Thread: New fly fisher - reel advice

You don't need a mechanical drag, you can use the palm of your hand.

Originally Posted by MB

You don't need a mechanical drag, you can use the palm of your hand.

Nope. The drag is pretty important. Possibly the reel is in reverse as many can allow the handedness (not sure that's a real word) set the right way around. Some of the cheap reels do just sound shit. Being graphite will only makemit sound more shit. Palming a reel is a good way to manage a fish but drag just helps keep everything tidy. Shakespeare were a good English brand but I think they went downhill.

Originally Posted by kiwijames

Nope. The drag is pretty important. Possibly the reel is in reverse as many can allow the handedness (not sure that's a real word) set the right way around. Some of the cheap reels do just sound shit. Being graphite will only makemit sound more shit. Palming a reel is a good way to manage a fish but drag just helps keep everything tidy. Shakespeare were a good English brand but I think they went downhill.

Don't think I even saw a fly reel with a drag in my early years. My current fly reel doesn't have a drag. It's a Loop, albeit very old. As someone else said, it's just a line storage device. If I was chasing kingfish or GTs, I'd want a bloody good drag, otherwise, not bothered. Are modern fly reels so smooth that you risk an overrun?

welcome to the house of pain ( wallet that is ) that is fly fishing-- reel just holds line -- you do not need a good drag your palm of hand will do that - do get good quality line - if you get serious you may need several set ups depending on river lake etc the house of pain in the quest for the trout

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

welcome to the house of pain ( wallet that is ) that is fly fishing-- reel just holds line -- you do not need a good drag your palm of hand will do that - do get good quality line - if you get serious you may need several set ups depending on river lake etc the house of pain in the quest for the trout

I mainly fish the middle reaches of the Wairau in Marlborough as it is 1km from my doorstep - it seems to be a pretty mixed river as far as lots of open braided areas but also nice sneaky side creeks that are slow and shallow with nice pools - I see a lot of fish and have mixed results with spinning and have been close to getting some fish to take my flies in the slower side creeks. Just looking to up my game a bit. I’m really close to some pretty amazing rivers - pelorus, branch, leatham, rai, goulter and Nelson lakes areas so just wanting to get a set up that kind of covers my bases. Still trying to get my head around what all the numbers mean weight wise for all the lines, rods, reels etc like I said I’m pretty new to it all. I’d rather not have too many setups due to the wallet pain - the wife is already wondering why I have to keep spending money on lures I’ve already bought - doesn’t quite get why I keep losing them. But the kids are starting to show an interest so I’d rather get a bit better before I start showing them how not to catch fish


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Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

welcome to the house of pain ( wallet that is ) that is fly fishing-- reel just holds line -- you do not need a good drag your palm of hand will do that - do get good quality line - if you get serious you may need several set ups ...

Wot 'Barry the hunter' said.

As it happens, I'm preparing for the winter season and I thought 'why not have a different set up for each rod?'

In the past I've had two spools for each reel, 1 floating line and 1 sinking line. A 5/6 rod, a 7 rod, a 9 rod and a 10 rod.

So 8 spools, 4 reels and 4 rods. I end spending more time, swapping rods and reels and flies on the shore, than fishing...

So this year it's going to be:

5/6 rod, floating line, with dry fly and nymph dropper, for small waters.

7 rod, floating line, for all other dry fly work, also with nymph dropper.

9 rod, sinking line, wet fly and heavy nymph, for most rivers.

10 rod, sinking line , wet fly and heavy nymph, for Tongariro.


this means I can keep these rods fully rigged, but as they're all two piece, broken down, to fit in the car but with the flies on the line still in the guides.


Arrive at fishing spot, choose rod, re-assemble, fish....