Reel Recommendations
 

I recently had a great day on the river and it made me realize that my reel is not great. (I knew that before but Saturday I saw it in person)

My main issue was that the drag was pretty sticky. As I improve at fly fishing I would like to have a set up that will handle what I throw at it.

I caught some good sized white fish and even with them it seemed like the reel would be holding back then all let go at once. Or I would constantly be fiddling with the drag to try and get it right.

Hoping to get some make / model recommendations for a good all around reel. Nothing crazy expensive.

Usually there are those brands that are great quality for the price, for example my rod is a TFO. Great rod but not an expensive st Croix or sage.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Go to Springbrook and check out the reels they have o display...I've been running one of the bvk prototypes for years...paid 80$ great sealed drag

Lamson.
Even the cheapest Lamson has a drag system matching high-end reels.
Lamson.

Interesting that this topic has come up. I'm looking at the Cabela brand reels and they look really decent with great reviews and even better prices. Can anyone comment on the Cabela brand?

i second the Lamson's. great reels great drag system great construction. can't go wrong with a Lamson

I bought two Sage 3250's this year and am very impressed. Light, all machined aero grade anodized aluminum, smooth sealed disk drag, huge easy to adjust drag wheel that is easily resettable and numbered 1 to 10. Paid about $270 each. I don't know what more one would need.

http://www.wurmbader.de/WebRoot/Stor..._3250_bs_b.jpg

The cabelas brand isn't bad, many of the reels are made by lamson and i believe they have the lamson drag system.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabel...el/1159134.uts

There are so many good reels out there, as long as its from a reputable name it will be more than fine.

X3 for Lamson. Love my Konics!

[QUOTE=Okotokian;3348437]I bought two Sage 3250's this year and am very impressed. Light, all machined aero grade anodized aluminum, smooth sealed disk drag, huge easy to adjust drag wheel that is easily resettable and numbered 1 to 10. Paid about $270 each. I don't know what more one would need.

Sage x 2. I bought the 4250 reel a few years back. This past summer, I had a mid-grade fly reel blow up on me while attempting to land a fish. Lost what I think was about a 5 lb-er.

Went straight to the Fishin Hole and bought another Sage 4250.

I'll never again by a lower end reel. Spend soo many hours chasing to hook into the big one - then have my equipment fail! :sign0176:

If you are interested in the Sage, Wholesale and Cabelas both have them (though Wholesale doesn't list them in their calendar, they have them). Both places have some Lamson's and Hardy's at semi reasonable prices too if you are so inclined.

Drag... Schmag
Everyone gets so wrapped up in drag systems. The components; the design; the adjustment; the smoothness.
It just gives us something to talk about.
It would be interesting to know just how often we honestly believe that the drag system saved the day playing/landing a trout. Not very.
I think for vast majority of trout fishermen, there is no need for any adjustable drag system. >90% of the fish we catch never get on the reel and the ones that we do manage to get on the reel aren't big enough to need any kind of drag system.
Once in awhile we play around with the drag, but always end up setting it near minimum and leave it there indefinitely.

You're mostly right of course, but there is nothing wrong with wanting / appreciating quality gear. You kinda make it seem like it's a bad thing.

No, I completely understand wanting top quality equipment. Its nice to have the best. I try to acquire high quality equipment in all my activities thus minimizing the effect of poor equipment on performance.
I, too, have quality reels with "the best" drag systems, knowing full well that I don't need them.
However, I don't understand the need to use drag systems as a main qualifier.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong (I am new at this) but when I was out there and hooked into the biggest rainbow of my life. The reel would just sit there as the fish ran. Then all of a sudden the reel would scream so fast my line would fly off and almost get tangled in the spool. When the fish caught up to the slack in the line he flew out of the water and threw the hook. All of this happened without a handful of seconds and I believe that it would have been avoided if I had a reel with a half decent drag.

The same fish seemed to have temporarily "burnt" out my bearings (if that's even possible) because I had next to zero resistance when stripping line off after that. But when I got home and was going to put the line on my old reel if felt normal again.

I am a sucker for new and fancy but I won't be spending hundreds on a replacement. I was just curious what people would recommend.

Here Here..I do believe that if you were to do some research ,you would find .That a reel was added,to just hold the line..I can't remember in nearly 40 yrs. of ff that i have had to rely on a drag system,to land a fish..

Look up "palming a fly reel". Problem solved.

So you never have fish break off? That's excellent. I have unfortunately.

I agree it's not the most important feature when catching small trout, but why get a reel with a lousy drag?

I agree with ShortsideK. When fishing trout i have my drags set to the minimum setting that will prevent back spooling. Drag is one of the last things i look for when buying a trout reel, they are basically all the same. There are a number of other factors that are much more noticeable like weight, design, durability, line retrieve speed (arbor size), line capacity, ability to free spool etc.

For trout and small fish you can get away without a drag but a good drag comes in pretty handy with big fish on big water when that big salmon , steelhead, laker, pike decide they want to peel a hundred yards off.

I agree with you unless you fish the Bow River with any regularity. Since the floods, there is a new paradigm of monstrous rainbows. Over 20% of the fish I catch regularly take significant amounts of line with a handful every year taking me to my backing. I have caught 6 or so fish this year over 18" on size 18 hooks. It is hard enough getting 5x through the eyelet. After I broke off a few, I realized it was time to let the reel do its job.

So yeah, unless you fish the Bow River or are setting up an 8wt for saltwater/steelhead/salmon, drag is not worthy of attention.

Seriously, go get a Lamson Liquid. It is just over $100 with the same drag system as their top-of-the-line. Never buy another reel again.

Yup! If I was in the market, I'd be leaning very heavily to the Liquid or Remix based on my very positive experience as a novice with the Konics. Yes, the frequency of actually relying on said reel is the minority. I don't fish the Bow, but have actually gotten a few more fish to the reel this year... appreciate the Lamson drag system under those circumstances.

I agree the above mentioned reel (include Remix) is great "bank for the buck".
However, "Never buy another reel again" is asking a lot.
Its in our nature to buy, buy, buy.
If what you say was true we wouldn't have our collection of rods/reels/lines, etc., etc., etc.

I know how to palm a reel ... I would rather have a reel that works.

Where would be the best place to find one to check it out?

I'm envious of you.

I've not had the privilege of fishing the Bow River yet and wrestling with big boy trout in current.
I have caught several 18"+ bows on small flies in lakes and only once had one go to the backing (and only just). Have never had the need to have my drag set to more than just more than minimum, just palming when necessary. Great fun!
I'm of the opinion that any break-offs that I've had were the result of poorly tied knots or a nicked tippet rather than my reels drag or lack thereof.

After re-reading your post I thought of something you might consider.

It may be that you have too much backing on your reel and occasionally be "stacking" your fly line on one side or the other of your spool, thus causing binding against the frame of your reel. Depending on how badly it had stacked up, this could cause the "holding back and then letting go all at once. It could also cause jerkiness or "stuttering" when reeling in or stripping line out.
Just a thought.

I absolutely agree with what you say about big fish on big water although I haven't found that pike are as frisky as you state. Also, you wouldn't be fishing for salmon, steelhead, lakers or pike with a 3/4/5 wt. setup as would be normal for trout.

I know exactly what you mean and this WAS the case on a previous outing and have since removed some backing and respooled my line. This day I had the fish on and she had already made a run so there was no line bound up. I was down to the boring beige line so I had over 40ft of fly line in the water. Guess I am just used to spin fishing with a nice smooth drag and letting the reel do its job.

I am currently using a Dragonfly Chilcotin reel. I like the larger arbour since my previous reel was an Okuma Sierra. Even if I have to palm it the size makes it superior in my mind.

I know Country Pleasures sells Lamson.