one of the many people from the Rochester, NY area, who in the 1800s got into the fishing tackle manufacturing business. Carlton had worked in the optics and camera fields that were the mainstay of the Rochester economy. In 1903 he formed the Carlton Manufacturing Company, and in the next few years he patented several innovative ideas for fishing reels. Between 1903 and 1908 Carlton produced many reels. These included several models of fly reels, and some innovative bait casting reels. Among the fly reels were an Automatic fly reel, the Ideal fly reel, the cute little Gem horizontal fly reel, and the Light Weight fly reel. The bait casters included 60, 80 and 100 yard sandwich style reels in four and nine Multiple versions. Although they are usually found in a fixed spool versions, these reels were also available as a free spool model, which are quite scarce today. Carlton also produced a very scarce Musky size reel that he called the Superior. In addition he manufactured a salt water reel in two sizes called the Atlantic and the Pacific. These reels are rare.

In 1908 Harvey Carlton reorganized the Carlton Manufacturing Company into the Rochester Reel Company. However, later in the same year he filed dissolution papers were filed for this company. I am unsure what happened next, and no one has come forward with information, but in 1910 Andrew Wollensak, of Wollensak Optical Company patented several "improvements" to the basic Carlton patents. These were new spool construction for the fly reels, and a pair of bait casting reels that were still 4x and 9x multipliers, but cosmetically and mechanically quite different. As far as we are aware, Wollensak never produced these reels. However, H. J. Frost, a jobber and wholesaler of New York City, apparently contracted with an unknown manufacturer to have these reels built. The reels appear under the Rochester Reel label, but have Frost’s NYC address, and use his trademarked names.

Reels that we currently call Rochester Reels include the Ideal, Gem, and an Automatic Fly Reel. These reels are very similar to the Carlton versions, except the spool is the Wollensak patented stamped version with round holes for ventilation. The bait casting reels are innovative: German silver, a rotating click/drag tailplate, and a take apart system. No screws are visible in the frame construction. There were also larger versions of 250 to 350 yard capacity that were for salt water fishing. The Rochester fly reels are quite collectible, but can still be found. The bait casters are starting to get scarce. The Salt Water reels are rare, with only a few examples now in collections.

H. J. Frost retired around 1920, and the reel designs that he produced were picked up by Shakespeare, Ocean City, and other manufacturers. The 9x multiplier was the only production model reel with this high a gear ratio. They are sought after by collectors today.