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3. Reel Question, Page 2

Sometimes lessons in physics can be painful.

Sayfu wrote;

"I even like the obnoxious noise my Hardy clicks make!!...and hope another angler is close enough to hear it!...called a sore winner"

Great comment! I bought my first Hardy LRH back around 1965. The reel cost $25.00 and the x spool was about $7.00 - This is no BS either. I bought most of my Lightweight series reels before 1975. I have two Princess, two LRH, one Feathweight, and one that is engraved "Lighweight" on the housing and has no ventilating holes in the spool, no external drag knob, a nice rope knurl around the circumference of the housing, and for a better word, ridges on each side of the reel foot. I also have x spools for the Princess, LRH, and Featehrweight- if anyone would like one PM me.

I used to love the sound of the screaming drag as a big brown, or rainbow, is peeling line and backing off of the reel. I know other guys often hear it and my friends tease me about the racket it makes but I just tell them their jealous.

Uusally now though I use a Lamson Litespeed 1.5 with my #5 rods and either an Abel Creek 2 or a Teton #5 with my #4 weight rods.

Guys please, your killing me! Obnoxious noise? Racket? To me it's one of the most beautiful sounds in the whole world. Often dismally mimicked never duplicated. It's gotta be one of the older ones though (pre '85 ish?). The newer ones are crap by comparison. Just one old grumps opinion.

Entoman...The sound of a Hardy is directly proportional to the size of the fish landed. The bigger the fish the more obnoxious the sound...sweet, quiet music for you, extremely obnoxious for me. :)

I HATE the sound. I like ... silence. I feel one of the greatest things about newer reels is the silence. I don't want to make anyone jealous; I don't want anyone to even know I'm there.

When I was a kid, I spent long hours hiding in the woods -almost literally. I loved the acres of hawthorn that came up on all that abandoned farmland -Just me, the coyotes, grouse, and deer.

Although I love to hunt, I hate gunshots. I hated being in a gorgeous, tranquil, marsh, then start blasting shotguns. I did it, the noise being a necessary evil for me. There's no music there though. When I'm in the woods or on the stream I don't even like to leave tracks and will avoid stepping on anything that leaves a mark. It's definitely genetic, there's family history there, and my son is very sound sensitive too. We got home from Xmas shopping yesterday--hell on Earth, to me--and my wife is still all bubbly, while my son and I are stressed out with dark circles under our eyes. Give me silence.

I guess the awful racket that my Princess makes is also a necessary evil. I'm still happy to fish with it, and have no plans on replacing it.

LOL:):)

Paul,

I've told you before about hunting and spenting time with my grandfather up north in the 60's...My grandparents, though married 60+ years, were totally opposites. My grandmother needed noise and people around at all times, my grandpa was more the loner. She liked the thermostat up and he liked it down. She would stay up nearly all night. He was in bed at 9:00 and up around 4:30/5:00 in the morning.

I had an uncle that was a police officer during the 1967 riots here in Detroit. Afterwards he left the force and purchased 80 acres near Luther MI and raised his family there. It is a beautiful part of our state with some of the higher hills we have in the lower. It is out there a bit.

One afternoon I was sight-seeing with my grandparents. My grandpa was driving me over to see what's called the Tippy Dam...On the road back to see the dam my grandmother spotted a yard sale and made us drop her off while we went to see the dam...She never saw it.

Afterward we were driving down the back roads to my uncles place and I was leaning over the front seat from the back between my grandparents sitting in the front seat...My grandmother mumbled under her breath, "I don't know why Donny moved his family way out here. It's just like a graveyard!"

My grandfather looked over at me and winked and said, "That's just why we love it so much, right Spence?!"

He had his "spot" during deer season and we all knew where he was. He just wanted to be there and had long since given up on really hunting. We would pretty much leave him alone and he would probably nap, but he didn't care...

One day my uncle walked over to his spot to gather him up for lunch. My uncle said it had snowed that day and there was a fresh coating on the ground. As he approached my grandfather he could see he was asleep and he came to when my uncle stepped on a dry twig. "Herb. I'm heading up to the house for some lunch...You asleep?" My grandpa said, "No"...As they headed for the house my uncle spotted fresh deer tracks just a few feet from where the old man had slept...He didn't say a word...:)

Spence

Spence, I always enjoy your stories! Good lessons!

Uh-oh, Spence has been FANNED!! Jason, you're gonna have to add a new feature - or perhaps several...can we start rating posts like stories on the web?

Spence, congrats on your first official "fan". Yes, I do enjoy your stories as well, sometimes I just don't have the patience to read them...

Jonathon

P.S. And as far as reel sounds go, I fight all of my fish by hand (so far), so my reel stays pretty quiet. Me, on the other hand, well, Spence can vouch for that, and my "religious experiences"...

"The sound of a Hardy is directly proportional to the size of the fish landed. The bigger the fish the more obnoxious the sound...sweet, quiet music for you, extremely obnoxious for me. :)"

That is very true - the bigger the trout the louder and faster the pawl engages the gear and the louder it gets. I love it and wish my newer reels were louder. The Lamson is quiet coming in but does have a "click" going out but not loud enough for my taste. Maybe because the mechanism that engages the gear is plastic and quite thin. I bet if I fashioned one out of metal and made it a bit more robust the sound would be louder.

The Abel Creek has a nice sounding outgoing click but still not the samr tune as the Lighweight series. BTW Abercrombie & Fitch in the Manahattan store used to sell "Silent Check" Lightweight series reels in every size. I'm assuming Hardy sold them elsewhere but that is the only place I ever saw them.

When a hundred pound tarpon tears out line, I hear, nothing...
My Tibor "Gulfstream" has no click going out, but has one on the retrieve.
Same with my "Everglades"(8wt) and "Freestone"(5wt).
Strange...

Tony, are you a lefty: reversed your reels but not the clicker? I believe some reels need both reversed. Just a thought.

Spence, your grandfather and I would get along just fine. And your grandmother and my wife would chat away til the wee hours.

Which reminds me... I have another old 'click' reel. Well heck, I guess I have several, if I dig. Anyway... I have my grandfather's Pflueger brass birdcage reel that's got to be approaching 80 years old now. It's a tiny, and pretty little thing and still entirely functional, although it gives line begrudgingly, as well as somewhat noisily. Fine reel for Adirondack 'specks', which is what he used it for.

Wow this is the first topic I can speak with some confidence on. I have both Okuma SLV 5/6 and Pfluger Medalist 1494 1/2 they both work great for trout. I bought the later two years ago in Cabelas for a cheap real for a short 4wt. and loaded it with a DT floater. It is a sweet reel I can say everything I heard about it is true I had to re-tighten screws and I love the noise of the drag (it is kind of bragging without words.) I also like the SLV in my experience with them both each have their merits. They both slow down fish I foul hooked a 20+ whitefish that got past me in the tailout of a pool last winter with the Pfluger and played it under five minutes....the only disapointment was when it came to the surface it wasn't the browntrout I was expecting. I guess what I am rambling to is at least the original question wasn't what is the best five weight. I too also like the rambling stories of Mr. Spence.

Paul
By lefty, I assume mead that I cast left handed and reel with my right. No. I cast right handed and also reel right handed. I can retrieve 200 yards of backing with my dominant hand much easier that way. All of my reels are set up like that. My first reel was a right hand retrieve, so it is really the only way that I have done it.
The drag on a 12wt can be tightened to the point that it is difficult for me to pull line off of the reel (yet the tarpon pull it off very easily).
My Tibors are configured for right hand retrieve and there is no click against the drag - just a pleasant "hum".
My Galvan reels are silent coming in and going out, very pleasant to fish with.

A good argument for casting right and reeling right is when fishing in the salt for bigger, harder fighting fish. Make lots of casts with a big rod, and then hook up, it is nice to then fight the fish holding the rod in your left hand/arm that isn't as fatigued, and then reeling right handed. I am a righty all the way. Fishing for steelhead sold me on reeling right. I could switch hands, and pick up line if a steelhead ran up river on me much faster than I could reeling left handed.

Tony,

"My Galvan reels are silent coming in and going out, very pleasant to fish with."

Don't you like the sound of the clicker screaming as the line runs out? You'll hear my reel this summer as those big browns peel off line.

Tony,

I think I hear the hint of a challenge in Matt's reply...:) You better be ready young man! Sounds like schools about to begin...;)

Tie, tie, tie!

Spence