Feedback on large saltwater fly reels from a saltwater guide.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

A friend from Auburn, CA, Alec Gerbec, who is a saltwater guide at the Seychelles off the coast of Africa was chatting with Andy Guibord and I about the big salt water fly reels.

These are big fly reels for extremely powerful salt water game fish that are over 50 pounds on 12 weight fly rods.

They get GTs or Giant Trevally that are over 100 pounds that will ruin most tackle.


He liked the largest new Orvis Mirage.

He said new Hardy Fortuna X seemed very good.

Nautilus has a new reel out, the NV-G that he liked.

The traditional cork drag reels like the Abel Big Game, Abel Super, Billy Pate and Tibor reels are very popular there because they could be worked on and fixed if need be.

They are in the remote islands off the coast of Africa so if a reel with a sealed drag goes bad they can't fix it.

.

[Tony Buzolich]

Good point about the sealed drags not being able to be worked on. I would think that anyone who would take a trip that far from anywhere would bring along several back-up reels just in case.

I'm pretty much old school with a bunch of Abels and Tibors that I've had forever. I've only had trouble one time with a drag that got too hot on a yellowfin and the cork glue softened and the disc shifted on the drag plate. It stayed glued when it cooled but was off-centered and had a pulse the rest of that day. I sent it in and they replaced all the inner workings n/c.

My most recent purchase was a Loop Evotec that I bought for Christmas Island. It has a sealed drag, and it got used in the sand every day. Fortunately I haven't had a single problem with sand getting in while wading, and the drag is incredibly smooth.

For those people who wade a lot a sealed drag should be a consideration when buying a new reel for that purpose. In the meantime I plan on using my old Abels and Tibors when chasing GT's.
Tony

[Carl Blackledge]

A friend from Auburn, CA, Alec Gerbec, who is a saltwater guide at the Seychelles off the coast of Africa was chatting with Andy Guibord and I about the big salt water fly reels.

These are big fly reels for extremely powerful salt water game fish that are over 50 pounds on 12 weight fly rods.

They get GTs or Giant Trevally that are over 100 pounds that will ruin most tackle.


He liked the largest new Orvis Mirage.

He said new Hardy Fortuna X seemed very good.

Nautilus has a new reel out, the NV-G that he liked.

The traditional cork drag reels like the Abel Big Game, Abel Super, Billy Pate and Tibor reels are very popular there because they could be worked on and fixed if need be.

They are in the remote islands off the coast of Africa so if a reel with a sealed drag goes bad they can't fix it.

.

Bill,

That's great advice on big saltwater reels.

I love my Abel's, however just for the hell of it and cause I can, I bought 2 signature Tibor's from Mary Ann at Tibor reel company, Both of these new reels are really cool, they both have the big Cork drag like the Abel's however they also have a sealed shield covering the cork and they call that a sealed drag. I call it a sealed cork drag. Both of these reels can be disassembled in a matter of seconds just like the Abel's......pretty cool reel's and again you won't lose a penny on high end American made reels with cork drags....my 2 cents

Carl Blackledge

[Baja Fly Fisher]

Hey Tony are you back from Aitukatu or have you left yet. I booked Nov 2017 and probably will book April as well. Also going to book a week or two at Crystal Beach, CI.

Jay

[DLJeff]

You can include Shilton's on that list as well. The South African guides in the Seychelles are 100% sold on Shiltons.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Wild...had not heard of them.

http://shiltonreels.com/