6wt Reel Choice

[Guest Dust1n]

Im having a hard time choosing between the Hardy ultralite, Lamson Guru or the Orvis Mid arbor? Any Suggestions?

[Taco]

Islander IR

[sallinger]

hardy or orvis hydros LA

[ÜberFly]

Yeah try to get an LA reel over mid arbor!!

[reevesr1]

Totally having a love affair with my Hardy.

[Duke]

just got a hardy UL and loving it so far.

[Guest Dust1n]

Nothing about the Guru yet?

[ironfly]

Mid arbor reels give you more leeway between the flyline and the crossbar of the reel, so if the flyline piles up in one place while you're reeling it's less likely to jam. When the line jams against the crossbar it can interrupt the fight with the fish, sometimes causing an LDR, and can damage the flyline.

 

I think the advantages of large arbor reels are mostly marketing hype. So your LA reel turns slower while a fish is running. So what? Let 'er sing! Lee Wulff, and every other salmon angler of his day, wasn't hampered by small arbor reels. And they had click and pawl "drag" to boot! A decent quality reel isn't going to explode. Cheap ones do, regardless of arbor design.

 

Coils in your flyline coming off the reel? I haven't tried every flyline made, but I can safely say this happens with most of the best lines out there, even on LA reels. The coils are just bigger. They tangle less, but they still tangle. A good line has little to no memory after one solid stretch. The tension you apply when reeling up at the end of the day is a bigger factor than arbor size.

 

The big one for many anglers is the LA's ability to pick up line faster. Here's the thing- I can strip line twice as fast as I can reel it with a large arbor. I know others who say it's three times faster. If it actually matters, if a fish charges straight at you, you're better off stripping in line for all you're worth.

 

For me, from now on, mid arbor all the way.

[Guest JBear]

Depening on how much cash you have dustin. But have a look at the Okuma Helios. Its a really nice reel for its price. I really think the only reason you want hardy... is because it has the name hardy. If you want to save money, go with a Gloomis venture, that is a fantastic reel for its price. Or i'd go the sage route. The 4200 is WICKED.

 

Top of the line would be hatch or loop. If you were to sink 500 bucks into a reel, go hatch. I have the venture 5, helios 5/6, gtec 350, redington rise 5/6, allen trout 5/7, orvis battenkill mid arbor, the top three IMO would be venture, helios and orvis. Then out of those 3 would be helios.

[bbhill]

Nothing about the Guru yet?

 

 

I was thinking the same thing Dust1n since I'm looking to buy a new 6wt real and the Guru looked like a good affordable option. I don't want to spend over $200, but nobody mentions about the Lamson reels?

[bhurt]

I have a Hardy Angel (New one) that I have been using the last little bit and I really like it.

 

The biggest thing for me was that I was able to remove the clicker with no problems and in the box it came with a extra clicker, I liked this as it showed me that hardy had designed to either replace or remove the clicker.

 

Other reels I have used that had impressed me where the following

 

Bauer

Loop Opti

Hatch

 

I know these reels are expensive but I have found that when I went to a cheep reel it either

a. Broke within a year or two

or

b. The drag system sucked ass

[Guest NamasteMushroom]

Islander IR

 

Yep.

[Guest NamasteMushroom]

The best reels are IMHO:

 

1. Machined.

2. Simple.

3. Do not use a roller bearing based drag.

4. Use a click, or Disc (as Islander) drag system.

5. Have a minimal amount of plastic components.

[Keith]

I was thinking the same thing Dust1n since I'm looking to buy a new 6wt real and the Guru looked like a good affordable option. I don't want to spend over $200, but nobody mentions about the Lamson reels?

 

I've used Lamson/Waterworks reels for a decade. I don't have a guru, but I think Lamson uses the same sealed drag for all of their reels. I've used Lamson 6wt reel for ten pound trout in New Zealand. I've used Lamson in salt for bones. You should watch the video on their website. These things are a marvel of engineering. I haven't used all of the reels listed above, so it's hard to say unbiasedly that there isn't anything better out there. All I can say is that you aren't going to go wrong with a Lamson. My go-to reel for the Bow is Velocity, which is now about 10 years old. I've fished it all over the world and it still works like new, and still looks almost new because their anodized coating is nearly indestrucible.

 

[bhurt]

I Have used the velocity but in a spey size and it was nice, however I am a bit crazy when it comes to the clicker noise and the lamson was driving me slowly insane with the clicker noise.

 

With that beeing said I liked the reel but have since sold it.

[ÜberFly]

Ahhhh that explains it Brad!!

 

LoL

 

I am a bit crazy... and the lamson was driving me slowly insane

 

[darrinhurst]

I have two of the Orvis Access mid arbor reels. One on my 5wt and one on my 6wt.

 

Love them both. Light in weight and have been just fine for drag and stopping power.

[bhurt]

Ahhhh that explains it Brad!!

 

LoL

 

Come fishin with me and u can see just how crazy I am, oh by the way bring a towel cause I can not guarentee I will not toss your skinny butt in the river, ahahahahahahahahaha

 

 

 

[ÜberFly]

Oh I already know!! LoL

 

That's EXACTLY what I'm saying!!

 

P

 

Come fishin with me and u can see just how crazy I am, oh by the way bring a towel cause I can not guarentee I will not toss your skinny butt in the river, ahahahahahahahahaha

 

 

[Fishslayer74]

Nothing about the Guru yet?

I have the Lamson Litespeed on my 9wt and the Lamson Konic on my 5wt and there both great reels. I've been fishing alot with the litespeed for pike and its been bomber with a great drag system. The Konic I haven't used as much yet but so far it's up there to.

 

Nice and light as well and great value for what they cost compared to other reels plus there made in north america and not overseas.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Cheers.

[bhurt]

Anyways getting back to the topic, alot of the stores here in town have demo models and I am sure if you brought in your rod they would have one with a line on it that you can try, unforntantly you will not getting that "FIGHTING" experince but something is better then nothing.

[RunnyD]

I have two of the reels specified, the Hardy and the Orvis.

 

Of the two I like the Hardy reel the best. It has a better drag system but the the Orvis balanced better on my 6wt TFO BVK.

 

If price is an issue, you can't go wrong with the Orvis.

 

As for the Guru, I was looking at a 3.5 model for my switch rod but ended up with the Sage 1680. Cheaper and better drag system.

[Blake]

Mid arbor reels give you more leeway between the flyline and the crossbar of the reel, so if the flyline piles up in one place while you're reeling it's less likely to jam. When the line jams against the crossbar it can interrupt the fight with the fish, sometimes causing an LDR, and can damage the flyline.

 

I think the advantages of large arbor reels are mostly marketing hype. So your LA reel turns slower while a fish is running. So what? Let 'er sing! Lee Wulff, and every other salmon angler of his day, wasn't hampered by small arbor reels. And they had click and pawl "drag" to boot! A decent quality reel isn't going to explode. Cheap ones do, regardless of arbor design.

 

Coils in your flyline coming off the reel? I haven't tried every flyline made, but I can safely say this happens with most of the best lines out there, even on LA reels. The coils are just bigger. They tangle less, but they still tangle. A good line has little to no memory after one solid stretch. The tension you apply when reeling up at the end of the day is a bigger factor than arbor size.

 

The big one for many anglers is the LA's ability to pick up line faster. Here's the thing- I can strip line twice as fast as I can reel it with a large arbor. I know others who say it's three times faster. If it actually matters, if a fish charges straight at you, you're better off stripping in line for all you're worth.

 

For me, from now on, mid arbor all the way.

 

 

X2 (Still fish a few large arbor reels tho).

 

Also, I used to work at a shop a few years back (ok, 11 or 12 years back ) and the lamson rep came in to do a product meeting with the guys. He had a litespeed reel set up for a right hand retrieve and every time one of the guys would pull the line out to check out the drag, the plastic "gland cap" holding the clutch and conical drag in place would unscrew. I don't know if it was because it was a demo reel that was constantly taken apart, a problem with that specific reel or a design problem. But I knew then and there I would never own a lamson reel.

[bcubed]

As for the Guru, I was looking at a 3.5 model for my switch rod but ended up with the Sage 1680. Cheaper and better drag system.

 

How'd you deduce that? The guru has a far better drag than pretty well all of the non-6000 sages.

 

I own two of the 4500s from sage, and i'd trade them in an instant for litespeeds

[browntrout57]

X2 (Still fish a few large arbor reels tho).

 

Also, I used to work at a shop a few years back (ok, 11 or 12 years back ) and the lamson rep came in to do a product meeting with the guys. He had a litespeed reel set up for a right hand retrieve and every time one of the guys would pull the line out to check out the drag, the plastic "gland cap" holding the clutch and conical drag in place would unscrew. I don't know if it was because it was a demo reel that was constantly taken apart, a problem with that specific reel or a design problem. But I knew then and there I would never own a lamson reel.

 

good idea! not like they have changed anything on the litespeeds in 12 years......oh wait......