Wintle’s World of Angling – Buying Reels

Mark Wintle, an angler for thirty-five years, is on a quest to discover and bring to you the magic of fishing. Previously heavily involved with match fishing he now fishes for the sheer fun of it. With an open and enquiring mind, each week Mark will bring to you articles on fishing different rivers, different methods and what makes rivers, and occasionally stillwaters, tick. Add to this a mixed bag of articles on catching big fish; tackle design, angling politics and a few surprises.

Are you stuck in a rut fishing the same swim every week? Do you dare to try something different and see a whole new world of angling open up? Yes? Then read Mark Wintle’s regular column.

Buying Fixed Spool Reels – You get what you pay for

Last week I looked at rods, and how best to choose one. If anything, reels can present an even more difficult decision. It’s little wonder that many anglers find a brand and style of reel that they can trust and stick to.

Fixed spool reels – plenty of choice

For many years I would have included myself in that number, using exclusively Mitchell Matches and 300s for all of my fishing. This approach had its advantages, the spools were interchangeable for one, and the general robustness and reliability made up for any quirks of the eventually outdated design. But like many others I have moved on, just as the carp anglers moved from Mitchells to ABU to Shimano I started to appreciate that the newer designs from Shimano offered better winding power and bale rollers that worked, and initially switched for feeder work back in 1997. At first I couldn’t find a float reel that was of the right dimensions for me and stuck to my aging Mitchell Matches but inheriting some Shimano Stradic GT 1000 reels gave me a chance to re-evaluate them, and when Shimano brought out the 2500 size a couple of years ago I bought a couple and have been happy with them ever since.

But there’s far more to choosing a reel than just my personal preferences, so let’s start at the beginning before this sounds like a Shimano advertorial.

Sticking with fixed-spool reels there are half a dozen basic choices that can then be refined by price.

How big a reel do I need?

Starting with the smallest are the reels for lightweight floatfishing and spinning, perhaps lightweight legging too. These are the 1000, 2000 and 2500 sizes. These are simple reels that should be compact, lightweight and with small spools and a small line capacity. These are ideally suited to reel lines from 2 – 6lbs.

Next up come the feeder reels with a size around 3000, 3500 and 4000. These are more suited to lines in the 5 – 10lbs bracket, and will have a bigger line capacity but will still be reasonably compact.

Big Pit reels with large spools for long casting

Above this are two more sizes – the basic carp/pike reel, and the big pit reels.

Basic carp/pike reels are designated 5000 or 6000 size and built for lines in the 10 – 15lbs bracket. The big pit reels are suited to the same lines but on even bigger dimensions, the 8000 or 10000 size, and are designed to have a huge line capacity for long range casting.

So where are the other choices? Only in as much as adding a free spool facility, (or ‘Baitrunner’, as per the Shimano trademark) to the last three types.

Carp reel – built for lines in the 10lb to 15lb bracket

These different sizes of reel match the types of rods designed for the line strengths. For a float rod you need a small lightweight and compact reel, a feeder rod needs a slightly bigger reel, and carp and pike rods are matched with the biggest reels.

Front or rear drag?

A recent forum discussion highlighted that many more of us now rely on the drag for playing fish, and I count myself in that number. That makes it vital to choose a reel with a drag that works well.

For the smaller sizes of reel there are two options as far as drags are concerned; front or rear drag. The front drag reel is slightly more compact. Its advantage is that the drag mechanism is more compact and less complex so in theory more reactive.

Its disadvantage is that to change spools you usually need to undo the drag nut on the front of the spool, and that whilst playing a fish there is a danger that your fingers will interfere with the line when adjusting the drag. My preference is for the rear drag reels that have push-button release spools and the instant adjustment of a Fightin’ Drag that can be found on Shimano reels.

The quality of the drag varies too. I have a ‘freebie’ cheap reel with a retail of around £ 15. It has a drag all right but it’s too crude to be of much use, which I found out to my cost when using it for mullet fishing. Since then I’ve used better reels whilst fishing in circumstances when a drag is essential.

Bearings – Balls or Rollers?

Many reels today are sold on the strength of the number of ball or roller bearings. These vary from one or two to as many as ten, and not surprisingly this number increases according to how much you want to pay. Certainly, how smooth a reel feels when you turn the handle is something of a guide to the difference that the extra bearings present. To complicate matters further roller bearings are claimed to be superior and equivalent to more than one ball bearing.

Where these bearings should make a big difference, and only time will tell, is in extending the reel’s life against wear. Different types of fishing have varying effects on the durability of a reel; feeder fishing and spinning are much more demanding than light floatfishing for instance. The durability will also be affected by how well it is looked after, so if you want your reel to last longer ensure that grit is kept out of the works and that it is lubricated/serviced when required.

The body of the reel itself is made from different materials. Cheap alloys, lightweight reinforced plastics and expensive magnesium alloys all have their place. A reel made from magnesium alloy will be far from cheap but will be light in weight for its size.

There has been discussion on whether the durability of different reels has varied, usually for the worst, over time, mainly due to subtle changes in specification or being built in a new location. It was claimed that this occurred with ABU many years ago, and in more recent times with some Shimano reels. Only the manufacturers know the true story but the old saying about whether a product is built up to a quality or down to a price holds as true with reels as many other products. Certainly it is not necessarily good news when a reel suddenly drops in price with the year’s new launch.

Spool design and Spare Spools

The type of spool supplied varies. Lightweight reels usually have ‘match’ spools designed to take just a hundred metres of three pound line or so. Some reels only have large capacity spools, and a few are supplied with a variety of capacities.

What is true is that once a spool is much less than a third full (assuming a deep spool) casting resistance is greatly increased, and unless you are expecting to either cast tremendous distances or encounter fish that run exceptional distances then a spool that holds more than a hundred metres of the heaviest line that you will use on that particular reel is deeper than it needs to be. This also means that you will often need to fill out an over-deep spool with backing line before adding a hundred metres of the actual reel line. Bulk spools of cheap lines are the easiest and best way to do this.

Another factor in the price of a reel is whether spare spools are included. Sometimes another spool is included but of a poorer quality than the main spool. You will often find that the greater the initial price of the reel the dearer the spare spools. This is especially true of the better Daiwa reels that cost around £ 150 and more, having spare spools that cost as much as £ 40.

Usability

I could write another article on the usability of reels (probably already have!). In simple terms think about what type of fishing you will be doing. If it’s floatfishing with light lines then it is vital that you can reach the spool lip easily with your forefinger. Try this when the reel is attached to a rod and take into account the to and fro (oscillation) motion of the spool. If it’s a free spool type reel then look at the mechanism; is it easy to disengage/engage? Is there a tension adjustment, and so on? Is the reel light in weight for its size? What is the line lay on the spool like? This last question can only truly be found out by loading on some line, so it will pay to see if you find someone that already has the reel you’re thinking of buying and look at that with it spooled up.

There are different types of handle too. Double handles, single handles, small grips and torpedoes, each has its place and is very much a matter of personal preference.

Conclusion

This has been a whistle-stop tour of the complexities of buying a new reel, but I hope that if nothing else it’ll make you pause before your next purchase.

Next week – Dream Fish – Wintle’s World celebrates its century!