fly fishing reels

[scully]

I noticed that Frabril has came out with a fly reel for ice fishing. What are the benefits and do you have to feed the line out?

Thanks.

[mainbutter]

If it's a true fly reel, then you feed line out by pulling on the line in front of the spool.. or by reeling backwards, but I find that often causes backlash.

In a lot of ways, it's like those cheap jigging rods you see for sale for $10 where the "reel" is just a spool with a handle molded into it. However, fly reels have the added capability of having a drag.

The benefit of fly reels is reducing line twist. The rotation of a spinning reel is perpendicular to the direction the line travels, and even the most expensive reels out there contribute to line twist over time.

That said, I use spinning reels for ice fishing, simply because that's what I have and it works fine for my needs. I have used a fly reel for ice fishing, and I felt it gave me a very "direct" connection to my jig and to any fish I caught.

edit:

doing some reading, if you're talking about the "frabill straight line 241 ice reel", I'd say it's similar to a fly reel but not quite the same. It's got a gear system for increased retrieve, which traditional fly reels do not have.

[blackdog1101]

I'm an avid fly angler, and have lots of fly reels. Several years ago I thought to try one on an ice rod to reduce line twist, and I thought it worked great. For panfish in water under 20' it's all I use. I even have an ice rod that is built like a little fly rod. I'm not sure that this rod really provides any benefit over a regular rod, but it's fun. Now there are more and more guys trying fly reels and I hear lots of good things. Try sight fishing with a spinning reel and then with a fly reel, and you'll see the difference in line twist.

If I'm fishing deeper water or for bigger fish though, I prefer a regular spinning rod.

[B17]

I would really like to pick up the 13 Fishing Black Betty reel.

[blackdog1101]

I hadn't seen the 13 Fishing Black Betty before, but just Googled it. That looks sweet.

[Esox_Magnum]

13 makes 2 Black Betty's, the cheaper one that currently out in stores and a new one coming around Dec with a 3:1 ratio...

[DTro]

I always thought that a small baitcasting reel with a spiral wrapped rod would be a good option.

[Esox_Magnum]

Dtro, tried the baitcaster for a couple seasons,lets just say I own fly reels now and not a baitcaster....

[Kodiak]

isnt that 3:1 betty gonna be like $80bucks for the reel?

[anderson_dc]

isnt that 3:1 betty gonna be like $80bucks for the reel?

MSRP is $99

[CaptainMusky]

I thought the 3:1 ratio reel was going to be called something else, not black betty? Ninja is what I had heard.