Jonathan Larrabee has been an avid fly fisherman and collecting antique fishing equipment since grade school.  Many summer hours were spent on the hockey pond dam at the Pomfret School catching Pumpkin Seeds, and largemouth bass, as well as the trees behind.  Saturdays and Sundays were spent with my parents going off to antique shops throughout New England.  While my parents looked for their own gems, I would seek out the random bamboo rod or reel collecting dust in the corner, most times paying the  sum of $2 to $5.  These I would take home and cleanup or rewrap and use. 

After High school I had the the dilemma of perusing Fine Arts or Engineering.  Coming from a liberal arts curriculum, the road less traveled by was to pursue Engineering, but the making of Von Hofe reels allows me to again combine the Fine Arts with my Engineering education.

Jonathan Larrabee & Co.  started out as almost a hobby for me.  I looked at several of my modern fly reels and said "I can make this." I referred to reels as my "Friday afternoon" job.  Introduced to Edward vom Hofe fishing reels through reading and researching Early Tuna fishing in New England and the goal of building my own Tuna reel, I moved over to my first interest fly reels. This lead to looking at Edward Vom Hofe's patents and ultimately buying several of his reels.  After a short lived two year relationship with a Perfection Fly Reel Co, Jonathan Larrabee & Co. came on its own in 2008.

The latest development  has been in June of 2011 i bought Hoagy Charmichael’s collection of New Old Stock (NOS) reel parts.  These parts included original Edward vom Hofe, Julius vom Hofe, and Walker pieces.  Call if you are looking for any parts; I will either have it or be able to make it for you!