[wfosborn]

Hi all,

Had to get a reel that can handle salt for my #6 so decided to go with Frank's pick from another thread on the Nautilus NV. Anyone have a chance to use one of these yet? Looks like a great reel, hopefully it can handle the abuse I put reels through over the course of the year up here, counting on that drag system working when the salmon are finally running.

--W

[Frank Whiton]

Hi wfosborn,

Dang, I guess that better be a good reel. If it is any where near as good as the CCF reel, you will be a happy camper. I think it will be a super Salmon and Steelhead reel. Nautilus is still selling the Old Florida Reel that the company made its reputation with.

Frank

[wfosborn]

Hi Frank,

Thanks, it looks like it should work great up here. Hopefully that sealed drag unit will be able to handle all the salt, silt and freezing conditions I fish in up here. I also tend to use some lighter gear for the salmon, so if the new NV drag is as smooth and powerful as I hear the older CCF drag is it should really help out.

Thanks for bringing them up, I hadn't come across them in my reel shopping and might not have found them otherwise.

--W

[Frank Whiton]

Hi wfosborn,

I posted some pictures so other people can see what reel we are talking about. Did you get the 6/7 or the 8/9 size? These reels are built for saltwater with ceramic bearings and should last forever used on Salmon and trout. I will be looking for your report after you catch a few fish.

Sorry, the pictures I posted came out two large and I had to delete them.

Frank

[Frank Whiton]

Hi to all,

Here is a picture of the Nautilus NV reel.

Frank

[wfosborn]

Hi Frank,

I went with the 6/7. Holds plenty of backing so it should work well. I can't wait to try it out, I'll be sure to let you know how it works.

--W

[wfosborn]

Well, my new Nautilus NV finally arrived today. Still waiting on backing and a line to get here for it but I've been playing with it testing it out with some mono I have lying around.

The drag is incredibly smooth and powerful on this reel. Nautilus says you can crank it down to about 16lbs, but it feels much higher. My Trion can't come close to the stopping power this one has. On my reel the drag doesn't feel like it goes very light, definitely can't get it free spinning like my some of my other reels. However, it won't start snapping tippet until I get down to 6x but it takes quite a sudden jerk and I think the rod will take care of absorbing that. The startup on it is so smooth it took me several tries before I could get it to snap 6x off just the reel, I don't think I could get it to break using a decent rod.

With the ceramics, titanium, and sealed parts on this reel I don't see it taking any damage from the salt and silt I normally fish in here. We'll see how it holds up once I get some large salmon on it this year, but I think it will be a great reel for hard fighting fish.

--W

[Frank Whiton]

Hi wfosborn,

Thanks for the report. With a rod you will have a whole different dynamics than what you were doing directly from the reel. I don't remember ever using anything lighter than 4X when I was in Alaska. Most of the time I had a much heavier tippet. Shouldn't some Salmon be showing up this month?

Frank

[wfosborn]

Hi Frank,

I'm sure the rod will make it much more interesting, I was just trying to get some idea of the pure stopping power range on the drag with the mono, looks like it will live up to everything they claim about it!

The earliest runs should have been in by now, but we are having a pretty slow year so far. We had some major flooding in the year that these salmon are returning from, plus it's much colder than normal right now. The ocean is still about 10 degrees colder than it normally is, so that could be slowing them down some too. I did hear today that one sockeye was caught though, so perhaps they have finally decided to come up the rivers. If the reds are running this late it's possible we'll have all the major runs in the rivers at the same time, that's always fun!

--W