when someone says "the reel's just for holding line, right?"

[Craigie17]

Any physicists here ??

Guilty, but Vaughan has it covered!

For the geeks amongst us, this is fairly comprehensive background to reel drag mechanics, and covers the "zero startup inertia" myth too

http://midcurrent.com/gear/brake-jobs/

Recent experience has definitely given me an appreciation of super smooth "negligible startup inertia" reels for protecting tippets on saltwater species. I guess the game for manufacturers is to minimise the force experienced through the fly line/leader/tippet combo at the point at which the angler clears loops and transfers onto the reel. The ideal, zero startup inertia force graph would show a smooth transition, whereas in reality there will be an initial spike to overcome the spool inerti. The smaller that spike the better protected the leader. Which I've no doubt you guys get - just working it through in my own head!

[Wildfisher]

The smaller that spike the better protected the leader.

Exactly and that is what separates good reels from poor reels. Not a huge issue if you are using heavy gear, wire traces and stuff, but for delicate tippets when fishing for big trout it mos certainly is.

[Bobfly]

Thinking a little more about this notion of the startup does make me wonder too about the setting of the hook. If there is no resistance in the system of line/reel/drag/rod rings friction and so on then there is no means of setting the hook. Resistance is needed for that, and the larger the hook then much more force is required. So, there is usually a "strike" by the angler and the running off of the fish against whatever reel inertia there would be takes place afterwards in most instances. That would make the "zero startup" claims even more inapplicable. If you held and swept up a trout rod in a zero system then nothing would happen at the hook. In a strip strike method the force is from the line pull to set the hook.
Must rest in a darkened room now.

[Lochan_load]

Yip it's only once you know the hook is set that you let the fish onto the reel. ive got a fairly old fashioned hardy reel which doesn't really have a drag system as such so you are using your hand on the spool to slow fish if they really go, it's more or less a line holder, my other reel is a modern sealed drag with numbered tension, I  like using them both.

[caorach]

I have seen for years adverts suggesting "zero startup inertia" and I have always wondered how some sort of a reel, cheap or expensive, can have "zero startup inertia".

It could only have zero inertia if it had zero mass. More correctly mass is determined by inertia - that is to say mass is a measure of the inertia of a body. So if the reel had zero inertia then it would also have zero mass. I'd expect that a zero mass reel would be pretty rare :-)

I also shoot rifle a little bit and am an audio engineer. The pseudo-physics balderdash talked about fishing is nothing when compared to shooting where every writer for a shooting magazine has their own theory based upon completely made up physics, despite their understanding of the most basic physics appearing to be zero. However, the hi-fi industry trumps all when it comes to finding made up physics to sell complete rubbish to people who are stupid enough not to know better. We had an advert on the wall for a while, for our amusement, for a special birch volume knob which was coated in special vibration damping varnish. Apparently this improved the sound of your amplifier and it cost something over £900. Lest you misunderstand this was just the actual knob bit, not anything electronic, and the idea was you removed the one supplied by the manufacturer and upgraded your amp by pushing this new one onto the little post.

[Bobfly]

Sounds to me that you are not talking any old bit of birchwood here but a small lump of top quality imported rare Mazur Birch Burr which is well known to have several acoustic properties one of which is as good as the vibration dampening quality of a thick leather wallet.  :roll: :roll:

[corsican dave]

We had an advert on the wall for a while, for our amusement, for a special birch volume knob which was coated in special vibration damping varnish. the idea was you removed the one supplied by the manufacturer and upgraded your amp by pushing this new one onto the little post.

don't suppose they do a similar idea for fly reel handles?  :lol:

[johnny boy]

I would think that zero inertia is less of an issue as i agree with the points made earlier about setting the hook.  Where I would agree that reels are not just for holding line is when you get a decent sized fish which vacates the area post haste.

[Laxdale]

Seen the backing knot shooting off toot sweet into the distance quite a few times recently!
Reels with a reliable smooth drag are essential at times. Even on Lewis!

[Bobfly]

I have accumulated quite a few reels over the decades and everyone has the drag just set that when I am casting I can strip off line during false casting and extending the line and not have an over-run. That is it basically !
I sometimes reckon I should just have click check reels for what I do  :roll: :roll: