Fishing Reels

Chosen with care, a reel should balance your fishing tackle, suit your kind of fishing and, if it is good quality, last you a lifetime.

Open Faced Fixed Spool Fishing Reel

These are the most popular and easy to use fishing reels. They can be used for a wide verity of fishing techniques.

When to use them:
• Trotting when the fish want bait presented at exactly the same speed as the current.
• When accurate casting is necessary.
• Fishing with light wagglers.
• When using heavy lines for big fish.
• Long range float fishing with big wagglers.

Closed Face Fishing Reel

When to use them
• Trotting rivers when the fish are not particular about the bait being presented at the speed of the current.
• Speed fishing with a medium sized waggler, when accurate casting is not important.
• Tangle free casting when the wind blows line off the spool of your open face reel.

Fishing Reel Features
A fixed spool reel will normally have some or all of the features below.

Drag: This acts as a safeguard against the sudden rush of a large fish.

Gearing: For one turn of the reels handle can rotate the bail arm more than once. Normally an open face reel has a quicker retrieval time than a closed face reel.

Anti-reverse: Stops the reel from winding back. This can usually be switched on or off.

Inter changeable spools: Most fishing reels have a quick release spool. So you can use the same reel for various types and strengths of tackle.

Bait runners: This allows line to be taken from the spool with the bail arm closed and then flicking this switch to stop the bait running.

Centrepin Reels

Centrepin reels are very simple reels that consist of a spool that revolves on a central pin. The principle purpose of centrepin reels is to store line. They are normally only used in course fishing for trotting. The most common centrepin reel is the Fly Reel.

Multiplier Reels

This is a reel mostly used for sea fishing it is fished on top of the rod. They consist of a drag system, spool, ratchet, braking, line distributor and reel frame. You get different sizes of gearing; small multipliers have high gearing to pull in your line quicker. Whereas, low gearing can be used to bring in large fish. You should rinse your reel in freshwater at the end of the day, and once dry, oil it. This will help keep it in good condition and should last for many years.