I have the honor of writing this brief introduction to Stephen Barnes’ website featuring his collection of antique fishing reels. Stephen’s objective in creating this site is to display the collection without bringing undue attention to the collector (himself). I appreciate his willingness to share, and hopefully you will find something of interest as you view these incredible old reels.

I first met Stephen in October of 2001 when he purchased a reel which I listed on eBay. He lives in Houston, Texas and noticed that I also live in Houston and therefore asked if he could pick up his reel in person. I agreed, and such was the beginning of a close friendship and eventually many hours of conversation related to old fishing reels.

During that initial visit in 2001, I had an opportunity to show Stephen my modest collection and noticed the appreciation and interest he exhibited in several of my reels. Little did I know that he would eventually persuade me to part with some of the rarest items in my collection, and those reels now proudly rest among the numerous others of equal or greater rarity which Stephen has rapidly acquired in just four (4) short years. His collection is truly amazing.

The collection is somewhat of a potpourri and includes unusual and rare reels manufactured by Heddon, Gayle, Meek, Meisselbach, Milam, Pflueger , Frederick, Edward and Julius Vom Hofe, William Shakespeare, Jr. and other famous makers. Hopefully this site will be a place that others can visit to obtain a visualization of a reel (or reels) that they’ve previously only read about.

This website is not presently complete, but Stephen is adding new features and pictures on a regular basis. He appreciates your visiting his site and welcomes any feedback or questions which you may have. You can contact Stephen Barnes at 713-688-0372 or 281-296-0326, or email at steph9985@aol.com.