REEdiculous REEls

Yeah-the fly guys think their reels are pricey-
Sold the Fin-nor but it was an ego trip pure and simple minded.
 
The same could be said about ANYTHING. Why pay 55k for a car when one for 9k will do the same thing?

I think $400 dollars for a quality reel that's back by a good warranty that will be a 'lifetime' piece is pretty reasonable, actually. Sure there are cheaper reels out there, but there sure are more expensive ones too. You pay for what you get...
 
gfen wrote:
I will be happy to be proven wrong, please take me to the appropriate location to do so. I'll bring the gear, you furnish the travel arrangements. Deal?


I'll be on Sugarloaf from the 11th of June through the 19th.
Meet me there.
Oh, and bring a sleeping bag. I get the bed and you get the floor.
:cool:
 
Is my Abel on a Scott G2 overkill as far as a 4wt, maybe to some, but I like it, I can afford it and I couldn't care less what anyone else thinks about it. I wonder why people concern themselves with what others have or what others think, there must be something more constructive to do with one's time, like go fishing.
 
Dear scotto,

Honestly, I didn't take syl's post as personal as it appears some people have.

I really don't think he was taking as much about the reels and the people who buy them as I think he was talking about the direction of the sport.

I took his post as just another ironic way of saying fly fishing when done "properly" is an exclusive sport and should remain so. He did afterall, begin the post by referencing the ads in leading flyfishing magazines.

You don't see ads for lower end gear in them do you, I know I don't?

Regards,

Tim Murphy :)
 
It was a post meant to have fun with during a slow period on the forum-why do people take these things seriously?
 
and some of us had fun with it.
 

I got free board at Sugarloaf, I'd like to think I won the thread.
 
Gfen,
Carabasset valley is really beautiful but the river is hard to fish.



Click and pawl is the way to go,drags for trout are extremely overkill.
 
k-bob wrote:
I hear ya, and i just fish for brookies but I am tempted by a $250 hardy flyweight, probably just the image... anyone ever own one?
Click to expand...

I've been tempted to buy a Hardy Featherweight for around $200.00 a few years back for my 1 piece rod I built about 35 years ago. I have a Heddon reel on it that you could probably interchange spools with the Hardy reel. It cost me $10.00 35 years ago, I still use it.

That was back in the good ol days when things were made in Japan, now the Japaneese are haveing everything made in China.
 

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buffalo7, those are great reels, have one myself. they are hardy clones, the springs and pawls are interchangable, in fact, you can buy the hardy parts and really make that thing purr.
FYI, most hardy reels are now made in korea. supposedly the quality is still there, and they are a bit cheaper.
 
bikerfish wrote:
buffalo7, those are great reels, have one myself. they are hardy clones, the springs and pawls are interchangable, in fact, you can buy the hardy parts and really make that thing purr.
FYI, most hardy reels are now made in korea. supposedly the quality is still there, and they are a bit cheaper.
Click to expand...

Yea, I love that reel, I wish you could still get them. they are a dead copy of the hardy reel. I think my parts would interchange with the Hardy Featherweight.
 
Tim Murphy,

I don't take much personally. Just stating the fact that I don't and will never fell guilty about spending money on my hobbies, they are what keep me sane! I like it and that is all that really matters. In fact, I use cheap shotguns for shooting sportings clays and 5 stand, while many of those around me are shooting $2500 guns and more. I even shoot better than them once in a while.

The reason, in my opinion, for not seeing advertising for less expensive gear is that these companies don't have the advertising dollars, i.e. mark-up, to afford much in the way of advertising.

Scott
 
bikerfish wrote:
buffalo7, those are great reels, have one myself. they are hardy clones, the springs and pawls are interchangable, in fact, you can buy the hardy parts and really make that thing purr.
FYI, most hardy reels are now made in korea. supposedly the quality is still there, and they are a bit cheaper.
Click to expand...

bikerfish,

I went to the only fly shop around here on this side of the mountains today, they are an Orvis shop and Hardy dealer. I ask about the reals being made in Korea, and he told me he was concerned about the quality when they started makeing them there, but after comparing them, he believes they are higher quality due to computerized machineing. He thinks they are more precision made with out the machine marks the old ones had.

He had the featherweight for $249.00. I don't think thats a bad price, they were about $200.00 10 years back. But I might go with a $10.00 Heddon if I could find one.
 

For me, its about soul. I know that's just another ridiculous thing spewed out of my keyboard, but somehow it matters.

I don't care if modern machined reels are better, they don't have the same embodiment within them that it seems some of the older stuff would have. I'd love to own a Hardy, and someday I'll finally pick up a Perfect, but I want one handmade by an old English lad, where it meant something more than a paycheck.

It wasn't a job, it was a craft.

That's part of the appeal of antiqutated junk like Medalists, even though they're cast in Asia, there's an accumulated history dripping off them that makes me feel like somehow I'm tapping into something better than a modern classic.

Style over substance? Absolutely. Misguided? 100%. Important? Only to me, perhaps, but in my mind, it weighs heavier than gold.
 
I picked up a new Hardy this winter, Cascapedia Mk II, Korean made....nice reel and a decent deal, but one of the screws holding the foot to the frame sat a little high which ended up digging into the reelseat of a rod I wanted to try with a 5wt line. A little work with a file knocked the offending screwhead down to where it doesn't interfere anymore...but not at all happy about the scratched varnish on a very nice rod.

Korean made Hardys? Nope, not a fan. Can see parting with this reel in the future and saving more pennies for a St George or Perfect if the price is right....
 
I don't think I'd hesitate to buy a korean hardy. the british were never known for their engineering. now the germans on the other hand!
 
SYL,
I used to own a $10,000 K gun and all I can say is that it didn't shoot like butter. It wasn't that heavy either. My brownings shot just as good and broke more targets! As for reels, you will find that even reels that exceed $500 in price are made over seas as well. Like the Sage Reels. Fly reel prices are pretty much crazy and all over the place. The prices are generally the way they are because of the machining process. If it takes 8 hours to produce a reel on a CNC machine, the price to run a CNC machine plus setup time is atleast $20/hr. So before you have bought materials, paid labor and done finishing and marketing you have $160 into it.
 
speaking of C&C here's a cool video, not a fly reel but a pin...

kingpin
 
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