Click Pawl

Sitting on a ferry after getting lost in Seattle while towing a boat trying to drive around down through Tacoma. Somehow ended up in the ferry lane and drove right on as the last vehicle to make the ferry to Bainbridge. There is a God. This thread has been a pleasant diversion
 
Salmo_g said:
First off, click pawl is a misnomer for a spring and pawl fly reel. I say misnomer because there is no "click" on a spring and pawl reel. Go ahead; look for it. You can't find a "click" on that reel because there isn't one.
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Leave it to some scientifico to point out there is no part identified as a "click". That's because the click is a sound that is made by the interaction of the spring, pawl, and gear; but only when the reel is doing what it is designed to do, revolve. So rather than say "Clicking from the spring, pawl, and gear all working together as the spool revolves." which anyone will tell you is a fucking mouthful and a half, some juvenile unintentionally made it easier on us all by shortening it to click and pawl. Can I get an Amen!

Salmo_g said:
along with originally being the predominate reel available,
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Same could be said for right hand wind...click and pawl reels. :)
 
_WW_ said:
Leave it to some scientifico to point out there is no part identified as a "click". That's because the click is a sound that is made by the interaction of the spring, pawl, and gear; but only when the reel is doing what it is designed to do, revolve. So rather than say "Clicking from the spring, pawl, and gear all working together as the spool revolves." which anyone will tell you is a fucking mouthful and a half, some juvenile unintentionally made it easier on us all by shortening it to click and pawl. Can I get an Amen!


Same could be said for right hand wind...click and pawl reels. :)
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Amen, but only to your last sentance.
 
Merle said:
I'd love to see a video (with sound) of someone fighting a bonefish with an old Hardy marquis or similar click pawl reel. I'm sure it's been done.
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Took a trip to the Bahamas to fish for bonefish. Took an 8 wt fly rod and a Hardy St Aidan reel loaded with a regular - not a tropic specific - WF8F fly line. And caught bonefish to 8 pounds, no problem. What? You think fly fishing is complicated or something?
 
I really like the feel and sounds of my clickers aesthetically, Battenkills, CFO's, Cortland, and a Marquis. And they just always work perfectly. Look good and balance a light rod well too. But my Lamson Remix is really smooth and has a great drag like fishing it too, nothing against drag reels really. Except did get burned on my echo base reel twice last winter on the same day. First was bad overrun that jammed, but I wasn't going to get it on the three weight anyway. Second time similar, the line popped out of the frame then circled the guide to make it all tight. But that was late in the fight and the fish had a fin, so oh well. Wrong tool for the job.
 
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Clam Gun said:
Hands down they take the aesthetics category, though I would like to see someone fight a steelhead with their line stuffed in their pocket.
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Although I haven't done so, I'm sure that I could. It's just that using a line holder, like a fly reel, is just so much more convenient. If you've caught a few, you must know that steelhead are among the world's most over-rated gamefish.
 
I do like a good drag system when fighting trout on tiny tippet, like 6x or 7x. I guess my brain and hands don't talk quickly enough to protect that little shit. My trout single handers have Lamsons, the speys have CLICKers.
 
Salmo_g said:
If you've caught a few, you must know that steelhead are among the world's most over-rated gamefish.
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The first steelhead I caught with a Spey rod was a 6 lb hatchery fish on the Grand Ronde, over twenty years ago. I was using a Sage 9140-4 and a giant Redington AL 11/12 drag reel.

I couldn’t understand why the fish wasn’t peeling line, even when I backed the drag all the way off. I ended up just stripping it in like a shaker trout, took a quick photo and sent it in its way. Very anti-climatic.

I soon came to learn that just the line passing through all the guides creates a tremendous amount of drag, especially on an arced over 14 foot spey rod. I definitely could have kept the line in my pocket on that fish.
 
Gotta love those reels when the line comes in they click and no sound when line goes out...
 
Salmo_g said:
Fvck no! If a contemplative angler found "spring and pawl" too much of a mouthful and wanted to identify the reel by the sound it makes instead of some of the key components, he might have suggested calling the reel a "clicker." One word, two syllables. That could have caught on and wouldn't have been terribly inaccurate.
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Ummmm, that is what I call my spring and pawl reels; 'clickers.'

That being said, your original post outlining the positives of clickers should be pinned to the top of this forum! Well said!
 
Greg Armstrong said:
You’ve got some really nice reels!

I’m pretty sure all the ones on the left were made by JW Young for Orvis, late ‘60’s - early’70’s.
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Thanks! Yes, you are correct. The first 5 reels from the left were made by JW Young. Reels 6 and 7 from the left were made by Hardy and the last 2 on the right were made by BFR, British Fly Reels.
 
@_WW_ ,

Thank you for the feedback. I am not a tech guy so cant do pictures. I kind of get the idea I believe. I can remove the steel band ( spring?) and widen out the arc of said spring, to create more tension/drag. Is that about right? IIRC, I did that on my first fly reel, a Pflueger Medalist, about 42 years ago. I wasnt sure if that was the right thing to do but it did add a little more drag.

Thank you also @Divad.

Be safe all.

Bob
 
Merle said:
I'd love to see a video (with sound) of someone fighting a bonefish with an old Hardy marquis or similar click pawl reel. I'm sure it's been done.
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Couldn't post this while I was on my phone on the ferry to Bainbridge so when I got home I took these phone pictures. Many years ago I had an elderly customer at the shop who for a number of years rented the cabin on Ralph Caufman's property up The Frying Pan for 3 months each summer. We became good friends although I was probably 50 years his junior. Art Wilson and his wife Mary were longtime friends and angling companions of Joe and Mary Brooks. When Joe passed away in 1972 his wife Mary gave away his cherished equipment to friends he loved fishing with. Thus Art became the owner of Joe's bonefish outfit, one that he used on several early "American Sportsman" tv shows during its iconic 20 year history. One day during the last year Art was alive to fish The Pan he arrived at the shop to give me a gift, a nine foot nine weight Orvis Shooting Star and a JW Young made Beaudex Salmon reel. Here is that reel. Note the highly machined disc drag and space-age materials that Joe relied on to catch multiple bonefish and permit for the cameras. For those of you who believe in click and pawls, strike indicators and have naturally never heard of Joe Brooks I will offer this. You will be rewarded by taking the time to read it.
`Note the author. You might have heard of him.

PXL_20231128_024534164.jpgPXL_20231128_024557920.PORTRAIT.ORIGINAL.jpg
 
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I know a lot of people love them, but they're a little too noisy for me. I like peace and quiet while fishing.....even when I've got a big one on the other end taking out line. The sound of a Tibor with a bonefish on is perfect. Hearing somebody loudly stripping out line to cast on a small trout stream or early in the morning on a foggy lake....just seems a little too 'loud' for my tastes. Love the looks though.
 
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