For many people a fly fishing reel
is an extremely important item among their fly fishing
equipment. Other fly fishers see a reel still as a line
holder only and I must confess that I never had any high
priorities for reels until I start to fish for salmon and
sea trout more frequently. Actually the reel became very
important to me when I run into the bigger fish! I started
to fish for salmon by dry fly in the seventies and because
I mainly caught grilse and arctic char I still was able to
handle and play them with any cheap and simple reel. Years
passed quickly and when I discovered how to catch salmon
and sea trout in the beautiful estuaries of Norway I
noticed that the saltwater had an enormous impact on my
reels. In spite of cleaning them quite often I couldn't
protect them against the bad influence of the saltwater.
The reels that I owned those days simply were not built
for saltwater and most of them didn't last long. When the
fish became a lot bigger the need for an excellent drag
system became more important too. I was lost for quite
some time in my search for the perfect reel that fits me
the best and because there were offered so many different
reels it was really hard to make a quick choice. This is
why I started to do some very serious test about reels. I
can imagine that the nowadays-fly fisher has similar
problems. It's not easy to find a good reel and prices for
excellent reels are high what surely has an enormous
influence on a fly fisher's decision or choice. After more
then 30 years of fly fishing experiences I learned a lot
of things and in spite I started with rather cheap
materials and equipment (as a grown up teen you didn't
have so much money) I quickly realized that good quality
has a good price too. All hobbies are expensive and the
more serious people are into their hobby the more money
they are willing to spend.
Collecting information
I started to read a lot about reels but I also listen well
to what others told me about their personal experiences
with reels. At moments like that it is good to have a
large circle of friends. I talked a lot with casting
instructors and saltwater fly fishermen but also with
several of my friends who also doing a lot of workshops
and classes. I had many discussions and I can assure you
that some of our talks became very interesting. During my
own classes and workshops I discover that in many cases
people were pushed by tackle dealers to buy a certain reel
and they just bought it without trying. Many of them
regret the reel later. During my search for the perfect
reel I became more knowledgeable and that increased my
priorities about a what good reel really needs. I thought
it would be a nice idea to write a bit about all those
experiences and maybe you can pick up whatever should be
interesting for you as well.
Drag system
After many years I finally started to realize what I
really wanted. The reel I was looking for must have an
excellent and perfect adjustable drag system. Several drag
systems on the reels I had been using or testing so far
gave me problems or didn't work as properly and smoothly
as I really wanted it. Some drags systems completely
failed after I just played an enormous fish. Others didn't
work while the reel picked up some water by heavy rain or
after it felt into the water. I experienced twice that a
reel fall apart during the play while the fish was on the
run. Not all expensive reel are as good as people describe
too and while testing a $695.00 reel the line got tangled
between the spool and reel and that happened not only
once. In spite there are many contradicted stories about
cork used in drag systems for reels I just love it. During
all test I did I quickly discovered that cork is one of
the best materials to use for the drag system because cork
is compressed well and always will returns in original
shape again. It works in a natural way, just as it should
be! Try it yourself and see how cork get back in it's
natural shape again after it has been compressed. Many
reel manufactures have replaced cork for synthetics and
some of those reels work quite well but not as perfect as
with cork. At least that is my personal impression. The
problem with cork is that not all manufacturers using high
quality cork and when that happens you create bad stories
too. If you use cork you have to use the best of the best!
By some of the reels I tested intensively you couldn't see
any damage on the fine cork layer used in the drag
system.
Durability and services
I also wanted and extremely reliable, durable and anodized
reel so that intensive saltwater use never would be a
problem anymore. The best reels are made from a solid
block of metal. To reduce the weight to a maximum a light
metal such as aluminum is extremely popular. More and more
manufacturers using aero-space or aircraft quality
aluminum. The anodizing process is very important to
reduce corrosion to a minimum. I heard many complain about
factories repairing services, mostly about the times it
takes for repairs, so the service by manufacturer has to
be good.
Backing, spare spools and
Large Abor series
I needed a reel with a large backing capacity and to
reduce price a bit I became quite enthusiastic about
interchangeable spools. I don't mean spare spools but
spools that can fit on different type of reels. For my
special way of fishing I wanted a large abor reel because
it lies the line in much larger coils on your spool which
will not only reduce reel memory to get into the line but
also prevent kinking and twisting. There are even more
benefits because it will also makes the retrieving a lot
faster while you gain much more line by each turn of the
handle.
Other important facts
I also was looking for a reel with a changeable handle
possibility or at least a large handle. Most of the
English reels I tried had a very small handle and I really
don't like that! All my reels must be easily convertible
from left to right hand winding as well.
The choice
After many tests, evaluations and discussions I finally
made my choice. Today my favorite reel became an Abel!
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