£550.00
Just like when picking out your wader and rod, when choosing a reel, you’ll need to consider what type of fish you will be fishing for. You can’t catch a big game fish like a tarpon with a small reel or you’re setting yourself up for some big trouble.
At one point in time, fly reels were thought of as just storage devices. In use, a fly fishermen strips line off the reel with one hand, casting the rod with the other, and then retrieving slack line by rotating the reel spool.
Manually-operated fly reels have traditionally been rather simple in terms of mechanical construction, with a simple click-pawl drag system. However, in recent years, more advanced fly reels have been developed for larger fish and more demanding conditions.
Newer reels often feature disc-type drags to permit the use of lighter leaders and tippets, or to successfully capture fish that pull long lengths of line/leader. Many newer fly reels have large-arbor designs to increase speed of retrieve and improve drag performance during long runs. In order to prevent corrosion, saltwater fly reels often use aerospace aluminum frames and spools, stainless steel components and sealed bearing/drive mechanisms.
Fly reels are generally made of aluminum. Some cheap reels are made of castings while the more expensive ones are bar stock that is hand turned on lathes. Pressed reels, while cheaper, don’t have the strength that bar stock reels have.
A reel is connected to the seat with a long sanded metal object called the reel feet. The feet slide into bands or clips called a reel seat. All reels are made on one standard so seats on rods will accept any reel.
A reel has a handle of course which is used to turn the spool. There are several creative designs but most are screwed into the spool, some are machined and attached to the face. Usually in fly tackle we have only one handle, although some designs have two knobs. A handle should be secure, not wiggle and be solidly attached. I have seen a few that barely get the job done. Some have knobs that spin freely, while the handle itself is stationary. Most are metal although some have wood or plastic inserts.
A spool is the part of the reel that holds the line. Attached to the outside of the spool is a small weight that is called a counter balance. This acts as balance so that the spool spins freely and true. In most modern reels, the counter balance is decoration but in older reels, if the weight wasn't there it didn't turn true. This is primarily due to the weight and size of the reel. Think of the counter balance like the weights on your tires.
Spools generally have exposed rims; this is called the palming rim. If you are playing a fish you can cup your hand on the outside of the rim and slow the fish or play it with a palming rim. If you are playing a fish on light tackle with light tippets, this often is a better choice because it doesn't stress the tip of your rod as much or risk breaking the tip of the rod. It also can help you from breaking off the fish when using light tippets.
The arbor is the center of the reel. A large arbor has a large inside center while a regular arbor has a smaller inside center post. Usually large arbor reels are heavier while a small arbor reel is lighter. The main advantage here is that a large arbor makes the line pick up faster and creates fewer coils in the line.
If you don't use a lot of backing when spooling the line, you will pack it in tightly creating lots of coils. When you cast this out, it will cork screw and spin almost any fly into a doughnut. This is one reason for using backing or also to increase the size of the reel as you up the size of the line. If you have a small arbor with little backing, don't leave the reel in hot trunk of your car or you are likely to make permanent sets and coils into the line.
Drags are the part of the reel that creates pressure and prevents the line from free spooling or back lashing. The drag is created in several ways: spring /pawl or disc drag. Click drags are springs that mostly put pressure against a gear and keep it from free spooling. It doesn't create a lot of pressure on the line and mostly is an anti-back lash thing. These reels are noisy.
Disc drags are either pads or gears. In a pad system the drag has a caliper like the breaks on a car, the caliper clamps against a disc and as the pressure increases, the clamp tightens. A gear system uses bearings and gears and a one way clip that controls the amount of pressure against the gears. As the pressure increases, the force increases.
Again, you need to consider what type of fishing you will be doing when choosing your reel. The larger the fish, the larger the reel you will need.
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