[Wyatt]

Several years ago I bought a Shakespere 8'6" 7/8 wt Rod with a Alpha 2827 automatic reel at a yard sale, I never but line on it and at the time put it on a shelf in the basement. Well last night I was talking to a customer about going fishing with him on his private piece of river up by the Wyoming border, the discussion turned to equipment and after seeing his set up I remembered the yard sale purchase I made and dug it out. Question is anyone other then my customer/friend and previous owner of my aging combo ever used one of these automatic reels, I'm thinking about loading some line and giving it a try. The piece of river he owns is generally small trout under 16"s, but has a fair amount of wind to fight with.

[cowboy]

I grew up using an automatic reel. One drawback is not keeping control of your line while pulling on the trigger. It is easy to pull your entire line through the guides and onto the reel. Takes some practice, but eventually you will get the hang of it. It is strictly a strip and retrieve tool. And fighting larger fish can become a real adventure. I grew up in Montana and Oregon and most of the fish were 8" to 12" rainbows and brookies. Give it a try and enjoy.

[mhclayton]

When I started fly fishing as a kid in northern NM during the mid-60's, automatic fly feels were commonly seen on the stream. They were heavy and as noted above, just used for line-management and storage. They did allow for quick retrieval of line on smaller streams where typically there isn't much line out and the fish aren't huge. I don't remember seeing anyone playing a fish from the reel with these. I prefered my Pfleuger Medalist.

[shorthaul]

my first reel was a shakespeare ok horizontal automatic---hitting the trigger would happen accidentally at the most inoportune times, then i graduated to a Heddon die cast copy of a Hardy reel---the automatics are still being used for float fishing on the AuSable river in Grayling, Michigan for the line management feature.