Salt water reel preferences

[MontanaMoose]

It will be the second year of an event at 'The Fly Fishing Shop' in Welches, do you know the shop I mean ducksterman?

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

[Dennis B.]

The shop is owned by by Mark Bachman, good guy and a dedicated fly fisher. His shop is located on the way to Mt. Hood (Hwy 26 East of Portland) and he carries just about verything for the serious fly fisher including saltwater stuff. He puts together this event and based out of the shop so you can demo rods, lines as well as having some of the best talents in the spot. The Rajeff's, Brian Okeefe, just to mention couple of the local talent. Mark does a good job.

A group called Westfly does a Deschutes steelhead camp for a couple of days in the fall on the lower Deschutes. I don't know how it is now but at the first couple of camps manufacturer's reps Like Dick Sagara of TFO, Jim Teeny, and sponsored by The Numb-Butt Fly Company to help, teach and provided lots of rods, reels and lines to demo right one the water and chasing steelhead. Want to try out a 2 hander? just grab one off the rack and take off to one of the many world famous steelhead runs. Yup, good time and fun to see the newbies getting wide eyed at how far you can toss a fly with the spey.

[ducksterman]

It will be the second year of an event at 'The Fly Fishing Shop' in Welches, do you know the shop I mean ducksterman?

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

Yep...thanks for the info guys.

[mickmcco]

I've heard some horror stories about heavy fish melting down the drags on some Scientific Angler reels, so you'll want to ensure you have a reel with a drag that can stand up to the pressure and the saltwater environment. I'd go with a Lamson Litespeed or TFO Hayden. I've also been able to pick up a couple of Tibor Back Country Wide reels for under $300 by watching for specials and closeouts. I use Litespeeds and the Tibors for my nine weights. I also swear by the Abel Big Game and Super series reels, but that's a whole nother post.

[MontanaMoose]

Thanks mickmcco, I appreciate your input. I've got the earlier Lamson 3.5 in matte black and a Florida Captain once assured me that reel is fine for use in the salt and that the drag is good. I've got two others in that series and big trout have made torpedo runs with no ill effects that I've ever noticed and I've been fishing those reels hard for over 10 years. The reason for my original question was to find a choice of reels for a friend that is giving one as a gift, but I've learned a lot on the way ! Thanks again.

Cheers,

MontanaMoose