Shilton Reels
Fishing in Roodepoort

About Shilton Reels Shilton Engineering was established in 1988, specializing in high precision engineering projects. Shilton is a company passionate. Our renowned Shilton Fly Reels have been manufactured since 1999 and are crossing all frontiers in the international fly fishing arena.

All machining is done in-house using the latest CNC technology. Our Shilton Fly Reels have been extensively tested in the field and placed under intense conditions and trials over many years. Our range of Shilton Fly Reels are highly sought after and remain a much loved brand in South Africa and countries around the globe. We are proud of our products’ reputation and are confident in their reliability, durability and unsurpassed quality. It gives us great pleasure to also mention that many IGFA World Records have been awarded to fly fisherman fishing with our Shilton Fly Reels. In 2010, Shilton Engineering was awarded the much sought after and prestigious Design Excellence Award from the South African Bureau of Standards. The Shilton Team comprise of avid, experienced fly fisherman who are committed to serving the Shilton community and offering a service second to none. At Shilton we are very committed to our brand and place a lot of focus on building long term relationships with our clients. Having a CNC machine shop and being involved with engineering work for more than fifteen years, Tony Frittelli, founder and creator of the Shilton Fly Reels saw the need to develop and manufacture his own fly fishing reel. Tony has been an avid fly fisherman for more than fourteen years now and has always been very interested in the tackle side of the sport. Top end fly fishing reels are mostly manufactured in the USA and UK and retail locally at a price that most anglers can’t afford, while cheaper mass produced reels are imported from the East. He decided to start working on the development of a fly reel that would compete with the world’s top brands and which could be affordable to many fly fishermen locally and internationally. The first Shilton Fly Reel was in development for eight months with five months of testing and trials before marketing and sales could commence. After twelve months of been available to the public we started developing reels for salt water and big game fly fishing, and it is with these reels that the Shilton brand has become known throughout the world. Material choice was based on the highest quality for resisting corrosion due to harsh operating conditions experienced in different parts of the world. The reels’ frame and spool are machined from top quality aluminium bar stock and the components are machined from a high quality stainless steel. Materials used for the various drag (clutch) systems on our reels consist of certain polymers, carbon fibres and natural cork with additives. Getting these materials working together perfectly and optimally took a large part of our development time, especially for our salt water reels due to the extreme heat being generated from fighting large game fish while at the same time having to perform smoothly and flawlessly.