Fly fishing reels may look like simple pieces of equipment that perform menial tasks, but the truth is quite the contrary. Fly fishing reels are integral to the fly fishing equation and discovering the individual characteristics of a fly reel before purchasing is a must. But before you can make a decision on the best fly reel for your individual situation, it is absolutely necessary to be educated on what to look for in a reel. The innovations over the past decades have truly changed the purpose of a fly reel. When traditionally designed, fly reels were nothing more than a big, heavy tool to hold your line in place and keep it from getting tangled, but now changes in the materials and design have breathed new life into the purpose behind a fly reel.
Fly reels are engineered in a somewhat similar manner as baitcasting reels or spinning reels with a focus on the frame, drag, and spool. What is different about fly fishing reels is that the paddle, or handle, is and important piece to the fly fishing puzzle.
The frame of a fly reel has long been a bulky, weighted piece of equipment that has been uncomfortable for anglers to use. The improvements made to the design and manufacturing of fly fishing reels have made them much lighter and considerably more functional. There are now two construction methods that have made the reels lighter, machined and skeleton frame reels. The skeleton frames are the lightest option for fly reels and by strategically placing geometric arcs weightlessness is achieved without compromising the reel’s strength. Made from metal alloys, skeleton frame fly reels are engineering feats and while they are durable fly anglers need to take care of the reel and protect it from unnecessary abuse. Machined frames are made lighter by boring strategically placed holes in and are a bit more durable than the skeleton fly reels but their quality is less than that of the skeleton. When affordability is a factor in your decision, reels framed with cast bodies will be the best option but what you are sacrificing is the increased performance.
The drag on a fly fishing reel is important to every anglers and can be specific to a certain fly fishing situation. Most of the time, cork drag will be adequate for beginner fly anglers and fly angling situations when not a lot of line capacity will be needed. When caring for cork drag fly reels, do not crank the reel down to maximum drag and keep it there, if you take care of your cork drag fly reel it will last you for years. When fishing for larger species, a more sophisticated drag is required and what you will typically find on the next level up in reels are disc drags. Disc drag systems work very much like the brakes of a car in that a caliper applies pressure evenly to both sides of the disc or the pressure can be applied manually by tightening a knob that will increase the pressure on the face of a disc. It would be nice to believe that all disc drag systems are created equal, but unfortunately that is not the case. Rulon® is a material that adds smoothness to a disc drag system particularly when from a cold start. Most of the time, Rulon can be machined to a fine surface that will eliminate jerking even with minor flaws. Higher up on the quality scale for fly fishing reels is carbon fiber drags. Friction always creates heat so one of the advantages of carbon fiber drags on fly fishing reels is its ability to dissipate heat when reeling in the really large fish. In addition, carbon fiber drags are much more rugged than the other available options. That being said, if money is not an issue for you when it comes to purchasing a fly fishing reel, always opt for the carbon fiber drag and you will not be disappointed. Across the board, your selection for a fly fishing reel should have a sealed drag so that dirt and debris will not affect the reel’s smooth operation.
The arbors of fly fishing reels were a problem in the earlier generations of fly reels but the development of large-arbor and super-large arbors have solved some problems and lessened others. One of the most prominent of those solutions by the increased size is the reel’s ability to retrieve line much more quickly and efficiently, and the larger arbors tend to reduce memory coils in the fly fishing line that will occur when line is tightly wound around a small arbor. Logically, when the arbors get larger and the base is moved outward, the amount of line capacity available shrinks so to accommodate the appropriate amount of line necessary for fly fishing, the spools are made to be wider.
As odd and insignificant as it may seem, recognizing the relevance of a fly fishing reel paddle, or handle, is very important and as it should be considering you spend most of the day holding it. Large paddles are much easier to grasp and hold when working a large fish, and they are much easier to find when a bite catches you off guard.
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