Limited Edition Hardy Bouglé Reel!

An exciting new Limited Edition Hardy fly reel!

We are pleased to announce another release of ever popular Hardy Limited Edition fly reels! This special edition of the Hardy Bouglé will be hand built in Alnwick, England and will consist of a limited run of 110 numbered 3¼" reels to commemorate the 110 years since production of the first Bouglé fly reel. These reels will be available from May 2013 - please contact us here at Glasgow Angling Centre either online or instore to pre-order a reel and reserve your piece of angling history, but be quick as with just 110 reels being released worldwide these will sell out very quickly if the recent Queens Jubilee Perfect and Commemorative JLH reels were anything to go by!

Only 110 of these reels will be made!

The story of Louis Bouglé and the fly reel that bears his name is an interesting one. In the early 1900s, Hardy was approached by an extraordinarily flamboyant Frenchman, who was at that time almost unknown in England, whose name would become familiar to two generations of Hardy customers and would echo on even to the present day. His name was Louis Bouglé, and although he was a well known face on the popular French tournament casting circuit, he only would only become famous in Britain after 1903, when William, John James, and Forster Hardy took him at his word and modified their Hardy Perfect reel to the Frenchman's exacting specifications.

Unmistakable Hardy Perfect heritage!

Monsieur Bouglé may have been eccentric, but he was an exceptionally skilled angler and his reputation was enough for the Hardy Bros to take a standard Perfect frame and patiently file it down to produce a lightweight variant. The new fly reel had an eye-catching design, with raised pillars and while it was unmistakably a Perfect, it was a very special one.

Eye catching and lightweight!

The very first Hardy Bouglé was a 3" reel listed in their 1903 catalogue, by which a note by William Hardy indicates that a 3¼" version was in the pipeline - the two sizes were listed right up to the outbreak of war in 1939.

The 1912 pattern check

The model presented here is the first ever 3¼" Bouglé to feature the prized 1912 check. The 1912 pattern check is thought by many to be the most attractive of all the many different styles of check fitted to the Perfect reel (and as seen on the recent Jubilee Perfect), although the reason for its introduction was probably more because owners had experienced trouble with the early check mechanisms jamming in use. The new check introduced a 'floating' pawl, connected via a spring to a brass lever. As you can see from the images, a twist of the regulator was all that was needed to set the drag using this remarkably elegant mechanism.


Limited Edition 3¼" Bouglé Specifications:

• Designed, developed and manufactured by Hardy Bros. in Alnwick, England
• Limited Edition of 110 numbered reels - to celebrate 110 years of Bouglé manufacture
• Hand-assembled and inspected by Hardy Bros. master reel makers
• Features the prized Hardy Bros. '1912' check system
• Ivorine type handle
• 6061 aluminium bar stock construction
• Polished 'Pearl Silver' anodised finish
• 'Rolling' line guard pillar
• Hardy Bros. block leather horseshoe reel case
• Supplied with commemorative limited edition collectors 'Bouglé anniversary' medallion

Available as either left or right hand wind, limited number of reels will be available from Glasgow Angling Centre and will be sold on a first come first served basis, please contact us HERE to register your interest. Price should be around the £1500 mark.