Your Favorite Fly Reel

[MACFLY]

I am for sure a Gear junkie. Over the years I have acquired and sold dozens of fly reels. Some were quite expensive and others quite cheap. This past year I have bought a lot of reels (way too many. but what are you gonna do). I have been intrigued with how light some of these reels are. Nautilus FWX is amazingly light yet holds a ton of line. It's an awesome reel at a good price. I have bought. several hardy reels to go with my bamboo rods. Love the
Hardy Angel 2 the aesthetics are great and it is a real sweet reel to fish.

yesterday a package arrived from my friends at Wyoming flyfishing. The latest addition is the Hatch 3 monsoon mid arbor reel. Its silver with green accents. A stunning reel that feels like it is well made
With an ultra smooth drag. Reminds me a bit of my Ross San Miguel 2 which remains in my top 3 all time favorite reels.

This year I bought a few reels from Allen fly fishing and I am really
Impressed especially for the price. I also bought a redington drift
Reel for my Cabelas CGR Fiberglass rod. It's a great click and pawl reel for 99 bucks.
The trend in reels lately has been towards different anodizing colors. Some vendors offer reels with different color combinations which is
Cool if you are into aesthetics.

So what are you guys using on the stream these days and what is Your all time favorite reel.

 

[coolkyle]

My all-time favorite is the Pflueger Medalist - Chinese, vintage American, I love them all (have 4 of them). Lamson Konic is undoubtedly the best bang for your buck out there. No fancy reels for me!

 

[BRK TRT]

Orvis Battenkill, English made.

Keep it simple.


Brk Trt

 

[Drossi]

Hardy Featherweight....period...end of story.

 

[tomfly]

I can not say I have a favorite reel. I like my medaist also (old school) I feel it still has the best drag system of any reel. I also enjoy using my Orvis CFO it is nice and light and balances well on the 3 weight I have. Over all I am most fond of my Hardy LRH lightweight.

 

[PRomano]

For 3 and 4 weight graphite rods I like the Hardy lightweight series. For 5 weight and above Ross reels. The LRH lightweight in my avatar is nearly 30 years old. Still works great!

For bamboo rods the Hardy lightweight reels hands down!

 

[CTobias]

I haven't bought my favorite reel yet.

 

[Andy B]

Nice question with a simple answer from me. My Ross Gunnison's

 

[Zonk]

For trout I'm only looking for a reel with low drag settings that protects 7x and lighter - Sage Click.
For general Northeast Saltwater I want a reel that's light enough to blind cast with all day, but have a drag system that can land a false albacore - Lamson Litespeed 3.5

While I find both the Sage Click and Lamson Litespeed to be both unattractive if not flat out ugly, given their performance its an ugliness I can live with.

 

[PRomano]

Nice question with a simple answer from me. My Ross Gunnison's

I don't know why they ever discontinued that series. They were perfect!

 

[Ronbo]

Vintage Hardy LRH just a smooth well built reel that goes great with boo.
Next purchase will be a vintage Hardy featherweight.
I have some old Phluegers I'm partial to also.

 

[skipper3245]

lamson velocity imo best reel for the value. Had an abel and did not really like it

 

[Broadheadscreek]

No doubt I love my 58 Feather Weight . But for a work horse reel and trout the English made Battenkill can't be beat.. For salmon and steel my Hardy Gem does the job nicely superb drag and plenty of room for backing 350 plus yards..Do I hear Fish On !!..

 

[Trout Nazi]

I like my Nautilus FW and FWX. Lamson Litespeed is second, but they're a little delicate.

 

[WBDluver]

My ross G2, love the sound and the look

 

[Broadheadscreek]

I also have a old Meisselbach Rainbow reel that I have been fishing this year on my bamboo, looks awesome and has a nice sounding drag . Great little reel have a double taper silk line on it ...

 

[G Lech]

I like my old Bauer superlites. Only problem they don't have a sealed drag for the colder months but that's where my Lamson's come in.

 

[NJpatbee]

I ony have a few reels but by far my favorite is my vintage Hardy LRH Lightweight - I have no plans to buy another trout fly reel unless this is damaged. I also can't comment on the Lightweights now made in Korea.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Lamson guru. It can stop small trucks. Which i never fish for.

 

[Pete]

An Orvis Battenkill (Made in England), from the early 1970s.

When I compare it to a newer Battenkill Bar Stock (Made in China)....

As an Engineer, I have to admit that the Chinese reel is machined to closer tolerances, and the disk drag is definitely an upgrade.

As a fisherman, the old English made reel is more pleasant to use (and "prettier").

BTW: Those "closer tolerances" on the BBS, could cause problems if the reel gets "banged around" too much.

 

[tomfly]

This is an interesting thread. Thanks Mac. I was thinking about this. This post delves into the Fly-Fishermen’s psyche. What is a reel? To me a reel is a device that holds the line. I know that you saltwater and salmon guys are going to have field day with this. I think I have a sound hypothesis. 90% of the people that I have observed including myself fight the fish (trout fishing) holding the line never fighting the fish from the reel.

A reel is not like a Fly-Rod. The Rod you buy is directly related to the style of fishing that you prefer. I personally do not use strike indicators, so to compensate I use very soft rods. I like to be able to feel a pine needle if it grazes the line.

When my Father was still alive he owned on off shore boat .We did quite a bit of Shark and Tuna fishing. My brother (Danme) would set the drags on The Pen International Reels we had using weights and scales at a 1/3 to 1 ratio. If that drag was set at 60lbs it was going off at 60lbs. You could never do this with the best drag system on a fly reel. A drag system on a fly reel is more spool tensioner then a drag. They are never that precise.

The purchase of a fly reel is so different then buying a rod. So why buy a $200, $500, $700 reel? When I was younger my fathers friend whom I still fish with regularly told me a story a about his Grandfather. This gentleman’s fly reel was a coffee can with a reel seat. Although goofy as you could imagine, and I would love to see someone using a coffee can as a reel (Golden Beetle). It served the fundamental purpose of holding the line. We as fly-fishermen are not much different then our spouses, Mac stated that he buys and then sell a reel. My wife does the same thing with her designer hand bags. She trades and sells them with her friends. The main purpose of hand bags is to hold stuff. Reel holds line Bag hold stuff.

So we like our spouses like to flash our bling and we do it with our fly reels.

 

[Trout Nazi]

I think of it this way. The purpose of the rims on your car are for the tires to mount onto. So technically, any old rim will do as long as its the right size. So, are you gonna put crappy old steel wheels on your Porsche or Vette?

 

[GARYB]

I have a Teton and a Orvis CFO ( English made by Hardy) I like both.
Plan on getting a Hardy featherweight for my Leonard next season.

 

[flytire]

ross gunnisons (pre 98)

bauer little mac (lm series, no noise)

 

[tomfly]

I think of it this way. The purpose of the rims on your car are for the tires to mount onto. So technically, any old rim will do as long as its the right size. So, are you gonna put crappy old steel wheels on your Porsche or Vette?

TN I think you missed my point. Putting crummy rims on a car like a Vett would change the overall handling of the car. On the other hand an inexpensive reel would do nothing to change performance of your fly rod.

 

[Trout Nazi]

I've seen some pretty ugly wheels on some nice cars. Why put a cheap, heavy reel on a $5-700 fly rod? A heavy reel can definitely affect a light rods balance. My BIIx swings alot nicer with my FWX instead of my Battenkill. Plus, this sport is as much about aesthetics. Alot of people won't put something crappy on their new hi-tech rods, much for the same reason that you guys seek out expensive vintage stuff to put on your boo.

 

[PRomano]

To me a reel is a device that I think I have a sound hypothesis. 90% of the people that I have observed including myself fight the fish (trout fishing) holding the line never fighting the fish from the reel.

That is 1 of the reason's why only 10% of the fisherman catch 90% of all the fish! :lol:
Because 90% don't know how to land them. I've lost way too many fish including 12 to 15 inch fish by playing them with the line in my hand verses off the reel. I always play my fish off the reel.

 

[Trout Nazi]

After that Delaware bow takes me into the backing for the second time, I'm glad I ponied up the extra ducats for a decent reel.

 

[jcstikfish]

Liking Lamsons a lot these days. Great drags, great exterior finish for durability sake.

~James

 

[tomfly]

That is 1 of the reason's why only 10% of the fisherman catch 90% of all the fish! :lol:
Because 90% don't know how to land them. .

Mr Romano,
You know that this is a false statement. I suppose fly-fishermen did not land fish before 1893.

From what I have researched on the history of a drag system on a fly reel, and there is not a lot of information on the subject. From what I gather the first drag system on a fly reel was invented by James William Young while working for the Allcocks Company in 1893 (I guess no women were employed by them.) 1891 Hardy produced the “The Hardy Perfect” The first reel with a ball bearing design. And after that there is a fair amount of info.

---------- Post added at 07:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:41 PM ----------

I've seen some pretty ugly wheels on some nice cars. Why put a cheap, heavy reel on a $5-700 fly rod? A heavy reel can definitely affect a light rods balance. My BIIx swings alot nicer with my FWX instead of my Battenkill. Plus, this sport is as much about aesthetics. Alot of people won't put something crappy on their new hi-tech rods, much for the same reason that you guys seek out expensive vintage stuff to put on your boo.

Again you failed to see my point. I am just trying to state that a reel is a status symbol. I did not make the argument that a heavy cheep reel is going to balance the rod in ones hand, and if it doesn’t it will not affect the rods performance. I am just saying that the reel is the least relevant part of the system, and does not need to be astatically pleasing to work. Well all know you need the right fly, and the angler needs a rod that he is comfortable with. You also need the proper line weight for the rod. You can catch fish with any reel. I love my Hardy but my Medalist will work just as well. I agree, I not going to put any old piece of crap on my rod. I am just trying to state, the reel is a reflection of ones ego.