When Steve Abel started building fly reels, they were some of the finest fly reels ever built. They were well machined and had some of the best drags in the business. This was proven by the countless world records that can be attributed to Abel reels. Fast forward to today. The world of reels has changed. The best reels are the market are made by the likes of Nautilus and Hatch and cork is no longer the best drag material. Enter the Abel SD fly reel
Hatch. One of the finest reel makers in the business. We know this, not because their made in the USA, not because we’ve spent hours with them on the flats, and not because we’re Hatch fans (well, we kind of are), but because the 7-Plus won our 8-weight Reel Shootout. But, as we’ve said repeatedly, trout is a different game with different rules. We’re eager to find out hot the 4 Plus measures up to its big brother.
This job is a lot of fun. We get to try out a lot of exciting new gear, and this is certainly one of them. Design, built, tested in Montana, Bozeman reel was born in trout country. We love innovation in the fly fishing world, and we were excited to test a reel from one of the newest manufacturers on the market.
It should come as no surprise by now that classic reels don’t perform as well as modern reels in our shootouts. In our 8-weight Reel Shootout, the Super 8 finished in the middle of the pack. But, trout is a different game. Let’s see if the smaller Abel fairs better.
The Nautilus NVG is one of the most talked about reels on the market today. It’s a quality product that’s made right here in the US. Better still, it’s received many awards and acclaim. But all of that has been for how the NV would perform as a SALTWATER reel. We’re here to see how it stands up to the rigors of trout fishing.
Sage is undoubtedly one of fly fishing’s iconic brands. While they’re mostly known for their fly rods, Sage also makes some pretty good reels, the now-discontinued 1880, did very well in our 8-weight shootout. While the 4280 was only mediocre, we have greater hopes for the Sage 4250.
The Nautilus FWX is the little brother to the much-loved NVG. The so-called ‘FeatherWeight eXtreme’ is deigned to be lighter weight, but still heavy on performance. It’s also more geared towards the freshwater market, so we expect it to be a hit in this test. Read on to see how it does.
Love them or hate them, Orvis makes a lot of really great products. The Helios 2 won our 5-weight shootout, and the Mirage took 3rd in our 8-weight reel shootout. So, we knew that the Mirage was a pretty nice reel, but as we’ve seen a lot of great reels haven’t done so well when paired down to trout sizes. Let’s see how the Orvis Mirage fly reel does when we put it to the test.
We loved Sage’s 1880. While not the prettiest reel, it virtually re-defined entry level quality for fly reels. When it was discontinued, we were a little sad, but excited to see the new replacement. When they based the 2200 series on the acclaimed 4200 series, it was sure to be a winner. How great is the Sage 2250? Read on to find out.
When we published our 8-weight shootout, the two comments we got most of all was “why did you test [Galvan and Nautilus].” So naturally, we tested them both this time. The Galvan Torque is their top-of-the-line reel. While not excactly new to the market, the Torque is beautifully machined and comes from a great family-run business in California. We’re excited to see how it does against the big boys!
