The Single Life

After years of pursuing those things in which I "thought" I needed, I finally got rid of all of my unnecessary drag.......Disk Drag.

For years, like most, I chased the latest in reel technology. Make it lighter, make it wider, I need a larger arbor, I need a butter smooth drag system, I need something that will protect those 7x tippets yet stop a freight train in current. A lot of money and time was spent researching, buying then selling quite a bit of machined anodized aluminum as a result. 

But then a few seasons ago while fishing a small stream with my favorite 3wt glass rod, the realization hit me.  After decades of fly fishing, I couldn't recall putting a single trout, bass or panfish on a reel, let alone applying the reels drag. Yet I insisted on buying reels in which close to half of the cost applied was to justify the advanced drag design. So....I went back to the beginning. And what I found were lighter, slimmer and perfectly balanced pieces of perfection, that sang to you if and when a fish was actually placed upon it.

 Single action "Click-Pawl" reels that get the job done.

Gone are the large arbor hunks of technology and engineering. Back to the simple elegance of a click-pawl mechanism, in a standard arbor, narrow configuration. Having fished on both coasts, I have never seen my backing save for 2 times, and both were on Salmon and Steelhead. And in both cases, neither fish was ever stopped or landed. Ironically, both were with a high-end disc drag reel. So why did I not see things sooner?

The "Click-Pawl"

The testament of time applies to the click-pawl drag system. From the 50's to the present....cast and painted reel frames, to machined and anodized....little has changed. Proof of which is the fact that so many of the different models, produced by differing manufacturers, have pawls that can be interchanged. Why fix it if it's not broke? Which is why click-pawl designs are seeing a resurgence of sorts, and manufacturers are finding they need to once again offer a single action reel. 

All a person need know how to do is set the hook.....and if need be palm the spool. The reel does the rest....it holds the line.