I want to get another spool for my regular arbor Tioga. Other than the ability to “crank” them in faster, are there any other advantages or disadvantages? I have 100YDS of backing on my current spool with fly line and it fits nicely (there is room for more backing which on the next line change I am going to add).
Tioga is one of the few companies who got on the large arbor bandwagon in a bit of a slippery way. Some of their spare spools are labeled ‘large arbor’ but what they did is simply reduce backing capacity.
What’s the diff? Boaf spools will be filled with bcking and then fly line till the spool is full. Now they boaf have same circumference. So…every crank of a spool with 3" of diameter line on it is going to be a crank of 3" diameter…regardless of the size of the arbor? If you want to retreive faster it seems to me you just need a bigger reel to hld mor line…to have a bigger wheel to turn. I bought and used a 9’ Orvis Green Mountain set…equipped with line. Fished with it all winter. Decided to put a different line on it…ran it all off onto another reel and it was only then that I found out the Orvis was a medium to large reel! When I wound all it’s line off onto the other reel…it came up far short. Point is…while fishing with it…I could not tell whether it had the standard small arbor, medium arbor, or large arbor until I went to switch line. For what it’s worth.
Depending on what your fishing for you may never ever even get into your backing line.
the main reasons for a large arbor reels are
to retrieve line faster onto the reel.
to keep he line spooled at a larger diameter thus minimizing memory curl in the fly line.
I don’t think they are designed to hold much more line, and for myself I don’t consider that a selling point. That may be important tor heavier rods but they are usually outfitted with larger reels to match which hold more line.
I fished with medlist 1495 for years, rather than put 200 yds of backing on with a W.F.5 I used store string to fill the reel to a point that the reel would hold 50-75yds. of backing and the line. this made a reel that retieved faster than a 1494 and balanced better on a cane rod.
If you get a large arbor spool for the Tioga and use the same line weight you are only sacrificing backing capacity not increasing the line pickup. If you use it for a lighter line, then you will be able to have more backing and have a larger diameter than a reel designed for that lower weight. This will give you some advantage. Tioga does not properly list the line ratings this way but Abel does for the reels he has two spool versions.
A good large arbor design will keep more line at a larger diameter than a standard reel. When considering a larger arbor vs. a standard arbor There are two things you should look at:
Is it larger in outside diameter?
Is it wider?
Both of these will contribute to the principle of keeping more line at a larger diameter. The answer must be yes to at least one.
If the differences are considerable then the advantage is worth it, if not look for a different reel.
Joe
[This message has been edited by flyfisherjoe (edited 17 June 2005).]
You tell ‘em flyfisherjoe!
If you only have 25’ of line out at any one time any reel will do. It’s when you cast long and/or get into the backing that a ‘true’ large arbor rules.
With the conventional, narrow spool the O.D. changes much quicker as line is drawn out. This changes the drag setting, demands much more cranking to get line back and causes more coiling of the line. These are the facts, like 'em or not.
For small trout, run what you brung. For anything larger a true large arbor has its benefits.