The most important function of the reel is to hold your line. In many fishing conditions, it wont have to do anything else as long as you can wind the line back in. Remember, unlike other kinds of fishing, fly fishing entails stripping line off the reel and using the weight of the line to cast. You will never cast directly from the reel like a spinning rod. All reels will hold your line, but they will vary drastically by the material they are made from, how they are made, how fast they retrieve line, and finally, what kind of drag system they have.
Like the fly rod, having a lighter reel is an advantage, particularly if you fish long hours. You’ll notice they all have nice holes drilled in them. This has two functions. One, it allows the fly line to dry. And Two, It makes them lighter. Believe me, if your setup is heavy, you’ll feel it in your arm and shoulder at the end of the day. You may even notice your knuckles at the end of your casting arm dragging on the ground as you make your way back to your car at the end of the day. Lighter is better, in theory, but not all reels are made the same.
Reels today are made from plastic, aluminum, titanium, and some composite materials. Less expensive reels like the plastic and other composite reels are die cast, created from a mold. Some of the metal alloy reels are made that way too. The higher quality (and more expensive) reels will be machined from whole blocks of aircraft grade aluminum and titanium. With die cast parts, there are more imperfections, and anything that gets in the way of the reels function is bad. Also, try as you might to protect your reel, it is going to take a beating. Nothing is more frustrating than losing your footing in your felt wading boots, going down and watching your reel crash on the rocks. You want a reel that will be there for more than a season. So, again I suggest that saving money on a cheap system now, may cost you more down the road, not to mention, dampening your experience in the present.
So, there are a few different types of reels out there that give you options on how fast they bring the line in.
A single action reel turns the spool in direct ratio with you turning the handle. One crank is one turn. These are the simplest and most common reels. They are also the lightest because they have the fewest parts.
Another type of reel is the multiplying reel. It adds a few gears in there to crank more revolutions of the reel per turn of the handle. You bring your line in twice as fast, if not faster.
The automatic reel brings back your line with the push of a button. Sounds great… but it is heavy and has more moving parts to fail. The most recent addition to the fly reel family is the large arbor reel (Some manufactures have mid arbor as well). The arbor is the hub or center of the reel. This is still a single action reel, but the diameter is larger, so that you are actually retrieving more line each time you rotate the handle. It is slightly heavier than the standard reel, but you also have the added bonus of reducing line memory. This is when the line takes on the shape of the reel it was sitting on. Obviously, the less straight the line is on the water, the more slack there is.
Mid and large arbor reels help this quite a bit.Reels also have different drag systems. The idea is to smoothly slow down the speed of outgoing line when you have a fish on. Think of the reel like a bicycle wheel and the drag system the break. For about the last ten years or so, reel manufacturers have put most of their money into the design and marketing of the disc drag fly reel. Most reels today are this kind. Basically, the disc drag reel uses two pads that apply pressure to the reel creating friction and causing it to rotate slower, exactly like applying the brakes on my motorcycle. The other kind of reel that is much harder to find these days, but was your only choice not long ago, is the click and pawl reel. These reels had a gear in the spool. A piece of metal had constant pressure applied to it by a spring. When the reel would rotate, it would click as the teeth of the gear pushed past that tiny piece of metal. If we go back to the bicycle wheel analogy, think of a kid with a playing card in the spokes. This is the same concept. It is effective too because it creates even and consistent pressure. It becomes much more challenging though with larger fish. That’s when palming becomes necessary (and difficult on some of those big hogs.)
Those are the basics on fly reels. One last thing you need to consider is what rod it is going to be used on. Most reels are categorized by line weight just like rods. So, for example, you are going to want to put a 6 weight reel on your 6 weight rod. This insures you have the right amount of fly line and backing for the conditions you will be fishing. Too small a reel for your rod means not enough line, too large a reel filled to capacity means you have too much and your rig is going to be too heavy and unbalanced.
If you plan to use your reel in saltwater, it is best to have a reel made for it. Saltwater reels have special coating to protect its precious innards. Either way, rinse your reel very well after a day in the ocean. You may want to let it sit in fresh water for 30 minutes or so and then give it another rinse. If you do lube your reel, be sparing with your oil. I like using reel oil because it is reel oil. Remember though, oil and grease are magnets for dirt and dirt can wear your parts faster. Be very sparing with your oil.
Please Visit our sponors Leland Fly Fishing Outfitters and Riverbum if you'd like to browse some of the lates reels on the market.
Source Adopted From
www.dsflyfishing.com