Quick Retrieval: Automatic Fly Fishing Reel

Besides choosing a fly fishing rod, beginning fly fishermen have to make a decision as to what fly fishing reel to buy as well. Novice fly fishermen are wise to consult friends and relatives that are fly fishermen to see what types of rods, reels and line they use, in addition to possibly borrowing their equipment to get a feel for what works best for them before actually purchasing the equipment themselves. Some reels can cost up to seven hundred dollars, which is not an investment that most novice fly fishermen would want to make.

Choices to Make

There are automatic fly fishing reels that allow fly fishermen to automatically retrieve the fly line. Automatic fly fishing reels let the fly fisherman to press a button or flip a lever which allows the fly line to be pulled into the reel. The automatic fly fishing reel is the quickest retrieval system on the market today. Other retrieval systems on the market that is more common that automatic fly fishing reels are the single action retrieval system or the multiplying retrieval system. The single action retrieval system is the slowest to use and requires the fly fisherman to do the work himself. The multiplying retrieval system is faster than the single action system and multiplies the fly fisherman's effort of retrieving the fly line.

Other than choosing a type of retrieval system, such as the automatic fly fishing reel, the fly fisherman also has to decide what type of drag system to have on the fly fishing reel. The spring and pawl system is the most common system of providing tension to the line so that a larger fish cannot pull all of the line off the reel. This system is noisy, giving a clicking noise as the tension is applied. The other type of drag system is a disk system that is silent and is also more expensive than the spring and pawl system.

In addition to these considerations, the weight of the reel should be taken into account since a lighter reel makes the pole easier to handle. There are also different widths of the spools which allow more or less line to be on the spool. A spool is often called the 'arbor' and beyond the amount of the line it holds, it also affects how quickly the line can be retrieved. There are also different finishes that are used on the reels, whether automatic fly fishing reels or other types, which allow them to hold up in different weather conditions.