I see the world a little differently than most of my peers and as a result tend to do things my own way rather than in lockstep with conventional wisdom. And reel purchase has been no exception. Rather than buy a variety of fancy name brand reels that are a delight to look at and fish with I opted for affordable standardization without the bling or expense. I wanted everything to be the same and interchange without having to mix and match rods and reels and not have the line selection be limited by a reel that had no spare spool. I wanted affordable reels with readily available spools, they didn't have to be world class, just good dependable reels.
After 3 attempts to buy reels that I could build a system around I was discouraged that manufacturers would drop entire lines of reels or sell the reel but offer no spare spools. I sold or gave away all of those first attempts at standardization. My fishing is pretty much the same year to year, even more so now in my late eighties, and only occasionally do I land a fish in the 5 or 6 pound range. Eventually I landed on the Okuma SLV 5/6b that checked all the boxes for the system I wanted. They are not fancy reels, not pretty, die cast rather than machined and a bit heavier than a CNC reel of comparable size. But I am a grown boy and not one to whimper about an extra couple of ounces of weight. What I got was fairly rugged and dependable reels and so far no one has tried to humiliate me for going cheap. And I did go cheap! In December of 2022 I was shopping for spare spools and found the entire reels were on sale for $34! So instead of buying spools I ordered 6 of the SLV's for a grand total of $204 before tax. They have been outstanding so far with decent drags that have handled fish in the four to six pound range with no problems at all. Today I found spare spools on sale for $25 and ordered 2 more to round out the system with 8 lines for my 5-6 weight stuff, mostly for lake fishing.
The other system I have is for my 3-4-5 weight rods and is 3 lightweight Orvis reels with a total of 9 spools giving me lots of line choices for both stream and lake. For around $700 total I have 9 reel bodies and 17 spools to choose from on any given day. The cost of the fly lines far outweighs the cost of the hardware. On July 28 I will celebrate my first fish caught on a fly rod in 1951 and in 74 years of fly fishing I have learned that time on the water is the best weapon in your quiver. No amount of equipment can make up for lack of savvy.
v
After 3 attempts to buy reels that I could build a system around I was discouraged that manufacturers would drop entire lines of reels or sell the reel but offer no spare spools. I sold or gave away all of those first attempts at standardization. My fishing is pretty much the same year to year, even more so now in my late eighties, and only occasionally do I land a fish in the 5 or 6 pound range. Eventually I landed on the Okuma SLV 5/6b that checked all the boxes for the system I wanted. They are not fancy reels, not pretty, die cast rather than machined and a bit heavier than a CNC reel of comparable size. But I am a grown boy and not one to whimper about an extra couple of ounces of weight. What I got was fairly rugged and dependable reels and so far no one has tried to humiliate me for going cheap. And I did go cheap! In December of 2022 I was shopping for spare spools and found the entire reels were on sale for $34! So instead of buying spools I ordered 6 of the SLV's for a grand total of $204 before tax. They have been outstanding so far with decent drags that have handled fish in the four to six pound range with no problems at all. Today I found spare spools on sale for $25 and ordered 2 more to round out the system with 8 lines for my 5-6 weight stuff, mostly for lake fishing.
The other system I have is for my 3-4-5 weight rods and is 3 lightweight Orvis reels with a total of 9 spools giving me lots of line choices for both stream and lake. For around $700 total I have 9 reel bodies and 17 spools to choose from on any given day. The cost of the fly lines far outweighs the cost of the hardware. On July 28 I will celebrate my first fish caught on a fly rod in 1951 and in 74 years of fly fishing I have learned that time on the water is the best weapon in your quiver. No amount of equipment can make up for lack of savvy.
v
