American made Orvis CFO reels

The Orvis CFO reel is a modern classic. Introduced just over 40 years ago, no other reel is more considered as the Orvis reel as the CFO. The last couple of years Orvis changed the design of the CFO as well as having them manufactured in the far east. It just doesn't look right and I'm not the only one…

Recently Orvis decided to go back to its original looks but this time the reel is built in the USA rather than in England as they used to be. It is rumored that Abel builds the current CFO reels for Orvis. The most striking difference with the older Hardy (around up to late 1980's) and BRF built CFO reels is the shinny anodized finish.

The new reels doesn't resemble with the older numbering. The original CFO was available in a lot of sizes (II, III, IV, V and for a brief period the 123 and I). The new CFO is now only available in three sizes. The smallest version being slightly larger than the original II, which was impossibly small. The new II is the same diameter as the less known 123. The largest version is the same as the most popular sized CFO III. Maybe Orvis will introduce larger sizes soon.

The capacity seems the same and probably the spools are interchangeable, but this is yet to be confirmed. The new CFO reels are still very lightweight reels but slightly heavier than the original CFO's.

The new CFO reels are $325 to $345, which is surprisingly 'affordable'. I have yet to take a look myself, but I'm very curious. I won't be ditching my original CFO's anytime, but these new CFO's could be a big seller. A CFO with Abel quality sure sounds very solid. One thing I notice on these reels I don't 'like' is the wooden handle.

To make things even more complicated, Orvis also sells a real Hardy made CFO III as a limited edition version. It's a beauty obviously, but priced at almost $700 it's probably only interesting as a collectible rather than a fishing reel. There were several limited edition versions of the CFO reels in the past, so probably this won't be the last one...