A little confused about reel seats...?

Equipment Rod Building: Cane and Graphite
1

I’m confused on the different type of reel seats out there, like up locking, and downlocking. How do I know which kind I have?

2

Ripper,
An uplocking rs is one where the collar tightens towards the tip of the rod; a downlocking rs is one which tightens towards the butt.

3

Aside from moving the center of gravity towards the tip with an uplocking RS- what does that do?
What are the advantages of having uplocking RS as compared to downlocking RS?

I’ve got a BS in business not engineering.

4

Which way you choose to mount the seat is really just personal preference. with a coil of your loose fly line that wraps around your uplocking reel seat is one reason for the downlock. The good thing of the uplocking reelseat is the reel will not be on the ground when lining the rod.On heavy saltwater rods and reels I prefer the uplocking with a fighting butt.

5

My quick look at both Cabela’s and Orvis’s catalogs says that the vast majority of fly rods have uplocking reel seats these days. This keeps the reel off the ground when you stand the rod somewhere. Off the ground means out of the sand, mud, or gravel. That is where I see the benefit. There may be some fine points of balance I am missing.

6

Two points:

  1. yes, the downlocking seat keeps the rod butt short, therefore, the reel can drag on the ground when the rod is resting against a tree or whatever. WIth the uplocking seat, the rod butt is longer and there is less of a chance of scratching the reel on the ground.

  2. I like to rest the rod butt on my midsection or the front of my hip and it is much easier to do that with a longer rod butt. In fact, it is almost impossible with a short rod butt.

7

I think the biggest difference is in the ease of construction. An uplock reel seat requires that the cork handle is cut with a recess to receive a metal insert which holds the reel foot. A down locking reel seat does not. Before I owned a drill press I had difficulty cutting this recess.

I don’t think the slight difference in the reel position is very significant to the rod balance. Where you like to grip the cork probaly has more influence than a 1/2" difference in reel position.

As far as line tangles and scratching the reel, I seem to be able to get tangles and scratch reels with equal proficiancy on either setup.

The uplock fits better into the rod holder on my boat, the down lock doesn’t stick out far enough and tends to work loose on rough water.

8

I never thought of that. In reviewing the same two catalogs, most rods I see have that metal ring nicely concealed under a cork ring. The exception is some Fenwicks (HMG around $180) which do not seem to cover the upper ring. Good for Fenwick. IMHO that niceity is unnecessary. A reel locked up will prevent your rod hand from getting that low on the grip. That makes the cork superfluous - a small but unnecessary addition to the total weight of the rod - like fancy cross wraps on the butt.

:twisted: Devil mad me say it.