Pure Fishing purchases Van Stahl and Fin Nor

[burk48237]

While they aren't exactly players in the Fly market at this point both have a history of some premium fly products. I suspect both were purchased for their cache in the premium SW market and to give Pure some product to compete with Shimano in Premium BW conventional tackle. Pure already owns Penn (another company that made some premium fly reels for a while). This is interesting, it certainly means Pures new owners aren't consolidating and shrinking their footprint in the market. I'm not sure what effect it will have on their fly side with Hardy, Fenwick, Hodgeman, and Pflueger.

Pure Fishing acquires Fin-Nor and Van Staal from Zebco | Product News - Angling International

 

[Ard]

More interesting news for sure. BTW I did find an Alnwick model of the Swift 975 reel and was able to use it to catch some fish this past fall. I like it, I had to get used to the look because I've used a Taupo on the rod since it was new. Rod's an 11 1/2 foot Swift #7 They make a nice pair but I'm shopping a rod for the Taupo now...….

 

[burk48237]

Love my Taupo, my main Steelhead/Silver reel. I think Hardy dropped it to.

 

[Ard]

I had 2 of them, sold one to a guy last year but kept one here. I've got a history of having reels that don't see use. Right now I'm trying to figure out what to use my old 4 1/4" Perfect for... I had used it on a 1981 Salmon Fly Graphite but since I began using lighter rods like my Swift and some Sage models I drifted away from the heavyweight reels like the 4 1/4. It's a good reel for kings and has a really strong check but has also been idle for years. Sad that.

 

[Redrock]

I have a set of four VS reels I use for snapper and light grouper fishing. Of the four, two have sheared the screws holding the handle onto the arm. All suffer from slight to moderate anodization issues. VS reels are marketed as surf reels capable of handing rough environments. The reels ride in the upper rod holders on my big boat, have never been dunked in the salt and are rinsed after each outing. My Avet and Shimano level winds do not have this issue. The drag system, however, is as advertised.

Pure has its work cut out for it. The next set of reels I purchase will be Stella’s, unless VS has a major turnaround.

 

[osseous]

My 90s era Van Staal has been faultless

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[First Light]

I believe the current Van Staals are made - guess where?

Yes, China.

The ones made in the 90's era early 2000's were made in the USA and as far as I know are still pretty much bullet proof.

 

[First Light]

Berkley Bedell founded the Berkley Fishing Company after WWII & (name later changed to Pure Fishing). Berkley and his Tom ran the company until 2006 or 07 when Tom sold the company. As I recall the company has been re-sold a couple of times since then and is now owned by a large private holding company in New York that owns a variety of businesses.