PSFGC guide to stupidly expensive reels you might actually need... or not

[corsican dave]

The reel's just for holding the line, right? Well, certainly as far as most of our wild trout fishing's concerned that's probably true and you may as well just use something that feels right with the rod, holds the right amount of your chosen line, doesn't cost too much or maybe just looks damned fine. If it makes you happy, that's just dandy 

However, there is a genuine requirement for higher performance reels in certain situations and, although there's plenty of information out there, not all of it is objective or maybe even honest. I'm sure many folks write, "This is the best reel I've ever used!" or some such meaningless twaddle because it's either a) the only reel they've ever used (or maybe their second, but you get the idea), b) it's the most expensive reel they've ever bought & by default expensive has to be good... or, c) they were bought it by their wife/ lover/ dead granny & they don't want to ruin their chances of ever going fishing again, quite fancy a shag or don't want to appear a total wanker & review a well-meant present as the expensive piece of crap it actually is..... :lol:

So where I'm hoping this thread will differ is that it will provide a forum where folks can post their own experiences of reel performance openly & honestly without fear of criticism. obviously, feel free to comment and add your experiences, good, bad or indifferent. Hopefully it'll help folks make informed choices if they're looking for a new reel and avoid costly mistakes that have been made already.

Of course if you really have bought a reel just because it looks cool, then feel free to say so! That's cool too!  :

I'll get the ball rolling with a couple of my experiences; a not so good one for starters...

[corsican dave]

Sage 3800CF
rrp £225

Pros
it's a Sage!
looks kinda funky
relatively cheap
very light
positive drag setting
cheap spare spools
smooth drag

Cons
looks & feels kinda cheap
easily damaged
noticeable start-up inertia
poor tolerances
drag seized after immersion

Overall Verdict
(relatively) expensive crap, seduced by a quality brand-name

Description
so this is marketed as a high quality sealed drag reel from a top manufacturer. It's got a super-light composite spool which also means it's pretty cheap by comparison with Sage's other reels and the spare spools are kinda cheap, too. We'll return to this theme later. I was advised to buy this as a replacement for the good ol' Okuma Airframe, which had shown its limitations once faced with the blistering runs of Spanish barbel & carp. First impressions were that it looked kinda funky, but in a rather cheap & trashy way. The plastic drag knob didn't help in that regard, but it did have positive settings & boy, was it ever light! It looked like the ideal travel reel, especially with a couple of spare spools. The first year I used it I was pretty pleased; it dealt with some ridiculously powerful runs by some decent fish. One took the backing almost to the spool (best part of 200m!) and did it again just after i'd managed to get it all back on the reel. The drag was smooth & powerful. But I kept coming back to the fact that it just felt, well... cheap. There was a noticeable start-up inertia and a bit of a wobble from the spool within the cage, plus a fairly noticeable gap between the spool rim and the body of the reel. And you didn't feel that it would survive even the lightest of drops. It came to the crunch on the next trip where I had to drop it in the water whilst I dealt with landing a decent fish without a net. When I next went to strip some line ready for casting, it was virtually seized. It was rough, lumpy and graunchy and required a lot of effort to pull line off. This was meant to be a sealed drag FFS! It gradually eased off over the next hour or so as it dried out, but the bubble was burst. Another half decent fish in that condition & i'd have lost it. I made sure I never immersed it after that. I had completely lost confidence in it and i'll never buy a Sage reel again (the rods are a different matter)
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[Bobfly]

Well .............. not stupidly expensive but I have got three Orvis Battenkill BS IV reels and spare spools and these are my normal go to for rivers and float tubing. Fitted with various 4 and 5 wt lines. Always reliable and had then for maybe 12 years. Also have two Orvis Battenkill Large Arbour IV, again a good solid feel to them. The big clonker is a Vosseler S3 !!
For boats on lochs I have Diawa New Era 5/6 because they are a large arbour cassette design that handles easily and Mrs Bobfly gets on well with them.
I reckon that these are simply decent mainstream trout reels at a fair price and with reliable customer support, but not designed for some tropical tarpon battles :shock: :shock:

[Wildfisher]

Vosseler DC3 under £200 with a unique cage design that will not screw up your fly lines. I have seen no other reel as well designed. Being German it is built like a Panzer  (oops not very P.C. naughty naughty!  :lol: ).   As far as stupidly expensive goes, try  photography then you will realise how inexpensive quality fishing tackle actually is!   :lol:

[caorach]

I liked my Leeda Dragonfly and if it hadn't worn out I'd still be using it. Did everything I've ever needed including rivers, lochs, brown trout, sea trout and salmon. It was dropped, used in salt water, filled with sand and a million other things.

I had to replace it as I had a habit of leaving the drag wound down quite tight and after sitting like that for years I guess the drag system eventually compressed and so the drag became less effective and eventually I decided a replacement was in order.

[Robbie]

I use a Danielsson Dry Fly reel, its one of the original series, for most of my fishing. Been using this reel for somewhere between 7 and 10 years I think. Not a hugely expensive reel at the time and you can pick on up for somewhere around £150 now.

My reel has taken a fair bit of abuse, regularly submerged, dropped and has been covered in mud, silt and all sorts more times than is sensible but has never put a foot wrong. Anodised coating now has many, many chips and marks but this is due to and a sign of harsh treatment rather than a fault with reel.

Drag is smooth with good range of settings and has been faultless to date, not really considered start-up inertias so cant comment on this.

One distinguishing characteristic is the silent operation of the reel, I suppose this could be considered a con in that you will never have a screaming reel. I quite like the lack of intrusive noise as I strip line from the reel.

[Bobfly]

Just had a bit of a count up and I get to 17 reels  :shock: :shock: :shock: Plus quite a few extra spools !!!!!
Goes back for many years that said and shared between two users, but all my responsibility  :roll:

[corsican dave]

Just had a bit of a count up and I get to 17 reels  :shock: :shock: :shock: Plus quite a few extra spools !!!!!
Goes back for many years that said and shared between two users, but all my responsibility  :roll:

that should keep you busy with the reviews for a while, Vaughan!  :lol:

would you believe my count is only 7?  :shock: might be 8 shortly  :wink:

[johnny boy]

I use a greys gx900, does everything i need but i dont catch anything much bigger than grilse so screaming reels is not really something i deal with so cant vouch for how it handles a real runner at high speed for a decent distance.

[Bobfly]

Dave,
A lot of the drawer has old BFR Dragonfly reels, 375s and 395s plus spools. Still very workable and reliable but only sometimes seeing the light of day. A few reels were secondhand and a plastic one for a spare for the hill was a tenner. They will have been "collected" over thirty years at least.  :? :?