Expensive reels. Am I missing something?

[Irishrover]

These are the good old days my friend, in ten years from now you will long for them.....

Boy howdy anint that the truth. I'm trying to squize every bit out of each day now that I'm retired. Oh and to set the record straight..........An Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold onto a blade of grass and not fall off the edge of the earth!

 

[Alaskan Assassin]

You get what you pay for in a reel to a point ya you can spend 60 bucks and get an Okuma that may last a couple seasons but if you buy a cheap lamson, ross, galvan, you will be much happier in the long run. These reels have better warranties, superior drag systems and will last. Go to any fly shop and ask the advantages of buying a nice reel for maybe twice the price of that Okuma. You dont have to buy a Tibor or Abel to get quality but I guarantee you will notice the difference between a $60 Okuma and a $120-150 Lamson.

 

[osmosis]

I have been extremely impressed with my G loomis venture series fly reels. give them a look. Super smooth, and rock solid drags. I've put well in excess of a thousand salmon and steelhead on both my venture 3 and venture 5 in the 5 or so years I've had 'em and they are the same as the day I bought 'em.

 

[SDK]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Just to update...

I did go with the Okuma for a couple of reasons:

1- I took the fly fishing class and already shelled out for a really nice 5wt outfit. between that, the course fee, flies, etc there just wasn't enough in the budget for a second expensive reel.

2- This rod will be for the occasional bass and steelhead trip, and the 5wt I picked up will be my 'go to" rod for now. I also snagged a new Integrity for $39 shipped on Ebay, which is about half retail.

Right now I'm really having a great time just perfecting my cast and enjoying my time on the water. I think I'm going to bring the bass rig with me to the Delta Ponds group trip on Saturday.

If I actually get into fly fishing enough to wear out the reel, I can look into a higher end setup with some experience under my belt. I think it may happen too! I'm already getting so into the fly thing that I'm thinking about switching over to it almost exclusively. There's something about heading out to the river with only a few ounces of gear that completely rocks

 

[Silverlion]

Fly fishing is like meditation for me. My blood pressure goes down, nerves calm. I don't even want a beer.(most fishin I do makes me crave beer...) Sounds like you're hooked for sure. I started with the cheapest thing I could get my hands on, bought some flies, and went from there. I have 1 bamboo I made with my grandfather, and a mid priced rod with a cheap wal mart reel. The bamboo hardly sees the light of day, but the other one...that's another story. The cheap rods are not worth beans, but the reels seem to be disputable. My old FF buddy back in Texas has a $600 reel and a $1200 bamboo rod. He swears by the BUY QUALITY credo. If only we all had the spare bux to spend that kind of money.....It's all cheap for me and I still get the same results as my buddy. It's best to buy what you can afford. If it's cheap, you just gotta take a little better care of it.

 

[davep]

you can get more than you pay for

you can get more than you pay for

Well here is my two cents....in the mid ninetys I decided to splurg one time for a new 7 weight and reel...top end loomis and a ross reel...I paid 200.00 for the ross..a ton back then.....just for fun I google the reel and found it is selling for $1800.00 and more on ebay....what a nice surprise....