Fly Reels

admin — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:50:56 +0000

Dating from approximately 1165 AD in China, the fly reel has been an integral part of fly fishing for nearly a millennium, although it didn’t make its debut in England until 1650. The basic design for fly reels has changed little since the 1860s but, as always, improvements and innovations keep on coming, nonetheless.

Take the Daiwa Lochmor Large Arbor Fly Reels and Spools, available now from John Norris from £85 to £114. These precision fly reels are machined from solid bar stock aluminium, and house an ultra-smooth disc drag mechanism, which waters enables instantaneous line release and eliminates snatching, ensuring that those precious hook-holds are maintained (the drag effectively stops just about anything that swims in UK waters). The winding direction is easily converted and the reel has an elegant wooden handle. Diameters range from 3 inches to 4¼ inches and the fly reels come with a protective reel case. It compares favourably with the Hardy brand and, appealingly, is noticeably less expensive.

A bit further up the fly reel scale comes the gorgeous Sage 4500 Series. These gleaming beasts are constructed from advanced airplane-grade aluminium, and boast cutting-edge 3:1 geared graphite drag units, which are completely sealed from the elements for added protection. There’s also a one-revolution adjustment knob which allows you to make fast and accurate drag settings. Weighing in at just 4.5 ounces, it’s a quintessential high-performance fly reel, delivering the kind of smoothness and power you’d expect from a hefty, traditional drag system, minus the weight and bulk. And it looks fabulous with its minimalist lines and single rotation drag handle.

Angling veterans can’t praise its sharp responsiveness too highly, and its lightness means you can wade about with it for hours and hours without feeling the faintest twinge of strain. The drag system, compact though it may be, is gutsy enough to drag in the more warrior-like critters beneath the surface with ease – it’ll reel in big trout without a hitch. Not only is the design pleasingly elegant, but you‘ll get a choice of chromium or black finishes, and the fly reels come with ballistic cloth and protective neoprene reel case. It’s is amazingly flexible, too – you can effortlessly interchange spools with the Sage 4500CF and 2500 series fly reels. For intermediate and experienced anglers alike, the Sage 4500 series fly reels are impossible to beat.

Fishing Reels

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:19:58 +0000

Fishing reels have been used in England since about 1650, but if our seventeenth century forefathers could see what technological innovation has become available to us 21st century inhabitants, they’d scream ‘witchcraft!’ (or go day-glo green with pure envy). As we know, fishing reels employ a spool mounted on an axel to deploy and retrieve the fishing line; but there, many similarities end. A seventeenth century angler would have little knowledge of high-tech drag mechanisms, which apply variable pressure to the revolving spool to slow it down (contemporary drag technology always slips the forces below the line’s snapping point whilst placing maximum ‘drag’ on the fish, tiring it to the point where it almost begs to be grilled or pan-fried).

The Lamson Litespeed Reel could easily earn the title of the daddy of fishing reels, even though it’s firmly in the mid-price range (currently available from John Norris at between £250 and £375, depending on model). It’s a top quality reel, with a drag system completely sealed to the elements (including saltwater) and absolutely zero maintenance. There is virtually no start-up torque to the drag, and you can change from right to left hand retrieve by simply unscrewing the cap, flipping the clutch, and re-screwing the drag cap. The Litespeed is machined from barstock aluminium in the US, and for a large arbor fishing reel it’s amazingly light with no compromise to its strength.

Moving on to a veritable Rolls Royce amongst fishing reels, however, you might find yourself swooning before the stunning Abel Super Series QC Reels and Spools. ‘QC’ stands for ‘Quick Change’ and literally years of development have gone into the making of this range. All fishing reels are ‘ported’ or ventilated using a rounded oblong aperture, a design which preserves total rigidity and maximum strength. The brilliant simplicity informing the ‘Quick Change’ design means that anglers can change spools whilst fishing – almost whilst brushing their teeth. All you need to do is ease up on the drag, turn the knob on the spindle – and the spool is loose! Anyone used to fishing in areas where fish are found at different depths, necessitating different lines with different presentations, will find this feature irresistible. This fishing reel series has integral ‘outgoing’ and ‘retrieve’ clicks, radically new to Abel. The series also has the typical wide range of drag settings for Abel products, along with the low start-up inertia Abel aficionados will be familiar with. Simply brilliant stuff!

Fly Fishing and Shooting Articles from John Norris » Fly Fishing Reels

Fly Reels

Fishing Reels