Brett Fogle

Choosing a Fly Reel

The definition of a fly reel has changed a great deal in the last couple of decades. Once thought of as simply ” a place to hold your line” the fly reel has evolved into a highly specialized piece of gear. With phrases such as “startup inertia”, “large arbor”, and “heat dissipative disc drag”, the beginner can often be led to believe that they need to be an expert in Newtonian physics to make an informed purchase. I’ll try to simplify things a bit. Fly reel does do more than just hold line. A poor quality fly reel is a wonderful way to lose large fish, especially when fishing on light leaders and tippets. Additionally, selecting the wrong fly reel for a particular fly rod can throw off the entire balance of the outfit. So, let's get started learning about the world of fly reels.

Selecting the Right Fly Reel

When looking around for the right fly reel, a person new to the world of fly fishing will get a big surprise. There's seemingly just as many fly reels in the world today as there are spin fishing reels. So let's break things down a bit and try to sort out the different types of fly reels on the market and what you should look for when shopping for one.

The Drag System on a Fly Reel

There are two different types of drag systems on a fly reel that trout fishermen need concern themselves with. The drag of a fly reel is what provides the tension on the line. In other words, it is what regulates how easy or difficult it is for a fish to strip line off the fly reel. If all you ever catch are tiny trout or small pan fish, the type of drag on a fly reel is immaterial as it is unlikely a fish will ever pull out line from the fly reel. On the other hand, if you get a good-sized trout or bass on your line, the story changes completely. Once a big fish starts pulling out line from your fly reel, the fly reel suddenly becomes the most important piece of equipment that you have.

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