[FrankB2]

Ditto the Okuma SLV! I sold all my other reels, and now own only
SLV's. I bought my SLV's from an ebay store, and they were around
$50 shipped. I dropped one from the roof of my car, and the asphalt
damaged the drag knob's threads. A call to Okuma USA had a new knob
at my door within days ($4).

[Frank Whiton]

Hi kgcabs,

If you play your fish from the reel and use light tippets I don't think you can do better than the Galvan OB-1. Its not as light as the Evolution but to me it has a much better feel. The Evolution has both an in and out click. The Galvan only has an out going click and has a sweet sound. The Galvan has a very, very good drag for light tippet fishing. It has a wide range of adjustment so you can adjust with a fish on and not break your tippet.

Many fly fishers fishing with a two weight are small creek fishing and never bother getting the fish on the reel. Most of the time this is fine but I don't like it. If you strip in the line you have to hold the line in your line hand or worst yet you let it fall on the ground. Should you need to move up or down stream, or even change position a little bit, you will be walking on the line or catching it on brush. Now if you hook up with a bigger fish and you try to hand strip with a light tippet you will probably lose the fish. This may not be true for more experienced fly fishers but with beginners it is almost a sure thing.

I think all large fish should be played from the reel. If you don't practice with small fish you will never be ready when the big one comes along. So I prefer to play all fish from the reel so you have your technique down and know exactly what to do. The Galvan OB-1 has a drag that allows you to play small or large fish from the reel using the very lightest tippets.

How can you not like that green color?

Galvan OB Reel

[flyflingerandy]

I just picked up an Okuma SLV 2/3 from a certain Ebay dealer who sells a lot of them, and it will be here in a few days. It's going on my 3wt now, and on a 1 and 2 this winter. I just need a few spools for the durn thing. Those are gonna be as much as I paid for the reel!

I played with one at the Orvis warehouse sale in KC last year, and it was smooooooooooth. In fact, it is almost as smooth as the OB-1 IMO.

[jimeng]

i have a Galvan OB-1 and love it. works great with my 6 foot creek rod. It is very smooth in its operation.

[CoMtFishing]

I'd suggest teh Okuma SLV it has a vrey smooth drag and is priced on the low end but functions as good if not better then some high end reels.