Description
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PFLUEGER MEDALIST NO. 1498 FLY REEL, PRE-OWNED
The Pflueger Medalist 1498
Examples Shown 1498 “Akron” and 1498 “DA”
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The Pflueger Medalist 1498 was first introduced in 1958 as a replacement for the discontinued and similarly sized 1496 and 1496½. By this time the United States was well into its post-war boom and leisure time and resources that could be devoted to sport fishing were becoming the norm. Fly fishing in salt water for striped bass, bonefish and tarpon was taking its first tentative step into the mainstream. Challenged by this new, more adventurous market Pflueger responded with a heavy duty giant killer. The first 1498’s featured a reinforced six-rivet spool, oversized brake shoe, beefier drag spring and drag knob protective cage. One doesn’t have to look far to find photographic proof of the suitability of the 1498 for tarpon over 100lbs or double-digit bonefish. Period books and magazines are full of pictures of impressive catches made on Medalists.
The 1498DA series Medalist went from the six rivet reinforced spool to six rivets without the reinforced sleeve, to the standard three rivet spool, with no reported ill.jpg)
affects. The 1498 is a big reel, an inch across at the spool and four-inches in diameter. It’s capable of holding a full DT10 fly line and 100 yards of 30lb backing, or a WF10 and nearly 200 yards of backing. I find this to be a great choice in fly reels for Ohio River hybrid stripers, pike and muskie fishing. To ensure top performance, I rig this reel with a One Pfoot hardened drag ratchet plate (shown installed in the image to the right). This drag plate currently costs as much as a new Pflueger Medalist, which is to say it’s very affordable. The pay-off to this part is the extremely smooth and dependable drag performance in LHW. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that if you intent to fish any Medalist from the “Akron” or “DA” period in LHW- regardless of size- you need this part. Remember, in RHW there are 8 clicks on the outgoing drag and 4 click on retrieve. Changing to LHW moves those four detents to the pay-out side, allowing as much as 90-degrees of spool rotation before the drag engages. If you intend to outfit your mint 1494 to fish for trout with 4x and 5x tippets – invest in this drag plate before you go LHW! I use this part in every Medalist I have set-up for LHW, which for me means anything carrying a 7-weight or heavier line. I also suggest use of the One Pfoot spool counterbalance for situations where you may encounter strong, long-running fish like carp. A balanced spool will feel much more confident during that first, hard run.
