Old Mariner may be a newer name in fly fishing, but the experience behind it spans more than six decades.

Founder Paul Conover began making fly reels in his grandfather's Miami machine shop in the early 1960s, where the legendary Fin-Nor wedding cake reels designed by Gar Wood were manufactured.

After a 23-year career as an aircraft machinist with Eastern Airlines, Paul returned to reel making, helping resurrect Fin-Nor manufacturing and later designing and building the Fin-Nor FR series and Ahab fly reels.

Today, that lifetime of machining, engineering and reel design continues with Old Mariner.