While looking for reel reviews I ran across this piece from the New York Times featuring Tom Bie, publisher of The Drake.
Tom Bie, left, publisher of The Drake Magazine, a quarterly journal for flyfishing enthusiasts, took five saltwater reels on a three-day fishing trip through the shallow waters of Ascensión Bay, Mexico, to discover that, when casting for midsize marine life, options are good, having to perform maintenance is bad, but making sure the big one doesn’t get away is the absolutely the most essential asset of a good spool.
Check out the Tom’s thoughts on the reels he took along by going to this link: Physical Culture | Gear Test, Saltwater Fly-Fishing Reels – The New York Times.
Tom… well… he isn’t a fan of my little blog, but I’m still rooting for the Drake. The Drake has appeal beyond normal fly fishing magazines and that can only be good as time keeps thinning the fly fishing herd.
The comments are not terribly substantive, but you wouldn’t expect the NYT to really nail this in their Fashion & Style section…
The tested reels were:
Hatch 7 Plus, Able Super (Tarpon finish), Nautilus NV, Sage 6080, Tibor Everglades
Not a bad stable to choose from. There isn’t a bad word uttered in the very limited reviews, but you really wouldn’t expect anything to go wrong with one of these reels on a week long trip to Mexico. That’s the limit of field testing and life… never enough time.
