LOUIS BOUGLÉ

(3/5) The "bouglé" reel ...

        During his trips to England, Bouglé signed a contract with the renowned House of Hardy Ltd. He designed an improvement of the ‘perfect’ Reel, by adding external pillars, which greatly improved capacity and what with the addition of an aluminium wheel, made it lighter. It was 1903 that the reel bearing the inventors name first appeared in Hardy’s catalogue. The length of time that the ‘Bouglé’ was produced (up until 1939) is testament to its efficiency and other than a few modifications (notably in 1912 when the break regulator was introduced) and it’s relatively high cost of production; it remained the reference in Fly Fishing reels.

The ‘Bouglé’, extract  from ‘Le Pêcheur Écossais’ (The Scottish Fisherman’s) circa 1908

The ‘Bouglé’ reel has a certain particularity: The engraving on it is of a  competition won by Louis Bouglé himself in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris, the 10 March 1910, at Le Tir au Pigeon (Pigeon shooting)!!!

        But if Bouglé was building himself a reputation with the anglers of Britain with his reel, in France he was promoting the American style of fishing with the rod in one hand and the multiplying reel. Soon after, in the ‘Wyers Fréres’ catalogues appeared several different styles of posture in a study of American style Fly-Casting. Bouglé was himself the model for the different poses…

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