The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

As I was looking through one of the ffing catalogs we get here, I was struck by the prices of some of the reels. Why would someone spend $700 on a reel for a 5 wt? Does it really do the job that much better than a $70 reel? Besides "because you can", what other reason would you have? I can understand if you are going for bonefish and don't want your reel to explode, or steelhead... but for a 4 wt or 5 wt? For non-monster trout? I almost never put a fish actually on the reel to begin with.

Help me understand.

B-

well, like you said - it's usually "because i can" - can't think of any functional reason you'd need a $700 reel for a 5 weight - only aesthetic reasons or like some folks (myself included) you collect certain types/brands of reels and want to add to your collection - like most things of a higher price, a big part of it is status - a $20,000 hyundai will get you to work just as effectively as an $80,000 bmw m5 - but there'll be fewer people driving the m5 and a lot more people looking at you when you're driving it - it's a status symbol plane and simple when you're talking that kind of cash for a trout reel - either that or a collector's item.

i assume you've seen some of the beauties sold here - $700 can be a bargain

http://www.just-reels.com/

"There's a sucker born everyday"


Paul

Most of my fishing is done on 4-5-6 wt rods and all I have is one old Pflueger Medalist reel made in the 60s purchased on ebay - I've managed to accumulate 4 spools for it too. The total cost for all that was about $75.00. I just switch spools and everything works great.

Your higher end reels will have tighter tolerances and the machining will be flawless. They'll be smoother, usually lighter and better balanced. Twice as much doesn't necessarily mean twice as good though. In fact, usually the quality increase is disproportional to the price increase because it cost more to make things just a little bit better. It costs more to take the time to get things to fit perfectly and certain shapes are much more time consuming to machine. The difference between a $700 reel and a $70 will be obvious if you were to compare the two. Plus, you'll be hard pressed to find a reel for $70 that will last very long. Where does it end though? Some folks think $700 is too much for a reel, some think $300 and some $200. There's probably even folks that wonder why someone would spend $70 on a reel. Hell, I've seen kids fishing with line wrapped around a tin can. They swing the line and everything around like a lasso and let'er rip. Then they bring it back by winding it around the can. Some folks probably think the tin can thing is crazy because they just use a stick with a short piece of line tied on the end. I would guess that someone that bought a $700 reel probably did so because they liked it???

Yes, I would assume that they buyer likes it if he/she buys it, but for me that is like having a $2,000 bb gun or a $200 paper clip. You are getting fractional improvements for massive increases in cost. This, of course, means I won't be buying one of those $700 or $1000 or even $200 reels.

Tin can, eh? I might have to look into that.

B-

I kind of like the idea of 30-40 ft of line tied to a piece of bamboo from the garden!

Beerfly

Bjorn wrote:
...I almost never put a fish actually on the reel to begin with...

Maybe you need to catch more fish...



I'm still using 10-plus year old Lamson reels for most of my trout fishing, although the stocky Sac 'bow in my profile pic had some screaming runs off my Okuma Helios large arbor...but that reel was $150 off eBay.

I agree, $700 for a 5 wt is over the top.

BTW...nice to catch up with you for a bit at the FF show last weekend.

Wild Bill

yeah, good to see you at the show as well. It was a good show for FOR and we'll be back.

There are some decent quality reels out there for not much money... and as far as needing to catch more fish... I couldn't agree more.

I fish mostly 3x, so I don't actually need to "play" the fish much... I try to get them in and on their way as quickly as possible, usually just stripping the line in. So for me especially, an expessive reel makes little sense when fishing for trout.

B-

I like quality equipment. I've owned a few cheap reels and like my mid-level reels a lot more. Still, my mid-level reels work almost identically to a high end reel. For me it's not worth the extra money for the incremental improvement a more expensive reel costs. $150 is about my limit for a 5 wt. You can get a real nice reel that will last a looong time for that.

"And two born to take him"

Actually my Okuma Helios is a 7/8 wt, I use it on everything from my 6-wt Sage for the large trout rivers (overlining it) up to steelie, bass and striper rigs for 8 and 9 wt. It's more than paying for itself.

Wild Bill