Thread: auto fly reels / garbage

I completely disagree. Being a casting instructor, I have been fly fishing for a long time. I have used auto's for many years for bream and other panfish fishing.

I have several Martin's which I have voluntarily made into retired conversation peices.

The Pflueger 1195 is probably the best choice now available and I own four of them and have gifted several of my close friends with them on rods that I purchased for them. I have one attached right now to a $300+ rod. It catches bream like no other. When you are catching 150 or more in a day. You do not want to hand reel that many in to release. I do not keep any bream and am fishing for them merely for sport. (Crappie taste better) I wish that those green trout (Bass) could fight half as much pound for pound that a bream does. I also wish that some of the stocker trout that are available to me to catch locally would fight one fourth as much pound for pound. I've never been known to be a purist, but just my opinion.

Zero

This is an interesting thread. With auto reels, it seems you either love 'em or hate 'em. For the record, I have never used one, mainly because I've heard bad reports on the newer models.

For you guys who do use them, what kind of drag do they have? How do they handle big fish? (I guess they handle them pretty good if Pete could land a ladyfish with one. )

Originally Posted by deathb4disco

This is an interesting thread. With auto reels, it seems you either love 'em or hate 'em. For the record, I have never used one, mainly because I've heard bad reports on the newer models.

For you guys who do use them, what kind of drag do they have? How do they handle big fish? (I guess they handle them pretty good if Pete could land a ladyfish with one. )

DB4D - They were rather small ladyfish! :o
As far as drags go, I guess you could call the recoil spring that winds the "auto" part of the reel a "drag", depending on how tightly you would it, but it wasn't intended to do that job. A buddy had a Vivarelli (Sp?) that someone mentioned had an adjustable drag, but you needed a wrench (Allen?) to adjust it. It was a cute reel, but IMHO not worth 300 clams!
Pete

Does any one have an opinion on the Shakespeares? I have one that I was thinking of cleaning up. If it is garbage, I will not waste my time. This is for gill popper fishing with fenwick rod.

Thanks

Southbend-Been using them for years...:D:D

If you dont' think anyone use's them you're wrong. Go over to fiberglassflyrodders and lot's of folks still use them for panfishing up to bass. I have one at home but not sure what brand it is.

Fatman

Originally Posted by bluegillfisher

Does any one have an opinion on the Shakespeares? I have one that I was thinking of cleaning up. If it is garbage, I will not waste my time. This is for gill popper fishing with fenwick rod.

Thanks

Have a Shakespear lay flat automatic Grandfather gave me when I was 4 years old. He got it for retirement present along with a steel extendable hex shaped rod about 7ft long.He could not deal with mechanical things. Gave me real and took rod tied line around end and tightlined around pond banks and along creek edges. Wish I could see in one pile all the fish that old pole caught. Got a fiberglass rod 3 or 4 years latter and tought myself to catch bream and bass from farm ponds. still have that old reel on shelf loaded with original line I had put up for some reason. Took it out to pond last year and still works fine. Use one of the new martins now for bream. Never had a problem. Thank the good Lord for Grandparents who loved to fish. That also would make that old reel 59 years old.

I have a pemco made minnesota. It's been great it's over 15 yrs old still picks up the line fast. If you don't no how to use them don't .But if you think they don't have a place in flyfishing you're wrong i caught many trout and several kinds of fish with no problem.

Reading some of these threads it's just like a lot of other ones. Everyone has their opinion on which is better. I use an automatic reel (Martin). I mainly fish for bluegill with it and rarely do I reel the fish in. The only time I do reel in is to take up the slack lying in the bottom of the boat. My wifes Grandfather had an old Martin and it still works great.

Originally Posted by Zero

I completely disagree. Being a casting instructor, I have been fly fishing for a long time. I have used auto's for many years for bream and other panfish fishing.

I have several Martin's which I have voluntarily made into retired conversation peices.

The Pflueger 1195 is probably the best choice now available and I own four of them and have gifted several of my close friends with them on rods that I purchased for them. I have one attached right now to a $300+ rod. It catches bream like no other. When you are catching 150 or more in a day. You do not want to hand reel that many in to release. I do not keep any bream and am fishing for them merely for sport. (Crappie taste better) I wish that those green trout (Bass) could fight half as much pound for pound that a bream does. I also wish that some of the stocker trout that are available to me to catch locally would fight one fourth as much pound for pound. I've never been known to be a purist, but just my opinion.

Zero

Okay, now we can probably agree to disagree about the auto fly reels. I had two as a youngster in the 60's, a Perrine and think the other was a Shakespeare. Got my first single action and like, "WTH have I been doing?..." So we can disagree on that but the rest of this is truly opinion, you don't want to keep 'gills, then don't, but while I purposely target 'gills and crappie, I eat 'em both and I can tell you that crappie are NOT better eating than gills. THey're just different eating than gills. So there.