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My Take On A Couple of Reels

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I have a fairly extensive collection of vintage fly reels; nothing too expensive, but nice and very useable. I prefer to use my vintage reels on my vintage fiberglass and bamboo rods. I own only 3 graphite rods and on those, even though I could use a vintage reel on them, I think it is more appropriate to use a more modern large arbor reel. I don't think a fly reel should be necessarily expensive, at least for me, because I only fish in small mountain streams and my reels are basically a line storage device.

 

All that being said, I recently purchased a Reddington Zero for a small graphite rod. This is probably the most expensive reel I own as it was somewhere in the neighborhood of $100, give or take. It is a very nice light weight reel and perfect for a small light weight rod (it does not have a drag and I don't really need one for small stream use)

. I also have an Eagle Claw 3/4 Black Eagle reel. It cost around $35.00. It is also perfect for a 3 or 4 weight line. I can't believe the difference in these two reels. The Reddington seems cheap when compared to the Eagle Claw. I was astonished to see plastic parts in the Reddington. The Eagle Claw has no plastic parts and it does have an adjustable drag. It is a great reel for $35. I believe the Reddington Zero is just a marginal reel at $100. Just my .02.

Joe

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I have no experience with eagle claw reels, but my son has a zero and I agree that it seems cheap. I really like past redington reels like the CT and drift, nice little machined spring and pawl reels with metal guts and a tried and true check mechanism. I'm not a fan of the new cast aluminum reels, they are light and may look interesting, but they don't interest me in the slightest.

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For inexpensive reels I like the Okuma Serria and the Bass Pro Dogwood Canyon. Both are disc drag.

 

I own more than one of each. On more than one occasion I have had smallmouth make the Okuma scream. The Dogwood Canyon looks great on bamboo.

 

I am really happy with both reels.

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My reel stable -- three dozen or so -- collected over 50+ years has several characteristics.

 

-- None of the NIB reels cost over $200 -- most closer to $?100 -- and of those that approach it most are newer -- but traditionial style Battenkills, Disc Drives, etc -- ORVIS products. Rugged and reliable. I buy for ruiggedness and have never had a reel fail.

 

-- The core of my most used reel fleet are SA Mod 1s -- 456s and 789s-- and 2s - 89Ms of different sizes. (With spare spools I count over 20 of them.)

 

-- Many of my small ltwt 1-3 wts reels are also older now extinct models like Tetons, smaller ORVIS models etc.

 

-- The most recent editions are for Spey-type rods and largely consist of rugged, sealed drag, models like the Reddington Behemoths that lack the glitz and high dollar status of many others but promise to give long reliable service.

 

-- There is a steep divide between my newer ltwt reels for modern graphite rods and older reels that provide the weight and asthettic looks to best balance and complement my heavier bamboo and fiberglass rods.

 

-- I have no time for nostalgia for nostalgia's sake. The old Pfluegers were equivelants to today's cheap junk and remain so IMHO. Hardys are just way high dollar versions of what I already have in terms of actual service.

 

Not about to change now.

 

Rocco

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I've kind of settled in on Okuma Sierra reels. They work for me and spare spools are not a problem to get. Smooth adjustable drag, inexpensive ( $35-$50 at Amazon and its a Prime item so free shipping for members, $24 for a spool), die cast metal with stainless and brass for much of the innards, the spools are counter balanced.. Fairly wide reels with a rather low profile as a result..

 

I've gone to these since Battenkill reels no longer have the disk and click combo. I'm not paying $108 for a simple click reel even though that design may be all I need and is well made.. Not to mention spare spools are $80 if you can find one.

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I have had two of the Redington Zero reels and liked them just okay--I like their light weight, and they seem to function pretty well, but even for click-pawl reels they sound plastic-y and loud to my ear. The 4/5 wt. I sold and replaced with an Aurora Housatonic. This is an older import (Korean) reel that was being sold by quite a few retailers in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but is hard to find now. I really liked it when I had one back then, so when I stumbled across a NIB one on eBay, I snapped it up. Like you say, nothing fancy or expensive, just an older reel that I like the look, feel, sound and functionality of.

 

My Redington Zero 2/3 wt. I kept for the simple reason that it's the only reel I've been able to find at any price that balances well with my favorite light rod, a 7' 3 wt. that I built some years back.

 

My most recent reel purchases have been from Angler's Roost; their 202M large arbor reels. This is a fully machined, disc-drag reel for well under $100. I have two of them and love them. Steeldrifter opened my eyes to this outstanding value, for which I am very grateful. In fact, I'm getting ready to order a couple more. :)

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If I'm fishing Bluegill, never get on the reel. Sometimes with trout I will try to put them on the reel but it has to be rather large for the equipment I am using.

 

Smallmouth I always try to get them on the reel because I am usually on my pontoon.

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How often do you guys get into the reel with a fish?

Never. I've never gone after trout, so just the sunfish species, bass, a few big Bowfin and gar and (way back in history) some carp.

I was taught to bring 'em in by hand and have never put a fish on the reel.

I did try ... with a 5 pound (give or take) Large Mouth. Got all the line taken up, and then the fish got unhooked. Won't make that mistake again.

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2 sth's and an allen here, like the sth's a lot.

allen is ok. (had it pinch the line once)

 

 

reel in fish?

 

yes, laker, coho, steels, kings, a few big bass and a pike or 2. (no musky yet)

 

when you feel that big tail start up and you think the rod is gonna break, it might be time.

 

nothing like the feel of the rod bending inside the cork!

smile.png

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I rely on the reel on any larger fish but with the drag set light and palming the rim to get instant changes in drag to match the situation. I use light for game fish tackle and this approach has minimized broken rods and leaders and torn out hooks and still allows me an option to turn a fish from places I don't want him to go..

 

Rocco

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I get fish on the reel all the time. Steelhead on the swing of course are instantly on the reel, but I try and get any good sized trout on the reel if I can do it without too much trouble. I like to hear my reels scream Luckily my local trout rvers are fairly good sized, the trout like to run, and they get on the reel themselves rather quickly.

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The big land locked salmon breeder fish are like that when they come in. They are silvery fish fresh in from the cold water lakes and when they get hooked they run down river, they're almost instantly on the reel and when they feel tension on the line they tumble head over tail as they go.. It's a rod shaker when it happens the year one ends up there. It's been a while for me to hit that right. But we have some big fish in our local ponds here as well that to me are best handled on the reel..

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