Ben F

This year we’ve upped our game big time (see what I did there?) and we’ve brought our hallmark reel shootout to the world of tarpon and big game fishing. After all, is there any type of fishing that needs more drag than big game fishing?

I’ll admit it. Of all the reels in this shootout, I’ve fished the Hatch the most. Not this Hatch, per se, but the older Finatic. And the Finatic is more or less the same reel as this one. And both are great. The Iconic is so great that it tied for FIRST place in our Tarpon/Big Game Reel Shootout. While the new(-ish) Hatch Iconic is the latest from a long line of great Hatch reels, Hatch has been making shootout-winning reels for a while now and the 9 Plus Iconic is now no exception. Keep calm and read on.

The Nautilus GTX made waves in the fly fishing world for being the first “production” reel to cross the $1000 barrier. Since then, there’s probably been no reel that I’ve wanted to get on the testing machine more. When you pick it up, you can tell right away that it’s an awesome big-game reel. It’s big, narrow, and has tons of drag. It’s no wonder that it finished in a 3-way TIE for first place. Read on to see why.

Mako is new to Trident and new to our shootouts, but they’ve been making top-notch saltwater reels for some time. In fact, they are the legacy of Jack Charlton and his eponymous reels. Mako has always been that reel. The one that people talk about but few have actually seen or touched. That has started to change with some new management at the helm and some top-notch new pros on staff. But with that kind of legacy, it should come as no surprise then that the 9600B tied for FIRST PLACE in our Big Game Fly Reel Shootout.

2020 marks the return of Greys to the United States. For those of us who have been at this long enough, you’ll remember when Greys left us some 6 (or so) years ago to become a European only brand. Like an Alfa Spider, Greys faded out of the mainstream and into the fond memory of enthusiasts. And now, they’re back.

We’ve been doing tackle shootouts for years. They are among the most visited pages on our website and we take pride in having helped thousands of anglers find the right tackle for their needs. As our business has grown, we asked ourselves: Which area of fly fishing had the least amount of information? The answer amongst our team was travel. Have you ever booked a lodge and wondered if it was the best lodge? Who has the best food? Most comfortable? Best guides? It’s almost impossible to find anyone who’s visited multiple lodges in a given area, let alone any sort of comparison amongst them. With this shootout, we aim to change that.

One question that we get asked all the time is whether or not X reel is a good choice for Y rod. In single-handed rods, this is generally a pretty easy – you find a 5-weight reel to match your 5-weight rod. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work so well in Spey land. Rods are much longer, have two handles, and lines are much heavier. Luckily for you, we’ve put together a couple of quick guidelines that will make this process totally pain-free.

One of the questions we get most often from customers interested in purchasing a new fly rod and fly reel outfit is how will a fly reel ‘balance’ a fly rod. We’ve decided to put together a post with our thoughts. This is your ultimate guide to figuring out exactly what the weight of your next fly reel should be. Read on to find out what it means to properly balance a fly rod and reel.

One of the questions we’ve gotten most often about our recent Trout Spey Shootout has been in regards to our line recommendations. More specifically, why our recommendations for Scandi lines are much heavier than one might expect, relative to our Skagit recommendations. This has been particularly true for Pacific NW anglers who have been indoctrinated into thinking that Scandi is ALWAYS lighter than Skagit, no matter what. Read on to find out why we recommended the lines we did in our Trout Spey Shootout.

One of the most confusing aspects of Spey casting is lines (and tips). Unfortunately, this has carried over to Trout Spey as well. This article is meant to accompany our Trout Spey Shootout and not to provide an in-depth analysis, review or explanation of every [trout] Spey line on the market.