Reels
- This topic has 61 replies, 25 voices, and was last updated Jan 22, 2007 at 3:39 pm by
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Since I am primarily saltwater, my answers will probably be a little different.
1. Most of my reels are gear driven synthetics. I really like Lamson reels with the conical drives, but I don’t know how that fits in.
2. Most of my reels are in the $100 to $400 range (retail), however, I have never actually paid over $300 for a reel.
3. I set my drags by feel. Even in saltwater, I keep the drags a light as possible to avoid backlashing. I always adjust drag by palming the reel. I’ve never lost a fish because of over tight drag.
4. My favorite reels are a Lamson Lightspeed for salt and a Lamson Radius for coldwater, so I guess the answer would be yes. Next to favorite reels are a Redington GD and a Redington Backwater, which tend to be a little more traditional.
5. I hate to get the first ding in a reel. So It’s nice to sometimes get it over with. As long as it doesn’t affect performance, dings are not important after that. I don’t think I would pay extra for a dingproof finish. I don’t particularly like black reels, but I do like the smoke finishes and machined aluminum finishes. Black shows the dings to much.
6. I see no advantage of cork drags over modern synthetics. I wouldn’t pay extra for a reel with a cork drag, although many saltwater fishermen swear by them.
🙂 Fellas, I’ve been following this thread pretty closely since it started and I knew it was going to be interesting and informative from the outset. I have been using Ross and Bauer for a few years and if you guide in the Park very much, you are going to take some falls and get some dings on any reel. They have both held up well. While I was reading this thread, my wife came in with a new Cabelas catalog and it has a beautiful picture of their new SLA Reel on the front page. It says that it is the winner of the 2006 Best of the Best as seen in Field and Stream Magazine. I looked thru the catalog to get more info on this reel and it is a really nice looking reel. I looked at the price and it is a good medium priced reel. I then noticed that you can look at the reviews on this particular model and I clicked on the URL. I was amazed at the ratings that were given by several people and my thoughts were about the same as one person who had purchased this particular model. “Why in the world would you build a piece of equipment that looks this nice and put such a faulty piece of equipment into it?) Read the review.
1. My 3 wt reel is a clicker, the rest of my reels are of the disc drag type. I understand the various types of drag mechanism but feel any treatment of the subject needs to include a straightforward explanation of the basic types of drags and their pros and cons.
2. I am fortunate to be able to use pretty nice gear. Accordingly my reels are well above the average cost you mentioned. Depending on the size say $275-$600.
3. I set my drags to feel right rather to a specific amount.
4. I guess I am drawn to what I feel is the best reel for the job without regard to whether it is traditional or a little more creative in design. That said, my reels are pretty mainstream, i.e., Ross Evolution, Hardy GEM, Hardy Featherweight, Charlton, Ross Big Canyon, Tibor Everglades, Riptide, Gulfstream.
5. I use reel covers and try to be careful with my gear but particularly when fishing from a drift or flats boat I haven’t figured how to keep them from getting a bit of “boat rash”. Type III anodizing would be a nice feature. I really don’t care much what color my reels are but my SW reels tend to be light gold in color bacause I feel they don’t shot the boat dings as much as the black reels.
6. I don’t know enough to get into the cork vs. synthetic debate and IMO it is the rare fishing condition that really tests a drag anyway. I just try to buy the best reel I can for the job and take whatever drag it comes with.
Looking forward to your article.
Let me add my 2 cents for my first post to this site.
1) I fish saltwater and all my reels are Tibor (Riptides to Freestones and a few Back Country Lights). All are cork drag. I want a drag that will start smooth and release line at the same pressure throughout each and every run. I won’t own a reel I can’t palm to add drag.
2) Retail prices run mid $500 to mid $600. I picked up some cheeper via several fly fishing event silent auctions and discounts from dealers.
3) I set the drag where it feels right. I do consider what I’m fishing for, tippet size and rod action. I tend to go lighter. I’ll crank down the drag late into the fight when I think the fish is broken (but never before). Heavy drag is added via my palm. Never broken off a fish due to too much drag (that I know of).
4) I’m more traditional but if someone invents a clearly superior reel I’m there. I like function over form and all thing being equal I’m going with the traditional look/feel. I’m also a big fan of tactile feed back and sounds which I associate with traditional reels. I’m not a big fan of the traditional fly fishing dress code/uniform :).
5) If your lucky every good ding tells a story and if it doesn’t I make one up. Ding/scratchs that don’t effect performance are no problem. If they made a type 11 anodization I’d get it not to prevent scratches but for reliability. Reels have to be reliable in all conditions and for more than just a few years. I fished many years with my Grandfathers reels and hope my grandkids can do the same with my reels.
6) Hummmm, don’t know. Really don’t know anything about synthetic drags. So far cork is working for me. Good whisky uses cork so put me in the cork camp :). I won’t try synthetic until I learn something about it.
Since it was mentioned let me make a knee-jerk comment about sealed clutch/synthetic disc reels that I know almost nothing about. I like to see what’s gong on with my drag and don’t think I’d buy one unless I could work on the drag. In my light tackle spin fishing days we used teflon, felt, leather and oil to hot-rod our drags. If I could hot-rod my drag, for better or worse, I might get one.
Zach,
In regards to price would it be worth asking around if any other manufacturers are going to follow Hardy’s lead and produce a limited number of super-exotic reels? I could see Steve Abel trying something like that, but isn’t Abel and Hardy both owned by the same parent company?
Bryan
Hey Bryan –
As I am probably not going to be addressing price issues in the article, I think I can take this up with you here.
Thanks, Zach. I have to say, though, that a Charlton–or even a boxed set of Prosek signature reels from Abel look like yard sale fodder when compared to the $9,700 the titanium Zane lists for.
I’d be curious to know how much the titanium actually adds to the cost; and, doesn’t the U.S. levy some pretty hefty tariffs on British imports?
Anyway, thanks for the response.
Bryan
Buzz- you bring up an interesting point/points:) – for most!!! a drag/ and its Ad pimped advantages , is a selling feature not a real world neccesity( my point not yours:))). The% of anglers that NEED
Zach, I do have a Charlton. It’s the dink though, an 8350C for 1-5 weight line with the 1-2 weight spare spool. That spare spool is about the finest piece of metal whittling I’ve ever layed eyes on!
I bought the reel before the 3M debacle and yes, was able to talk to Mr. Charlton himself on several occasions. Sure was nicer than going through a key puncher in Minnesota!
There are but two fasteners on the entire reel… the screws that hold the foot on! Since the drag is sealed I have no idea what is in there. All I know is what I feel and what I’ve read about the inner workings. It has a carbon fiber drag that is self adjusting. That calibration Buzz spoke about? It’s supposed to be good forever. I don’t know what kind of pawls are in it but turning the spool VERY slowly, what I thought was one click turns out to be more like three (triple redundancy?) Aside from the carbon fiber in the guts, the only thing I know of that isn’t metal or wood is a rubber-like center hub on the spool for releasing it. On the larger Charltons (which I wish I would have bought but did fondle for hours) the spool releases via small metal fingers that act just like the iris in a camera. That’s about the coolest, most imaginative and inticate device I’ve ever seen on a reel.
The drag is, without a doubt, smoother than any other reel I own.
Each component came with a congratulations and thank you letter signed by Jack. How cool is that!
Somethings this reel is missing are drag juice and instructions on how to maintain the drag! That’s stuff I don’t miss!Now that I am done, I think I can answer the question of whether a sealed synthetic disc drag is the same as a draw-bar disc.
in the old days i used the scientific angler click and paul number 10.. if you leaned on the brake too much the fish was gone.. and the tin martin.. i was really sold on the martin for many years for creeks.. now im into ross,… i have a canyon 5 and feel it is as good as the replacements they are comming out with, and much better looking. that i havnt really fully checked out yet.. the evolution is my prefered reel and i dont even know what type of drag it is..i alos have some sage large arbor but they dont hold enought backing for me… black is prefered becouse i can touch up nicks with a perminant marker.. the main reason i liked the evolution is becouse of the definite very fine and accurate clicks to the drag adjustment.. when fishing i like a fairly loose drag to work the reel pull line off etc.. when i get a big fish taking off in the current i turn the drag up 3-5 clicks depending on where im at..then back down if they get too far out… when i get close to shore with a big trout where they can turn and run in an instant i turn the drag back down. it can be argued that the pole being in the up possition will give you the same effect, but not on the missouri.. we have what we call the rollers.. alot of these fish when they get close to shore will roll.. i lost many many fish with rod up and a net under the fish.. if your pulling at all up on the rod they will come loose as the hook when they roll is pulling itself out in that possition as they roll.. i catch alot more fish by backing up the bank keeping my rod down pointied strait at the fish and with a loose drag incase they turn.. if they role the hook is still being lightly pulled strait out of their mouth and they will usually be landed in a protected shallows where i can trap them with the net…. in a boat it doesn matter that much as we can drift with them if they go downstream and we have a very long large net to land them.. . they dont seem to roll when in deeper water now that i think of it….. 🙂
Zach,
Let me just say that anything with a center line drag adjustment is probably an in-line disk drag. Most in-line disk drags are not true “draw bar” design as it is most commonly used and defined in the fly fishing industry. No one, not a single one, that does not have a system like Tibor, Abel etc…describes their reels as “draw bar”. It is a commonly understood definition for a very specific type of drag that actually draws the spool in to the drag plate to create drag friction. The spool is half the drag. Take any common reel with a quick release spool and a sealed hub and the entire drag is completely independant of the spool. It functions the same with the spool on, or off. The spool is not drawn in. How could a Lamson reel with a conical drag be a draw bar? The spool is held on with an O ring! It is not drawn in.
Saying that all reels with a center line drag all functionsthe same because all have parts that are drawn together in some manner to create drag friction, so we are we are now calling them all “draw bar” drags is confusing and muddling definitions.
Ross, Galvan, Hardy, Teton, Pflueger, Lamson/Waterworks, Old florida Nautilus, S.A. and whoever else you can think of very well may may have drags with some sort of disks, cones, or drums that are in fact drawn together by tightening the drag knob. However, they are not “draw bar” drag reels by the commonly used and understood definition.
If someone says draw bar drag to me I know exactly what they are talking about. It is a drag with a bar that directly draws the spool to a drag plate to create friction. Non of the sealed drum drag reels do that. Draw bar means strength because the spool absolutely can not come off without unscrewing something.
I am not an expert and don’t claim to be. Just my opinion.
Steve
Steve I think you make valid points but the people telling me these things are the ones designing the reels.
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