which reel had the smoothest drag for you????

[okaloosa]

Not a "which reel has the smoothest drag" question but which reel in your experience had the smoothest drag?
for me it is hands down my circa 1976 Billy Pate non ported anti reverse "salmon model"....
I am not a big anti reverse fan so I sold it on Ebay....the buyer returned it saying it wasnt right for him,,glad he did...
I hardly fish with it anymore but just enjoy pulling line out from time to time

 

[hunter1]

My Bauer Macenzie reel I use on a 3 wt rod. Bought reel back in the 90's still use it. Smooth cork drag . Great little reel.

 

[pati]

Galvan Torque, never had suc a smooth and finely adjustable drag

 

[Lewis Chessman]

I have a fair few reels whose drags I'd like to see severely tested - a Bauer, a couple of STH Turbines and an ABU Delta 3 for four - but that's yet to happen!

A couple of well-priced reels I've learned to trust are the Vision Deep 10/11 (Spey) which has been faultless on several Atlantic salmon to 22 lbs and the British Fly Reels 'Dragonfly', an economical cartridge-spooled reel for single handers which has handled numerous salmon to 10 lbs for me and never let me down. BFR made the Scientific Anglers System 1 & 2 until production moved to Korea and I think the 'Dragonfly' offers a lot for little money. The Deep has a smooth drag but scratches easily. It's not pricey though, so makes a great 'knockabout' reel if you want performance over looks. Not sure if these models are available in the States but for the budget-minded they're good vfm and may crop up under the radar on eBayUS.

 

[troutman75]

Sage 2540, buttery smooth gear reduction drag, Sage 3100/3200- and Click-series, virtually no startup resistance plastic clicker. None have stopping power.

Bauer CFX (looks like a Bauer MacKenzie but with a sealed drag) is the best drag reel I’ve tried so far. Very smooth. Very low start up. Has all the stopping power you need.

All of these can be palmed - Mostly I leave the drag fairly light and palm when I want to make the fish work for it. You don’t really need to with the CFX, and I’ve been trying to adjust with some success, but old habits die hard.

 

[udiablo]

I have several Abel Big Game reels, various sizes, and like them, a lot.

For trout, I enjoy using my Ross San Miguels and Ross Visions (the "ported" version of the San Miguel).

I have some nerve damage in one hand/forearm, so must rely on drag-type reels.

 

[tln1313]

You are going to get a lot of opinions on this
I personally Love all Abel Supers
Tibor- original Everglades, etc
All Galvans are great...
So many great reels on the market right now.

 

[sweetandsalt]

I have many reels with exceptional drags but for smoothness and feel Abel's newish SDF is a class leader not only in smoothness but power beyond usability too. Not that my Hatch reels aren't great too but there is something different in the feel of carbon verses polymer disc elements, the carbon disc reels are somehow sharper in sensation. I've got nothing but good to say about my older cork disc, draw-bar reels from Abel , Islander, Magla and more and I dig their user maintainability but they are not as smooth as the top, stacked, multi-element drags.

 

[okaloosa]

I appreciate all the replies....
I was just wondering if the lack of a handle and counterweight that spins along with the spool accounted for why my AR Pate salmon was noticeably smoother than all my former Tibors, Abels, and Islanders...
I agree with all that the Galvan Torque is one fine reel that is hard to beat in terms of weight, drag, beauty, and line retrieve,,,,,

 

[bobtheflounder]

I like my placebo 4000 MAX the best.

 

[JW51]

I'm a fairly recent convert to disc drag, more on the desire to play around with something in the off-season as opposed to any real need. Got a Hatch Gen 1 on closeout, and an Abel Super Series with the new no-drop-em-parts-in-the -river when changing spools feature, as well as an Abel SDF.

As a more direct comparison, the Hatch and the SDF were close, but I think the SDF is a bit smoother and I liked the sound better. The Super is very nice as well for an older design.

I'll admit some bias as I've fished Abel TR reels for decades..gulp...and they have been flawless and I'll admit serve most if not all purposes in fresh water. My wife landed a wild rainbow on a TR this fall so big it would just make a liar out of me to give the size (Winston B2x 9' 6wt, so hardly the latest ultra generation graphite).

What a luxury to have so many fine choices in reels these days.

 

[ddb]

Here comes a dram of heresy!

Train stopping smooth drags are way over rated for most non-salt water fishing. And in IMO, they are are just ways to justify annual MSRP hikes for the latest whiz bang reels.

All i have ever needed is a durable well built reel with a drag that reliably holds a light to medium setting throughout a fight w/o freezing, seizing up or chattering while I use the palming ring to instantly adjust the pressure to the needs of the moment. Lots of reels including many low cost ones --Behemoths? -- do this. Salmon, steelhead, pike, land locked stripers and the basses have all been taken this way w/o any of their escapes being due to the factory drag.

Never have done tarpon, permit, or bones, so I admit to admiration of and respect for the Payte-quality mills on offer.

ddb

 

[eure]

Here comes a dram of heresy!

Train stopping smooth drags are way over rated for most non-salt water fishing. And in IMO, they are are just ways to justify annual MSRP hikes for the latest whiz bang reels.

All i have ever needed is a durable well built reel with a drag that reliably holds a light to medium setting throughout a fight w/o freezing, seizing up or chattering while I use the palming ring to instantly adjust the pressure to the needs of the moment.

I've got to agree with this and I use clicker reels for 90%+ of my fishing.

I do a lot of fishing with a centrepin reel which is just a bobbin on a spindle, they don't have a drag or even a clicker. I've caught pike and carp to over 20lb with these reels using just a thumb on a spool as drag. The smoothest drag for me is an experienced thumb or palm.

 

[sweetandsalt]

"Here comes a dram of heresy!" I'd prefer a dram of whisky...

"The smoothest drag for me is an experienced thumb or palm."

Both of your opinions are fine but do not address the OP's inquiry about drag design and performance.

The 'debate' about the need for a drag (in fresh water) is ageless with many of the view that palming the rim of a spring and pawl reel is most appropriate for trout fishing. I believed that myself for a long time and have caught many great and even large powerful salmon on Hardy spring and pawl, overrun check reels with no drag. Around the mid 1980's a new US maker of trout reels with scaled down saltwater style drag mechanisms sent me a sample to experiment with. Though well experienced with cork disc drags in my saltwater reels at the time I was fishing a CFO IV for most trout situations. Now this reel had a palming rim and the drag could be set smooth and light though considerably stouter than an overrun check. My first big trout into the backing was a revelation to me. It was instantly obvious that, without changing any skills on my behalf, I was able to bring the big boy to net some distinct % faster than with a dragless reel. This resulted in quicker revival and less lactic acid in the trout's blood stream to overcome for safer release. I was impressed by the use of drag as a catch-and-release advantage (for the trout). So impressed that I've employed reels with drags for trout ever since even on light rigs with the only exception being on my truly small stream outfits which still sport CFOs.

On thing that is true though is that most drags are scaled down from their saltwater counterparts resulting in far more drag headroom than could conceivably be used for trout. So, advertising aside, the important consideration is the minimalization of start-up inertia and the smooth, fine tunability and consistency of settings. After all, fishing a 5X tippet does not imply 10#'s of drag even if you have it on tap. I have a handsome Ross Evo R on a 4-weight that has something like 20#'s max drag. I don't know in #'s wat my settings ae but I'd still say they are 5X's+ the resistance of my overrun check and, if I need more, I palm the rim.

 

[Ard]

I've used spring and pawl reels for a long time and still do to some extent. While I like them and will agree that in all but the extreme cases we don't need the drags that most reels are equipped with today. My opinions began to change and I started moving away from gear reduction disc reels after a few seasons here. Of course I could land big fish even on occasion when accidentally catching them while using my little Featherweight but it wasn't easy. My first strong drags were Orvis Odyssey reels (draw bar cork) followed closely by Vortex reels, then new generation Hardy reels with sophisticated drags.

About 4 years ago I began buying Sage reels, specifically the Domaine series and I put them on 'Outfitter' rods for people to use. They were tough and the drags were good. The reels stood up to less than careful handling also and barely show signs of use. I liked them so much I began using some myself and they work great. Alas, that model has been discontinued...……….

The best I've ever owned? The new Sage Spectrum Max. I'm not quite as experienced as many of our members when it comes to this topic but I don't see how a reel can work much better than these new Sage models. I will soon be taking on a Bauer for use with a 15 foot Winston rod that I use for both salmon and steelhead and will be able to gage their performance in the coming year.

The reel I've landed the largest number of big strong fish on is an early Hardy Cascapedia size 8/9. It has a solid click from index to index point to train the drag without looking. All you do is count, if you hook up at setting 3 and then find you are into a 40 pound fish with current you turn 5 clicks and the reel handles them.

Sorry for rambling, it happens especially in winter...………...

 

[osseous]

Landed a large rainbow on the Green last spring- 6X, size 18
BWO parachute- that fish ate and got out into the rapids and took me way into my backing on my Hatch 4+. I could not follow, as there was a cliff that came all the way down to the water below me. The smooth drag on that reel allowed me to land that fish-

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[Redrock]

I’m a diehard Abel and Ross guy. I traded out of the original Gunnisons and into Abel big game reels because of how smooth they were. I own several different size reels from leading manufacturers. All are nice reels. But, I still thing a properly maintained Abel big game No. 1 is as good as it gets for a heavy trout reel.

 

[sweetandsalt]

This reel is some 30 years old. It is currently taking a rest without a specific rod assignment. It's mating with NRX#5 has been supplanted by a Hatch 4+, also black. The Hatch, I must say, is smoother and, objectively, a better trout reel. However, this petite Abel Big Game, cork disc, draw-bar has caught about a thousand trout and, if I would choose to do this foolish thing, could be used as a hammer to crush flat half the current popular reels and, though it might get some new rash, it would still work perfectly.

 

[Redrock]

View attachment 14425

This reel is some 30 years old. It is currently taking a rest without a specific rod assignment. It's mating with NRX#5 has been supplanted by a Hatch 4+, also black. The Hatch, I must say, is smoother and, objectively, a better trout reel. However, this petite Abel Big Game, cork disc, draw-bar has caught about a thousand trout and, if I would choose to do this foolish thing, could be used as a hammer to crush flat half the current popular reels and, though it might get some new rash, it would still work perfectly.

For the life of me I cannot find my .5. I’m in the market for one. Yeah I am sentimentally attached to the .5. It is an absolute beast on a five weight. I had a set of Maryatt reels in the 80’s. Dropped one from about 3 feet and the spool bent. It was never the same. I generally take really good care of my equipment, but I have to say I dragged that .5 all over the place. Oil it, grease it occasionally and it was good to go.

 

[sweetandsalt]

For the life of me I cannot find my .5. I’m in the market for one. Yeah I am sentimentally attached to the .5. It is an absolute beast on a five weight. I had a set of Maryatt reels in the 80’s. Dropped one from about 3 feet and the spool bent. It was never the same. I generally take really good care of my equipment, but I have to say I dragged that .5 all over the place. Oil it, grease it occasionally and it was good to go.

Are you my brother from a different mother? That darned George Gherke talked me into pre-ordering those Maryatt's in the 80's. I too dropped it...on grass...and bent the spool...very soft metallurgy. If we ever get together in the Dillon area I will tell you a story about Gherke, Lee Wulff, Bob Cohen and attempted murder.