Psaros Introduces a Unique Fly Reel – Is it Worth it?
by Mark Waldin Flycatcher Custom Fly Rods – Psaros Fly Fishing of Sweden introduced a new fly reel today that is extremely different. THE main benefit of the design is the ability to have left and right hand retrieval at the same time. Indeed the reel comes with handles on both sides.
A secondary benefit of the design is that you can much easily palm the reel to add drag. That said, palming is the only way to add drag. The reel has no built in drag system. I’d really love to try this reel to see just how comfortable and managable that is.
For those who are curious Psaros does this by putting the bearings on the outside and not having a center hub. In other words this is a cage inside a cage with roller bearings between the cages. The inside cage is reel spool and the outside cage is the frame. Breaking is done by palming the roller bearings which are exposed.
Price for this unique design: $750! Is it worth it? Let me know what you think.
December 19th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Interesting design. Very innovative. At around 5 oz it’s pretty light.
To me the weak spot is the drag system. It looks awkward. If you have small hands this might be, pardon the pun, a real problem.
More importantly, when you’re most likely to need heavy drag, it seems to me, will be the time you have a big fish on and need two hands to hold the rod.