New Cabela's reel

[TYoung]

I was looking through the new Cabela's catalog and noticed they have come out with a new reel called the WLz. It says that it was designed by Waterworks-Lamson, and it looks a lot like one of their reels. Since it cost's more than $250, I would think that it most be comparable to maybe the Lamson Guru or Speedster. I think this reel is the most expensive one sold under the Cabela's brand. I wonder if enough people will be willing to buy an expensive reel with the Cabela's name on it. I know how brand conscience some fly fishers are. It seems to me that people that like reels like that would buy one of lamson's actual reels. Has anyone on this forum had a chance to look at one at a Cabela's stores?

 

[krayfish]

I saw that too and thought the same. I can get plenty of nice reels for that price point or within a few dollars of it. For me, I've had bad luck with the 'Cabelas' labeled products. Every single rod I've had from them has broken (some while casting and one while stringing up). In comparison, over the last 12+ years.... 0 broken St Croix rods, 0 broken Redington, 1 broken Sage (car window ate it).

Here's my beef with their return policy..... they track what you return and if you return again and again, they don't like it / jerk you around on the exchange. In a few month span, I returned 2 LST rods (or was it LSI ??) and an FT+. All broke in use. By the time I returned the 3rd one, they were giving me serious attitude. I said that I'd just take credit and buy a Sage or St Croix. They ended giving me only 40% of sticker price.... since then, I won't buy anything of their brand. The real shame is that the 8' 3" FT+ 3 weight was one of the best casting / feeling rods I'd ever used. The discontinued it though.

 

[Big-Bass]

Oh boy...I have been buying and returning a lot over the last year from cabelas as I try out some gear and use their guarantee. Looks like I am on their "list." While I have never experienced attitude, I do like their stuff. The wlz is actually just the guru reel only rebadged. Same drag, etc. the wlx did not have the conical drag.

 

[krayfish]

If that's the case..... can't you buy a Guru for less than $250? Yes is the correct answer. Why would I pay $80 more for the same reel?

I want to correct my previous post.... I bought a 6wt sink tip line of theirs to play around with. The line should be made by SA so I was comfy buying it. I've had shiiit luck with their rods though.

 

[poopdeck]

I'm surprised by that. I'm a big fan of their rods and reels. I only have one fly rod of theirs but Im real happy with it. Bought it last spring and fished it about 3 or 4 times a week while learning to fly fish before the cold sent me inside. Hopefully it will get thru this year as well. Time will tell though.

I have two of their fly reels, cant recall what the one is but I bought one of their RLS 4 wt reels on sale for 49 bucks (normally 125.00) on a trip to Michigan where I don't think they sell a lot of 4wts. Its made from a solid block of aluminum like a far more expensive reel and personally I really like it. It only needs to hold the line its not like your common Pa trout or bass are gonna burn up even the cheapest drag system.

I buy a lot off their salt striker reels and those drags get absolutely abused every year and I never had a problem with them nor lost a fish due to drag issues.

I have nothing to compare stuff to because I never bought high end rods and reels and I never will when I don't have to. I'm a little different, I prefer looking at my bank account and 401K more then my fishing equipment since I cant afford to admire everything. Damn priorities.

 

[krayfish]

Don't get me wrong. I'm thinking it was a 'fish eagle' model I got back in the 80's. It cast fine but broke at the ferrule. My next one was a LST. That one broke about 8" from the tip while fighting an 8" fish. They replaced it and 2 months later....snap about a foot from the tip. I will saw that it was also a nice casting rod but there were some design issues with the blank. Trying to cut weight ended up with a blank that was too thin and fragile. The rod I like the best was the FT+. That one was smooooth. Jdaddy was there when I was stringing the rod on the Tully and the top 8" broke off in my hand. ??? Went to get it replaced and the rod was not available. The guy sold me a PT model that was slooooow. He sold me on the fact that it was a fast action rod and he had me pair it with a Rio Grand. That combo basically killed the rod. I called Cabelas to ask what action the rod was and they said med - med / slow. I said your guy needs some training. Now I have a $70 line that makes it flex into the grip when casting. The told me to take it back. When I did, I got 40% credit for what I had paid (since they just put it in the bargain cave).

I got a Watershed reel that was nice. Made by Ross and I gave it away in a raffle during a Catskill JAM (now defunked). I also had a LSR reel from them that I gave to my buddy to use....never gave it back. He loves it and still uses it. I got $25 and a six pack for my troubles.

 

[pete41]

egotistically speaking I have found that trout and other elite finned foes much prefer to engage with top of the line outfits over generics.
Fortunately my spouses accepted that rational.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

pete41 wrote:
egotistically speaking I have found that trout and other elite finned foes much prefer to engage with top of the line outfits over generics.
Fortunately my spouses accepted that rational.

I thought for a minute you were going to say it was your good looks. My Bad.
GG

 

[TYoung]

The WLz is not the same thing as the Konic. You can tell by looking at the pictures that it is definitely not the same thing. They are machined totally differently. I'm pretty sure that all of Lamson's reels have the same conical drag system. The only difference is that the drags on the bigger reels have a larger surface area.

 

[Big-Bass]

The WLZ is based off of the Guru. I know that for a fact. It has the Lamson conical drag, is made in Idaho, and actually resembles both the Guru but moreso the Velocity Nickel. The older WLX was a Lamson reel as well, but did not have the conical drag system.

 

[TYoung]

I agree that the WLx is based off the other lamson reels. The machining done on the WLx is definitely unique. It doesn't exactly copy any of the other Lamson reels. All the Lamson reels have the conic drag, so how do you know that it is based off the Konic versus any of the other Lamson reels.

 

[Big-Bass]

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Fishing/Fly-Fishing/Fly-Fishing-Reels|/pc/104793480/c/104721480/sc/105572880/Cabelas-WLz-Fly-Reel/1661940.uts?destination=%2Fcategory%2FFly-Fishing-Reels%2F105572880.uts&WTz_l=DirectLoad%3Bcat105572880

Read the description. Conical drag, etc. the finish is not hard alox like the higher end lamson reels but still machined like the guru and velocity nickel.

Here is a velocity nickel to compare...aside from some porting differences and the orange drag knob, not much different.

http://waterworks-lamson.com/products/lamson-velocity-nickel/

 

[Big-Bass]

The velocity nickel has been discontinued and the wlz is new. Same tooling or machinery used or reused at lamson?