What is a decent Saltwater Reel?
What is a decent Saltwater Reel?
When you go after bigger fish, be it tarpon in salt water, northern pike in warmwater, steelhead in big rivers or tailwater trout, your reel has to be more than just a line holder. The first problem we run into with an inexpensive reel is the quality of the drag system. Remember, drag is intended offer resistance so as to slow down or tire a hard running or strong fish, while giving way very smoothly and with just enough resistance to protect the weakest point in your terminal tackle, the tippet.. Too much resistance and the tippet breaks, too little resistance and the fish never tires. Even with a 2X or 3X tippet for a steelhead, after nicks and scratches on logs and rocks, is likely to break when the pressure is on. So to minimize break-off, when the hooked fish really takes off, the optimal drag is smooth as silk (without variations in resistance as line goes out), with minimal start-up resistance. But. this kind of ideal drag tends to cost more money. If you suffer a break-off on a trophy tarpon, saving a little money may not be worth it.
Another factor (to some maybe the most important) is reel weight. Everything else being equal, the lighter the reel (and the rod) the better. If you are going to make long distance casts all day, a few ounces can make a difference. A heavy reel is just like wearing too-heavy hiking boots on a long trail. Now-a-days, with wonderful alloys, a large reel can weigh as light as a smaller reel of lower price and poorer engineering. Also, on a bigger rod a heavier reel is more acceptable. Here the goal is to have the reel weight balance the weight of the rod. This balance is because the weight of the rod is mostly forward of your hand, while the weight of the reel is behind. A longer (or heavier) rod (because of the lever-fulcrum effect) will offset a heavier reel. So if you hold the rod properly, the reel does not tip the rod back, or vice versa. The only sure way to determine rod-reel balance is to try them together and see how they feel.
A final factor is reel arbor diameter. Diameter influences how much line your reel holds and how fast you can retrieve the line. With a deeper reel, you can carry more backing for those far-running, hard fighting fish, certainly a consideration. However, a factor that is also worth considering is the size of the arbor (inner core of the spool). The size of the arbor determines how fast you can bring in line. It takes about 400 turns of the average reel to bring in 100 yards of backing. With some of the new large arbor (or loop) reels, this is reduced by as much as 25%. With a big fish coming right at you, some feel this difference is significant. But, there is a trade-off here as well; faster retrieve reels carry less backing.
So in buying a saltwater reel, take a look at all the critical factors: Weight, drag, line capacity and line retrieval rate. The selection is very impressive and you will find that these high performance reels are more than a place to store your line. (comments by Jim Abbs)
This article was provided by the Federation of Fly Fishers. Visit their site for more articles and information about fly fishing. The Federation of Fly Fishers is a unique non-profit organization concerned with sport fishing and fisheries.
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