Johnson Reel Collectors Assn. (J.R.C.A.) since 10/10/14

By Skip Smith
"The Johnson Fiskar 1 511 and Fiskar 2 512 may well have been among the pioneer “underspin” reels offered to the fishing public. These reels were marketed by Johnson Fishing from 1965 to 1971. They were essentially a spincast reel designed to be used under a spinning rod. Because they are so unique, I made up my mind I had to have one.

When they were new, they were near the top-of-the-line reels for Johnson and they were expensive, for the time. Because of their cost and uniqueness, I think, they didn’t sell very well, which would account for their short production run. Consequently, they’re comparatively rare in today’s vintage reel market.

Having made up my mind to own one, I began trolling eBay for Fiskar examples, because that’s about the only place they can be found. I came across one in Jan., 2015, and was so excited, I got “buyer’s fever”. I didn’t do “due diligence”, and ended up with some kind of bizarre hybrid that had a Fiskar front and rear cover, and little else that resembled a Johnson Fiskar 1. Back to the drawing board.

A few weeks later, having done my homework, I spotted yet another Fiskar 1 on eBay. This one looked more like a correct Fiskar 1, but I had some concerns about a couple of features. In spite of my misgivings, I pulled the trigger again. What I got this time was a Fiskar 1 that had been very creatively modified to fit on a casting rod instead of a spinning rod. Unfortunately, the anti-reverse mechanism was ineffective because of the alteration. Grrrrr!

FINALLY, I spotted what appeared to be a correct Johnson Fiskar 1 on eBay in late Feb, 2015. After careful study, I bought it, no bargain. While hibernating from winter weather, I took all three reels in hand to see what kind of useable Fiskar 1 I could concoct. After several hours of cleaning caked grease and general filth off of various pieces of all three reels, I had a fully operative Fiskar 1 model 511 on a Garcia spinning rod!

It’s going to take some practice to learn how to use this critter. The pushbutton line release takes some contortion to use. I wonder if that had something to do with the short production run of this reel? In any case, it should be a good conversation starter about Johnson reels with a generation that’s never had the privilege of using what I consider to be some of the finest spincast reels ever made."