I’ve been fly fishing many years, but I don’t understand what rim control on a fly reel is and means?
Thanks
The simple answer is that it is a reel with an exposed spool rim that allows you add drag while the spool is spinning with a finger or thumb…
… without getting your fingers clobbered by the spinning reel handle.
Rim control is what you get when using a reel built so that part of the outer circumference edge of the spool is exposed. The rim, if you will. This allows the angler to use the palm of his hand as a friction against this rim like a drag when playing a fish. These reels are also sometimes called “palm control” reels…ModocDan
Rim control…uh, um, uh…well…nevermind
The 1500 series reel on the right has the exposed rim
The 1400 series reel on the left does not
I guess the reason I didn’t know was because I was always taught, if I had a fish big enough, to play it off the reel (drag). I guess the reason is because hand pressure can too easily snap a tippet?
Thanks
I usually set the drag on my salmon reels pretty light. With the extra drag of the ine going up through the guides on a 10 ft rod, … there’s usually plenty of resistance.
Every now and again, I will have to palm the reel to try to slow down a big fish in the current. I prefer palming (on the rim) over fiddling with the drag control during a fight.
That makes sense. Most of the fish I catch are trout from 8 to 18 inches. I don’t get many into the backing.
Lastchance -
Unless you are using VERY light tippet, the odds of breaking it because of “hand pressure” are almost nonexistent. Considering your post regarding your quary - 8" to 18" trout - there is no NEED to put fish on the reel. If you WANT to do so, as a personal preference, that’s great, but no need to feel compelled to.
My personal preference is to land fish by stripping line in. Just seems a lot more tactile to me than putting them on the reel. And it’s easier and quicker to get back to fishing when you don’t have to strip line off to get started again.
Bigger fish will most likely get themselves on the reel. When they do, it makes sense to keep them on it because changing to the line-stripping approach increases the chance you will lose pressure on the fish, and lose the fish. The opposite is also true, fiddling around trying to get a fish on the reel can result in losing fish by losing pressure on it.
John
P.S. You didn’t specifically bring it up, but I wonder if someone also suggested that you use very ( unnecessarily ) light tippet ?? I would suggest that you use the heaviest tippet you can get away with, and that is usually pretty heavy.
Last Saturday, in a fly tying demo, a very competent guide on the South Fork of the Snake, while tying a size 18 pheasant tail nymph, mentioned fishing it off a 3X tippet. Might not work on some streams / rivers, but will on most.
A lot of different people fish with my gear every year under very demanding conditions. I always tell everyone to put every fish on the reel. The main reason is because they drag my fly lines across the rocks, stepping on them and doing lots of damage. I had over a dozen fly lines fail to survive this season… That gets expensive…
art
JohnScott: Well as long as you mentioned tippet size I normally fish 5x in clear, thin water. Under normal conditions I use 4x. One of these days I’m going to use 4x exclusively for awhile to see how much of a difference it makes, if any. I read one time that George Harvey, the dean of fly fishing in PA, said 4x is the smallest you need to use when nymphing.
Art -
That’s an excellent point. It’s come up in previous threads on the subject of “fish on the reel” vs using the line-stripping method.
From what I’ve read in your posts on the kind of fishing you are fortunate to do, probably a higher percentage of fish will get themselves on the reel to start with. I suspect that if I was fishing where you are with your clients, I’d do the same thing ??
For someone in position to take care of their own gear and in appropriate conditions, the line-stripping method is a viable alternative.
John
Obviously Art has a special situation…
In this one I’m with John…and for the reasons he sites…seems to me the key is… the bigger fish get themselves on the reel.
Having said that… I fish with a buddy who says he gets any fish on the reel…I don’t understand it but he is a good fisherman…[but not a good caster]
For those of you who may have missed this
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/showthread.php?t=24246
If you lock your drag down tight and tie a 5 X tippet to the ground in front of you, you can snap your 6 X like a twig by picking up on the rod long before the drag gives or the tippet breaks. Moral, set your drag light and use your palm and rod angle to play the fish. As a matter of fact, this is a good way to set your drag to make sure you don’t break your rod with a sudden strike or by not using the JC arm extension method of landing a fish. Set your drag so that it releases before you get even a 90 degree bend in your rod. I think too tight a drag is another rod killer and drag is way overhyped until you get over 20 pounds of fish. And all this crap about zero start inertia and such is just that. Almost any drag will function okay if set light. True, some are better than others, but don’t buy a reel based on just that feature.
And, as stated previously, let the fish take you to the reel. If you never get there, you don’t need to be there.
Bob
Understand I am not an anal personality type… one look at my shop and that notion would be laughed out of the room… But I like ceremony in things, I guess. I drink lots of coffee and when it is not available I miss the mission of making the cup; Grinding the beans and boiling the water in some measured way…
I kid myself by thinking I am multi-tasking! 
That is as close as I can come to explaining why I would put a 6" grayling on the reel, just like a 60# king salmon.
Some of us were taught by grandpa, who just plain insisted you put the fish on the reel just as soon as you can. You can never know when you might wish you had…so if you are in the habit of just doing it, it becomes natural/automatic. You don’t need a bunch of lose line hanging around just waiting to trip you up (or down.) And you can’t do it if you don’t try it.
Yes, I’m old and cranky, just do it.
I never know for sure if the fish is going to take me to the reel or not; so I put them on it myself. Then, if I have screwed up and he is bigger than I thought, he can’t pull out a few feet of slack line and then hit the stationary reel and pop the tippet. Somehow, like ‘hap’ says, it is fun, one more thing I get to do when a fishy bites and seems to be a safe habit. Once I have a fish ‘on the reel’ it’s pretty hard for him to get anything solid to pull against.
I have seen too many ‘slack’ fly lines get fouled with grass and other weeds that were just stripped in. Deadly not to put a fish on the reel when you are in a boat as the line will find all sorts of things to hook on and even more when you are in a float tube. Just too many things to go wrong by chancing not putting a fish on the reel. I am bad enough landing fish, I need every odd in my favor I can get.
How many times have you seen a guy reach for a fish only to see it turn and make another run. No time to have a few coils of fly line dragging downstream or down-tide, loading up with stuff.
And, it looks a lot more classy and I need all that I can get too. 
I try to put all my fish on the reel, unless I am absolutely sure there won’t be a problem otherwise which is rare.
I fish the salt mostly and around here if you don’t use a stripping basket it’s rare. I can’t stand the foolish things. I learned to keep my line looped in my fingers. I was taught long ago that fly fishing is all about line control. Ikeep any free line on the reel.
The exposed rim makes life easier getting the extra line on the reel.
I am in favor of light drags on all my gear, fly or conventional. It is easier to apply pressure to the spool with your hand or finger than find and crank a knob to remove it.
In general, I use both reel types for drag control. However, I find myself controlling line tension with the use of my index and middle finger unless it’s a whopper of a fish. To control the tension I squeeze with both both fingers as needed. And yes, I also am of the school to reel in your fish
An old timer named Marinaro admonished bamboo rod users like myself from using the rod to slow the fish and advised us to get them on the reel so I try to, with most fish I hook.
Rim controls is nice but not all of my reels have it. When I do have it and it’s needed I apply it with my index finger if the fish is cooperative…
…and with my middle finger if he’s not!