Hello,
You didn't mention what line weight you need to cast with this reel, but I did see you mentioned large arbor (LA).
As for LA click drag reels: Lamson/Waterworks makes a ULA Purist series and Sage makes a Clicker series as far as large arbor click drag (spring and pawl) reels, but they are both for lighter line weights. Islander makes some nice click drag reels, including a couple of large arbor models.
Abel makes TR and Creek series, but they aren't LA, and they are all for lighter line weights as well. All these new reels are pretty spendy, though. Some other current non-LA click drag reels:
- White River makes a Classic series, and the smallest model is a click drag, but it's for line weights 3 and below.
- Scientific Anglers still makes a System 1 click drag reel in models 456 and 678, which are pretty affordable and nice quality
If you can do without the LA and want to look for older reels:
1) If you need something that will handle line weights 7 and 8, I'm a fan of the older Scientific Anglers System One 789 and Daiwa SF708 reels. And the same reels in size 456 / SF706 are good for line weights 5 and 6. They hold quite a bit of backing, are great workhorse reels, and they "scream like banshee" when a good fish runs. These were very well-built clones of the Hardy spring and pawl reels, but at a fraction of the cost. You may be able to pick them up on ebay on occasion.
2) Another decent click drag reel if you can find them, are the older LL Bean Streamlight series. These were a dark green color reel and came in sizes 4/5, 5/6 and 7/8. I have been using the 4/5 and 5/6 models for 3, 4, 5 and 6wt for many years. < I've never tried the 7/8 size because the Scientific Anglers/Daiwa series above is a more robust reel. > They are very lightweight spring and pawl reels that sing pretty nicely with a fish running. They were very inexpensive, but good quality and were discontinued about 5 years ago, but show up once in awhile on ebay. Don't confuse this model with the later Streamlight I, II, III, IV which were disc drag.
The above 2 series of reels are all I've been using for the last 20 years for freshwater fishing. Before that, it was Pfleuger Medalists, which are great reels, but on the quiet side....
The older Cortland Crown and Rimfly models were very solid reels with a good sounding click drag. The pawls were made of hard plastic, but it always amazed me how well these things held up. Good reels! More recently, Cortland made a click drag reel in the Mosquito series. These were actually very good reels that were available cheap in 3 sizes that could handle lines 4-8. These were discontinued a couple of years ago I think, and I kick myself for not picking up several when they were available. On the Rimfly and the later Mosquito, the drag was not adjustable, but they were still well-made.
The older Orvis Battenkills were made in a click drag version in the lower line weights, but are harder to find than the disc drag version. Also, Orvis had British made Clearwater and Madison click drag reels that were nice quality and fairly inexpensive. The older CFO's in click drag were fantastic reels, but they are very sought after and expensive, as are the older Hardy click drag reels. (Hardy still makes a click drag Lightweight series, but they are not cheap either).
Not sure if any of this helps, but all the best!
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