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Fishing 13's Black Betty Reel Review

Dark Cloud

By Dark Cloud
in Ice Fishing

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Dark Cloud Grand Master

Dark Cloud

Posted
Posted

First off, I have no affiliation with Fishing 13, I was just lucky to get my hands on one sooner than most. grin

I have been a big fan of fly reels for ice fishing for quite a while now. Lightweight, no line twist, great drags, fun to use, ect...

Im excited to see the new options in "fly" type reel coming into the market this year...

Back to Betty...

First thing I noticed is how lite the reel is. It weighs in at 4.25oz on my food scale. A tad less than most fly reels of that size and a few ounces less that small spinning reels.

Next was the finish. The reel has a nice sharp black matte finish. I cant find a blemish on it.

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Now for the design and fit. From seeing pictures on-line I was worried about how it would feel in my hands. The reel is designed with a longer spacing between the reel foot and the spool. This sounds great for holding the rod in a traditional manner, but I typically hold the rod with a pencil grip. After strapping it to a rod I was pleasantly surprised by how it feels with my prefered grip. It nestles in with 2 fingers on the foot and my palm on the spool...

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They also nailed the size of the reel handle! cool

After putting it on a rod I found some old line and put some on, I needed to check out the drag. The reel/drag is a "direct drive" - ie, no gear ratio and the reel is affected in forward and reverse by the drag. I thought it would feel funny reeling in with tension but after playing with my cat and a feather it seemed fine. shocked I dont think this will be noticable but some real world testing will really determine that. First ice is a ways off, sad to say, but I'll have Betty on a rod vertical jigging some fall walleyes before then. grin

The drag easily adjust over a wide range of tension...

The reel also sports a line guide for keeping the line under control and in the spool. This guide arm also adjusts to keep in line with the angle of your first guide - smart! This adjusts via a nut on the back of the reel.

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Im really looking forward to fishing with this reel and giving it a true shakedown!

p.s. - rumr has it 13 Fishing also have another reel in the works that should be unveiled at the St. Paul show... whistle

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munchy71 Enthusiast

munchy71

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Basically, the same thing as an Ice Tech reel that has been around for ages?

And DTRO, I would say yes.

Exactly what Jim said....with one caveat. The diameter of the Ice Tech Razer reel is MUCH larger that this one. Why is that important??? Becasue it gives you a much better retrieve ratio. The spool of the Razer is even designed so that no backing is required. From the looks of the Betty, this does not appear to be the case for it. Reeling a fish in with the Betty will be an all day proposition. I noticed someone above mentioned using the Betty on walleyes, and I would have to say that unless they're catching them shallow, they will not like the Betty at all for this application.

Munchy

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Dark Cloud Grand Master

Dark Cloud

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I bought an Okuma last year and love it, except for the spacing between the foot, it's hard to wear gloves. Any idea what the price of these will be?

They will be about 40$

Yes they are similar to the Razor reels in design with a smaller spool. I havnt measured yet but they look like they will take up about as much line as a size 4/5 fly reel. Some guys only use them in less than 10 ft. Every year I fish deeper and deeper with "fly" type reels. Each tool is not for everyone. As my Jr High math teacher use to say - "there is more than one way to get to the mall". grin

It was me who mentioned useing one for walleyes. I plan on putting the Betty on a jigging rod for vertical jigging out of the boat this fall just to get a feel or the drag, etc. I'll be able to do that wel before ice up in 8-12 fow... Also I use them through the ice for eyes in the same depth...

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munchy71 Enthusiast

munchy71

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No problems reeling up eyes and perch at those depths...

Me either...until I tried an inline reel (Razer) with a retrieve ratio much closer to that of my spinning reels. Truthfully it isn't a huge issue until the fish are deeper than 20'. I was catching bluegills last winter at the base of a break in 27' on Big Creek and I'm glad I didn't have to deal with the tiny retrieve ratio of a typical fly reel.

I think given the choice, most of us would pick an inline reel with a higher retireve ratio.

To put my point in perspecticve, the Razer takes in 12" of line for every handle turn, whereas I think I read somewhere that the Betty takes up 7" per turn. That means in 20' of water the Razer takes 20 cranks to retrieve your bait and/or fish while the Betty takes more than half again as many cranks at 34. Even at 10' the betty takes almost twice as many cranks (10 vs. 17) to retrieve. Obviously, the deeper you go, the larger that disparity gets. shocked That makes it a no brainer for me. grin

-Munchy

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DTro Grand Master

DTro

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Thanks for the review DC. I like to see new products showcased this way with pictures and details for those that are interested. Nice work

Its funny that the comparisons to a spinning reel is made when you can just use a spinning reel...and for probably half the price grin

I guess im not hardcore enough to let the jig spin bother me, especially with a large arbor spinning reel.

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munchy71 Enthusiast

munchy71

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Its funny that the comparisons to a spinning reel is made when you can just use a spinning reel...and for probably half the price grin

I guess im not hardcore enough to let the jig spin bother me, especially with a large arbor spinning reel.

I have to agree with you, at least partially to mostly. wink Contrary to what many think, any inline reel is not a fits-all solutiion. It is a specific tool for a specific application. Much like a short sight fishing rod is ideally suited to sight fishing, inline reels have a specific apllication where they are best suited. These reels were originally used for picky bluegills in shallow water situations. This technique and the principles behind inline reels is nothing new really. Michigan tightliners have been using tiny plastic Schooley reels for YEARS for this exact scenario and reasons. Bluegills are the only species that shows a definite aversion to a spinning jig. For the most part, perch don't exhibit it, crappies don't exhibit it and walleyes don't exhibit it either. Because of this, using an inline reel for any species other than bluegills is really overkill.

In the example I gave eariler, I was chasing bluegills that had transitioned from brown & down weeds to the base of steep breaks in alsmot 30' of water. This is the sticky bottom area we hear so much about. Typically a spinning reel would be my go-to for this depth. unfortunately, even at that depth, my spinning reel (a large arbor, by the way) imparted enough spin on my jig that the gills just turned up their noses at it. All it took was to switch to an inline reel, though, and the spinning stopped and the catching commenced. Luckily for me the reel I was using had a 12" per crank retrieve ratio so getting my jig up & down that nearly 30' depth was really a non-issue. Could I have gotten it done with a regular fly reel or small diameter inline reel (Betty, Schooley, etc.) with "no problems"? You bet, I could have! But I would have been totally worn out from all the reeling that it would have taken.

-Munchy

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Bobb-o Mentor

Bobb-o

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Two of the biggest things it comes down to is price point and personal preference. I honestly never use fly reels for anything deeper than 15 feet of water, and if I ever got tired from reeling in fish, I gotta say that would be a wonderful day. The Black Betty retails for $40, the Razer is $85, so I can get two Betty's for less than one of the Razer's and they are both good aluminum reels, the only major difference is that the Betty has a cork drag vs the discs the Razer has.

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munchy71 Enthusiast

munchy71

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Interseting that the only negative comments on the Black Betty come from the guys on a competitors "pro staff" Way to take the high road

I'm sorry...did I make a math error? If you can point it out, I will gladly recalculate.

There's a reason they make large arbor fly reels, and high retrieve rate baitcasters. ;-)

-Munchy

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Crappyfisherman Community Regular

Crappyfisherman

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full-34858-24123-1342468925_008.jpg

I have been using the Razor since 2010. I agree $85.00 is high but you pay for what you get.It was worth it to me because it was the only reel of it's type at the time.$40.00 is a great price but if you get the same

results as a $3.00 spool reel is it a bargin?

Great read Ron on the spin factor.

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Dark Cloud Grand Master

Dark Cloud

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Folks, options are a good thing. Im thankfull for all the new products. It keeps companys moving forward and creates new companies and ideas.

Which of those products an individual chooses to use is up to them. Many diff ways to accomplish the same thing.

I only intended to give a review of a new product that many are interested in. I wasnt looking for a Ford vs Chevy deal, lets leave stuff like that to vehicles and fishfinders. grin

Yes a guy could put a swivel on, but... when using lite line I dont want another "weak" link or something for gills to be distracted by...

And Yes, I could strap a bike tire rim to a tree branch and reel fish up so fast they get knocked out on the ice... cool

The Betty is FAR from a 3$ spool, like compairing oranges to burgers and saying, well its all food... grin

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munchy71 Enthusiast

munchy71

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There are other ways to eliminate spin than to buy a fly reel. Buy a good barrel swivel and attach 2 feet above the jig. Problem solved. Cost? $3.79 for a pack of 6.

I only wish it was that simple for us. The bluegills we're chasing alot of the time that necessitate these inline reels swim in the gin clear waters of West Okoboji. This means these fish inspect everything very thoroughly before the chomp it. Some folks call them the smartest bluegills on the planet. A swivel does one of 2 things to these fish...

1) turns them off worse than a spinning jig does

2) they decide to hit the swivel rather than the jig

Truthfully for the 3 & 4mm jigs we're using for bluegills, there really isn't enough weight to the jig to over come the "stiction" in the swivel, so it really does us no good at all. The other thing I don't like aobut a swivel is that in interferes with me feeling the bounce of that jig. In stained or deeper water where I can't watch the bite, I rely on feeling the absence of the weight of that jig to know that a fish has it in its mouth. With a swivel (or a split shot) in between, I end up fishing the swivel instead of my jig.

Fortunately, there are a few other tricks we can employ to eliminate jig spin that won't cost us a penny....

1) Stretch the first 2 or 3 feet of line after every reel up. This helps remove some of the twist

2) Use a superline. For some reason, superlines like FireLine don't accept twist like mono or flouro lines do.

3) Do "the pound". This is the jigging motion that Dave Genz has made famous. For some reason this cadence keeps a jig from spinning. Stop pounding and the jig immediatley begins to spin.

Now, these are not one size fits all solutions....some folks don't like to use superlines..some guys don't like to take the time to stretch their line...some days the fish don't want the pounding cadence. That's the reason so many of us have gone to the inline reels. Bottom line, they are more effective at eliminating jig spin than all the above methods combined.

-Munchy

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