6 Different Types of Reels for Pro Fishing
Photo: coleofduty.com
Every individual involved with recreational fishing understands the value of reel and the basics about it. If you have been into fishing for a long time then you must know that there are different types of reels that serve different purposes.
It is important to underline the main purpose of a certain reel type before putting it to use. Let’s take a look:
|
Fishing Reel Type |
Ideal For |
Key Features |
|---|---|---|
|
1. Spinning Reel |
Beginners, Seasoned Anglers |
|
|
2. Baitcasting Reel |
Advanced Anglers |
|
|
3. Spincast Reel |
Beginner |
|
|
4. Fly Reel |
Advanced |
|
|
5. Trolling Reel |
Advanced |
|
|
6. Surf Reel |
Advanced |
|
6 Popular Types of Reels
So, the reels can be distinguished between many types but there are three prime ones among all. We will try to cover different types of them in this post.
1. Spinning Reel
Photo: manofmany.com
Spinning reel is the most traditional and commonly used reels by majority of the anglers. It is referred as “open face reel” and excels in throwing lightweight lures in the water. It is ideal with braided lines that are thin and strong.
This reel type gives extraordinary versatility to the user. Irrespective of the target fish, this reel works smoothly and thus liked by most people.
The way of casting spinning reel is by flipping up the metal bail wire that releases the casting line. You then have to flip the metal wire down and lock it in place.
Its setup is quite straightforward and convenient and as a beginner too, this one will not give any hard time learning the working of the reel. Furthermore, this one is pretty affordable too.
It makes a good choice for beginners and seasoned anglers that fish with lighter lures and want something pretty versatile to work with.
The downside of this reel is that any line twist can result in messy tangles. Therefore, it demands close attention to the line.
Recommended Product: Sougayilang Spinning Reel
Pros:
Cons:
2. Baitcasting Reel
For the advanced anglers, the go-to reel is the baitcaster. Well, there are many reasons supporting the fandom of baitcaster reels, one being its extra cranking power to retrieve the large lures and hunt bigger fish.
Furthermore, an experienced caster will be able to feather the line spool conveniently with a thumb and place the bait in the precision locations.
These are mounted perpendicularly rather than sitting parallel to the rod. Thus, the major amount of reliance is on the lure weight to propel the line.
The baitcasting reel offers high degree of accuracy and control, if used correctly. Also, since experienced anglers takes a bit of manual control over the reel, this one proves to be more helpful to them.
However, for this, you must learn the delicate touch of stopping the line as soon as the lure gets inside the water. If not, this can cause backlash and a lot of mess.
The cost of a baitcasting reel is higher than any alternative in the category. Therefore, you should practice the technique of casting with other reels and only put hand to baitcasting reel when fully prepared.
Recommended Product: Abu Garcia Pmax3
Pros:
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3. Spincast Reel
The spincast reel has a closed face and the necessary components are inside and underneath the nose cone. When you have to cast forward, you press the button on back of the reel. As a result, the line rushes outwards and as soon as you let go, the line stops.
Considering the ease of use of this reel, it is ideal for the beginners. There are no backlash and meager chance of twisting and snaring of the line.
Among all the options discussed by far, this one is the most inexpensive and suitable for kids and the ones that are merely into fishing for experimenting their skills.
The downside of spincast reel is that it has very low line capacity so you won’t be able to cast too far. Plus, it won’t accommodate heavy-duty line, keeping you deprived of hunting big fish.
Recommended Product: Zebco ZB310BX3
Pros:
Cons:
4. Fly Reel
Photo: gorgeflyshops.blogspot.com
The fly reel is designed for the advanced anglers that seek for precision fishing. It is important to have high accuracy while casting the line with this reel. Overall, this one is the most accurate reel among others but you too should have some skills to cast with it.
You can find various styles in fly reels for specific fish types. There are reels to catch trout or salmon. For increased retrieval speed, you can have large arbor as well.
These are very simple to use and you can depend on them as well. Moreover, they come with amazing durability. You might be able to spot a flying reel with experienced anglers that had them passed on from their elders.
If you want to make one-time investment in a fishing reel , you should go with the fly reel because it will give you the necessary features and more.
The drawback that we can point out is that it will require your skills of accurate casting. It you don’t have those skills then prefer others in the category.
Recommended Product: Piscifun Sword Fly Reel
Pros:
Cons:
5. Trolling Reel
The difference between baitcasting, spinning reel and trolling reel is meagre. The main contrast is the trolling reel is designed for trolling purposes. They cannot be used for casting. However, these are created to drop a line behind a boat that is in movement. It is suitable for advanced anglers as the functionality could be difficult for beginners.
It is made of graphite material and has large handles and feet with a difficult drag systems and bait clicker alarms. With its robustness, this one can be used for hauling heavyweight fish species like tuna, sailfish, and marlin.
You will also need a specific style of rod for better effectiveness because of the large reel feet design. Therefore, you are required to purchase a separate trolling rod, probably with high-tech features such as depth counter.
The downside is that these are very heavy and expensive reels.
Recommended Product: Okuma MA-20DX
Pros:
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6. Surf Reel
Surf reel is a specialized reel and is ideal for the advanced anglers who want to try a certain fishing type. While both baitcaster and spinning reels can be used for surf fishing, some anglers leave it to the specialized tools.
This one comes with higher retrieval rate and has amazing lightweight feel. It is also pretty versatile. The best ones are designed to withstand the abuse of surf fishing.
While there are different materials used in constructing surf reels, you should prefer picking anodized aluminum, graphite, or a combination of both. These materials are extremely durable and resist corrosion for the maximum time.
They might require a specialized rod to work best but once you are through with that, you can enjoy fishing a broad array of fish species. Certainly, this reel is for a specialized purpose but it is pretty difficult to use.
Recommended Product: Dr.Fish LS-10000
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Conclusion
Well, there you go. These are some of the commonly used reels that help from beginners to advanced anglers adeptly. You need to understand the working mechanism of a reel to get the best out of it. Hope you find this post useful.