I am very new to fly fishing and wanted to hear from a few “old salts” some suggestions on a 9 wt reel. Id prefer not to break the bank .Im looking too do inshore fishing.
I just bought the new Orvis Large Arbor reel for my 9 weight. I like it!
-wayne
teton tioga, pflueger president, pflueger trion all about the same price
I’m looking for a similar reel myself. I’m not an old salt, but here’s the results of my research on the topic.
I currently have a Cortland Endurance. It was $109, and I’ve had it for about a year. I haven’t had any problems with it, but the drag hasn’t really been tested on a large fish. Mostly I’ve caught blues and stripers under 10 lbs on it. My problem is that I want to try for albacore and I don’t understand the drag system on the Cortland. I think albacore would test the drag, so I’m thinking of upgrading.
I’ve heard good things about the Redington CDL, and the TFO 375 has some serious fans. Both in the $200 to $250 range.
The Albright Tempest III is discontinued, but you can still find them on the market for less than $200. The Tempest has a Cork Disc drag, which, if maintained, would be great.
A Teton Tioga is around $200. It’s got a patented disc drag using neoprene discs, I think. Some local fly fishermen I know like them a lot. I have a Tioga 8 for a smaller rod, but it hasn’t been tested on a large fish either.
Lamson reels have sealed, patented drag systems, which is attractive. I’ve had some outstanding customer service from Lamson. A Velocity would be $200+, I think. But I’m really attracted to the new Hard Alox Lamsons – now we’re getting close to $500. That’s not in the Tibor range, but hard for me to spend. Still, Lamson customer service has been so good for me, I’m thinking about it.
The new Nautilus reels are supposed to be great. They have a patented, sealed composite drag system. I think one disc is cork and the might be graphite. They are also in the $500 range.
No complaints on my Orvis Mach V.
Relative expensive and fantastic: Nautilus Featherweight www.nautilusreels.com
Very cheap and very good: Prestige Plus 3 of cabela’s www.cabelas.com
greys grx comes with 3 spools free and holds 300 yards of number 9.
loooks like someting id check out. aint expesnsive.
here is sight look
http://www.sportfish.co.uk/product/3357 … Spool.html
Now thats a great price!
Suprised no one has mentioned Tibor reels yet. They are the benchmark that all other saltwater reels are measured against. I have been useing them on everything from Trout to Tarpon for a dozen years, have never had an issue with any of them. If you can afford it, they are simply the best saltwater reel on the market.
JRA, What breaks the bank for you? What kind of price range are you looking at. I know a couple of people that think a Tibor or Abel is a budget reel, but those are beyond my reach today.
The Teton Tioga 10 is a very tough, durable reel for under $200.
The Albright Tempest has been discontinued by Albright. But it is exclusively available through Sea Level Flyfishing (www.sealevelflyfish.com), which is going to contract to have the reel made for them. This is a very good reel.
You might also consider a Ross Big Game 5 or 6. These were discontinued in 2006; but, there are a number of them available in the market. These are workhorses and compare favorably with some of the higher end reels. Mine have been fished in the surf (salty, sandy environment) and are still performing extremely well after many dunkings! And even though discontinued, the spare spools are still available from the factory. Mine have been used for false albacore, bluefish, striped bass, snook, flounder, weakfish…
I like my Orvis Battenkill Mid Arbor V
http://orvis.com/store/product_choice.a … ture_id=16
Price is right and I put Gel Spun backing to get tons of backing on the reel.
jed
I have a Cortland Endurance, a Tioga Magnum, and an Old Florida#4 that I use in saltwater and they are all great reels and well worth the money. Of course the other reels mentioned are good also, but I dont have any experience with them.
If you want to stick with reasonably priced reels,I wouls suggest a Teton Tioga,Sci Anglers System2,or a Ross Cimarron.Any one of these will serve you well and have proven track records.
On the high end are the Penn Fly Fishing Reels. They are super tuff and made for the salt. They have what I would consider the best drag in the buisness. Just my 2 cents. John
yeah, but they are not made anymore as far as i know
As far as I know you are right. But there are plenty of new ones still on the market. Also Penn, has the best service on their reels that I know of. John
I would recommend the Teton Tioga 10 . Made in USA same drag ,actually same reel, as Teton’s higher priced reels just with less porting. I would say that you don’t get it with the large arbor spool but the normal spool as the large arbor just reduces the amount of backing you can use and adds weight. For under 200.00 I paid 130 for mine. IMO the best value in quality reels and best of all still made in USA.
Some of the other reels mentioned are made by the same Chinese manufacturer and their parts are interchangable. So go with the cheapest of that lot. I saw the drag of one of these reels after the run of its 1st bone fish and you couldn’t turn the reel with a pliers. I can’t recommend these reels for Saltwater fishing.
Tom
I found a Flueger trion at the local flyshop that looks nice. Anyone have eny experience with this reel?
Looks to completely stainless .
ive got one, the 1990, its Forged, machined and anodized aluminum frame and spool, you can test it out anytime, ive got 2 spools one with floating and one with int line, both 9wt