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Thread: Economical Premium Reel Advice

  1. #1
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    Default Economical Premium Reel Advice

    I know the title sounds like a contradiction, but here it goes:
    I just came back from a great day in the catskills where I had fish hammering my dries all day (thanks to a wonderful guide, since the day before on my own I had a few short strikes on a nymph and not much else).
    Anyway, those fish included two photo-worthy "trophy" type fish (one brown and one rainbow). This is a big river with strong wild fish only so it was quite a battle.
    I had what I thought was a good set-up, a sage vantage rod (an example of what I call "Economical Premium") and a ross flycast reel.
    Long story short, the big brown fought like crazy (longest fish fight of my life ending with me falling out of the drift boat , losing my cigar but keeping the fish!). Any, this fish took my boat downstream about 60 yards and went pretty close to my backing and the reel was a disaster, the drag was jerky and the spool was wobbely. The big 'bow was only a little worse. Hence, it is time to pony up for a good reel, large arbor, 4 or 5 weight that will not break the brank (i.e. no insance ross or hatch reals that cost more than my first car.
    Thanks as always for your advice.

  2. #2
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    I like the Teton Tiogas. You can get a lot of reels on e-bay that are barely used for good prices. Lamson Konics are very popular, but I haven't tried one.

  3. #3
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    Difficult to know what you mean by "economical". What is your price range? What sort of reel are you replacing? What you want from the sounds of it is a good disk drag based reel. There are a lot of them on the market. From Echo, to Ross, to Orvis, the price range is $80-150 or thereabouts.

    Oh and be forewarned you'll get a bunch "you don't need a drag on a trout reel" responses, and these can be ignored. Obviously you've already found a need for a drag. Good luck.

  4. #4
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    you might look at Allen fly fishing

  5. #5

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    Lots of used reels out there too.
    It Just Doesn't Matter....

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by whatfly View Post
    Difficult to know what you mean by "economical". What is your price range? What sort of reel are you replacing? What you want from the sounds of it is a good disk drag based reel. There are a lot of them on the market. From Echo, to Ross, to Orvis, the price range is $80-150 or thereabouts.

    Oh and be forewarned you'll get a bunch "you don't need a drag on a trout reel" responses, and these can be ignored. Obviously you've already found a need for a drag. Good luck.
    That's what I thought too for years, my small stream reel is a vintage eagle claw, but there is no question I need good drag, the first fish I caught i instinctively palmed the reel and lost the fish instantly.
    Economical is the minimum I can spend while getting a solid reliable reel that can handle a big fish on a big river. The Ross Flystart obviously wasnt that reel.

  7. #7
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    Default

    The FlyLogic FLP is a winner. You might find a Hardy either side of a hundred bucks. I have and they are great reels. Talking about the small sized Marquis or System (SciANglers), and the LRH.

  8. #8
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    For the money the Echo is probably the best bet in a new reel.

    All current Lamsons have the same guts... and they are very good guts.

    They would be my top two choices.

    I have smoked a TON of reels on big fish. I have a lot of different brands and have used about every brand out there. I have somewhere around 35 Hardy reels, for example.

    Ross is a brand I simply refuse to use again, for anything. Their old models are far better than their new, but only "good".

    SA, Hardy-made Orvis, and SA-made Orvis are good for the money. The SA is really heavy for the size, IME.

    Sage reels are not up to the level of their rods... I use several of them, but not where big fish are possible.

  9. #9

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    Hap, have you had any experience with the Allen reels?

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by hap View Post
    For the money the Echo is probably the best bet in a new reel.

    All current Lamsons have the same guts... and they are very good guts.

    They would be my top two choices.

    I have smoked a TON of reels on big fish. I have a lot of different brands and have used about every brand out there. I have somewhere around 35 Hardy reels, for example.

    Ross is a brand I simply refuse to use again, for anything. Their old models are far better than their new, but only "good".

    SA, Hardy-made Orvis, and SA-made Orvis are good for the money. The SA is really heavy for the size, IME.

    Sage reels are not up to the level of their rods... I use several of them, but not where big fish are possible.
    Echo seems like a similar rod to the Ross Flystart/cast premium type components in a cheaper reel.
    I am very intrigued by the Allen.
    The mid-line orvis are mid-arbor and I would like a large arbor.
    So here are my choices (minus a newcomer):
    Allen Trout
    Lamson Konic
    Lamson Guru (if I can find one on sale still)
    Hardy Ultralite CLS (I know its 100 more but the money saved with cassettes v. spools seems to make up for that very very quickly).
    Any comments on these or an additional runner. Based on what I am hearing I would like: Bulletproof, big fish fighting drag reliability, sub-200 and large arbor.

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