Ross Cimarron Creek Fly Reel

The Ross Cimarron Creek Fly Reel is the click and pawl reel in a Cimarron family otherwise built on disc drags, and that difference is the whole product. Ross machines, anodizes and assembles it in Montrose, Colorado, and in place of a drag stack and an adjustment knob it runs two pawls you can unscrew and swap. The reel arrives with two soft pawls fitted, two stiff pawls in the box, a small tool and spare screws, and Ross puts the number of workable combinations at ten. Changing pawls changes two things at once, how much check the spool gives you and what it sounds like giving it, from a quiet creekside tick to the loud classic click. It is offered in 2/3, 4/5 and 5/6, and the 2/3 is the reason to look at it first: at 4.1 oz on a 3.00 inch frame it is the small stream size neither of the other Cimarrons builds. Across every size the three models share, the Creek is the lightest of them.

Design

Large arbor on a fully machined aluminum frame and spool, with a ported frame and tool free spool removal. The porting does a job here that it does not do on the other Cimarrons. Ross's own pawl change procedure has you reach through the frame porting from the front of the reel to lift a pawl off its post, so those openings are the service access for the drag system as much as they are a way to shed metal. Spool width is 1.215 inches in all three sizes and diameters step 3.00, 3.25 and 3.50 inches, so the reel buys its capacity through width rather than through a taller, heavier frame. The spool releases without tools, which matters more on a reel you are meant to open up than on one you are not. The full pawl change is three steps: back the screws out with the supplied tool, lift the old pawls off their posts through the porting, then seat the new pawls and hand tighten. It is a streamside job, not a bench job.

Finish

Frame and spool are anodized in house at Ross's Colorado facility in a matte finish, offered in Matte Black, Matte Platinum, Matte Blue and Matte Olive. Anodizing converts the outer layer of the aluminum into a hard oxide rather than laying a coating on top of it, so it wears and dulls instead of chipping and flaking off. The matte surface also keeps glare down in low, clear water, which is most of what a creek reel sees. Ross lists no cerakote accents or contrasting hardware on this model, and describes the look as clean and minimalist, so the four colorways read as one solid color rather than as a two tone. Ross builds and markets the Creek as a freshwater reel, and a pawl mechanism is open to the frame rather than sealed against grit, so rinse it in fresh water and let it dry after silty, sandy or brackish days.

Materials

Frame and spool are machined aluminum, cut from stock rather than die cast. Ross does not publish the alloy for this model, so we are not going to name one. Machining is what allows the frame to be opened up this far without going soft, and it holds the spool to frame gap tight enough that light backing does not find its way in on a run. The pawls are the part worth knowing about: they are molded polymer rather than machined bronze or steel, which is also what makes the printable pawl file possible. That is a genuine trade off. A polymer pawl will not wear like metal over many seasons and it gives a different note against the spool teeth, but pawls on this reel are consumable and user replaceable by design, with spares in the box and more available from Ross, so wear is a two minute fix rather than a service ticket.

Drag

Type - A customizable dual pawl click drag, and it is worth being plain about what that is and is not. There is no disc stack, no sealed cartridge and no adjustment knob. Two pawls sit on posts inside the frame and engage the spool, and the resistance you get is whatever those pawls give you, chosen before you fish rather than dialed during a fight. Ross supplies two stiffnesses and states that mixing them reaches ten configurations, which moves tension and sound together: the softer setting is lighter and quieter, the stiffer setting gives a firmer check and a more defined click. Pressure beyond what the pawls provide comes from your hand and your rod, which is how this style of reel has always been fished and is entirely sufficient for the trout the Creek is sized for. If you want a dial you can crank down on mid fight, a disc drag Cimarron is the better buy and Ross builds two of them.

Materials - Ross ships the pawls in two grades and marks them by color: black pawls are the stiff set, grey and black two tone pawls are the soft set. Two soft pawls come installed, two stiff pawls come in the box, and Ross includes a small tool and extra screws so a change can be made on the water rather than at home. Running one of each is a legitimate middle setting, not a mistake, and is how you land between the two published stiffnesses. Ross also publishes downloadable 3D print files for the pawl, licensed for personal non commercial use, so the range is not capped at what ships in the box: anyone with a printer can run a pawl in a different material or stiffness and hear what it does. A separate Ross pawl kit with four pawls, the tool and extra screws is sold as an accessory. Ross does not publish a maximum drag figure for the Creek, and on a click and pawl reel that number would not tell you much.

Arbor Size

Large arbor, and it earns its keep more on a reel this small than the spec sheet suggests. A 3.00 inch frame carrying a 2 weight line has very little line on it, and a narrow arbor would leave that line sitting in tight coils all season. A large arbor stores line in wider loops, so it comes off with less memory and lies flatter through the first casts of the morning, and it recovers more line per turn of the handle when a fish turns and runs back at you, which on a click and pawl reel is exactly the moment you are managing slack by hand. Frame diameters are 3.00 inches in the 2/3, 3.25 inches in the 4/5 and 3.50 inches in the 5/6, all sharing a 1.215 inch spool width. Ross does not publish an inches per turn retrieve rate for this model and we have not measured one.

Warranty

Ross covers the Cimarron Creek with a limited lifetime warranty for as long as the model remains on the market. It applies to the original owner only, it is not transferable, and it requires purchase from an authorized dealer. Coverage is limited to repair or replacement of the reel and excludes normal wear and tear, fire, theft, loss, negligence and discontinued products, and intentional damage or misuse voids it. Service runs through Ross's factory in Montrose, Colorado, where the reel is fully dismantled and diagnosed, parts are replaced free of charge when the work is covered, and the reel is tested back to factory specification before it ships. Every return has to include a completed Ross Product Service Form or the shipment is refused, and all freight to Ross is prepaid by the customer. Ross charges a service fee on work that falls outside the warranty rather than publishing a flat rate. As of 2026, Ross states that most products are serviced and shipped back within four weeks of receipt.

More Info

• Best for: Small stream and creek trout, alpine lakes, and light freshwater fishing where feel and sound matter more than drag pressure
• Drag: Customizable dual pawl click system, no disc stack and no adjustment knob
• Arbor Size: Large arbor
• Sizes, Diameters and Weights: 2/3 at 3.00 inch diameter and 4.1 oz, 4/5 at 3.25 inch diameter and 4.5 oz, 5/6 at 3.50 inch diameter and 4.9 oz
• Line Weights: 2-3wt in the 2/3, 4-5wt in the 4/5, 5-6wt in the 5/6
• Spool Width: 1.215 inches in all three sizes
• Capacity: 2/3 holds WF2 plus 75 yards or WF3 plus 50 yards of backing, 4/5 holds WF4 plus 65 or WF5 plus 50, 5/6 holds WF5 plus 80 or WF6 plus 60
• In the Box: Two soft pawls installed, two stiff pawls, a pawl tool and spare screws
• Pawl Configurations: Up to 10, with printable pawl files published by Ross for personal use
• Spool Release: Tool free
• Colors: Matte Black, Matte Platinum, Matte Blue and Matte Olive, all in all three sizes
• Spare Spools: Sold separately in all three sizes and all four colors
• Made in: Montrose, Colorado, USA
• Skip it if: You want an adjustable or sealed disc drag, or a reel sized above a 6 weight