REAL RARE REEL : GREY'S HISTORIC PIECE OF TACKLE IS ON DISPLAY IN VENTURA SHOP.

Byline: Brett Pauly Daily News Staff Writer

Eric Huff is watching Zane Greybrag about a behemoth fishing reel in the 1936 flick ``White Death.''

``I've never seen anything like it,'' an onlooker says to the revered sportsman and outdoors author in the choppy black and white film produced in Australia.

``No wonder,'' Grey responds on cue, ``it's the only one in existence. It was made for me specially.

``Carries 1,500 yards of line. Going to win that big shark bet with that.''

Huff has bragging rights himself.

``That's my baby,'' says the goateed Ventura tackle shop proprietor and beaming owner of the 17-pound stainless steel reel Grey featured in his film.

Built by famed Hollywood reel maker Arthur Kovalovsky in 1934, it is perhaps the most famous piece of tackle, referred to several more times as ``the big Kovalovsky'' in Grey's 1937 title book ``An American Angler in Australia'' and in many feature articles of the day.

Used to land a 1,036-pound tiger shark Down Under - the first trophy topping the 1,000-pound benchmark caught on rod and reel - and other record sharks, it has been heralded by collectors ever since.

``There's never been a reel with this much history,'' Huff said.

It was secreted away by the Grey family for nearly 60 years until Huff, a budding collector, stumbled onto the gem last year.

What makes Huff so noteworthy as its possessor is his youthfulness. All of 25, he was beckoned away, well, in a huff, to Sonoma with thousands of dollars in his pocket after receiving a call from an antique dealer who had procured the reel from a Grey descendant.

``Eric is a new collector, and for a new guy that's a hell of a find,'' said Rick Edmisten, a North Hollywood tackle aficionado and co-author of ``Handmade in Hollywood: The Reels of Arthur Kovalovsky.'' ``That was good detective work.''

The journey north on the spur of the moment is a story in and of itself - involving a drive through the wee hours, checking into a sleazy hotel and the apprehensive stares of a dealer who apparently didn't know what he had.

``It was a treasure hunt. We didn't even know if this guy was going to hold us up or not,'' said Huff, who made the trip with fellow collector Wayne Allen of Long Beach. ``But when we got there, we knew it was the real thing.''

Now patrons of Eric's Tackle Shop gawk at the immensity of the 16/o reel housed in a cramped display case.

``I was the guy who brought it out to the public,'' Huff said. ``It makes me feel good when a husband and wife come in here and they're in awe . . . blown away by the size. `Are there fish in the ocean that big?' People ask me that all the time.

``You don't have to be a collector to appreciate it.''

But collectors do appreciate it as the first rim-control, or lever-drag reel built - a lever controls the drag, rather than a traditional star system. It's crafting is impeccable, spun from the finest materials with no cost spared.

``One machinist told me he couldn't build a reel like that today for $10,000,'' Huff said.

Moreover, only two of the reels were made. The other bears Grey's name but was never actually used by the great angler, according to Huff.

``The significance is its rarity, early manufacturing and limited production,'' Edmisten said.

Grey's son Loren was surprised to learn of the find.

``I'll be darned. By the sounds of it, it's very likely that it was one of those big Kovalovsky reels that my father used,'' said Grey, 80, of Woodland Hills. ``It looks like it was sold by one of my siblings. Being the youngest (of three children), I got shortchanged on the tackle.''

Indeed, Huff has a letter from Grey's daughter, Betty Zane Grey Grosso, verifying the reel's authenticity, along with a similar letter from Oscar Kovalovsky, the son of its maker who crafted parts for the unit.

Huff, who also collects big-game books, displays his grand prize with a newspaper clipping chronicling the reel, some canceled checks with Grey's signature and other tackle emblazoned with his name.

Photos of marlin hookups that once adorned Grey's Altadena home hang from the tackle shop's walls. A flag picturing a mako - hoisted from the angler's boat each time he landed one of the sharks - is draped from the ceiling. A steamer box with his ``ZG'' stamp and telltale blue and red stripes is stacked with brochures, order statements and other paperwork.

But it's the memory of chasing down ``the big Kovalovsky'' that keeps the gleam in Huff's eyes.

``It's not the owning (of it) that is as big a deal anymore,'' said Huff, who is considering selling the piece. ``It's the challenge of finding something like that; that's what the rush is.''

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3 Photos

Photo: (1--color) Eric Huff shows a flag that Zane Greyhoisted each time he caught a mako shark.

(2--color) Eric Huff's Ventura tackle shop contains a cache of interesting Zane Grey fishing memorabilia.

(3--color) Eric Huff, owner of Eric's Tackle Shop, displays his prized reel and a clipping about Zane Grey.

Joe Binoya / Special to the Daily News