Abel: Keeping It At Home

A little bit of history, Steve Abel started Abel Manufacturing by producing highly engineered components for the aerospace industry. When he realized he could also make a darn nice fly reel, everything changed. Now owned by Craig Treharne, a London businessman who acquired the business in September 2006, Abel Quality Products, though it is now a fly-fishing-only business, still produces all of its components on-site. “‘Once the Cold War ended, government contracts were basically just deleted,’ [general manager Don] Swanson said. ‘So many of the machine shops went away. Luckily, we were good enough to create our own products, which allowed us to stay in business.'” In a good article about the company by Jenny Mintz, in the Ventura County Star.